gryffindorseeker's imagination journal.

a lot has happened since i last blogged to y'all. obama picked biden as his vp running mate, and i was okay with it. mccain picked palin as his vp running mate (i was disappointed to learn that it was not michael palin, the monty python guy), and i raised an eyebrow in suspicion. i feebly hoped that mccain would pick joe lieberman, the republican senator from connecticut (parading in an independent's clothing) whose '06 campaign i worked so hard to derail. now, what kind of bff is johnny being toward joe? besties don't turn their back on besties! plus, that selection would have caused me to shed tears of mirth and delight. i don't want to get into politics (it's too late, anyway), but as a former hillary supporter, i'm not going to vote for an anti-feminist, socially conservative, former beauty queen governor of alaska just because she has a UTERUS. that's NOT HOW I ROLL. frankly, it's insulting that mccain's people think that a broad who hates abortion and likes guns will remind me of HILLARY MOTHERFUCKING CLINTON and entice me away from barry o'bama. just because i disagree with most of o'bama's policy (i disagree with more of mccain's), i refuse to vote for an old dude just because his vp pick is a traitor to the women's rights movement and, i must reiterate, IS NOT MICHAEL PALIN.

...you've got to bash in minds!

ahoyhoy! I just wasted 30 seconds of my life reading the breaking dawn spoilers (no offense if you liked the book...but if you did, i hope you're on vicodin or something). let me make it clear that i am not bashing twilight. i just think that that insane lady who wrote the books is in a permanent state of arrested development and needs to see a psychologist.

here are we gryffies spoilers if you're curious. why keep secrets when you can ruin the suspence? (highlight to discover the truth!)

• james starts sniffing tea leaves and becomes a seer
  
• tegan realizes her folly and reunites with james
  
• they get married three days later, with hagrid officiating the civil ceremony
  
• tegan gets knocked up and names the baby farfignewton
  
• freddie is gay
  
• micah becomes a pimp
  
• j.d. discovers that he's sterile and kills himself
  
• albus and scorpius become marginally successful con men
  
• rosie drops out of school and becomes the dred pirate weasley
  
• james forsees that dobby longbottom will die, but is too late to save him
  
• tegan discovers that umbridge is her birth mother and fudge is her birth father
  
• james becomes a dancer in a chorus line
  
• farfignewton joins a motorcycle gang
  
• farfignewton falls in love with a malfoy

hi everyone! if anybody still remembers me, the next wg chapter should be fit to post in a day or two. my plan is to resolve the cliffhanger, take a wee break from writing to study for exams, and get my ehpf collab and challenge done by the end of august.

at the moment i am so sunburned it hurts to type, hence my dedication of this post to the magical, magnificent gel we call aloe vera. but once all the dead skin peels off i should be in top form to write!

hellooo people of the internet! i've been busy with school, which is good, and consuming a bit too much...er...firewhiskey...cough cough.

i'm working on my contribution to the elderly hp fans "defining moments" collab, and mine centers on dumbledore. the collab is on my favorites page if you want to check it out...momotwins' one-shot about percy is extremely fabulous. oh, and gryffies ch. 18 is up, if you haven't read it.

i'm up to date on answering reviews! this is nuts! and registration for pottersworld is this weekend if you want to join...frankly, i'm not all that addicted but it's a casual hobby, and my writing has improved. so don't be afraid of being addicted...if you want to try something new, give it a shot. =)

also, if you're extremely bored this summer, watch the mole. it's the only reality show that doesn't make me want to vomit. it's a really cool mind game, so check it out.

Shut up, I've got Doctor Who on the brain. xD I loves it.

Sooo, let's debrief, shall we? 7000 words in on WG Ch. 18 and I still have a ways to go. I know that long chapters suck for some of you and I'm sorry, but I really want to avoid cutting this chapter in two. There's no good place to split it, you know? And I'm in school and I've got a couple thousand words to go, so let's be patient, yeah? I promise that when it's completed, it will be the Most Significant Chapter To Date. So I want to make it as perfect as possible.

And it's the infamous Christmas chapter! And here's a sneak preview for you all:

‘What’re you lads doing so deep in Knockturn Alley, lads?’ asked Giraffe-Neck MacDougal, his voice so hoarse that I wanted to offer him a throat lozenge. Sadly, I did not have any on me.

J.D. pointed at me. ‘He told me we were going out for ice cream!’

‘It was a fairly transparent ruse!’ I shot back. ‘Who eats ice cream in December?’

‘Smart people, that’s who!’ said J.D. ‘It’s already cold, so it doesn’t melt!’

‘He’s right, you know,’ Giraffe-Neck MacDougal said to me. ‘It’s cheaper too. Ice cream in the summer is one sticky, expensive mess.’

things have been a-happenin' and i have not updated this thing!

1. i posted my infamous dawlish-centric one-shot today. clicky (m).

2. i stayed up 'til 3 a.m. answering reviews last night and am almost caught up!

3. i'm transferring colleges! the ivy league was not for me and i'm very happy to go to a less expensive and less crazy school. if you think i'm insane or whatever...well, look at the insane stuff i write.

4. tim russert and george carlin died. why oh why?

but this is a public service announcement! because i love you guys, please get tested for lyme disease.

as you do not know, for i have kept this very dl, i have chronic lyme disease. so does everyone in my family...even my dog. it's not usually terminal, but almost anyone who's ever been outside is at risk. it's usually thought to be present only in north america, but like any good epidemic, it has spread all over the world.

the american center for disease control works alongside insurance companies to discourage doctors from diagnosing people with lyme. i wish this conspiracy wasn't true, but it is. lyme should be covered by most insurance, but the insurance companies don't want to pay for people's treatment. the cdc insists that all cases of lyme only last for two weeks, and then you're all better. this is an umbridge and fudge-sized lie. i'm no medical researcher, but all i know is that my little brother couldn't walk for six months. he missed school, he was in pain, and he was not making it up.

sorry to be so somber...i'm just feeling angry right now. almost all lyme sufferers go undiagnosed because of the corrupt cdc, and that isn't okay. even if you're not american, listen up because this thing spreads like the black death.

fun facts! (adapted from the international lyme and associated diseases society, 12+)

1. lyme disease is transmitted by the bite of a tick, and the disease is prevalent across the united states and throughout the world; a patient's country of residence does not accurately reflect his or her lyme disease risk because people travel, pets travel, and ticks travel

2. it is caused by a spiral-shaped bacteria (spirochete) called borrelia burgdorferi; the lyme spirochete can cause infection of multiple organs and produce a wide range of symptoms

3. fewer than 50% of patients with lyme disease recall a tick bite -- because i share the exact same strains of the bacteria as my mother, my doctor believes that i got it congenitally

4. the cdc surveillance criteria for lyme disease were devised to track a narrow band of cases for epidemiologic purposes; as stated on the cdc website, the surveillance criteria were never intended to be used as diagnostic criteria, nor were they meant to define the entire scope of lyme disease

5. the elisa screening test is unreliable; it misses 35% of culture proven lyme disease (only 65% sensitivity)

6. the western blot test is not much better, but it's the best laboratory test we've got

7. there are 5 subspecies of borrelia burgdorferi, over 100 strains in the u.s., and 300 strains worldwide

8. there has never been a study demonstrating that 30 days of antibiotic treatment cures chronic lyme disease; however there is a plethora of documentation in the u.s. and european medical literature demonstrating by histology and culture techniques that short courses of antibiotic treatment fail to eradicate the lyme spirochete; short treatment courses have resulted in upwards of a 40% relapse rate, especially if treatment is delayed

9. many patients with chronic lyme disease require treatment for 1–4 years, or until the patient is symptom-free -- but, you see, insurance companies don't want to pay for this, and have bought the government's support

10. like syphilis in the 19th century, lyme disease has been called the great imitator and should be considered in the differential diagnosis of rheumatologic and neurologic conditions, as well as chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, somatization disorder and any difficult-to-diagnose multi-system illness

again, sorry for the drama, but i've volunteered for various dumbledore's army-style lyme advocacy groups for years. but there's something wrong with the system when you go undiagnosed with a chronic condition for 15 years. since then, i've made marked improvements. =D even if you think it's impossible for you to have lyme, please please please get tested. the western blot is the only one to bother with in the u.s., but i think they have better tests in europe. anyway, get tested, especially if you get the bulls-eye rash! and if you find a tick on you...pleeease get tested! you don't have to live in the deep forest to be at risk! heck, there's a chance you've been infected if you've ever played soccer or sunbathed in the grass!

i know i probably sound more mental than usual...i just care. lyme has hurt so many people in the world that it isn't fair that the u.s. healthcare system prevents diagnosis.