How Lil Wayne could have saved my Life.

Ok, so this might be a little like the 6 Degrees of Separation game, but follow along anyway. :-)

This past weekend, while painting, I was listening to E!'s biography on Lil Wayne in the background. I was actually amazed at his life, ambition, and his talent as a rapper. Often we only see the outside appearance of a person, what they allow us to see, or the news stories where they are caught behaving badly. We don't really see the full person. I equate this to how little we really know our aquaintances....or, let's face it, our Facebook 'friends'.

On the show, I learned that he started rapping at 8...yes, I said 8! And he was signed to a label at 12! He was in the gifted program in school, until he dropped out at 14. Despite dropping out of school, he eventually earned his GED and enrolled at the University of Houston in 2005, earning high grades and majoring in Political Science. I was also surprised to learn that he was the original person to coined the term "bling" while recording one of his albums.

So, what does all of this have to do with me? During the interview he was asked about his rumored drug use. He noted that he uses marijuana recreationally, but that he was no longer addicted to the "purple juice". The narrator explained that "purple juice" was a reference to his addiction to cough syrup. This actually perked my ears up. I had studied many drugs in my Criminology classes, but had never heard of anyone being addicted to cough syrup. I was also interested because I often treat my allergies with Nyquil (it is a cheaper alternative to allergy medicine since it has an antihistimine in it).

After researching addiction to cough syrup online, I found out that the addiction is to the codeine in the cough syrup. It is cheaper than most drugs, and legal. One thing I also found during my research was that certain common medications can be deadly when taken in conjunction with cough syrup. One of those being another over-the-counter allergy medications I often take! Cough syrup taken in conjunction with Claritin can be deadly. I can't tell you how many times I have taken this combination.

I used to be on allergy shots when we were on military health insurance, but since switching to the Corporate world, I now have United Health Care. I pay $1,000 per month for premiums, and since the deductible is $5,000, I end up paying for 100% of my own doctor visits, medicines, xrays, etc. After getting the bill for my first month of allergy shots ($500), I stopped getting the shots and started self treating with over-the-counter medication. I usually take Sudafed when stopped up during the day, Claritin as a preventative measure, and NyQuil at night because of the antihistimine it contains. I can't tell you how many times I have often taken them all together, when I am suffering really bad from allergies. Thanks to Lil Wayne, I now know how dangerous that is, and how lucky I am to still be alive.

Thanks Lil Wayne for saving my life!

Painting makes me depressed.

(Editors note: too tired to make sense, so here's some very random and out of place thoughts on the subject.)

I'm not sure why, and I just discovered it. Though I'm not sure if it's the painting that makes me depressed or the fact that I get motivated to paint when I get anxious to move. Maybe it's being anxious to move that makes me depressed.

When we first moved here, I painted with a fury. I was often home alone with Kennedy, and had just moved to a new place. I was very lonely, and therefore, depressed. I painted knowing that we were not going to live here for very long. I painted, so we could sell the house. Anyone that has bought and sold a house in a short period of time knows that you have to raise the value enough to cover the realtor's fees. So, I had to put raise the value of our house $12,000 in a market with falling values.

So, I painted.

And painted.

And painted. Six full rooms, and a hallway. I painted everything...walls, ceiling, trim. Man, do you know how long that takes? To do it right?

I swear this house is held together with paint.

I finally stopped painting when I got a job. I was working, getting out of the house, and therefore happy.

Well, a year later, I'm painting again. I'm itching to get out of this house. The enormous mortgage, along with my outrageous student loans, and 2 months of layoffs has made me have to pinch pennies. It sucks.

Someone came to look at the house Thursday. I drove by while they were here and saw what they looked like. Then yesterday (Saturday), there was a car that drove in front of our house and stopped and looked. I swear it was the same couple that came to look at the house (but anyone that knows me knows that my facial recognition sucks). I would love for them to buy the house, but I've shown it enough not to get my hopes up.

However, their looking has made me motivated to finish up the painting that I started. Something to give them (or any other perspectives) the extra push.

Painting was fun the first 5 minutes, but motivation was soon lost. Damn, why did I start? Now I HAVE to finish it, and have no motivation or energy to do so. I'm done painting for today. It's already put me in a bad mood, and I'm trying to not take it out on others.

Blah.