[chinese blood, irish heart] - DEFUNCT

My uncle here in HK is a real expert in Feng Shui. It is a Chinese 'ethnoscience' that is based upon how buildings, ie homes are designed. By aligning household and other objects in a certain way, it allows 'qi' or energy to flow harmoniously, therefore providing fortune and luck for those in the building.

But Feng Shui encompasses many different fields of study, such as astrology or fortune telling. My mom designed the interior of her restaurant according to Feng Shui: which direction the main door should be facing, goldfish for luck, small lion statutes for protection etc. Although recently we have suffered periodic bad luck- three break ins in three months, but luckily only a few hundred euro were stolen.

Now considering how bad my life has been this half of the year, he explained to me that according to his astrological chart I'm suffering from severe bad luck this year, in particular the second half. Which is very true.

Take for example the first sign in June: failed to get a US visa for New York's summer job- costed me time and 80 euro. Over the next 3 weeks I tried twice, failing again. In total it costed me 240 euro and shattered my immediate plans. And all due to minor and unfair technicalities.

Then came July when I returned to my old job at Iron Mountain- nothing special there. But then the blisters appeared like a tidal wade and engulfed my right foot causing such pain and incovenience yet I still worked.

Went to a Chinese herbal doctor in Dame Street and had to drink such bitter medicine for 4 weeks. All seemed to go well until it the blisters reappeared with a vengance and worse still it began growing on my left palm, yet I still worked under these circumstances. Couldn't type well and couldn't do any warehouse work since I was limping.

In mid-August I went to a GP's and was diagnosed with Pompholyx eczema. Both gave me steroid-based creams but didn't do the job. Went for a blood test yet everything was normal, which added to the confusion of what I really had.

Went to a job interview with Concern which I thought I did really well. Next day I flew to Hong Kong, thought a little vacation may cheer me up. Planned another to Beijing and Shanghai with the lads, anticipated much fun and cultural shock. But after 2 days in Beijing my hand hurt like hell and plus I was pissed off the way I was being ignored (and bad mood), so I had to fly back to HK. I called the tour operator and and changed my schedule to fly home, I know I would lose out on the Beijing to Shanghai flight but I had to cut my losses. Got to the airport behind schedule and the fucking flight attendant said she couldn't find my details so I had to *buy* a new ticket for like 250 euro. The goddamn flight only had a dozen people you figured they'd let it go cheaper.

So finally got back to HK at 2am. It was pitch black yet it was fucking 30 degrees heat, sweated like a pig dragging my luggage up to my relatives.

So the next few days I went to see my dermatologist and underwent UV therapy for two weeks. Each treatment lasted for 15 mins and costed 30 each time, in total costing over 200 euro. I had to apply topical steroids but that seemed to cause an allergy and it wasn't working anyway, had another outbreak soon after.

So my relatives recommended me to a Chinese dermatologist, he said I had Tinea Pedis, which is Athlete's Foot so he gave me different medicine. Had to order this 'snake' ointment from China which came in little cases, each costed about 7 euro and lasted only for a couple of days. I've bought more since, in total costing me about 300 euro so far including the doctor's fees and other crap. Yet the damn blisters came back.

At this point it was late september and I knew I couldn't go back to Ireland to take the Concern job, even though it was another lifetime opportunity. Had to pussy out by emailing them.

Went back to my Western Derm and did a skin biopsy to test for fungus, which would confirm Tinea Pedis and surprise surprise they came back negative.

I've been on the Chinese Doc's medicine for about 5 weeks now and my last outbreak was over a week ago.. Probably another one coming soon seeing how things how are panning out.

So as in my last post I went to see another Chinese Doc in China and ho ho another surprise, says I have a completely different situation so i've been taking his shit for a week now and there are still blisters growing albeit in smaller doses, but they always start out small before erupting into a big cluster-fuck. Right now I'm in an OK situation

So they're the biggest points I had to make. There must've been dozens of smaller instances of bad luck in between, in most cases for things that shouldn't have happened, bad timing, problems that rarely happen, forgetfulness, accidentally hurting myself and of course the classical unexplainable sleepless nights. Patience is a virtue but this is ridiculous. Three different diagnoses and still I haven't got one straight answer as to what I'm suffering from. Some tell me this is a test, I say it's unjustified punishment for something I don't know why, just like how I don't know what this goddamn condition is.

It's early November now and there are two big upcoming events that again would test my luck & patience: graduation on the 5th December and the WTO protests on the 11th. Both require me and tip top shape but considering all that shit I wrote about up there you will see for yourselves if I am truly suffering from some horrific bad fate this year if I can't attend them. Could be that my skin condition worsens, some fuck ups with the airline or I get struck by lightning.

Then we shall see if Feng Shui is for real.