Ryan Lythall’s Ramblings

Nothing much happening today.

Sorry for my small posts recently.

I promise to write more next time.

On Tuesday, I spent most of the day cleaning out my bedroom to make room for my new bed.

My new bed will be arriving this coming Monday.

I decided to get some fresh air yesterday, but I ended up paying for it.

By the time I got home, I had a severe headache and neck pain.

My Wife gave me a massage and I took some drugs, herbal tea, and a good night’s sleep.

I feel pretty much back to normal today.

Unfortunately, the weather’s pretty crappy for this week, but I guess the rest will do me good.

At least until I become restless.

I got sick last night.

My Wife gave me a pill and crushed it up into maple syrup.

I started feeling better shortly after and slept like a baby.

I’m not 100% better, but the worse is over I think.

Runny nose + Headache = No post today

I’ve been with my Wife for about 4 years now, which is by far the longest that I’ve been with someone.

Certain things happen or come up that make me wonder how women function.

Some of you probably remember the Seinfeld episodes where George is engaged to a woman. Her name escapes me right now. One of the scenes that always sticks out in my mind is where George is telling Jerry about how she’s killing independent George. It’s a classic Seinfeld moment, but I never thought that I’d relate to.

I’m about to mention something that most guys can probably understand.

Going shopping with your sig other.

I really don’t understand the allure for women, unless it’s some type of torture test.

On Friday night, I picked up my Wife from work and headed downtown for a few hours. Everything was going well and we even stopped somewhere for dinner.

I kinda had this false hope that despite the fact that we’re near a mall, there’d be no shopping or window shopping involved. Right now, a lot of you are probably thinking that I’m an idiot.

Yes, yes I am.

Literally moments after entering the mall, she says to me, Ryan, I want to go look at bras. In my head, I’m thinking this is awesome and we finally have something in common and a common goal.

I quickly realized where I was and where she was taking me. I walked in behind her and I’m surrounded by bras. Bras on CLOTHING racks, bras on hangers, and bras on headless mannequins. Not exactly the same visual that I had before entering the store.

She decides that she wants to try one on. Again, what’s going on in my head isn’t what was about to happen in reality. I’m thinking that I’d go in and watch her try it on and give her the thumbs up.

Wrong

The changeroom was right next to a cashier, so no thumbs up or anything else up for me. Before she enters, she said oh I might be 5-10 minutes in there.

Uh huh

Ten-Fifteen minutes later, she exits and says no. During that time, I’m driving around the aisle trying to picture myself in Hawaii or anywhere that has women without bras. I guess it’s not often that Bra sellers see a disabled guy in a 500 pound chair cruising around. One lady came up to me and asked if I needed help. For a split second, I thought of saying that I have man boobs and that they needed to feel secure in a bra. Instead, I said what many guys have probably told her in the past.

No thanks, I’m waiting for my Wife.

We left the store soon after and headed home.

I just barely managed to send in the form for the Boccia Tournament on May 10th.

Hopefully everything will be fine.

More tomorrow

So my chair controls decided to screw up today. Luckily (kinda) it’s just the part that controls my mouse for my pc. I can still drive my chair and can use the pc, but with using an actual mouse instead. Long story short, it’s harder for me to type and do certain things online.

I was supposed to play Boccia, but was told that my tech guy would come look at my chair. The guy never showed and it started raining. So no Boccia for me tonight.

Speaking of Boccia, the regional tournament is happening on May 10th in Ottawa. The top 3 finishers in each division move on to the Provincials. From my understanding, there’s not many in my division, so hopefully that means that I’ll be able to get a spot. I think that would be really cool. If that happens, I get to start touring parts of Ontario. If I can’t tour as a Comedian, at least I’ll be touring as an Athlete part of a team.

That sounded really freakin weird to me.

In other news, the lineup for the 2008 Cisco Systems Bluesfest was announced and it’s not bad actually.

Here’s SOME of the acts coming.

James Taylor; Steely Dan; The Tragically Hip; Feist; Wyclef Jean; The Black Crowes; Fergie; Widespread Panic; Brian Wilson; Great Big Sea; Boz Scaggs; Three Days Grace; TV on the Radio; Akon; Primus; Zappa Plays Zappa; Taj Mahal; Lucinda Williams; Donna Summer; Plain White T’s; Richard Thompson; Matthew Good and His Band; Don McLean; Keb’ Mo’; Robert Randolph and the Family Band; Theory of a Dead Man; Blind Boys of Alabama; Joan Armatrading; Jakob Dylan; Dr. John; Canned Heat; The Secret Machines; Corb Lund, Metric; Calexico; Sean Kingston; The Weakerthans; The Wailers; Johnny Winter; Cassandra Wilson; Kathleen Edwards; Adrian Belew; Bettye LaVette; Shelby Lynne; Wintersleep; Allen Toussaint; Sam Roberts Band; Ray Davies; Martha Wainwright; Master Musicians of Jajouka; Tony D; JW-Jones; Shawn Tavernier; Jose Gonzalez; Michael Jerome Browne; Fiftymen; Amanda Rheaume; Ball & Chain & The Wreckers; Jim Bryson; The Hammerheads; Alexis O’Hara; Budos Band; Ana Muira; Cooper Brothers; Quarter Life; Steve Marriner; Watters Brothers Rebellion; Royal Wood; Lindsay Ferguson; Samuel James; Jeff Rogers; Evil Farm Children; Anders Drerup; Kid Beyond; Guy Forsyth; Guitar Shorty; Roxanne Potvin; Orchestra Baobab; Sonny Landreth; Guy Davis; Seun Kuti; Dave Bidini Band;  Christine Fellows; Trevor Alguire; Anders Osborne; Samuel James; Harper; Angelique Kidjo; Back Door Slam; Justin Rutledge; Jon Amor; Michael Burks; Chuck Prophet; Eric Eggleston; Brothers Chaffey; Theory of a Dead Man; NQ Arbuckle; Nick Moss & The Flip Tops; Crooked Still; Ladytron; JJ Grey & Mofro; Lil’ Brian Terry & the Zydeco Travelers; Becky Abbott; Hayden; Luke Doucet; Jenn Grant; Guy Forsyth; Krueger Brothers; Elliot Brood; The Holmes Brothers; Nation Beat; Tom Wilson; Otis Taylor Band; The Super Fantastics; Don Vappie; The Bluerunners; Pappy Johns Band; Digging Roots with Hoop Dancer, Jill Buckshot; Sandy Schofield; Billy Joe Green, Mumbo Jumbo Voodoo Combo; The Sauce Boss; Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets; That 1 Guy; David Maxwell; Justin Nozuka; Terry Gillespie; Hollerado; Infected Mushroom; James Blood Ulmer; Terry Evans; The Acorn; HiLoTrons; L’il Ed & The Blues Imperials; Hamell on Trial; Bryan Lee & the Blues Power Band; Chuck Prophet; Catherine Russell; Federico Aubele; Frank Vignola; Rachid Taha; Becky Abbott; Pierre Bensusan; Jully Black; Born Ruffians; Jason Collett; Lil’ Dave Thompson; Tokyo Police Club; The Most Serene Republic; Dorit Chrysler; Jason Ricci & New Blood; Stars; Eric Eggleston; John Nemeth; John Allaire; Harry Manx & Kevin Breit; Lurrie Bell; Nappy Brown; Walter Trout; Rozasia; Hayden; Bernard Allison; Sadie Hell; Ben Cooper; Plants and Animals; Lurrie Bell; Melissa Ferrick; Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed; Three Days Grace; The Dynamites; Brights; Brothers Chaffey; Acres; Nikkii Yanofsky; Balkan Beat Box; Steve Riley & The Mamou Playboys; The Love Machine; Jesse Stewart; If Then Do; Shelby Lynne; Ryan Montbleu Band; World Gospel Jam with Canton Jones, Sharon Riley & Faith Chorale, Sonz of Thunder, Danny Eason, God’s Plan Ministry, New World Son, and Shirley Ceasar; John Kilduff; Porkbelly Futures; Red Volkaert with Cindy Cashdollar; Shakura; Gina Sicilia; Blues in the Schools Performance; Jam Clinic; John Henrys; Grupo Fantasma; The Bush Pilots; Stars; Rozasia; Debbie Davies; Harrison Kennedy; Trevor James and Perfect Gentlemen; Lance Anderson; Nihilist Spasm Band; Baobab Tree and Akpokli; Mr Something Something, Jetplanes of Abraham

The event takes place here in Ottawa, Canada at Lebreton Flats from July 3-13.

For more information, please go to http://www.ottawabluesfest.ca/en/index.php

Last year, I was actually part of the planning process. They changed venues and I wanted to make sure that it would be wheelchair accessible. Myself and another long time Bluesfest fan went to meet the organizers to discuss our concerns about the site. By the time it started, all was set up beautifully and as far as I know, no problems came up. We didn’t get paid or anything, but that’s cool. I was proud just to be a part of it and hopefully it’ll stay that way for years to come.

It’s funny how life can seemingly give you an odd feeling of uncomfortness and sense of feeling confused.

Some are probably thinking “Well duh, Ryan, welcome to the real world.”

Perhaps I’ll finish that thought later…

or maybe not.

Nothing earth shattering to report.

Yet

Go Habs

Hello Blog Fans.

My weekend started off crappy. I spent most of the day not feeling so hot. I’ll spare you the details as I’m sure some of you still wish to enjoy eating. I managed to get outside for about an hour on Saturday. Just enough time to grab a Coffee at Tim Hortons and take a brief scroll around the block.

Luckily, I felt a little better by the time the Montreal/Boston game. Great game except for the ending. I really hope Montreal wins on Monday.

Sunday went much better. I got tons of sun and then we went to a movie. We went to see Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I really enjoyed this movie and I give it 2 solid joysticks up.

So that was my weekend. I hope yours was good too.

Happy 4/20

No posts today.

I was all over the place cruising around last night.

Most of my time was spent downtown in the Market area.

They put in a Senators store at a mall nearby. Good idea, but BAD timing. I checked it out, but obviously I wasn’t in the mood to buy anything. I wanted to pickup my Wife, but I still had time to waste, so I got some Frozen Yogurt.

Eventually, we met up on Elgin Street, which is about a 15-20 minute walk from downtown. We went to a few stores and headed home and did laundry.

It was great to get out, but I’m taking a break from it today. It’s gonna be nice for a few days now, so I’ll have plenty of chances to get out.

Finally, Spring has arrived.

I’ve been outside quite a bit the last few days soaking up the sun. It’s awesome to return to the “go out anytime-anywhere” way of life. Winter seemed to last forever.

So I played Boccia at the Rehab last night and then returned downtown just in time to do my set at Yuk Yuk’s. I was actually only there in the club for about 30 minutes. After my set, I hightailed it out of there and headed home. Along the way, I grabbed one of those bottled Green Tea drinks. It tasted good, but I didn’t know there was caffine in it.

Bad idea

I met my Wife for lunch today and we sat outside. Speaking of which, I’m heading back out soon. I don’t know where I’m going in this crazy world, but the road awaits me.

I have no comment regarding the Ottawa Senators.

Go Habs

Hello Blog Fans

I don’t really feel like talking about current events in my world today. I just feel like rambling. It’s more fun for me, so please bear with me.

Today, I want to talk a bit about what it’s like to be me at times. To me, I can be extremely indecisive and bore easily. For the most part, I’m happy with my life. I have a lovely wife who supports me and loves me very much. I live on my own, which in itself is pretty good considering the severity of my disability. I’m also a Comedian as well.

Ah yes, Comedy.

With each passing month, I find myself less motivated to perform. It’s not because I don’t like performing. Trust me, I like that aspect, and it’s the main reason why I keep returning. The thing that I hate about it more than anything is the politics. Believe it or not, it does exist.

I know that I’m not the funniest person in Ottawa, but some nights, I’m ONE of the funniest there. I’m not sure if that makes sense to anyone, but it does to me. The thing that annoys me are the barriers.

In the past, I’ve explained to great lengths about the fact that I can’t physically get on stage and sometimes the mic isn’t adjusted right. To better illustrate my feelings, I’ll use a visual instead.

The stage is elevated and there’s a big brown brick wall. Every time I go on there, the brick wall’s behind me, but it feels like it’s in front of me. It’s a grim description, but that’s honestly how I feel. I’m known as a person that constantly break down barriers, not only for myself, but others as well. That’s something that I love to do and I take great pride in that. In order for me to do that, I need support and reassurance from my peers and my boss, but it’s simply not there.

I have friends from the National Comedy scene, not local. When those people come to Ottawa, I go see them perform, sometimes as a guest and we sometimes hang out after the show. To me, that’s awesome and it’s another reason that I keep performing. For a little while, I’m seen as someone in the business, despite the barriers that I face and my situation. It’s called respect. I don’t care if it only lasts briefly. I’m just happy that it’s there to begin with. It’s a shame that I don’t get it in my home club, but beggers can’t be choosers.

It is my belief that most of the local Comedians don’t respect me. Hell, most of the time they speak to my Wife or Attendant. Sure, that has to do with the fact that the bar’s noisy, but at least try. I perform six minutes by myself and it’s clear as day that I have a voice and a brain. If Comedians from different parts of Canada can figure this out, why can’t locals do that? Hell, one National guy even incorporated me in his set. Yes, that was and still is a big honour to me that he did that.

The problem lies within the perception of Disabled people. Certain people feel awkward towards us. That will probably never change, no matter what I or any other 4 wheeled creature does. I’m sure even Stephan Hawking deals with that, even though he’s literally famous for explaining the world and how it got started.

I’m running short on time, so I gotta wrap this up. This post wasn’t meant as a pity parade or anything like that. I just simply felt the need to ramble.

It’s a beautiful day here, so I’m heading out soon.

I apologize for this short post.

Last night, I watched the Montreal vs Boston game. Montreal lost 2-1 in overtime. I’m telling people that IF Ottawa loses, I’ll be cheering for Montreal. I grew up a Habs fan and was lucky enough to meet many of the players while I lived in the hospital. At the time, they were the nearest NHL team. I’m also a fan of the City itself and my Wife was born there. As you can see, I have ties to the City in a few ways.

Meanwhile, my beloved Ottawa Senators trail their series with Pittsburgh 2-0. News surfaced this afternoon that Jason Spezza will return for tonight’s game and perhaps Daniel Alfredsson as well. This is obviously good news for the Sens, but they need to start shutting down the Penguins defensively. They also need to start scoring like we all know they’re capable of. Most of all, they need to get their heads out of their asses quick.

In other news…

Well, not much to be honest.

So last night, we went out for dinner at East Side Mario’s to celebrate our 4th anniversary.

After we got home, we exchanged gifts. I received a bag of Coffee called Seattle’s Best and I also got a Coffee Cannister. I bought her a Silver Necklace and the classic board game, Sorry!.

On Sunday, we had Coffee and then did household chores.

Alright, so this will be an actual post.

Yesterday, the Physio Therapist came by to beat my Chest. Chest Physio literally consists of someone pounding all over your Chest. The theory is that it loosens up mucous so it comes out easier. It doesn’t really hurt unless the person hits too hard. If that happens, yeah, it can be painful, but I’m pretty tough.

A little while later, I got suctioned. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned what that is so here goes. Suctioning involves putting a thin tube down my neck. The tube is attached to a machine that acts like a vaccum cleaner. The machine suctions mucous out from my lungs. It sucks (literally) but it’s one of the things that keeps me alive.

After I got suctioned, I suddenly had a blockage. Sometimes it’s serious and sometimes it’s just really annoying. This time it was semi serious, but subsided. It kept returning off & on for the next few hours, but it eventually came out.

When this happens, I get less air and end up feeling mentally foggy for the rest of the day and normally a headache too. Needless to say, it’s not overly fun for me.

I watched the Senators game, at least as much as I could. It was a close game, at least for a little while. Ottawa fell apart near the end and Pittsburgh won 5-3. They now lead the best of 7 series 2-0 and the next game’s Monday night here in Ottawa.

Tonight, my Wife & I are heading out to Dinner for our 4th anniversary. I’ll be back here tomorrow though.

Sorry, I don’t have anything to say.