Kimpants and all last night inspired this song on me. I don’t know why, how, or where it came from. But I was tweeting them and I said to self, “crap I need another song for Friday.” Followed, by “I feel like it will be alright.” So yeah, you have to have a clue where this song is coming from.
By the way if you type Kimpants into your phone auto correct changes her name to Implants. Later I may tell you about some of my more humorous auto corrects this past week.

Thank you Black Eyed Peas for a song that is so easy to adapt. Granted I could have kept going with more of this song, but the repetition was killing me.

I figured if I was going to title a blog about change since last week this is the best title. However, this is not the best title. You will see why as my mind decompresses not depresses over a weeks plus worth of thoughts, emotions, experiences, feelings, noises, messes, and so on. How can I in one simple blog post outline one of the greatest if not GREATEST experiences I have ever encountered in my life since being diagnosed with Type-1 diabetes oh so many years ago. I have always guestimated it was January of 1995 but I could be so wrong on this that I will one day actually have to come up with a real DOD, date of diagnosis.
That being said, I will stand by my previous comment about this being the GREATEST thing ever. I can blog about this for hours, in looking at “ze Bloggers” that have already started or tried to do this, there is a major issue. So much information overload, that who knows what the heck or where the heck to start first. Well, I guess the easiest place should be to mention where I was. I attended the “Children with Diabetes: Friends for Life Conference” in Orlando, Florida last week. Yes, I know children seems odd for a 20 something year old to be going to. However the program has developed for more than just children. It not also has a smaller but just as good adult track, which is what I attended. So I got to do something great and now talk about it. Anyway, back to my comment of where to start? For me that is simple. I met some awesome people. For the first time in many many years I have had an opportunity to hang out and chat with multiple type-1’s and type-3’s. Which was great. I have never had an opportunity like this. Online is fun don’t get me wrong, but meeting, greeting, harassing in the case of Kerri (Carie), it is a completely different experience all together.
So that is what I can tell you so far. I am still working on things. But back to the title “A Week Ago Today” I learned so many amazing things and entered a “new” world for me. And so here is what I have learned to date, but again there is so much more to this.
A week ago today:

…I learned that I was one among many awesome adults with type-1 diabetes.

… I learned that there is such a thing as a Diabetes Alert Dog and how awesome they are, even when they are sleeping and making hilarious noises. (Hi Becca)

… I learned how awesome “ze bloggers” I met were and how glad I am to now call them friends.
… I learned what I can do and how not to worry when my machines, pancreas, and everything about me goes nutso. I am not alone in this.
… I learned that no matter what and despite diabetes, “You can do this!”. (Time for me to take a swig of diet coke)
… Diet Coke is not as much fun unless you can put it into a mug and chug, chug, chug.
… I learned that when one is giving a talk about swimming in a Triathalon, the best way to emmulate swimming is to look as if you are doing weird ass jazz hands in front of a large crowd of people. Don’t even get me started on how one runs a marathon.

A week ago today, I made so many new friends I don’t know where to begin, end, or start. Yet I know now, how great these people are. How much inspiration they are to me. How good it is to not be alone. I also learned why we all need to make time to go beyond our comfort zone and branch out. Otherwise, I would have spent last week sitting in Jersey making crazy jokes and having no new friends to laugh at them.

So I am going to honestly admit that I haven’t even thought about what to post or say post Friends For Life 2011. I came home Sunday completely exhausted and went and played ultimate frisbee which was awesome. I followed that by crashing and sleeping in my bed to dive right into life in the real world. I have concluded that it is just not as much fun. Visits to hospital today. E-mail. People to call. All just waiting for me. It was good but yeah.
I managed to actually download pictures from then trip and began to sort them and upload all of them. But that is it. I had more work stuff to do and am currently in my bed already for bed, all the while reaching twitter and just missing all the fun I had. It is amazing how much this trip made me think about tongs and stuff I have been ignoring and just meeting the awesomest group of people. Kim and Jess. Carrie and Caleb. Scott and Scott. Courtney and Jacquie. And so many others. Awesome. More to follow another day. I am off tomorrow so most likely Wednesday. Woot.

I have no idea where today went. All week, I had plans of this awesome set of song lyrics in my head. I listened to the song, made mental notes (forgot mental notes), and well yeah. This morning started great. But I got busy fast. I had Communion calls to make, things to do, checkbooks to balance before Monday (somehow my one checking account was all out of sorts and it took me an hour to figure out that I entered two receipts in twice on different dates, it took forever so my day vanished fast.) Anyway, I worked on the song I was supposed to be but at 8:00 at night not in the morning. So it needs some big work.
Anyway, I wrote this parody of Poker Face, I am calling it poke your hand, as in when I was little and my parents kept asking what my sugar was when I was moody or actually low.

Poke Your Hand

So as I sit here I am quite happy about a few things. With summer my work has slowed down immensely. I mean how else on a Wednesday afternoon can I feel no guilt about leaving my office and going to the movies. Yesterday, I gutted my room and emptied three trash bags worth of clutter from my room. That was awesome, so that is good. Next week I head to Florida for Friends for Life, and get to meet some awesome people, plus go to Disney World and maybe slip away and go to Universal Studios too and do that. So that is awesome.
Monday, I mentioned my need for a new bag for my supplies as I wander about the lands. In the past, I have used my Nike bag, but that gets cluttered and the strings eventually will cut into me as I wander theme parks. So I needed something else. I put out a call to a few people, with little success. Although, Kimmy over at Texting my pancreas, suggested I rock the fanny pack. Jerk. My coolness can’t cancel the dorkiness of the Fanny Pack. So I kept looking.
I mean my ratty supply bag needs to go somewhere.

So I was like what am I going to do with this. Yesterday I was at Target and I found an amazing bag, it is a mini messenger bag. Granted it is almost like a small purse, it is called a messenger, so I will be rocking it next week.

It has a thin profile enough for my test kit, if I choose to keep the kit as a whole or pockets enough for kit, lancer, strips, emergency insulin and syringes, plus back up tubing. I can also hide a bottle of water, some granola bars, etc all in the bag. And it is small and all. So lets see how this puppy works out.
Also, in the mail I got my replacement pump clip. I think I mentioned at some point it died on me. The directions sheet cracked me up. I mean, it would seem intuitive how to use a replacement clip, but this is the sheet I got with the clip.

Yes, it is bigger than my laptop and needed three push pins to hang up over my desk. Oh and don’t you love my Stitch card. I so can’t wait for next week. Anywho, that’s all I got.
And again thank you Kim for my supposed Fanny Pack idea. Jerk.

It’s kinda funny, after Friday’s song day, it really got me thinking. How many bad songs I can make up? The answer, is apparently to many. Mind you I haven’t written any other covers of songs yet. However, there are a few bouncing around in my head. It was really entertaining to tell you the truth. I mean, I wonder how many d-related covers I can honestly come up with. I am very much tempted to make this a normal thing.
Yet, who knows. My motivation goes up and down and schtuff, but it could be fun. It could be my own Assignment America, you know back in the days from America’s Funniest Home Videos… Damn I loved that show. Anyway, Friday, I hope to have another song done. One has been dancing around in my head for a few days. I listened to the original last night and have covered the refrain already, it is just getting verses to fit into it now.
If you have any song suggestions, feel free to let me know and I may think about it. If nothing else it could be fun to try.
Aside from “song” writing my next endeavor is covered by all things pump and stuff related. A few weeks back my Ping Clip hit a small hiccup and died. I still have no idea what happened or why my pump will no longer hold the clip. I mean it still works, but it won’t catch in the housing of the pump. I am a pocketer by trade so no clip really doesn’t affect me. Yet, sleeping and stuff, that is where my clip pulls its weight, so to speak. So I finally ordered one last week.
That being said, I also started my quest to find some sort of bag or something for my supplies. The test kit bag is nice, but I would really like something small and compact that is just a little classier. I know there are bags, clutches, and stuff out for ladies which are kinda cool. But apparently in the male category not so much. So I have been searching online for stuff. If anyone knows of something let me know. If nothing else I need to find a better way to carry my stuff than in the 5 year old non-zipping gallon Ziploc bag, that is my supply travel bag currently. I will post the picture of that poor guy when I wander back over to my room and get pictures of it. The poor thing is well beyond it’s last legs.

So this morning I was excited about something that doesn’t happen to often for me. It was an unplanned free shower. Today, I was planning on changing my infusion set, but I knew I had until Monday for my Sensor to hit a either try to get a third time out of it or take off and try again. So Monday was going to be my free shower day. Yesterday with the heat, humidity, and stuff my sensor site started to itch a little and this morning, while I may have gotten a few more days from the adhesive, I had more tape than original stuck on me. So I figured 11 days, not so bad with the sensor and heck I can shower without fear.

This leads to my song, I started just singing my head, over and over “free shower, free shower” at 6:00 am, I am not all that creative. Anywho, I ended up getting the song “Free Falling” from Tom Petty stuck in my head. This evolved to me rewriting the lyrics a bit for my “free shower”. Anyway, I am thinking of submitting the lyrics to Blunt Lancet. I haven’t written a full version of the song, but well here are the lyrics. I was tempted to make a “music video”, but well I am not that brave yet and my graphic skills were not working out so hot for me this morning. Maybe one day, when I get my tech sorted out.

So, in my life I do many fun things. I run, I bike, I read, I play video games. I get Sarcastic, I harass people(all in good fun), I am funny, but only when I don’t have to think about it. If you ask me to be funny, well you are asking for a waste of your time, because it is not going to happen. It is all spur of the moment. I work, I work, I sleep, I say mass, I go visit sick people, I say funerals. I have fun. I am a normal person(again normal is as normal does I guess).
I also am a person with type-1 diabetes, which can sometimes inhibit life. I try not to let it. Yesterday, I had a whole bunch of fun planned. Go to movies on day off, go to store, go play ultimate frisbee in my summer league. All went according to plan mostly. My sugar was all over the place in the low zone. Which was not good. On my drive home before frisbee I felt the panic set in. I felt the low coming and since I just bought a new car (Buster), I did not have him fully stocked with my normal low stuff. I pulled the other stuff from my other car and deemed some of it old, some of it melty, and some of it just not fun any more.
So I said Brian you have 5 miles to go, you can do this. Concentrate, windows open, eyes alert, and just drive. I made it home, and ingested juice and stuff, before sitting down and conking for 5 minutes (damn that was close). Today I am filling Buster up with non-meltable food products and probably some glucose tabs. Even though I hate them, they just don’t go bad.

That’s weird the picture I had would not upload….. please hold while I try that again

That was weird. Anywho, didn’t know they made watermelon. I may have to look into that flavor. So yeah, that was that.
I rested up and went to play Ultimate Frisbee. So much fun. I really love the game. Granted the needs of a person with pump and Dexcom make the game play more interesting. I recently moved my infusion site back to my right upper arm after some side time, to give it a break. Forgetting the issues with hangy tubing. That was something I needed to be really conscious of as my sugars were highish after my earlier issue. I also packed my pump into my Under Armor spandex undershorts with internal pockets so that way I would not accidentally lose my pump (could I have taken it off, yes, but well I don’t do that normally). I really need to figure out the intricacies of sports and my pump. I haven’t had much luck on the sugar front.
So anywho, the game starts, the play is tough, yet we are having so much fun. I am running and playing and just well doing what I need to do. Near the end of the game one of my team mates over throws the disc and I go to chase it down. I realize as I am going that the only possibility I may have of actually catching the disc is I am going to have to slide. So I do slide, on my right side. It is a spectacular slide, my was a fun slide. It was a pump slide. Yeah, that’s right I slid on my pump oh and I did not make the catch. I know with the build up it seemed like I was going to have this awesome game winning slide or something, but it was a fail. The disc was just to far out of my reach to keep it in bounds even with the slide. Sigh, so I missed the disc, have grass stains all over my my shorts, scrapes on my arm, and I nice happy pump shaped black and blue on my leg. Sometimes I do not like my pump. But hey, what can I do. I need it and it does good things, more or less.

The other day, I was thinking about a few different things. All of the D-related and such and also about my lack of inspiration for what to say online. How some people can come up with ideas, histories, and constant things to talk about leads me to believe that a.) I am not as involved as I once was. b.) I may have never been involved as I mentally thought I was. c.) I am just plain uncreative.
Yet, I know in looking at things neither a,b, or c, truly applies. I think what I realized that in the beginning I just need guidance almost like someone to say, “Brian today you should blog about this or you should blog about that.” I mean that I can handle. So instead, today I said to myself, “Self, it is a good idea to talk about dreams and such, why don’t you seriously talk about what an ideal day without would mean for you.” I mean maybe next time I will man up and do Kim’s you can do this video, but I hate seeing myself in pictures and I am sure a video would scare myself and little children too… :-p

I really looked at my life, all I do, all I have done, and thought about imagine what you could do or would do if you had a day, week, or month without having to deal with some of the stresses and pressures of being a person with type-1 diabetes. I mean that would be sweet (no pun intended of course). I mean, eating what I want, sleeping until whenever, not having to test, not having to bolus, not having to change infusion sites. Hell, not having to deal with prescriptions, all of that stuff that drives me absolutely nuts some days. It would be awesome. Right?? No fear, no worries, nothing.

Yet, I thought about that and I thought about who or what I was when I was a kid. Would I be able to handle the irresponsible lifestyle. Being able to graze, eat whatever, whenever?? Probably not. If tomorrow I were to start I would forget about everything I should be doing. Calories or carbs… Nope. Exercise…. c-ya. Responsible thoughts and actions out the door. I would be a horrible person. I would make all of the wrong choices and decisions. Granted if I had a month off, the first few days would be bad, but I could get better. I don’t think I would. The routine, the regimen, everything, has been instilled in myself for a reason. It makes me who I am.

Would I still be sarcastic? Yeah. Would I still laugh at everything? Yeah. Would I still cry watching sad movies? Yeah (I can be really embarrassing sometimes). All of that would be me, yet I feel there would be something missing. I think after 15 plus years of being a person with type-1 diabetes, I have finally learned something from this disease. Will power and self control(to an extent), established routines (to an extent), but truthfully so much good has come of this. If I left them behind, I would be so different. Ya, know life sucks. I know this. Having type-1 sucks, I know this as well. But it could be worse. A day off would be nice, maybe. A life off would be awesome, but would I be able to handle that freedom or power? I don’t know. The routine I have has been set, I am happy. Why change it? I mean if that day ever comes, it will be awesome, but right now I don’t think I could handle it. I think I would be an overweight, out of shape person with no self control. That is a fail.