They Call Me Galvez

This past weekend, I went to Comic-con in San Diego for the second straight year.  Don’t call me an uber-geek yet, because Comic-con is not just another geek-pilgrimage (although I’m a geek light weight, I would have gone anyways.)  It was really crowded, but I had a great time!   I actually attended three out of four days!  Sadly, I don’t think that gives me enough dork-cred.  The people that dress up in costume and line up at 6AM for panels are hard core!  I was impressed with the passion shown by all the attendees.  Comic-con is a very unique event where celebrities can directly interact with fans.  Pretty cool.  There aren’t a lot of events where this interaction occurs. I don’t watch a lot of TV, but anything movie-related holds my interest.  I know there were many die-hard comic book fans that scoffed at the presence of many non-comic related panels present there this year. Comic-con  has been becoming more of a pop-culture convention than a strictly comic convention.  The increase in popularity of comic book movies has helped to put this annual pilgrimage or “geek-rimage” to San Diego a holy crusade for geeks around the world!  I will admit I just wanted to go at first to geek-watch, but then I thought, “This is actually kinda cool!” I really enjoyed the movie and TV panels.  But don’t get me wrong I did pick up some comics and graphic novels, but I still don’t have my “dork-cred” yet.  My top 5 panels in order were:

1. the Avengers Cameo with Samuel Jackson, Scarlet Johansson, Robert Downy Jr, etc (this will be an awesome movie!)
2. The Other Guys with Will Ferrell, Mark Walberg, Eva Mendez
3. Family Guy with Seth McFarland, Seth Green
4. The Cleveland Show with a cast reading
5. The movie Super panel with the cast: Rainn Wilson, Ellen Paige, Nathan Filion, and Liv Tyler

Comic-con is like 4 days of Halloween.   People get dressed up in costumes, you carry a bag around picking up free stuff, and you feel like a little kid getting herded into panels like going to class.  Some people really get into dressing up!  The first day you are kinda in shock realizing these are grown-ups dressed up in costumes.  But almost everyone is there to have good time! I did take my mobility scooter (AKA the mAss Kicker mobile) with me.  It was great getting around and I now possess the skills to maneuver in a large crowd.  However, there was one thing I was not prepared for in the scooter.  I didn’t realize that in a crowded area, my head sits at or below armpit level.  Oh lord, the horror!  I do have more freedom to go out on my own, but I was not prepared for the many smells to which I would be exposed in large crowds of people.  While hygiene at comic-con is not the greatest, the guys bathroom floors are equally disgusting. (I’m sure this can be said about any major event.)  There are always little puddles of urine on the floor.  I never noticed how disgusting this is because for me it was always a quick pit stop.  When your balance is fine, you don’t really have to worry where your feet are. When you have to constantly worry about foot placement, balance, and aim… a trip to a crowded public restroom becomes an adventure.  It is a realization I’m willing to come to terms with, but I’m sure I will discover many other disgusting things.

I have always been a comic book fan.  In elementary school, my parents used to reward me with a comic book for every “A” I brought home.  They even let me subscribe by mail to MARVEL comics, The Amazing Spiderman and The Transformers.  Well… they got me reading, getting good grades, and excited about getting the mail.  When you are 9 years old, the only time you get mail is on your birthday or Christmas… I remember feeling so cool getting mail! The excitement and anticipation of getting the next issue was always something I felt after reading a great story.  Anyways,  I’ll definitely be going to comic-con next year.  Gotta think of a cool costume… Maybe then, I can join the ranks of the uber-geeks.

Let me first state for the record, I hate reality TV!  It is drama that you can’t help but watch and can easily get sucked into it.  For me, watching a great sports event is like an addiction.  Then it dawned on me.  I’m a hypocrite!  SPORTS was reality TV long before the Real World ever aired! Drama, emotion, competition, and suspense. All the elements for entertainment are there. I read this article by Rick Reilly about why he writes about sports.  It got me thinking…  A good game or match always has a good storyline. I love watching “Rivalry” games with teams that have despised each other for decades:  Michigan-Ohio State, Duke-North Carolina, Red Socks-Yankees, Texas-Oklahoma, the list goes on and on.  The drama of the actual game is enhanced by the storylines: a player with a personal purpose; emotion of both sides fighting to win; the suspense of each play; the big plays; the pressure to make plays… In my family, sports is the glue that holds together the lines of communications between the men at most family gatherings, whether it is golf, football teams, or basketball teams it’s always a good ice breaker or conversation filler.  The World Cup is a new ingredient in my Love Potion for sports.  I don’t understand it completely, but after seeing the pride in each country… I was hooked!  I feel the same way about watching the Olympics.

Sports is what attracted me to physical therapy.  I could get paid for doing something I love?  Awesome!  I have taken an athlete’s approach to rehab after my brain surgery.  I got to thinking sports was a way for me to heal.  I view going to therapy sessions like going to practice.  For me, I enjoyed going to practice… For me, practice was always the time to fine-tune everything.  I still think that it is the work you put in outside of official practice times that will help you excel.  The same with therapy… you won’t get better just going to therapy appointments.  It’s the work you do on your own that separates starters from the bench players.  The same applies to rehab… doing the right exercises on your own will make recovery more efficient.  Putting that extra work in is getting harder for me as my schedule get busier and busier.  Last weekend, I got to visit an old friend of mine in LA.  He’s got a cute little two year old girl who likes to sit on me when we watch TV. I’m like her personal chair. But WOW!  Culture shock being around kids!  I like it, but it is very different from what I’m used to. I give props to my buddy because how do you appease a grumpy two year-old?  Reason doesn’t work.  Watching my friend throw out “dad-isms” when his daughter was naughty had me doing double-takes at the buddy who used to challenge me with Canadian beers in school.  How do you not laugh at kids when they do something naughty but funny?  I guess we all have to grow up sometime. For now, I’ll be content being “Silly Uncle Eric” entertaining the kids…

Thanks to everyone I’ve met in the past few years…  check out this book video!

I had spent my entire young adult life preparing for a career to help others rehabilitate from catastrophic diagnoses.  After almost 2 years working as a physical therapist, I received shocking news that I was the recipient of my own catastrophic diagnosis.  In September 2005, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor.  I became someone I’ve spent years preparing to help.  Reversal:  When A Therapist Becomes A Patient is about my experiences as a young rehab patient and healthcare professional.  It is unique because it contains:

1. The humorous perspective of a young active male brain tumor patient that many people can relate
2. The logical perspective of a patient with a medical background when faced with difficult medical dilemmas
3. Multiple perspectives from the loved ones closest to a patient
4. A real time format that is easy to read and validates the authenticity of the situation
5. A book soundtrack available exclusively on iTunes
6. The perspective of a 2nd Generation Filipino American patient vs. the views of his overprotective traditional Filipino parents

This “blook” is my personal account of the first three years of my incredible journey.  In this time; I published the first edition of the book, walked 4 charity 5K walks; started the Tumors Suck! movement; started the nonprofit, mAss Kickers Foundation; emerged as a leader in brain tumor advocacy, became involved in the young adult survivor movement; and redirected my professional goals from a career  in physical therapy to a career in the nonprofit sector.  All the royalties from Reversal sales go to mAss Kickers Foundation. Please tell all your friends about it.

Reversal is now available on
Amazon.com

and as an ebook.

Amazon Kindle

Barnes and Noble Nook

Sony Reader