Anyways, the lady was talking about how hungry she was for wings. I brought up Wing Tuesday at Buffalo Wild Wings but she didn’t want that since they don’t deliver. I mentioned if she waited until Wednesday Pizza Hut has a special on wings. Then the lady said “I love wings. I don’t really like the wings though, I really like the celery and ranch dressing.”

I told him I was pretty sure that made them 70 cents each. He wasn’t sure about that, so tried figuring it out again, and came to the conclusion that the brats were 92 cents each.

So I started thinking, is U2 really the greatest band ever? I have a habit of choosing whatever is my favorite as the “best ever”. Part of it may come from a person I know, Dan. I remember things like “Boetje’s mustard is the best mustard in the world!” or “Harris Pizza is the best pizza in the world!” and how could you argue with that? They truly are the best mustard and pizza, respectively, in the world. So I think this is partly where my habit comes from. U2 is the greatest band in the history of music. 24 is the greatest show in the history of television. Blah blah blah…

Anyways, like I mentioned, this got me thinking. What is the true measure of greatness? Is it popularity? Does having the most “fans” make you great? Obviously something must be great about your music or art or whatnot to get so many people to like you. The problem with this is, most times in order to have such a broad fan base, one must market to the lowest common denominator. Can something great come out of something that appeals to the masses? Or does being great require something deeper? Another problem with popularity is, one can name too many examples of popular, without being great. Are the Jonas Brothers or Spice Girls great? One would think not.

Is it longevity? U2 has been around forever, like 30 years. Certainly they wouldn’t still be one of the most popular bands in the world still after all this time if there wasn’t some measure of greatness. I think longevity might be a marker for this. Another band that has been around forever, even longer in fact, is The Rolling Stones. They’ve been together for 47 years! Personally, I don’t like The Rolling Stones, but would I have any sort of argument against the greatness of a band that has been around for nearly a half century? In fact, I don’t think I could mount any sort of argument against any band that has been around forever. I mean, seriously, certainly longevity has to count for something right?

What about the ability of the art or song to touch many different people on many different levels, depending on what stage of their life they are at? I will again use U2 as an example, only because I am most familiar with them. I have a book at home about the lyrics of U2′s music and how, in the author’s opinion, their lyrics have deeper meanings to Christians than non-Christians. Yet, to non-Christians, the music still conveys meaning, and not just a bunch of random, non-sensical phrases strung together (think Summertime Girls by LFO). Is this the measure of greatness?

Or am I asking a ridiculous question, in that greatness can’t really be defined?

I have no idea what this song is about, I’ve never paid attention to the lyrics. But I know I definitely need to relax. I’ve been so stressed out lately. I need to figure out better coping methods to deal with stress and not get so worked up over stuff that I can’t change. I can’t change what happens to me, but I can change how I react to these things.

I’m still having the same dietary problems, where they’re bringing me cookies, cake, cinnamon rolls, etc. My doctor yesterday said that if there was something I know I shouldn’t eat, I can just leave it on the tray. Hmm… if I had enough willpower to refuse to eat cinnamon rolls that are just sitting in front of me, I wouldn’t be fat.

Anyways, the past few days have been pretty good. I got to chat with Megan and Lisa on Facebook. I texted Missy a little (happy birthday still!). Lori chatted with me on Google.

Some better news is that all my precautions have been lifted, so now I can wear all my clothes again. I was really excited to get my shoes, because three days of walking barefoot have been brutal on my feet.

Even better, I had visitors today. Drew came and brought me more clothes. Rusty came to visit. But best of all, Kate brought the kids to see me. We got to play Sorry. I lost badly. But it was so awesome to spend time with them!!!

The old Chris was miserable. He spent way too much time and energy taking care of other people and not taking care of himself.

I’m not sure why I switched to third-person there.

I got really annoyed today when my breakfast came and I didn’t get everything I asked for, and was given stuff I didn’t ask for. My doctors switched me to a 3000-calorie ADA diet. So my ham, cheese, mushroom, onion, and green pepper omelet did NOT include the ham or the cheese. It did however include two pieces of fruit, a slice of toast, and a fricking cinnamon roll. Apparently cheese is BAD for diabetics and cinnamon rolls are GOOD for diabetics. I told the doctor I was upset, and she said I could just not eat the stuff on my tray that I don’t want. Right, because I got to be morbidly obese because of my excellent ability to turn down cinnamon rolls sitting in front of me. Tonight my dinner came, and at least they sent me what I asked for, but again, they sent me extra stuff, like a banana, a fruit cup, a piece of LEMON CAKE, and a CHOCOLATE CRINKLE COOKIE. In what world are these things acceptable to people with diabetes?

Anyways, oxygen masks. In airplanes, when the flight attendant is giving the safety instructions at the beginning, they make a point that in an emergency event, parents should apply the oxygen masks to themselves BEFORE helping their children. Sometimes it is appropriate to take care of yourself before others.

So that is what I am working on now. I have felt like I have put the needs of others ahead of myself, and I’m not doing it anymore. I’ve got to worry about me.

Anyways, the “medical team” comes in, which consists of a psychiatrist, a resident, and five medical students. They came in and talked to me for about two minutes and said they were going to consult with Family Practice about my diabetes, because it is effing jacked up right now. The resident, who originally interviewed me yesterday, tells me he is coming back in later to talk to me. He never does.

I got to go to a small group meeting about managing stress or something. The meeting consisted of an myself, and OT, and my loud-snoring roommate. We didn’t talk much about learning to manage stress because my roommate talks way to freaking much. One good thing to come of it: we ended up somehow talking about iPods.

I say this is a good thing because somehow, I remember that I have on my iPod nano the full-length version of the Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. I’ve never seen the full version of this, just the reprised version. I know I have written about this before previously in this blog. I’m not going into huge detail about the whole lecture, because I really don’t have the time. I will share with you the one part that really sticks out at me.

He talks about brick walls standing in the way to us achieving our goals. But these brick walls aren’t a bad thing necessarily. He says:

“The brick walls are there for a reason. Right? The brick walls are not there to keep us out, the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough.”

So I guess right now I have some brick walls in the way. I can let them keep me from achieving what I want, or I can prove how badly I want what I am after.

Hopefully tomorrow Kristin remembers to bring in a book to me, so I have some more inspirational stuff to write.

BEST PARTS OF THE DAY: watching the video, having my dad and grandma visit, getting a phone call from Missy!

WORST PARTS OF THE DAY: missing dinner, missing Megan’s call

I want to thank everyone who has been concerned about me, especially the one who really was kicking me in the ass today to come in. I’m not going to mention her name, but she knows who she is. I love her to death, and all of you too.