Progress

20 days ago, I texted Becca telling her that it was all I could do to run .75 miles. Today, I ran 1.5 miles without stopping to walk, stretch, or take a break of any kind. I could have kept running, but decided to walk the remainder of my distance today as not to overwork my muscles and cool down.

In 20 days I more than doubled my muscle endurance.

Today, my body did something it wasn't even close to being able to do 3 weeks ago.

That is one of the best feelings in the world.

Life Rules

So, this idea was started by my buddy Kirk at some point. When ever someone would state a fact, it would be labeled as a random Life Rule...

For instance. One time we were trying to move a large piece of furniture (an entertainment center or something... something with a lot of surface area). It was clearly hard to slide across the floor so I made the comment "There's just too much friction!" to which someone replied "There is never too much friction." That soon became "Life Rule #12: There is never too much friction"

There were not actually 11 other life rules... it was just a fun game to play.

Life rule #1 was the only one that had a static number. I decided to build on this and come up with good life rules to live by, starting with Kirk's original #1 rule.

Keep in mind, these rules are not listed in order of importance. This is both because a) I don't care and b) comedic effect. When I hand someone a bottle of water and say "Life Rule #5: Hydrate," they normally say back to me "What is life rule number 1?" to which I reply:

Life Rule #1: Always Check Your Pockets on Laundry Day

Anyone who has ever heard a strange sound coming from their drier and simultaneously wondered where the hell they left their damn cell phone only to pry open the door in a state of panic hoping it's merely the sound of their kitten being smashed against the drier walls and not that of their beloved iPhone knows this lesson all too well. Luckily for me, the worst thing I've ever put through the wash was my Passport.

Life Rule #2: Show Up; See What Happens

This is an important rule. Often times, I know I need to do something or be somewhere and I'm just not in the mood to do it. The fact of the matter is, I have no reason not to participate other than laziness and apathy. I used this motto a lot during College. Many times, I couldn't find the motivation to get up and go to class so I would ask myself "What am I going to do if I don't go?" Usually the answer was "Do nothing and be bored" so I would end up going and realizing that most of my friends were there anyway.

I find people put so much emphasis on preparation and scheduling when, in all actuality, most things only require you to show up. Things will work out. Things always work out. Just show up and see what happens.


Life Rule #3: Never Assume Anything

The original name for this rule was "You Never Know." This rule came in to existence as a joke in 2006 when I was unpacking my clothes in my stateroom on a Family Cruise Vacation. My sister asked me why I packed so many hats and my response was "Well, you never know!" As it turned out, I lost one of my hats in a gust of wind from the ship and I is probably still finding its way around the Caribbean right now.

The truth is, we never know. It is human nature to draw conclusions, deduce, and assess. However, I've found people argue over so many things that either can't be proven or about which they are simply uneducated. Granted there are certain things that we can indeed say we know. However, even if I know someone is wrong, I try to take the time to listen to their argument. What if the Earth really does revolve around the sun? What if sickness is really caused by microscopic organisms and not Evil Spirits?

Every day someone is going to tell me that something I know to be true is incorrect. One day, they are going to be right.

Life Rule #4: Don't Forget to Breathe

This one seems so stupid. But seriously, I often find myself getting so stressed out or worked up about something that I hold my breath and have to remind myself to breathe.

This doesn't just mean physically moving air in and out of your lungs by constricting and relaxing the diaphragm. It means to take time and space away from something before it drives you insane. Taking time to "breathe" and think something through and knowing when to walk away from something for a few minutes has made my life infinitely less stressful. With very few exceptions, everything can wait 60 seconds. Sometimes, we have to remind ourselves of that.


Life Rule #5: Hydrate

Again, this one seems like a dumb thing to write down. I don't have a metaphor to go with it. This one is as simple as it sounds. Drink plenty of water. I never drink enough water and find myself overly exhausted, especially on hot days. Put down the Starbucks for a minute and have a bottle of water. Your body will love you.

Social Anxiety/Depression

Ok... So I know that depression and anxiety are linked with MS. However, I'm a comedian. I'm above all that, right?

Yeah, that's what I thought too. This is exactly the opposite of what this blog was supposed to be talking about. This was gonna be all happy and comedic and basically me saying FU to MS and showing the world how I'm so much different than all those middle aged people who just complain about their symptoms all the time... Karma is such a bitch.

Tell me if you can relate:
I'm usually the center of attention: Overflowing with charisma, charm, and good looks (sorry ladies... I'm engaged) I'm a stereotypical Leo for those of you who follow the zodiac (though, my birthday technically puts me as a Virgo... are you kidding me?)

My Neuro told me when I was first diagnosed that these kinds of feelings would be normal and prescribed me Lorazepam to help with feelings of anxiety. 5 years; no problems. Recently, however, I've found myself getting anxious in public settings.

Me...
Mister Attention...
Mister Look-at-me...
Mister I-wish-i-could-be-a-professional-stage-actor-just-so-everyone-would-notice-me.

That last one is really hard to fit on a Maine State Driver's License.

These feelings aren't me.

I find myself dreading going to family dinners when I know all 11 of my brothers/sisters/in-laws/significant others will be in attendance. I'm stressing out about going on vacation next week because I am afraid I won't be able to relax. How messed up is that? I'm stressing about about a vacation... Even as I write this blog, thinking about all these things has made me need to resort to popping a Loraz... This is getting out of hand...

My mother and brother both have been diagnosed with social anxiety disorders and are both being treated for them.

I'm not them.

I've always been the opposite of them.

I'm the get-out-and-do guy. I'm the one who organizes flashmobs and plays in a band and wants to be noticed.

When the hell did this happen?

Social events are how I relieve stress, not the cause of it.

Sound like something anyone else can relate to? Is it my MS, or my family's history of being socially inept finally coming out of my DNA to fuck with my life as I know it? Please tell me it's my family. At least then I don't have to blame myself.

Week 3 - Not setting any world records

Ok. It is Thursday of Week 3 of my 5K training. DAMN! This is much more difficult than I had originally thought. I knew it would be a challenge, but I figured it would be a slight challenge only toward the end of each run. If there is one thing I'm not good at, it's being wrong. GOD DAMMIT I HATE WHEN I'M WRONG! 

I've been logging all my runs/walks with the RunKeeper app for iPhone. Yeah, there's an App for that... It has been wonderful at tracking my times, distances, and average pace. As disappointed as I am with my average times and embarrassed as I usually am to post them on my Facebook, I am incredibly happy to see that my times are actually improving as my distances get longer!

I just ran 1.5 miles around my neighborhood. I had to stop a couple times to walk for about 1/10 mile, but I was able to run most of it. This time last week, I couldn't even finish out a full mile. Don't make fun of me, ok. I'm not a professional runner... yet.

It has been quite rewarding to see how my average pace has improved over the past few weeks. On June 28th, I was scheduled to run/walk the same 1.5 mile course and had an average time of 14:13/mile. Today, I did the same track with an average time of 10:56. As I said, I'm not setting any world records but I took 3:19 off my mile. That is a huge improvement for me. At this rate, I will probably end up having to walk a portion of my 5K, but I'm looking to finish in less than 35 minutes. If I can do that, I will consider it a success.

Next week, I am on vacation in the White Mountains so we'll see how much running I'm able to do.

Nick

Week 2

I'm in my second week of 5k training. F**K, I'm out of shape... It's not till you realize that you can't even run a mile that you realize you REALLY need to stop playing XBOX as much...

Even my kittens play xbox. Don't judge me.

Luckily, Becca's plan is a gradual increase to the 3.1 miles so, while each week gets harder and makes me want to end my life at the beginning, it's only ever SLIGHTLY outside of my comfort zone which keeps me feeling challenged without feeling overwhelmed or frustrated.

I've finally gotten in touch with the Maine Chapter of the NMSS and Calamari Special will be playing at an event in September. We're very excited about that. We're going to be working hard to make sure we have a debut album to have ready at that show. I posted a quick demo of one of the songs on my facebook page... It's not excellent... It will be better on the album, I promise.

Stay tuned!



Epic Vivid Dreams

I've switched from taking Copaxone in the morning to taking it right before bed. I did this for no reason other than it fit my schedule better.

Since I've started doing this, my dreams have become these Epic Adventures which would even make Homer jealous. I decided to write them down because 1) I don't want to forget them and 2) I'm wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience with Copaxone before bed... also these are ridiculous and hilarious and I thought maybe you would be entertained.

These are two dreams that I've had the past two nights.

Epic Movie Adventure

My family and I went to The Olive Garden for dinner following the suggestion of the Front Desk clerk at the hotel we were staying at. My friend Sara apparantlly used to work at this Olive Garden and the bar tender mistook my girlfriend for Sara and said "Uh oh, everybody! Sara is in the house!" My mother took this the wrong way and thought the bar tender recognized me and assumed I was cheating on Cassy with some girl named Sara who I had gone out with to that restaurant earlier. This started a big fight between my mother and I at which point I got frustrated, threw my water on her, and walked out. I decided to just go for a walk to calm down.

As it would turn out, we were staying at Universal Studios. I happened to leave the restaurant at exactly the right moment to wind up as the star in a Movie Action Effects demonstration. As I walked down the street, cars were crashing into busses, buildings were exploding all around me, groups of people running away from rooftop snipers... I realized this was all just an effect demonstration so it didn't seem to bother me. I ended up playing along and helping the would-be sniper victims find a place to hide in a bank only to realize the bank was being robbed and I just brought everyone in to a building which was rigged to explode. I was able to make my escape through the bank vault and down a Chuck E. Cheese style spiral slide... Classy, I know.

I continued walking through this Epic Effects City where I crossed paths with James Valentine - The guitar player for Maroon 5. He asked me if I needed a lift and offered me a ride in his Limo... because clearly he just takes a Limosine everywhere he needs to go. Clearly I wasn't going to turn down this opportunity so I hopped in and we drove around for a while. During our conversation, he asked me if I wanted to come jam with his band on the other side of town. Again, I wasn't going to turn down the opportunity to play music with Maroon 5, so we drove over to their practice studio where I was happily greeted by all memebers of the band. All members that is, except for Jesse Carmichael - Their keyboard player. He was not happy that I was there at all. In fact, he did everything he could to make my experience there hell. I decided I didn't wanna pull a Yoko Ono and be the reason that the band fights and breaks up so I decided to leave that studio and cary on with my adventures around the City of Chaos.

After some more wandering, I found myself at a screening for the second episode of HBO's "The Newsroom." Of course I wanted a sneek peek at the upcoming episode so I walked in where I found the rest of my family, my girlfriend, and her twin sister Suze. Since I was no longer frustrated and angry with my Mother, we all decided to walk in and watch the screening together.

The entire cast and crew of the show was there - Jeff Daniels, Aaron Sorkin, all the producers, actors, camera people... everyone. I was really excited to have this opportunity! Strange Opportunites seemed to be the theme of the night. Everything was going well except that Suze - not having seen the first episode - didn't understand what was going on and wouldn't stop asking questions. Everyone in the theater was getting very annoyed and I kept telling her to be quiet but she wouldn't stop talking. Again, I got very upset and embarassed so I walked out. Cassy followed me out and kept appologizing. I explained to her how rude and embarassing that was and why I left. At that point, my friend Jack called and woke me up.

The End of the World

I was enjoying my night watching the stars when a Meteor Shower started. I watched for a while but quickly noticed that the chunks of rock falling from the sky were getting bigger and bigger. I quickly decided to run down to the basement and take shelter just in case one of the falling pieces of firey death decided to land on my house. It was lucky I made this decision because immediately after entering my basement, the house started to fall apart. I first took shelter under a table saw but decided that would be too risky incase it collapsed. The only other sturdy structure in the basement was the tank of heating oil standing against the wall. I crouched down under that as my entire house crumbled to the ground around me.

After realizing that I was not injured, I got out of the demolished wreckage to make sure my friends and familiy were alright. I enountered Suze and her boyfriend Raleigh. Raleigh is in the Army Reserves and his deployment was changed to helping and rebuilding from this small disaster. I'm not sure why, but for some reason he was expected to walk across the state to help people in need rather than being driven/flown by the military. I decided to walk with him since I needed to get across to see my family anyway. While we were walking, he got a text message saying that there was a much larger meteor coming and it was expected to impact just outside of Portland. I figured this would be a perfect photo op so I drove to Portland to take photos of the meteor as it entered our atmosphere. I, along with everyone else, was expecting it to impact on land just North of Portland. However, it ened up moving out to see and impacting somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean beyond the horizon.

I quickly realized this would cause a Tsunami and drove to my parents' house to warn them. I found my parents at their house completely unaware of the earlier shower or the impact off the coast. I warned them about the incoming Tsunami and told them to stay at their house as they are at the top of a hill in a Coastal Town in Maine. I assumed she lives at the highest point in the area and would be safest at her house. I also remembered that my college friend, Colin, lives in a treehouse through the woods. I thought I should walk through the forest and find him to warn him.

I knew it would be a long journey to his house so I tried to move as fast as possible. I didn't know how much time I would have before the flood arrived. As I made the trek through the woods, I came through a wide open field where I saw a man sitting on a bench. The field was packed full of wildlife - African wildlife for some reason... this is a dream, ok? I decided that the man wasn't important and continued through the field and back into the woods. As I continued through the woods, I noticed monkeys hanging from the trees. Only, these monkeys weren't hanging by their tails and feet like one might expect. No, these monkeys were tied up at the tops of the trees with rope as if someone trapped them there.

This started to make me worried as I didn't know if I was to be trapped next. Just as I said this, a really tall Jamacian guy and his entrourage came walking through the path with rope. I assumed they were the one's tying up the monkeys so I ran off the trail to evade him.

I was able to make it through and arrived at Colin's treehouse. He wasn't home. I climbed up in it and figured since it was such a long trip back, I'd just sleep in his treehouse that night and leave the next morning. For some reason I lost the urgency of the approaching Tsunami.

The next morning, I went back to my parents' house just as the flood was arriving. The water flooded the entire area. At this point, I was asked to create a map of the east coast and highlight all coastal areas with an elevation less than 100 feet so that the Disaster Recovery Team and Army Reserves could easily see the areas affected by the flooding. About half way through creating the map, my cat woke me up so I will never know if they were able to repair the damage.

Sorry for the anticlimactic endings...

But then I found $5!