Surgery for a deviated septum and past open skull surgery for brain hemorrhaging.

surgeon with headlamp © Lisa Eastman #52450

*Update* 09-01-2012
 For those of you that don't know.  I was going to have surgery in September, to hopefully fix my deviated septum and obstructed sinuses, but that has been pushed to October. The surgery is a fairly big deal and I will be in the hospital for 10 days to a week.  Afterwards, there will be some time before it all heals.  I might not have the ability to sing again for a few months, and I am not even going to talk about worst case scenarios. 

Before going under the knife, there are a few things I want to do.

First, I am going to sing and record my heavy metal version of "The Dragon Born Comes."  Well, only the vocals for now because I don't have time to do the entire thing.

I have been practicing how I want the song to sound and will be ready to start recording tracks on Saturday.  Hopefully the mix will be finished by Sunday and I will post it to YouTube in some fashion.  I intend to include lyrics, of the dragon speech and enunciation for those that may want to try to sing it, but get tripped up by the tongue twisting dragon speech.
 
Second, I want to say how terrified I am of surgery.  I have had surgery once before for a brain hemorrhage in the back of my skull. If you want to know what it was like, Google Bret Michaels, the past lead singer of Poison.  He had a similar brain hemorrhage and was treated the same exact way as I was, at the same hospital, by the same doctors, and had the same recovery.  1 in a million.  or 2 in a million really.

I don't take this surgery thing lightly.  It is a big deal no matter how "simple" the procedure, but the doctor has told me he has so far had a 100% success rate, and many hundreds of surgeries. That is comforting, even if he does stress the risks very plainly.  I like his honest straight forward approach.


So wish me luck! You won't be seeing me much in October, and now you know why. We'll see you From now until October and more in November.


Sincerely,
Grin


Stay Creative, It's Good For You.
Show me your nerd swagger, and leave a comment.

surgeon with headlamp © Lisa Eastman #52450 acquired from Microsoft Office Images.

On Friday February 17th, I was interviewed by Thomas Janak for the Wild Time Radio Show in the UK. 

Thomas Janak is an amazing host. I felt he really had control of the interview and lead it from topic to topic in a very interesting way.  His quick wit and confident voice really made me understand the professional quality that I myself strive for. Thomas Janak has achieved that professional quality.

Topics of the show:

What brought me to Japan. Cultural differences. What Grinning Studios is all about.  My life in Japan.  Rewards of living in Japan and difficulties of living in Japan. The earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown. The Animal Friends Niigata NPO.

Over all, the show was a lot of fun to do and I am very thankful to Thomas Janak for the interview. 

New Direction

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!

While we are talking about it, let me explain my New Years Resolution.

This blog has gone way off track.  My idea for Grinning Studio was to promote art, music and entertainment of foreigners and Japanese in Japan for an English audience, but I got side-tracked with the recent disasters.  I am now separating the Radiation and Entertainment. I am currently looking into wordpress. I will soon have a blog for Grinning Studios, including my podcast http://grinningstudios.podbean.com/ (OFFLINE) and a different blog for NIRNSA  -  Niigata Independent Radio Nuclide Survey and Analysis. Stay tuned for more information on both!!


For now, here you can listen to my podcast Episode 1.  Professor Usagi: Musician, writer and blogger.

Podcast Powered By Podbean

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Wedding Technology.

Last weekend, my wife and I had our wedding in Japan.  My family couldn't be there but, undaunted, I decided to bring my family to the wedding via Skype.  They were able to join in the celebration from thousands of miles away. It was fantastic! I am amazed at our day and age of technology.  It reminds me of what one of my science teachers told me once, "Just because it can't be done, doesn't mean it won't be done."

Did someone tell Orville and Wilbur right that humans will never fly?  Did someone tell Henry Ford he could never make cars better than a horse carriage?  Did someone tell Thomas Edison Artificial Light without fire was impossible?  Did someone tell Nicola Tesla he could never supply power to the people better than Thomas Edison?  And last but my current favorite, Did someone tell Steve Jobs that he could never make hand held computing for the masses?  If you answered yes to all of these questions, give yourself a cookie.

It isn't about what can't be done, its what can't be done right now.  What can't be done right now, is tomorrow's next innovation.  So when I say I want to talk to my great, great, great, grandfather - regardless of his being dead a really, really long time - it just can't be done right now. But, maybe my great, great, great grandson will be able to talk to me.  If I am intrepid, maybe I can take some of those generations away from the wait and let my Grandson talk to me after I have passed. That is my dream. 

Call me crazy, but It can be done, just not right now.  Cheers to technology and the future!

Link of the day is devilsworkshop.org from where I got the picture.