Entry One Hundred Twenty.
Friday, 2010.02.05, 11:30 AM CST.
2010 will be a year of change.  (Oh, yeah, and I have Legionnaires' Disease).
Current Mood:  Optimistic again.  Current scent:  None.

All right, everybody.  It's been a while since my last update.  I feel like I have a lot to say; hopefully I'll be able to pound it all out here.

Those who read my Journal Entries regularly will remember that towards the end of last year, I was pretty much on the verge of quitting DJing.  Heck, I was pretty much on the verge of just staying inside with my family and not doing anything.

I have a bit of a different outlook now, I think.  I'm getting better, in that sense, at least.

MY HEALTH.
I've had a few health problems as of late that I figure I should mention.  As some of you know, I've had upper respiratory issues for over 20 years.  They come and go; there have been spans of time in which I've been doing great, and there have been other points at which just being able to breathe has felt like a luxury.

Well, after having a primary care physician who, for years, kept treating my issues as "allergies" or "just another upper respiratory infection," I finally switched primary care physicians a few years back.  My current one actually mentioned that I might have asthma a while back.

Well, a few weeks ago, I got sick - really sick.  I was having coughing fits, chilling to the point of convulsions, and I had a fever of 103.5° F.  It was the most severe fever I'd had in over a decade.  On top of that, I felt tired and "achy" all over - as if I had the flu.

Luckily, the fever, chilling and flu-like symptoms went away over the course of a couple of days.  Unfortunately, the coughing remained... and remained... and I finally decided "enough is enough."

I enlisted the help of the best pulmonologist I know - a gentleman named Mark Britt - and subjected myself to a number of painful tests.  From these tests, Dr. Britt determined:

• I have asthma.  This did not come as any surprised to me.
  
• I do not have pulmonary emboli (blood clots in the lungs).  I only mention this because it was a possible concern, but I am thrilled to report I don't have them.
  
• I have - get this - Legionnaires' Disease!  Yep.  Legionnaires'.  I'm not kidding.  Legionnaires'.  If you don't know much about it (I certainly didn't until a few days ago), look it up online.  The main things you should know are that it's not passed from person to person (so you have no risk of catching it from me), it's treatable/curable, and I probably got it from water particles in a faulty hotel air conditioner or something like that.  I have most likely had it for three to six months; it takes a while to incubate.

I am now going to get to use asthma inhalers (yay!), and some heavy-duty antibiotics will hopefully fix everything else up.

Until you get something like this, it's really easy to take something as simple as breathing for granted.  I'm just glad that I finally have an answer after all these years.

If any of you have been having breathing problems for a while, it's worth getting checked out - things might be more serious than you think.  If you need a good pulmonologist, look up Dr. Mark Britt - I now count him as one of my personal heroes.

A YEAR OF CHANGE (AND A YEAR OF MEMORIES).
For a number of reasons, I think that 2010 is going to be a very different year than previous years... and much, much better.  Lanna is finally done with college and has a decent job again.  I have received some very flattering accolades at my "day job," and I feel very confident insofar as that job is concerned.  On the "home front," it really does seem like things are going to be good this year, barring any unforeseen circumstances.

The "cast" for this year has changed considerably.  A long time ago, several of our friends moved to Portland, Oregon, because apparently it's the most awesome place on earth (cough, gag).  Of course, there are some friends (like DJ TMJ) whom I cherish greatly who have stayed in the Tulsa are, but we have also met a number of other new friends in the last year.   It's weird moving from one "familiar" set of friends to another, but also exciting.  Kind of like moving to a new school.

Psychologically, though, 2010 is going to be a trip.  As many of you know, I love to revisit memories of my past, and special "anniversaries" are a really big deal with me.  This year will be chock full of special anniversaries:  It's the 20th anniversary of an awful lot of stuff.  (It's hard to believe I graduated from high school twenty years ago this year... and I started my first year of college twenty years ago this year.  A LOT of the memories revolve around those two facts.)

DJING.
I know deep-down that I can't quit DJing at this point.  I still find myself buying DJ-only remixes (including a recent batch of Prime Cuts remixes whose vinyl condition blew me away - practically perfect after over 20 years!!!), and last year I invested in the best pair of DJ CD players I've ever had.

Part of me really misses the world of commercial mobile DJing.  I won't go back to standard, open, "take whatever gig I can get" DJing, though.  If I ever go back into the mobile DJ world, I won't ever take another middle school gig, and I will very likely never perform at another high school event.  There's too much hassle involved, and most modern music these days just sucks.

I like the thought of occasionally doing a gig here and there, and making every event that I DJ a "special" event.  I won't quite be retired... I'll be what I call "Art Bell retired."

So, I might do a gig or two this year.  We'll see.  I have no plans to DJ at the Marquee again, since my equipment is really sub-par for their caliber of sound system and their big wooden stage.  I do have a few other venues in mind... but I'll get around to talking about them at a later time.

I can say that this year, I'm planning on making some significant updates to my system.  NO, I won't be upgrading to a laptop-based system like Serato or Virtual DJ.  Screw that.  I'm staying old-school, still playing REAL vinyl records with a CD here and there... but I might get a new mixer.  I have my heart pretty much set on a certain one; it'll be a significant investment, but I've heard it's incredible and the investment might even spur me into doing more mixing practice.  :)  We'll see.

Anyway...  I've got a lot to do around here:  Lots to clean up around the house (yep, even we cool DJ-types have to do it, especially the cool DJ-types who have toddlers), plus I've got to get ready for a game night tonight!  That's right!  Apples To Apples, the Game of Things, and maybe even some Loaded Questions with a fuzzy navel or two.  GAAAME NIIIIGHT!  Hahaahahahhahahaha...

More soon.

Badger