I'M LOST!

That's right, I just finished watching the last two eps in Season 1 of LOST. Yes, it took me this long. Sue me.

So I'm going to jot down my notes so I have them for later. Some of my questions have been answered in the last few eps, so I'm not including those, but there are many many more that remain. (Obviously. Four seasons? Really? Four seasons of this? I'm going to go mad).

NO - I DO NOT WANT ANSWERS OR PEOPLE SPOILING IT FOR ME! I already know too much from casual conversations or listening to other podcasts. But I'm going to do my best to keep clear from now on. (For those wondering, I'm watching the eps on ABC.com).

So here are my notes for Season 1. No laughing.

CHARACTER NOTES
- what do Jack's tattoos mean?
- a polar bear? really?
- "the monster"
- the rain seems to start/stop instantly
- Kate mentioned she knew Charlie. From just beyond his band?
- the woman said her husband was in the tail section. And still alive.
- Locke is playing Backgammon
- Clair ate the fish from Jin and her baby kicked instantly. The island rejuvenates?
- Where did Jack's father's body go? Was it ever put on the plane with the coffin?
- Jack/Kate/Charlie/Locke were all stung by the bees
- the dead bodies in the cave also had light/dark stones like the Backgammon game
- Charlie's tattoo says "Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed"
- Locke said Charlie would get his guitar back; intuition?
- in the background of the airport, there was a man in black nodding to a pilot; coming later?
- Locke is the only one to see the "monster"; why do I think the island is all controllable, that can allow trees to be uprooted, moved aside, etc.

EPISODE 5:
- Sawyer's reading Watership Down. My favorite book. And one that deals with different "societies". Foreshadowing?

EPISODE 7:
- Rousseau says that "they" control the repeated message now; she also says "they were the carriers"
- Rousseau: "there's no such things as monsters"
- Sayid now hears the voices

EPISODE 8:
- in Claire's dream, Locke has light/dark stones for eyes
- the psychic says that the baby needs Claire's protection and should not be raised by anyone else; power? Messiah? Damian?

EPISODE 9:
- Charlie says "all "they" wanted was Claire"
- a hatch is found

EPISODE 11:
- Locke predicts the weather; how does he know all this?

EPISODE 12:
- Walt is "different"
- Claire's dream mentions the Black Rock in her diary

EPISODE 13:
- is there something between Lin and Sun concerning a baby?
- have Claire and Locke been replaced?

EPISODE 14:
- Sawyer now hears the voices
- is Hibbs missing a finger?
- "It'll come back around"

EPISODE 15:
- Hurley is on the TV in the home Jin goes to
- Jin lied about his dad being dead; lots of father/son issues in this: Michael/Walt, Locke and his dad; Jack and his dad; Jin and his dad and Sun's dad; Sawyer and his dad.

EPISODE 16:
- 4 8 15 16 23 42
- Hurley is a major shareholder of a box company; Locke worked at a box company
- Hurley spent time in a psyche ward where he met Lenny; "you've opened the box"
- Lenny Simms and Sam Toome were in the Navy together and 16 years ago they heard the same transmission that made Rousseau and her people crash; the transmission was the numbers and then replaced by Rousseau's message
- there's a radio tower on the island

EPISODE 17:
- Locke's mother says he's special; like Walt?
- Locke's father is Anthony Cooper
- "We're the survivors of Oceanic 815." "We're the survivors of Oceanic 815."
- a light goes off in the hatch!

EPISODE 18:
- Jack was married!! Why the split?

EPISODE 20:
- Kate's name is Kate Austin
- so why is Kate always running like she says on the casette recording
- Walt tells Locke not to open the hatch

EPISODE 21a:
- Walt did not want to get on the plane; but he does want to go on the boat
- Jack meets Ana Lucia - she's in the tail section; to return later?
- What an awesome ending with the raft casting off. Some great emotional moments.

EPISODE 21b:
- Locke gets caught by the monster who continues to sound mechanical; gears, clunks, etc. But WTF is that black flying smoke?
- Kate's reward was $23,000 - have more number been appearing?
- Rousseau says they were "coming for the boy"; not Aaron - they were coming for Walt!

WE INTERRUPT THIS PROGRAM...

For those that don't know, for most of my life I had on-again/off-again bouts with asthma. I don't remember how early it started, but I can remember being younger than 10 and having breathing problems. I was put on pills for the longest time - not that I would take them as prescribed - until I started to use albuteral inhalers. Again, I would never use them as prescribed. Most of the times they would say take two puffs every ___ hours, wash, rinse, repeat. I would only really use my inhaler if I needed it, which meant, if my breathing was getting bad. I've used inhalers all the way through to my thirties with pitstops along the way to use something called Seravant (Seravent?) as well as Advair. You know, that purple circular disc pump thingy. I could dance in a tap concert for two hours and be totally fine. But then I would walk to my car, sneeze, and my asthma would kick in. I never really knew if it was seasonal based, exercise based or allergy based. It would trigger for any number of reasons. And on a handful of occasions it would be bad enough to wind me up in the emergency room.

So why am I writing all this? Because I just read the following news story:

Inhalers prescribed for serious lung disease may increase the risk of deadly heart problems, say researchers. Trials on more than 15,000 patients found inhaled anticholinergic drugs increased the risk of heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular death by 58%.

You can read the rest here.

Now. I get that this story is talking about a different kind of inhaler. I suppose. But I want to relate a story for anyone using inhalers for asthma.

Earlier this year, I did the Master Cleanse/Lemon drink diet. I am not a vegetarian. I am not a vegan. I am not into any holistic way of life at all. But for ten days, I did the Master Cleanse (except for the saline flush part. ew) and not only did I lose 15 pounds, but my addiction - yes that's the word I want to use - to inhalers went away. My asthma moved to a point that my body is now able to heal itself. Let me say that again:

My asthma is almost all but gone.

For weeks after the Cleanse, I didn't even realize that I hadn't used my inhaler. And when I did realize it, it dawned on me that the inhaler was probably keeping my body from healing itself. Do I still get "wheezy"? Sometimes. Do I feel short of breath at times? Sure. But I no longer rush to the inhaler to fix it. I let my body do it's own work.

If you don't have asthma, you haven't experienced the fear you can sometimes have when an attack sets in. The shortness of breath, the gasping of air. It's not fun. But another side effect to doing the Cleanse, and of not having to rely on my inhaler, is that I realize now that asthma can also be very mental. You can completely work yourself up more than is actually happening.

It's been about 5 months or more since I've done the Cleanse. I haven't done it since. I don't exercise any more or less than I did back then. I still weigh the same. I do eat better (cutting out milk, excessive junk food, candies, artificial juices etc really helps). But I still have the same habits as before.

And yet my asthma is now controllable. After close to thirty years, I no longer carry my inhaler with me.

I'm not offering up a solution or course of action. I'm just giving food for thought for those willing to read.

FISHTOWN. ONLY A FEW MILES AWAY.

Inspired by real events, Kevin Colden's story explores what led the teens to commit such a heinous crime. Fishtown is an absorbing read that compels the reader to explore a world they hope to never experience.

I'm a sucker for anything to do with Philly. You can find more here and here.

JUST 'CAUSE...

J.G. Jones.
Alex Sinclair.
Justice League of America 4 (Jan'07).
Vixen.

Just 'cause.