You may of noticed lately that I have not posted in over a week.  One of the reasons is that I have not had much I wanted to say.  The other reason, and in fact the larger reason is that my RSI has been playing up over the last few days.

I do find this somewhat strange as I had gone for months with barely a twitch in either hand, I thought I had finally beat my RSI, but alas, no, it seems like it is still there.

I dont know what has brought this on, but I have my ideas that it could be related to the fact that I went sniffing around the internet again and also wrote two articles about my own experiences. I think somehow this flared it up again.

Lately I have also been feeling somewhat down about life in general, so perhaps this is playing its part also.

Anyhow, I have been thinking about doing my blogs via video instead as this is one sure way I can avoid using my hands, it also gives me the benefit of being seen and talking properly, which puts a stop to my horrid writing skills :)

If you’ve just joined us, please read part 1 of this article about RSI

How I got RSI in the first place

I had just started a new job and was inputting thousands if not millions of records into a computer system manually. My work station was poorly setup, my new co-workers were ignoring me and quite frankly I was bored, isolated and very depressed. I hated my new job, getting RSI was the nail in the coffin which sent me over the edge.

About 2 months into my new role I started to notice pain in my right hand, over the top of my hand, this pain would go away if I rested for a while so I would sit there for a few minutes whilst the pain subsided. But there was a lot of work to do so I would continue with my work.

Does this sounds familiar to you? Do you always feel a need to get your work done for fear of getting into trouble with your bosses?

As Time Went On

Over the next few weeks I noticed the same pain in my left hand. In the evenings the pain would go away with rest so I never thought about me developing RSI, I just thought I was being overworked.

Then the pain started to increase, moving down my fingers and along to my wrist, it was a cold & numb some of pain, with the sort of tingle you get with pins and needles. It didn’t take long until the pain would still be there in the evenings. I finally took this as a sign that something was wrong so I went the doctors who gave me some anti-inflammatory pills and advised me to take it easy saying I had more than likely just overworked my hands with all the typing and had mild RSI type injury’s.

When I told my employer they got me a new keyboard and arranged a risk assessment of my work station, but did nothing to change my work load or tasks other than to tell me to go slower. I officially now had RSI.

Over the next month or so the pain got worse and worse, my stress levels increased, my work rate decreased. Will this ever cure itself I thought to myself. I went on the internet looking at RSI information, looking for a cure, looking at other peoples stories of RSI, and most of the information I found just made my stress levels worse, I even cried at the thought of never being able to use my hands properly ever again, I felt like I was going to have RSI for the rest of my life

RSI Was Now My Life

My hands were my life, I used them in most of my hobbies, my guitar, playing games, computing, writing, painting. It didn’t help when friends would just poke fun at me saying that RSI wasn’t real and I was faking it. I felt like I had no real support from friends, family, colleagues and doctors, this just made me worse, I would think about it all the time, RSI was my now my life.

I soon stopped using my hands for anything that I didn’t need to, no more computing at home, no guitar playing, no painting. I even stopped carrying heavy shopping bags etc in order to give them some rest. The only place I would still use my hands would be at work, even then I would type very slowly and usually in pain even though I knew this was the cause of my RSI I couldn’t find another job which didn’t involve my hands. I ended up very depressed and miserable.

This couldn’t go on, I would have to find a cure for my RSI myself without the doctors help as the standard approach was doing nothing.

Join me soon on my quest for a cure for my RSI article and find out just how far I have come on my third and final part of my RSI article.

Having to live with RSI or Carpal tunnel related pain is extremely depressing, not knowing if it will cure or heal, if its going to affect your job, if your going to be able to continue your hobbies and past-times.

When everyday hobbies and tasks become painful keeping your mind positive can be extremely difficult, depression seems to always want to come out to play. This sense of fear of the unknown is increased ten fold when all the doctors don’t seem to be able to help which seems to be the norm for a lot of suffers seeking a cure for RSI.

I needed to write this in order to tell my story and how I have overcome and hopefully cured for good RSI in both my hands and wrists. Hopefully I will help someone break the cycle of there own despression and help them find there own cure for RSI.

Looking For Your Own Cure?

If you’ve reached this page seeking a cure for your RSI or Carpal tunnel, I cannot promise my experiences will help you cure your own RSI, but it will at least give you some hope that your body is an amazing machine which will find a way to cure itself if given the right help and tools.

During the time I was experiencing pain and distress the most, I must of visited every page on the internet relating to RSI looking for a cure. Most of these pages served nothing to me but to increase my fear and depression that the pain of my RSI would never go away and would only get worse with time, there was no “Cure” only a way to manage the pain.

Join me for part 2 of this article when I will tell you all how I got my RSI in the first place, what my state of mind was at the time and how it affected my life. You might find out that you to are susceptible to developing RSI to!

I watched the indie film The Chumscrubber last night.

Set in a quiet suburban town in California, The Chumscrubber revolves around a teenage boy named Dean who has just been through the torment of seeing his best friend commit suicide.

As his friend was also the local school drug dealer, Dean is now faced with the task of supplying the school bully, Billy. Who with the aid of 2 of his friends has kidnapped Deans brother in order to get Dean to cooperate - the problem is he’s kidnapped the wrong person. To make matters worse he also has to deal with his own internal problems of living in a world that does not care.

The films story line was quite slow moving, but none the less it manages to strike an emotional cord with me. The writers way of communicating the lack communication between parents and children is very well done in The Chumscrubber.

The film climaxes with at the end with all the characters coming together in there own ways when the “main event” takes place.

I would say that if you liked indie films, then The Chumscrubber is one to watch. Not wanting to give much of the plot away I’ve choosen to not to say to much. But watch it, I’d say it had the same mood as Brick or Donnie Darko.

I have never been the greatest of writers, but I do try and write the occasional poem, or journal entry, and lately I have been doing this blog.

One think that strikes me is that I’m not technically a very good writer, are there any formulas or tips you would give to help me on my way to serve you all better?

P.s - I have changed the colours and logo of my wordpress theme lately, what do you all make of it?

Over the weekend, I had an argument with my girlfriend. Everything was going fine until all of a sudden she started acting funny and said she had to go home, she was nearly in tears and ended up practically running out of my house and driving away without a word as to what was wrong with her, and yes I asked and asked and asked why she was upset.

As soon as I had gone back upstairs I realized what was wrong with her, she had read my private diary!

It usually sits in my bookcase in a specific location, between two specific books, wrapped in a very specific way. Its a Papuro lucca leather journal for those that are interested (see the picture to the left).

I noticed that the wrap around had been undone and the books next to it were out of place.

Needless to say I sent my girlfriend a message asking if she had read it, she came back around to my house and said she had.

She was upset because there was something in there that she didn’t like reading. I felt completely violated as it’s the only place I keep my inner most secrets and thoughts – I’m a very private person when it comes to things that have happened in my life.

Now I know regular guys might not keep a diary, or as I like to refer to it, a journal. I started writing in it last year as a way to try and get the things out of my head and onto paper, sort of like a GTD (Getting Things Done) way of thinking, if its out of my brain and on paper its not filling up my conscience with it, enabling me to get on more productive thinking. I also like to think that one day, when I’m dead and gone, my children will be able to read through it and see how I lived my life and read about the things that I had on my mind during my life.

Anyhow, I digress, so we argued about the content of it, which to her credit, I can understand why she was upset about the things I had wrote as they were relating to her. But, and this is the nail in the coffin, those were my private thoughts and she should of never read them. She says that she had been feeling insecure about us (were going through a rough patch lately) so I understand why she was driven to it. But what does this say about the state of the union between us, when I cant trust she’d have the self restraint to stay away from something which is seemly private. Am I a fool for committing my thoughts to paper?

Do you keep a diary or a journal?

If so do you keep it some place extra safe just in case prying eyes happen to come across it?

I saw this How To Protect Your Handphone/Cellphone over at selfobliged.com and thought I would add to what Heney has said.

I have worked in the telecoms industry for a number of years, one thing to remember if you loose your phone is to make sure you contact your operator and tell them that your handset is lost.

Firstly you need to do this to make sure than your account is barred to ensure that no one is able to make calls on your account, the number of times I’ve come across people that didn’t think to do this and then end up with massive bills because the person who stole/found it was able to make as many calls as they wanted.

Secondly, as Heney points out if you have your IMEI number, (if your operator supplied the handset should have a note of this, they do in the UK anyway) the operator, or network as it is known in the UK will be able to place what’s called an IMEI bar (great term huh), this blacklists the handset from being able to access any network, a point to remember is that it will only block the handset from accessing a network within the country that the bar was placed. There has been an increase in stolen phones being shipped out to other countries over the years as they can be sold on the black market.

I would recommend that anyone with a mobile do take out insurance for it, it usually doesn’t cost much and most policies do provide cover for some calls made.

I found some stats on Digg about how America has basically been turned to shit by Bush’s administration - See Here. I feel sorry for those guys, having a president like that.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m no fan of any government figure, even my own Prime Minister. But when a country is taken down to its knee’s because of a president that is only interested in Oil & War then something needs to be done. No wonder America is facing a recession, which will more than likely impact a lot of countries across the world, including the UK.

I tell you the worlds doomed in my opinion, and there’s only one thing that can fix it, and thats More Cowbell :)

read more | digg story

I spend a lot of my waking hours in deep thought, I could be described as a “thinker” by nature. One of things I think about a lot is if world peace can ever be achieved.

Throughout history there has always been the reoccurring theme of death, destruction, poverty & greed, and today is no different. We live in a very unstable social climate which is far from the image of world peace we all properly hold in our minds.

With the vast number of social, race and economic and religious differences that humanity throw at each other on a daily basis, its no wonder society is far from peaceful. I might not be great with my history, but I don’t think it ever has been.

So can the world change for the better and live in harmony for what could be the first time in human kinds history?

The main things that seem to be plaguing the world is hunger, disease, climate change, and war, but what would it take to solve these problems?

Of course there is the problem that the people who hide in the shadows, the government and the companies that influence policy don’t want world peace, it doesn’t pay. But this is the sticking point, how can society change for the better when the institutions that hold things together refuse to change also.

My theory is quite simple, if enough people want to change the way that they treat the world and everyone in it and band together to solve the worlds problems with a united front, then the world will change and one day it could be become peaceful. All it takes is one person with enough power and enough momentum to effect change.

I have just now been reading an article about the New World Order, something that I have never come across until I saw something on line a few days ago, it sounds sort of scary but quite similar to how I think things need to go before real change for the better of humankind can take effect, one government to govern the world. With this it would be a lot easier to tackle problems such as world hunger and war. I think I will need to write again about how I think some of the problems could be solved all be it in a rather totalitarianism way.

Is there a way to solve the planets problems, or is peace really just a work of fiction?

I’ve just noticed that the logo I made for this blog, which took me the whole of two minutes because I was in a rush (to get to sleep as it was really late and I had work the next day) makes no sense.

I have put “life logical made easy”, I think when creating it I was meaning to “life logically made easy” or something of that nature.

Now that I have noticed this I think tonight I will create a better logo and spend some time trying to make this blog a little more appealing to the eyes as at the moment its a bit dull and boring.

Does anyone fancy designing me one as I’m not the best in Photoshop?