let's unwrite these pages

So today has been the awesome day of writer's guides (warnings for triggers as per what the guide is talking about), which I found super interesting in an autobiographical way, as well as really useful for when I write about things I haven't, myself, experienced (without having to do them!) :D

Writer's Guides
-Ecstasy by apiphile
-Meth by jumpthesnark
-Marijuana by strangecreature
-PTSD by rachelmanija
-Dear [not just urban fantasy] authors by kaigou (a guide to street/fringe life, with good guides/rants for - and warnings applicable to - gang and drug culture, the hardcore scene, weaponry and why it gets used, living with no money, child abuse and a host of other things)

Not only was I very impressed with all of these, I thought, "I wish I had something to contribute! I haven't done ANYTHING! My life isn't exciting."

Well, there is one thing I can talk about with some expertise. I don't know how frequently it comes up in fanfiction or original fiction, but there are certainly some myths to dispel, and I don't mind at all my experiences being used to write fiction with more accuracy, so.

Shiver and Shake: A Guide To Epilepsy
( Read on... )

Um...that's about it. Any questions? Any need for more personal experience? Betaing? Whatever?

Whoa, it's officially my birthday.
And officially time for me to be in bed. Night, guys.

Crossposted to LJ from Dreamwidth

So, for those of you not on my girlfriend's LJ flist, yesterday was kind of...eventful.

As in, I had a grand mal seizure.

I don't have grand mal seizures (in fact, every time I explain my epilepsy I go, "okay, so you know 'convulsions', like you normally think of when someone says epilepsy? I don't have those"...well, apparently I do.), so this should be freaking me out more than it is, sort of, but really because I'm a hypochrondriac and every woman on my maternal line for a generation (eg, my mom and my mom's sister) has had grand mal seizures, I figured it was just a matter of time.

I was also terrified of the prospect, because I don't know, I thought it might be scary, or the idea of not controlling my body freaked me out, or something. I already didn't like it enough as it was: not being able to drive, sometimes not finishing sentences or repeating them, not hearing the middle of other people's sentences. The idea of full on convulsions freaked me right the fuck out.

Well, it should have, but not how I thought.

So the last thing I remember before the seizure is sitting on the bed with my rats. The first thing after the seizure I remember is Jessi telling me, "FAYE. FAYE. You had a seizure," and getting me changed and sitting me down to wait for the ambulance. She tells me later I kept backing up to things and not knowing how to sit down, and she told me that she told me I had a seizure at least four times, which I don't remember.

By the time I was in the ambulance I was mostly coherent, which was actually sort of a pain in the ass because it meant that the times I wasn't coherent (ie: "What state are you moving to?" "Chicago" "...So, the city of Illinois, then?") were as embarrassing as they were funny. But the EMTs were nice, even if the line they started was kind of painful, and for never having ridden in an ambulance before it was...actually not terrible, or especially frightening since the worst was already over.

Plus, no four hour wait in the ER! Score. Just a, y'know, four hour stay in the ER.

( my day in the ER )

But yeah. Feeling fine today, except for a lingering headache and a black eye and tongue pain. Jessi's watching me like a hawk. Poor thing, she called my mom freaking out yesterday and was very clingy all of yesterday. :( :( :( I don't like freaking her out.

( Photos of my war wounds! )

On the good side, afterwards Courtney (and Foster) picked us up and we got Sonic since we hadn't eaten all day. Mmmm cranberry slushy. And, we have a new rattie! We named her Blind Mag after the Sarah Brightman character in Repo! The Genetic Opera, since albino rats are mostly blind. (Plus, as I realized later, Mag is a derivative of Margaret, which means "Pearl", and she's a soft ivory white, compared to Nico's stark white). Incidentally, if you haven't seen Repo, you must.

I still want a white rattie named Vanya, but possibly a totally shy, OCD, passive one is not the one. (Mag and Nico got along so well in part because every time Nico did something dominant to test her, Mag just backed away and let her go instead of fighting. Now they just groom eachother. Cute.)


crossposted to LJ from Dreamwidth