Below are the 18 most recent journal entries recorded in raleigh99's LiveJournal:

Tuesday, June 27th, 2006
10:31 pm	My 28 pound cure for CFS Today my $2,300 - 28 pound cure for CFS arrived at my doorstep (or so I hope on the cure part).  It's crazy.  Can an 11 week program really fix my problems?  I guess we'll just have to wait and find out.  Actually, the program is 11 weeks.  The results take 6 months or so...  That's only like 11-12 bucks a day if you break it down.  Not bad if it works.  Ha. I LOVE my friend Arie!  He's my best friend.  He's like my brother. I'm sleepy.  Better go act on it.  bye-4-now. Raleigh St. Claire (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, June 25th, 2006
10:17 am	postback to zuridea Leave me your name and then: 1. I'll respond with something random about you 2. I'll challenge you to try something 3. I'll pick a color that I associate with you 4. I'll tell you something I like about you 5. I'll tell you my first/clearest memory of you 6. I'll tell you what animal you remind me of 7. I'll ask you something I've always wanted to ask you 8. If I do this for you, you must post this on yours This is a postback to ZuriDea :) 1a. I like it when you are random. Example: When you make those posts with your random thoughts on your LJ. Those are cool. Like this one: http://zuridea.livejournal.com/74527.html 2a. Hmmmm... I challenge you to keep writing as much as possible because you love it. 3a. Red. You're a feisty one. :) You are tough and strong because you had to be. You aren't afraid to stand up for what you believe in. 4a. I like the fact that you seem to be very compassionate. Your compassion is what drew me to you in the first place. 5a. Well that would have to be your reply to my initial post in the YA forum. I remember that I was instantly interested in getting to know you because here you had taken the time to write me a PM or email instead of: "Hi, I'm good. How are you?" 6a.  You are tough, yet you have this beauty that seems to radiate.  People notice the beauty and they are drawn in towards you.  What animal would that be...?  A Siberian Tiger. 7a.  Something I've always wanted to ask you...  What are your top 3 goals in the next 5 years, excluding getting well? Current Mood: good Current Music: Staind (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, May 7th, 2006
7:29 am	let's sing a song Let's sing a song about the good times, Let's sing a song about the laughter, Let's sing a song about the love, Let's sing a song about life, Let's sing a song about the hardships, Let's sing a song about the pain, Let's sing a song about the insecurities, Let's sing a song about life, Life is fun, Life is crazy, Life is precious and amazing, When you're sitting way up there, Life is harsh, Life is unfair, Life is tiring so I declare, I'm going back to sleep, I haven't seen life from this side of the road, But I hope it involves sleep, I'm going back to sleep Current Mood: and... loopy :p Current Music: The voices in my head (Comment on this)
Friday, April 28th, 2006
12:32 pm	I should post sumpin eh? Hey Now, So my surgery was a successful! I'm stoked. One step closer to being well. I had a bit of a hard time when I got back from my surgery. At first I was struggling to figure it out. My GI (Gastrointestinal Tract) was a mess. I was becoming a bit discouraged about the whole thing... Then I sat back and listened to what my body was trying to tell me. Candida. Yes. So I took action and got probotics and made a few minor changes in my diet. A week later my GI is doing much better. Rock on! I'm stoked that spring is here. I've been hiking a lot. The trees and flowers have exploded with life and color. It feels good to be alive. Spring is becoming my favorite time of the year. A celebration of life. I think that seeing the girls in their short skirts and low-cut tops helps too. :) So yeah... I wanted to post this link for anyone who read my journal to see. It is an article written by my doctor, discussing CFS (Chronic Fatigue "Syndrome") and how he goes about treating it (yes a cure) in very general terms. I think it is a great article for anyone with CFS (or anyone who knows someone with CFS) to read. Have fun! http://www.medical-library.net/sites/framer.html?/sites/_chronic_fatigue_immune_dysfunction_syndrome_(cfids).html Current Mood: good Current Music: notta (Comment on this)
Thursday, April 13th, 2006
11:11 pm	it's done! hooray IT'S DONE! I had my freekin surgery. :) The pain lets me know I'm alive. I'm happy to be alive. It's good to see my parents! I really appreciate them helping me out here. MUST REST! I'm bleeding... ahhhh! :p Current Mood: accomplished Current Music: my dad snoring next to me (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, April 9th, 2006
4:27 pm	Going away for a little R&R I have to say it's been an awesome weekend! :) Yesterday I went hiking with Arie. We found this trail that went into the jungle forest. There was this awesome place to camp. It was so remote. A creek was running nearby and the peace fell upon us. We agreed we could have stayed there all day. Later on I kicked it with The Nather (Abernather). We had a great conversation about "the good old days" and also about the now. It was nice to finally catch up. Walking in Lithia Park is always fun. Riding the longboard through the park is even better! :) Good times. So this coming week I'm going away for a little while. Time to head to Santa Rosa and continue with my CFS treatment. I gotta get some jaw cavitations fixed. So if I don't post for awhile, I'm just chillin, embracing the suffering because it will make me stronger. (ahhhh alright. there might be a few words like "shit" and "this blows ass" mixed in there too) But seriously I'm excited! I get to see my parents and Jackie G. (my black lab). Maybe we'll even hit up the ocean! I LOVE the ocean! I hope everyone is doing well! It seems like there is always something good right around the corner. Peace. Current Mood: calm Current Music: Top Gun (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, April 8th, 2006
3:59 pm	The Art of Detoxifying Wasssssssup! Hope all ya'll are doing well. :) This will be part two of my discussion in how I am gonna beat my CFS and kick it's ass n'stuff. This time the topic of discussion is detoxification. I'm gonna focus more on general ideas than specific information. I'll leave that exercise to the reader. So let me start very general. There are many different substances and creatures on this earth that are toxic to the human body. Chemicals, heavy metals, viruses and bacteria to name a few. All of these "toxins" put a strain on one's immune system. It would be fair to say that different individuals have different load capacities when it comes to dealing with the toxins. Some people can have high levels of mercury and arsenic and function just fine, while others are a mess. Some people are exposed to Epstein-Barr and it hardly effects them. Others get really sick. Now on to the issue. The issue for everyone is detoxification. The less load you have the healthier you have the potential to become, granted your lifestyle suits it. So detoxification deals with lightening the load so your immune system can get to work. I think for now I will just talk about some of the substances that I feel are toxic. People may not agree, but this my journal so there. :p Organic vs. non organic... No food is perfect, but it is my opinion that organic food is less toxic than non organic. Non organic food is mass produced. This is not what nature intended. I'm going to spare people any further details. Fish from the ocean. A great deal of seafood is toxic to some degree, containing mercury, which is poisonous. Fish - the toxins, however is very good for a person. Water. Most tap water for cities an communities contains flouride and chlorine. Chlorine is poisonous. My advice is to drink distilled or filtered water. Filtered water is only as good as your filter. Chemicals are everywhere. Fabric softeners, hydrocarbons, pesticides, VOC's, pharmaceutical drugs... It's the world we live in. If you are healthy, you might not notice these substance are bothering you as much or at all. If you are sick like me and others, you will probably notice them more. How much more depends on the individual, their load, and their sensitivities like I said above. Oh!!! My!!!! Whatever are we to do???? :) Thankfully detoxification is possible. Scary yes. Possible. Yes. This is something that I'm going through. It happens on many levels. First, if you want to get the most out of detox you have stop putting the toxins in. This is a good place to start. This requires a bit of a lifestyle change. A lot of it goes against Western culture and society. Good luck. :) Next we go back to the body. Toxins don't like to leave. Heavy metal toxicity can be treated over time with the right program. Boosting your immune system helps. Lots of Vitamin C, Zinc, and Selenium. How much? I'm not getting specific here, sorry. Drink lots of good water. Tap water just puts toxins right back in. You can speed up detoxification by detoxifying your colon, a storehouse for some toxins in the body as it is part of the excretory system. You can also speed up detox by focusing on the kidneys and the liver. Diet. Eat LOTS of organic fruits and vegtables. Look into not cooking the hell out of veggies too. The organic fruits and veggies the better. Don't eat a lot of red meat. Don't ingest refined sugar, white flour, hydrogenated oils, coffee, alcohol or tobacco products. Hey, I never said this would be fun. :) But feeling good IS FUN!! :D There are still plenty of ways to get protein. Alright, I guess this is kinda like a crash course in detoxification eh? Crazyness. So here what I think is another key element of detox. Exercise. Look into aerobic exercise. Know your limits when you exercise, especially if you are sickly. Exercise raises your body's PH. Bacteria and viruses (toxic stuff) doesn't thrive in an alkaline environment. Exercise also increases circulation and general detoxification. Ok, I realize not everyone can just go out and start exercising. Running miles or hiking miles. I know it is crucial to have a program put together by someone who knows what they are doing, so that one doesn't over-do. Well that is about it for detox. Quite a lifestyle ain't it??? I've been doing this (I didn't mention details) for a few months now. I can say I feel worse and I feel better. What does that mean?!?! Well, I'm sleeping better most of the time and without prescription drugs. My skin is much much clearer. My circulation is improving a bit. Hands and feet are warmer. Downers to my detox efforts... Sometimes it seems to be hard on me and I regress, and that is hard, but generally the progress has been forward. I spend about... 2-3 hours a day taking care of myself. Preparing good food, getting good food, and other stuff I won't mention. It's expensive in a way. Organic food isn't cheap. However, neither are prescription drugs... The results are slow for me so far... You don't just wake up one day and say "I'm cured!" But I do believe an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Man I sound old! I better go do something else. Let me just say in closing that I wouldn't post this if I didn't think it was important. And along those same lines the above is just my opinions and experiences. I ain't no doc. Just a man finding his way on the path of life. I challenge anyone who reads this to take responsibility for your own health! I mean REALLY!! Don't rely so much on doctors. I'm not saying doctors are bad, but along the same lines, they definitely are not gods. Thank God. Take charge yourself, figure things out for yourself. It's fun. :) It may even save your life. Current Mood: indescribable Current Music: America (Comment on this)
Thursday, April 6th, 2006
11:03 am	Turrets Syndrome Shit eating, son of a bitch, turkey dick, vulture vomit!!! Phew. Just making sure I don't have Turrets. Current Mood: crazy Current Music: Live (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 5th, 2006
7:32 pm	An interview with a raleigh Leave me a comment saying, "Interview Me." I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions. You will update your LJ with the answers to the questions. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post. When others asking to be interviewed comment, you will ask them 5 questions. Here are interview questions from the very talented zuridea 1. What is your dream job? First let me say that this is a pretty hard question.  My dream job has changed many times over the years.  :) My current dream job is to become a doctor because I really want to help people get well and stay well, myself included.  I would be the kind of doctor that puts the health of his patients first, period.  No politics or drug companies would get in the way of how I run my practice.  I would practice medicine with an open mind to new treatments. Other cool dream jobs: Singer and Songwriter Pro Mountain Bike Racer 2. How do your friends feel about your illness? All of my close friends are very understanding.  My friend Dave, who I live with, is very understanding.  He's always quiet when I'm sleeping no matter what time of the day it is.  He cheers me up when I am depressed.  He says I am a hero.  I think he's a hero too. Ari is a very understanding friend.  He always respects my rest time.  He tries to support me and encourage me when I'm depressed or when I start to go inward socially. Abe is my listening ear.  He always listens to me when I complain about shit I don't need to complain about. My mom understands me and my illness the best.  She counts as a friend ya know..?  She raised me and she also has CFS.  I love my mom.  She has ten times more strength than I do.  I'm stoked to even have 1 / 10 of her strength. As for my online friends, Manda, you always seem to inspire me.  I have much respect for you. 3. Have you ever done any drugs? [the no, no naughty kinds :)] Haha...   Yeah.  Just weed back in the day.  Although I think it was laced once because I was high for a couple days.  Intense!  Now I just feel like drugs dull the excitement that I call life. 4. What makes you smile? Being out in the wilderness makes me smile.  My friends make me smile.  My mom makes me smile.  I smile for my dad because I love him. A good story (movie or book) can make me smile or cry.  People doing good deeds makes me smile.  Crazy conversations make me smile.  Good music makes me smile.  The ocean makes me smile.  My cat makes me smile.  Watching animals in their natural environment makes me smile. Eating makes me smile too.  Eating with friends makes me smile and laugh.  :) 5. You have 24 hours and unlimited funds to do whatever you want. What do you do? Ahhh...   Another hard question.  So what happens after the 24 hours?  Do I *poof* disappear? Hmmm...  Does the world end or do I just disappear? If I just disappear I might come up with a really detailed plan and have someone else execute the plan after I'm gone, unless all the money disappears too.  This would involve solving major world problems (some are below) and hooking up all my family and friends with a ton of money, cuz they rock and I trust them.  They would do good things. If the world is ending or everything *poof* disappears after 24 hours then I would put most of my efforts towards ending the war, and bringing everyone home to be with their families.  Or I would try to help the hurricane Katrina effort if there was any financial help need there.  And hook up my family and friends if I have time. Current Mood: sleepy (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, April 3rd, 2006
9:29 pm	Hydrogen Peroxide IV's (a controversial treatment) Hey there. Alright, so I've decided to dedicate part of this blog (or journal) to my journey in defeating CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). My journey currently includes many different treatments which I will talk about here. Bear in mind that things I say here are just my opinions and experiences as they apply to me and my journey. Ya know what I'm tryin to say... So here is the first one: Hydrogen Peroxide IV Therapy. Here are some links I found about HyProx IV Therapy: 1.  Off of my doc's web site 2.  Quackery Web Site 3.  One article on how your immune system works Ok, so I am currently using HyProx IV therapy as part of my CFS treatment program.  It's expensive (80 bucks a shot for me) and it probably won't be covered under most health insurance policies. Another drawback to HyProx IV is that it is pretty harsh on your veins.  You can't have two IV's in two days.  It's too harsh for most people. What does it do?  My understanding is that it boosts your immune system by performing a function that the immune system performs, which is oxidizing the bad guys (viruses, bacteria and bad cells).  In my case, I have CFS, so basically my immune function is compromised.  A HyProx IV temporarily lightens the load on my immune system, making me feel better.  What I can say is after an IV I usually feel my anxiety level drop.  I also seem to have more energy that day and better sleep that night. My advice is to make sure that you find a physician that performs HyProx IV Therapy.  They can tell you if HyProx IV therapy is for you or not.  Bear in mind that a lot of physicians won't do HyProx IV therapy because it hasn't been approved by the FDA.  That is my two cents for now.  Stay tuned for more weird and crazy treatments that I put myself through.  :)  My only hope is to help people like me, and not just myself. Current Mood: hopeful Current Music: none (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, April 1st, 2006
3:48 pm	Interesting Article I found this article on hypometabolism interesting.  It is also interesting to note that there is much debate about hypometabolism and whether it is a real condition or not.  I myself believe that it is real because I could actually feel the drop in my body temp over time after I got CFS.  This was confirmed by taking my sublingual temperature every day for a few weeks. However, I went to many physicians (M.D.'s) and they told me that it was having a temperature in the 96 degree range was not the big of deal.  I question this advice though.  I mean what if my temperature was off by the same amount, but the other direction?  I'm guessing that would not be ok by conventional medicine's standards.  I going to assume they would tell me that I had a fever, and they would want to prescribe me some drugs to "fix" the problem.  Ahhh...  Ain't life grand... Current Mood: drained Current Music: kansas (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 29th, 2006
5:44 pm	Gettin High Do you remember the first time you got high on life? Where were you? Who were you with? Current Mood: exhausted Current Music: none (Comment on this)
Sunday, March 26th, 2006
2:41 pm	Cat Food vs Fast Food Hey, I haven't checked into this or anything, it's just my crazy brain at work once again... I think it would be interesting to conduct an experiment with two healthy individuals where one ate only cat food for a fixed amount of time and the other ate only fast food. I'm not 100% sure what the result would be, but if my hypothesis is correct, I think it would be interesting to note that the food we feed our pets has is better for us than fast food, which is definitely a large part of our Western diet. Kinda like Supersized Part 2 or something. Haha Current Mood: amused Current Music: Mr. Deeds (Comment on this)
Friday, March 24th, 2006
3:32 pm	Everyone should hear this song Hey, if you haven't already, you should really take time and listen to the song "Time in a Bottle" by Jim Croche. Amazing song. Amazing lyrics. Current Mood: impressed Current Music: Jim Croche (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, March 23rd, 2006
8:17 pm	Jawn, Joe and The Tire from Hell Once upon a time, during my teenage years, I was quite involved in the local cycling community that still exists in the sleepy town of Yreka, CA.  Thanks to that community, I am tougher.  Thanks to that community, I am wiser.  Thanks to that community, I know what the term "style points" means.  Thanks to that community, I have a hilarious story to tell! Yeah, you could say that Steve S. and I were pretty tight back then.  We rode our mountain bikes everywhere.  From my house on North Street we would go out to Taco Bell on the other end of town to get Jawn's lunch, or up to Humbug Mountain for one of our infamous training rides.  We were busy, busy, busy... When we weren't on our bikes, we were hangin out at Jawn's Bike Shop, being "bike shop rats."  Jawn was and is quite an eccentric fellow.  Even then, as teenagers, we would poke fun at him and give him a hard time.  I'll never forget the time Abe threw the maxi-pad in Jawn's face and the bike shop rats bolted from that bike shop, like jack rabbits being chased by a starved mountain lion.  Luckily, there were no casualties on that day. However, the day that I am going to tell you about reigns as THE KING of those cycling community days.  I still break out in laughter when I think back to that day. The day was a Saturday, and we were hard at work on Humbug Mountain... Current Mood: hungry Current Music: PBS (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006
10:54 am	Paintballs 4 Bullets So... I feel like the clown that is juggling 25+ balls right now. So far I haven't dropped any... Hey, this is far out there, but wouldn't it be cool if everyone would agree to use paintballs instead of bullets when going to war? I know that this idea is far from reality, but it's nice to think about isn't it? My friend came up with that idea and I like it. I should probably get to work here... Nah! Does anyone ever attempt to post an entry in there LJ, thinking they have a lot to say, and then just freeze up?  That is how I feel right now.  Mind is blank.  Nothing to say.  Hmmm.. Good luck to all you peeps taking finals in school!  My friend Arie and I have decided we are going to start making little video skits again.  The first one will involve a mountain bike ghost riding off of a huge jump.  :)  We aren't sure how well this will work, but I'm sure we will have fun trying to make it work. Alright.  Work calls. Current Mood: busy Current Music: none (Comment on this)
Saturday, March 18th, 2006
12:42 pm	--> My next task <-- My next task is to catch up with all of my friends. I pretty much dropped off the face of the earth this week, due to work. My apologies to my friends. I want all my friends to know that I will be in touch soon. :) Current Mood: sleepy Current Music: none (2 Comments |Comment on this)
12:25 pm	Posting... 1.. 2.. 3..? Hello out there!! This will be my first official post on LiveJournal thanks to Zuridea for encouraging me to sign up. I'm gonna start with some random notes about myself. I'm not sure if it will be more amusing for you guys to read them or for me to write them... We'll see. YeeAh! I don't like fish and I'm Norwiegan. My current boss is flippin fruit loop sometimes, but hey, I gotta love the guy right? After all, he is paying me. When I was in college I did these skits where I would skate around on rollerblades at night, wearing pink spandex, and crashing on purpose. I still have the tapes somewhere I think.. My only cat has serveral different names such as: Miercoles (I think this means Wednesday in Espanol), Hissel, R.K. Wilson, The Jerk (when I'm mad at him) If there was a CFS class for mountain bike racing or snowboarding, I'd like to think that I would be the the champ. I say "like" or "umm" a lot when I'm nervous or when I'm uncomfortable about something I let out loud barks when I'm riding my bike with my friend Arie. Actually we both do. I like the idea of world peace I've found that growing a beard is much harder than it looks. Props to all you bearded folk. I'm thankful that I have such great friends. :D Ok, done for now, I hope this post works, the last one failed... Maybe LiveJournal doesn't like my html. Current Mood: sleepy Current Music: Back to The Future (2 Comments |Comment on this)