I'm reading this article in this Sunday's New York Times Magazine called "This Year in Ideas". There's a section about Britney Spears where they dub her "the postmodern virgin-whore". I was amused.
It makes sense that this year should end with something crappy. This year has been my token bad year, so I think we're trying to sqeeze as much bad stuff in 12 months as possible - December no exception. I'm looking forward to all the really cool awesome stuff that's going to happen to me next year =).

Anyways, I went in to get a MRI on Saturday, and had a followup with my doctor today. This is my spine:

As you can see where the red arrow is, that is my herniated L5-S1 disk. Normally, it should look like all the disks above it. According to my doctor, as herniated disks go, this one's a whopper.

Here's a cross-section of a normal disk on the left, and my L5-S1 disk on the right:

The red part is the herniated part of the disk. The blue arrows point to where the nerve runs. The right side is squished, and the left side is a little compressed, causing my symptoms. My doctor says he's suprised that I'm not in great pain. In any case, it's bad enough that he's worried about nerve damage and therefore is recommending surgery to remove the herniated part of the disk in order to free up the nerve. Yikes. I'm going to a nerve specialist on Thursday to get a second opinion.

Anyways, this really throws my life into a little spin - I've been planning on doing a bit of traveling before and after the holidays, but esp. since I might need to go in for surgery, this is probably not possible any more. Also, I've been trying to work up to running a 10K race - no more running for a while. I'm getting really into rock climbing, and just got a month membership to a local rock climbing gym - no rock climbing. I was looking forward to skiing this season - no skiing. Poo.

In other news, my parents and I have been on a David Lear kick recently, having watched Lawrence of Arabia and Dr. Zhivago in the past week. Bridge on the River Kuai is next. David Lear is the British director who directed all these movies. They just don't make epic movies quite like they used to - complete with beginning overtures and intermissions.

Here's a little geek trivia about the demise of the cent symbol. Also included is a complete list of the ASCII character set with very cute and nerdy running commentary on each character (e.g. "The period, a.k.a. decimal point, a.k.a. dot, punctuation megastar." or "The handy, work-a-day slash. Not to be confused with its evil twin, backslash.").

I've started re-reading the first Harry Potter book. Two things I've already noticed:
- on p.14, the motorcycle that Hagrid rides was lent to him by "Young Sirius Black"
- Dudley, Malcom, and Gordon (two of Dudley's gang) sounds a bit like of Crabbie, Malfoy, and Goyle

Last night I went to see "The Dallas Christmas Festival", which is a Christmas Pagent put on by a local church. Take the image that you have in your mind when you imagine 'local parish christmas pagent' ... now add steriods, multiply it by 10, and take it into the modern age. What I went to was, in my view, complete opulent overkill. Here are some excerpts from the program:
- "Be advised that there will be pyrotechnic special effects during this portion of the program."
- "Live animals will be moving through the aisles during the presentation. Please refrain from reaching out as they pass." (For the record, they had 2 horses, 3 camels, a donkey, and 6 sheep)
- "Flying Effects by ZFX, Inc"
- "For over 16 years Joel has performed as Jesus more than 500 times ... Joel is currently employed as an engineer with Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth, the winning team for the new JSF - Joint Strike Fighter"
- "We are thrilled you have chosen to join over 35,000 others in attendance ... Our cast and crew of over 800 have been rehersing..."

Additionally, they had a 480 person choir singing christmas carols. They have their own website: http://www.dallaschristmasfestival.com/ - Check it out.
Needless to say, it quite effectively shoved me into the Christmas season.

So these little silly internet tests are all the rage these days:
Your name of Daniel has created a most expressive nature, idealistic and inspirational, driven with a strong inner urge to be of service in some way that would uplift humanity as a whole. However, there is a tendency to assume too heavy a burden of responsibility for others, which leads to worry and undue concern. People with problems are drawn to you as they recognize you as one who has understanding and gives not only sympathy and comfort but provides also some constructive advice or assistance. You have a generous quality to your nature, but you must guard carefully against giving more than you receive or you will find yourself doing without because you have helped someone else. You love people, family, home, and friends and try to be a parent to the whole human race. While you have generally stable conditions in your personal life, you may experience some problems in business affairs through a tendency to be scattering and inattentive to details. Any health problems would show as tension in the nervous system brought on by worry.

Your first name of Dan creates individuality, independence, self-confidence, initiative, and an inclination to physical activity. You are not inclined to merge your opinions and viewpoints with others, to accept compromise, or to work in a subservient position against your will. Your expression is invariably quite direct and candid, and lacks the moderating tone of tact, diplomacy, and friendliness. Others find it difficult to accept your domineering and, at times, argumentative manner. Your circle of friends is restricted to those of like nature. Once friendship is established, you are very loyal and steadfast and do not tolerate gossip or criticism. In your close associations and family life, there is little demonstration of sentiment, appreciation, sympathy, or encouragement. It is difficult for you to find the right words for such circumstances. Weaknesses in the health caused by this name centre in the head.

The name of Hui creates a very likable easy going and good-natured personality with a love for people. You will do anything to avoid friction among others. You could have musical or artistic talents but find it difficult to concentrate your efforts in one area long enough to accomplish anything. Spontaneous, happy-go-lucky, and expressive yourself, you like to see people happy and go out of your way to create harmony amongst them. You find it difficult to discipline your desires and emotional feelings. Too idealistic and impractical through the use of this name, you would not find it easy to make a success in the business world. You are inclined to procrastinate and let things slide and to make promises that you find difficult to fulfil although you have the best of intentions. Your health would be affected through the fluid functions, liver trouble, or a weak back.

http://www.kabalarians.com/gkh/your.htm
It's not often that you're forced to face your own imperfections quite as explicitly and undeniability as I had to yesterday - here's the story:
My left leg has been having problems lately being numb, and often having a dull pain. So, finally after 6 months of this turning from an occasional twinge to a constant annoyance, I went to a back specialist yesterday. After an X-ray, he noticed that there was a narrowing of distance between the L5 and S1 vertabre, meaning that there was something wrong with the disk separating these two vertabre - the most likely being a herniated disk. After reviewing past incidences and conditions, we decided that the direct cause of disk damage was a back injury I sustained my senior year of college when I had thought I pulled my back while executing a back kick a little too enthusiastically. At the time everyone had thought I had just pulled a back muscle, but most like now, it was probably my disk damaged.

The real underlying cause, however, is that my S1 vertabre is slightly underdeveloped - the little knob that sticks out (no, I don't know scientific names you med school snob =) never fully formed - so in a way, it's a very slight congenital deformity. Yay. In any case because of this, that particular vertabre is weaker than normal ones, and was thus more predisposed to injury, so while this cannot be blamed for the actual injury, it was a major contributor.

In any case, I'm going back in for an MRI sometime this week, so they can tell exactly what's going on. Exciting stuff!