Ah-guh

No sleep for me! I tried to go to bed at 11 last night, and then woke up at 2 AM... permanently. I'm tired and not tired all at the same time.

I've been reading Carrie these past couple of days... almost done. I really loved Stephen King's Dark Tower series, so I wanted to see what his earlier work was like. It's quite good! He's got a knack for the little things--small details, brand names, stuff that sticks out and catches a character's attention.

Beats the HELL out of Twilight (which is on the reading list for a class I'm taking in the fall). I swore I'd never read it, but I want to do well in the class, and I want to do most of the reading over the summer. I've read most of the stuff on the list, so I decided to give Twilight a go. I have no idea why so many people like it so much. It's really quite terrible.

I've gotten through the first to chapters, but I needed to take a break and spare my brain. So I'm reading Carrie now.

And for some reason, blogger wants my text to be italicized, even though the italics box is NOT pressed. So I'm going to wrap this up and apologize for the complete lack of topic/focus in this post. I need sleep.

Suikoden III

Hello reader(s)!

One of my favourite games of all time is Suikoden III. Yes. The third one (granted, I haven't yet finished the second). A few years back my cousin had a copy, which I borrowed and thoroughly enjoyed. My boyfriend at the time then wanted to borrow it and my cousin agreed. Then we broke up. Needless to say, I never saw the game again.

A limited number of copies were released in North America, so it was impossible to find in stores. Thank Zeus for ebay! Feeling nostalgic a couple months ago, I found and ordered a copy online. It was used, and the inside of the case smelled like tobacco, but it was Suikies III =D. And now my current (and totally awesome) boyfriend is playing it. Don't worry... this won't be like that time 5 years ago. We live together, so the game can't get that far away =P.

I might start a file myself, but it'd feel redundant since watching my partner play it for the first time is just as enjoyable. And yes, the game is as great as I remember it being.

Something I didn't remember though: unusually difficult random encounters. Most of the random battles are pretty easy, but there have been a few rare encounters with monsters that were WAY overpowered compared to the protagonists. A couple successes led to ridiculous level-ups. But for some of the really tough ones (like the grand holly), running away is the most reasonable option. At least in Chapter 1.

Anyway, he seems to be enjoying the game as much as I did, which is great. And then when we're done with it, it'll go back to my cousin, where it belongs. Finally his copy of the game will be replaced.

EDIT: Also, I've updated Stranded. Check it out! I plan on updating every Monday for now.

Eep!

It's been a very long time since I've updated. But, my blog is now done sleeping! I'm going to try to keep up with it a little more now.

I've got a couple other blogs started now.

There's Fictional Vomit, which I intend to update once I get the inspiration. It's on the backburner right now though, since I've been devoting a good chunk of summer to my novel.

And there's Stranded, a webcomic type thingy that I've just started up. It clearly showcases my amateurish photoshopping. At the very least, there's room for improvement, so I'm not too worried if the art is kinda lame for now. I've got some exciting ideas for the story!

So, I've resigned myself to unemployment for this summer. If an opportunity knocks, then great! But until then, I'm not going to stress over it. I've still got enough leftover OSAP from last term that I should be alright. I've given the job search an ample effort, and I think at this point I can just blame the economy =P.

Besides, why not work on the things I really want to do with my life? If I really want to publish something someday, I need to build up my skills. I need to do creative stuff for the heck of it, and not worry about whether it's good or not. I need to learn and grow and yada yada yada. So that's what I'm going to do with my summer.

Maybe I don't have a PAID summer job, but I can use the time to do my own work. The stuff that really matters to me.

What is wrong with me?

Alright, so most people who know me well are aware that I'm really sensitive to perfumes, fragrances, fabric softener and stuff like that. I've always just thought of it as having allergies.

As a kid, my parents joked that I was allergic to wal-mart, because every time we went there, I'd get all flushed in the face after 40 minutes, hot, tired, and dizzy.

Even after eliminating fabric softener and stuff, there was a while in grade 9 when I kept having coughing fits in my room. Eventually I had a heart palpitation at school and had to go to the hospital. A couple weeks later, we found a broken nail polish bottle behind the desk in my bedroom. Things got a little better after we got rid of it.

Any time I have msg I get headaches.

And then there was that whole gluten thing. I'm eating gluten again, since it's too difficult to be gluten-free as student.

It's like I'm sensitive to EVERYTHING.

Today, somebody cleaned the bathroom with pinesol, and my throat swelled up, I got a massive headache, and I had to sit outside for a while. Now I'm back inside, breathing fine, but my head still hurts. The scent still lingers in the air and makes me feel tired and nauseous. I looked up "pinesol allergy" on google, and after clicking links and mindlessly websurfing, I ran into MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivity).

MCS describes my problem perfectly. I thought, "hey, great! I'll just tell the doctor to test me for MCS".

But there's a problem with that. As I continued looking at various sources of information about MCS, I realized that the medical community considers it very controversial. The widely accepted belief among doctors is that it's psychosomatic. The more credible information sources out there seem to endorse this view. The less credible sources say that MCS is a real disorder, caused by sensitivity to chemicals.

Both sides fail to present solid evidence for their position. It's just a big sea of conflicting opinions and error-prone research.

As I read on and on, I got angrier and angrier. What the hell is wrong with me? Frankly, I'd just like to know. I don't give a damn about the politics of the medical world. Maybe if this negative bias towards MCS didn't exist, credible researchers could do some ACTUAL studies on it.

So what is it then? Is it psychosomatic? 'Cause this headache sure as hell doesn't feel psychosomatic to me. Am I just delusional? Have I somehow tricked myself into thinking everything is out to get me, as the medical community would suggest? Are they wrong? Little is known about the mechanisms on which MCS operates, because it isn't like traditional immunological allergies. Maybe they just don't know enough about it. The "MCS is real" advocates get all defensive and accuse the medical community of lying. This is bound to just irritate the medical community and cause them to view MCS with suspicion. No wonder they're calling people with MCS crazy.

I just want to know what's wrong with me, and how to fix it.

New blog.

Howdy!

I haven't been updating lately because I just don't have much to blog about. And I've been pretty busy with everything.

But I've started a new blog that I hope to update at least somewhat regularly. It's a creative writing blog, and will basically just be a whole bunch of stories and stuff. It's not revised, polished, or even necessarily good. It's just writing. Hopefully it'll get the ideas flowing.

Anyhow, stop by and give it a read! Leave comments if you can, and critique is always welcome!

http://fictionalvomit.blogspot.com

Correlation does not imply Causation

For most Psych students, it's a mantra. It's the first thing they'll teach you in most statistics or critical thinking classes. Unfortunately, it's also something the news media often neglects or glosses over.

An article in the National Post and several other newspapers claims that the increase in female doctors is hurting medical productivity. It sounds extreme, but it is based on statistical evidence. It was found that female doctors, on average, work less hours per week. Since the percentage of female doctors is expected to rise, the researchers say it is reasonable to conclude that productivity will decline. The news articles then go on to back this up with the explanation that women require more time to care for their own families, have children, etc, and so they're able to work less.

I decided to look for the original study, and I managed to find the abstract. It's here: http://www.biomedexperts.com/Abstract.bme/19422491/The_feminisation_of_Canadian_medicine_and_its_impact_upon_doctor_productivity

The study seems to have been conducted soundly, but there's one problem I noticed: The conclusion. They found that being a female doctor is linked with fewer work hours, and they assumed that it was a causal relationship. But the study is only correlational. They should not be able to conclude that "Gender appears to have a significant influence on the practice patterns of doctors in Canada." If they had've said link with instead of "a significant influence on", maybe the headlines would read something a little less harsh than "Female doctors hurt productivity".

I also thought of some plausible alternative causal relationships. It can't go backwards (since it wouldn't make any sense for work hours to influence one's gender), but there are some third variables that weren't considered in the study. One of them is age. Perhaps younger doctors work less hours than older ones. Women have entered the field of medicine more recently than men. If younger doctors are more likely to be female, and younger doctors also work less hours than older ones, then age is just as plausible a cause as gender. The National Post article mentions, "The new generation of physicians - both male and female - tends to work fewer hours generally than older colleagues," yet the study didn't factor in this variable to isolate gender as the specific influence being tested.

Another possible explanation is quality of care. Perhaps doctors, male or female, who give better quality care work less hours. If gender and quality of care are also linked, this variable could play a role as well. And there is a link. The article also says, "there is evidence that women spend more time with patients, are better communicators and offer more preventive medicine."

Sure, it's possible that gender influences work hours. But there are other influences to be considered, which may have influenced the outcome of the study. So it bothers me that they would use such a strong causal statement in their headline, based on correlational data.

Wow. Mood Swings?

I've clearly been playing a little too much Super Princess Peach. Her magic power basically comes from her mood swings.

I'm in a MUCH better mood than when I wrote that last post, which was... not very long ago. I'm not going to switch majors, and I'm going to stop worrying about every other facet of life. I sat and thought for a while, and realized I'm just having a downish day. No matter what topic I thought of, my outlook was either worried, stressed, or otherwise bleak. That's what made me realize that nothing is actually wrong. My mood was just a little depressed. Not long after I recognized it, it went away.

I'm just going to keep doing what I enjoy. I enjoy psych, so I'll stick with it for now. If I change my mind later, so be it. But for now, I'm fine with what I'm doing. Maybe I'll be a counselor, and maybe I'll be a teacher. But I don't need to make up my mind at this very moment.