The Fourth Of July...

means Doctor appointments for me... although that is not too different from my ordinary day.

I have to see my family physician to discuss the memory/concentration issues. Everyone seems to think that as my sleep improves, so will the memory/concentration issues. This has not been the case so far, and is definitely causing me a lot of frustrations. It is extremely difficult to judge the improvement of the anti-depressants when I am dealing with a huge amount of stress because I do forget what I'm doing, or what I have already done. I think that under conditions where my memory was not causing so many problems, I would be in very good shape right now. But that is not the case.

Appointment number 2 is a phone introduction/consultation with a Psychiatrist. I was referred to this Psychiatrist when my overnight sleep study produced no physical reason for why my sleep pattern is such a mess. This Psychiatrist apparently deals with a lot of patients that have sleep disorders, and apparently is very effective at helping those suffering from insomnia. Since the root of my problem seems to be something mental, it will be kind of an interesting journey to see what is discovered. Once again, I am doing my best to enter this with an open mind. I'm finding that I am very anxious to have some sort of answer, but am doing my best to keep in mind that this has been a 4 year ordeal, so an overnight solution is most likely not going to happen.

I've been looking into PDA's as a tool to work around this memory problem. For a techie like myself, it is the obvious choice. In my research, I've discovered that I am severely out of touch with the PDA market, and didn't realize that there were so many choices/options/accessories available now. It really shouldn't surprise me at all, but I just haven't paid attention to that market at all. On the bright side, the thought of a new toy does excite me to no end. Geek.

Now... let's talk music. I'm captivated by the latest release by Ulver. Blood Inside is something absolutely beautiful and original, yet I would expect the majority of listeners to be turned off by it. It is certainly not for everyone, and even the most open minded of listeners might not enjoy it. It is very atmospheric, ambient and has a very strong classical influence to it. Hopefully those that do give it a listen will see the brilliance and originality of this album, even if they do not particularly enjoy it.

Also on the music front, my excitement builds for the Sounds Of The Underground tour. Opeth are going to be here, and I can finally cross them (and about 20 other bands) off my list of "must see live". Considering Opeth are at the top of my favorites list, this is going to be a very memorable experience. I do have to put some blame to hometown band Morally Sound for building this excitement, as they did a very faithful cover of Opeth's song Deliverance at their final show ever on Thursday. Although Kris of Morally Sound is an amazing guitarist and song writer, I was very hesitant at their ability to pull off that song... they did very well, and I really should just learn to trust that anything Kris decides to do is going to be of very high quality. I'm looking forward to his next project which should be ready to play some shows in August or September.

I think that will be all for tonight. I'll update about tomorrow after the appointments are done.

Reminder: Volleyball is at 9:30