A hole in the heart is preferable to one in the head.

ARGH!!! It's been another week since I've posted anything. It must be due to my Summer Sloth Syndrome. I meant to write something yesterday, but I think the heat waves killed off what little is left of my memory cells.

For me, a summer tradition has been to play Fire Emblem (the 7th one in the series) on the GameBoy Advance. Playing it reminds me of back when I was...uh...let's see...fourteen years old! I still remember coming back from my first day of Marching Band camp with my decrepit school-owned saxophone, downing an entire bottle of Gatorade and then retiring to a game of Fire Emblem. It's hard to believe that it's been three years since I've first played the game. I suppose it's even harder to believe that I never get sick of it! I love starting new files to relive the memories of playing the early levels. It makes me wish that I could start a new file in high school and relive the early years. If that was possible, imagine all of the things I could do differently, having all of the experience that I have now. That's why I like replaying video games; you can make less mistakes on your new file, having made many the first time you played.

Reading Dyana's blog made me realize that my family must not care about tradition at all. Though, my mom DID warn me that Schwanka's parents might not let me go to their house, but I convinced her that she was crazy and I got to go anyway. Sigh, that makes me feel a little bad now. After my grandma died last December, I broke every single rule that Dyana wrote down. Let's see...

-I went to Schwanka's house.
-I invited people to my birthday party.
-I had many fun.
-I ate meat everyday. Heck, the funeral after party had meat! At least, I think it did.
-Oh wait, I don't think I wore anything with animal fur...did I? My memory is so bad...
-I wore a red Santa Hat. Man, that's not fair. That one shouldn't even count.

Though, I guess skipping Christmas for the first time ever balances things out. Maybe? Sigh, probably not. I bet my ancestors look down upon me with much disapproval...like in Mulan.

Man, my entire week has been kind of boring. I guess the most interesting thing that happened was my little visit to the Children's Hospital on Thursday [Crap, I meant to say Wednesday. I lose track of days]. It was funny how much older I was than all of the other patients. It's for kids under 18, and I guess I just made the cut-off. I'm not gonna lie, I was really scared and nervous when I was there. You know, for a while, I had completely forgotten about the blood tests and stuff I had taken back in April. But, they came back to worry me this week.

I normally tell my friends like everything that's going on with me, but this is one of the first things I've actually kept a secret from them. I just didn't wanna worry you guys! Well, I think I was just making Mt. Moon from Diglett's Cave (i.e. getting worked up over nothing). When I was at the hospital, I had to take two different tests: both involved me without a shirt and with cords taped to my body. It was all sorts of awkward. The electrocardiogram lasted all of ten seconds.

I had the coolest doctor. He was Japanese, I think, and he's a CAL graduate! AND, he was in the Marching Band! AND, he said used to carry around a pocket watch just like me! AND, he has tried playing badminton before! Ah, so cool. Anyway...he told me that my electrocardiogram was 99% normal. Then he listened to my heart and told me that since I'm so skinny, he can hear all four valves of my heart opening and closing. Neat.

After that, I had to take an echo cardiogram, which is an ultrasound, more or less. I felt like a pregnant woman. Luckily, I got to watch T.V. while an Indian doctor searched my heart for problems. It took her two Spongebob episodes to find something. Apparently, I have a muscular ventricular septal defect (what a mouthful). It's basically a small hole in my heart, literally. It's nothing to worry about though. The hole is smaller than the name that describes it. The doctor said it won't affect me in anyway, except I probably have to take penicillin before my dentist appointment to prevent the teeny-tiny possibility of a heart infection. He says I can still be in marching band, ride my bike, and play badminton normally! Hooray!

However, I'm still wondering if this explains why I sometimes feel like something is stabbing the tip of my heart. This hasn't happened in a long time (though, remember that my memory has been sucking lately). I just mostly remember this happening when I was younger. Ah, who knows. It could probably just be cramps or something. Or gas, that seems to be the root of a lot of problems for people.

P.S. If you like this, check out my Flickr for more updated pictures!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/intotheair/sets/72157619650182553/