Smartsies and Funsies

Migraine by Oliver Sacks

Although it was tough to read, Migraine is definitely one of the most informative books I have ever read, and am thankful that I read it. Since 2002, I have suffered (and I do mean suffered) from migraines, complete with auras, which are pretty much the most terrifying and annoying thing I have thus encountered in life. And how thankful I am that I am in the minority of migraine sufferers who get them! Thanks to Excedrin Migraine, and now some wonder drug that my neurologist prescribed that I take when I get auras that eliminates the migraine, my migraines have been manageable. I would rather not have them, but I guess I don't really have a choice in that.

So when I got this book for Christmas, I immediately started looking through it and found the wonderful pictures that can finally show, better than I can describe, the insanity that I see when I get auras. I don't know why I can't describe this other than saying, I get a blind spot and then I get an arc of squiggles in my vision that vaguely reminds me of when you highlight a cell in Excel. Anyway, this is what I see at first:




And this is what I see about 10 minutes after the blind spots first appear:

And that's what an aura is. Mine usually last from 15-45 minutes. They start out at some point in my field of vision and slowly work their way up to the top, and then eventually out of my field of vision. After that my vision is still a little weird, in that I can't look at a computer and (much to the delight of my co-workers) must sit with sunglasses on, and I get a usually mild headache, due to my medicine, and maybe some nausea, that usually lasts about two hours in entirety. Once that is gone, my vision is mostly back to normal. Fun, no? It's much better than before which involved complete incapacitation and throwing up and sensitivity to light, sound, etc., which usually hit a high mark during which I would cry out of pain and complete lack of control. Good times.

Anyway, Migraine really put things in perspective for me in regards to what other migraine sufferers have to experience, and I am so very thankful that I have relatively low-key migraines. Once, during a migraine, I lost feeling in my fingers on my left hand, and was, rightfully so, freaking out. This is actually normal, and can effect your entire arm. Terrifying. Thankfully this has only happened once.

Migraine made my migraines a little less horrifying, but still left me wondering why we don't yet know what causes migraines. I'm pretty sure mine are stress related (my neck/shoulders/back are insanely tight) and therefore my neurologist suggested to seek chiropractic and massage therapy weekly/bi-weekly. No problem! Medicinal massages are by far the best prescription I have gotten in life.

My only problem with Migraine is that it got very medical at times, making it difficult to understand. Also, the entire time while reading it I was paranoid that I was going to get a migraine. I don't know how this could have been helped, but I'm pretty sure the tiny font size didn't help matters. Anyway, a big thank you to Oliver Sacks for making my life a little less scary. I recommend that you gift this book to anyone who gets migraines, even if they think they know everything about them. Believe me, you don't. Plus the pictures are neat.

To-Do List by Sasha Cagen

For my Book Proposals class, I was required to sign up for various e-newsletters about publishing (Publisher's Lunch, Publisher's Weekly Daily), including Daily Dose by Powell's, which sends out information about a new book every day. A couple of weeks ago I got a Daily Dose for To-Do List and immediately started freaking out because I LOVE to do lists and somehow have never heard of the magazine or blog that existed before the book. So I raved about it for about twenty minutes at work and then went about my business.

That weekend I was at Barnes and Noble doing a project for Book Proposals when, right next to the escalators, I saw a table with books on it, and there it was. And I squealed. And Nick was embarrassed (per usual). And then I did the next normal thing when I see a book I'm excited about: pick it up and hug it like someone is going to take it away from me. Even though it was $16, even though I didn't have any gift certificates from Christmas, even though I ended up buying the $30 Writer's Market to complete said project and item #1 on my To-Do List for 2008 (seen below)(I also ended up buying Chuck Klosterman's Killing Yourself to Live. It had been on my to-buy list for years! And it was only $5!), even though I have been horribly cheap/frugal in order to accomplish item #6, and even though I had just gotten 22 new books for Christmas and have about 50 other books on my to-read book shelf, I allowed myself to buy the book. And then read it immediately. And I loved it.

I love the concept, the design, the section introductions, the actual lists, and the type of paper they printed the book on. I really love that instead of just typing out what was on the lists, they actually included images of the lists (as does the blog and probably the magazine). My lists are most often lists of errands I have to run or things I need to buy or projects I need to do at work, and this book opened my eyes to the endless possibilities of lists. I would summarize but I really think you should check this one out for yourselves. It is amazing. You should buy it for everyone, because everyone should make lists! As promised:

2008 To Do List (in progress):

1. Submit 3 pieces of writing to publications
2. Enter a photography contest
3. Read 30 books
4. Bake one cake from Cakes to Dream On
5. Perfect my cheesecake and chocolate chip cookie recipes (testers needed)
6. Buy a house
7. Learn how to make steaks with the yumsy crust/seasoning rub like I had at Bobby Flay's Steakhouse (AC)

Next Up: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (What? I needed something light after Migraine. Plus my sister is putting on the musical in the beginning of March and I think it's finally time that I read the real thing. Also, this doctor that I encountered in the ER the other night totally reminded me on the crabby teacher and now I'm in the mood.)