Experience of "Sleep Study"

Everytime I tell somebody I snore, no one would belive me because I am so slim and relatively young. Actually it was one of my roommates in university who first told me about this embarassing problem. In the next 14 years, it was never a problem for myself, but things changed after my BF and I started living together two years ago. My snoring noise keeps him awake and wakens him up. Sometimes we even considering to sleep in seperate bedrooms, but the dilemma is, we don't want to scarifice the intimacy.

So, in March, I finally brought up this problem to my family doctor, and he referred me to a specialist. Two weeks later, the specialist gave me a simple check and suspected I may have the problem of Apnea, which refers to interrupted breathing which can last 10 seconds or longer. To be sure, he referred me to do a sleep study.

In a Friday evening of middle April, I went to the sleep study center at Bayview/Finch. The nurse was a chubby white lady, very friendly and professional. She used something like wax to stick more than twenty sensors on my head and legs. (With that much of wax, my hairstyle was funkier than the craziest punk.) She also put a mini mic below my nose (to record the snoring), two belts around my chest (to monitor breath) and a clip on my finger (to monitor the oxygen in my body). And then I was led into one of the six tiny bedrooms and.....go to sleep. There was also a night-vision camera in the room.

As you may expect, the sleep was not very good because of the uncomfortablenss. In the moring (about 5:00AM), I paged the nurse because I needed to pee, and after that she said the study was done. Before I left, I filled out a questionaire about how I felt about my sleep (i.e, how often I waked up, etc).

As arranged in advance, two weeks later I saw the specialist for the second time. Surprisingly, he did not read my sleep study report until I sit on the chair. He quickly browsed it and told me I had 20 times of breath interruption per hour while a normal person should have fewer than 10 times. His conclusion: I have medium Apnea.

What should I do? He provided following options:
1) Sew a pocket on my back of my sleepwear and put a tennis ball in it, so I can't sleep on my back;
2) Use a speical pressure air mask which will keep my air way open all the time. It is not very necessary for my case and it is very inconvenient;
3) Use mouthpiece which the patient puts in mouth to prevent snoring (I can ask my dentist for it but it is not covered by OHIP);
4) Have a surgery, which is covered by OHIP. I need to stay one night at hospital and recovery at home for ten days. It could be painful.

My decision? Not made yet....

打入主流？

XXX的发言：
主流和肤色,民族,文化和干? 主流是要 professional, 毛主席说黑猫白猫都是猫, 抓到老鼠就是主流猫? 人又何成不是.

主流当然说的是主流文化啦！与文化无关？这倒是第一次听说。

我认识的新移民里做professional的很多：工程师，会计师，牙医。他们的收入与西人不相上下，但其中大部分人都不敢号称自己已经“打入主流”，因为对一个被中华文化熏陶了二三十年的成年人来说，重头学习西方文化并且自得其乐是很困难的。

邓小平(好像不是毛主席吧)说的“不管黑猫白猫, 抓到老鼠的就是好猫”，对于我们中国移民来说应该翻译为：不管这活那活，能挣大钱就是好活。很多中国移民非要在professional这一棵树上吊死，刨根溯源应该是“万般皆下品，唯有读书高”的翻版，同时也来源于中国社会中脑力劳动者与体力劳动者收入的巨大差别，以及前者对后者毫不掩饰的歧视。

但在加拿大，这种收入差别小多了。我所在公司的车间技术工人和坐办公室的工程师想比，收入差不了多少。歧视呢，不能说在加拿大绝对没有，但至少很小或者说隐藏得很深。

常言道“退一步海阔天空”。如果能跳出“读本地学历，找技术工作”这个万人挤破头的独木桥，很多人也许能发现更多的机会：专业厨师，汽车技师，按摩师......。怕丢了专业知识？很多人在国内读工程的到外企当销售员的时候，好像也没谁抱怨把专业丢了啊。说到底，还是面子思想作怪。

算我多嘴吧。

(Originally posted on Beitong on August 8, 2004)

向陌生人“COME OUT”

今天闲来无事，和BF一起去逛家具店。

进门不久，正在专注流览的时候，我突然听见一句中文：“两位需要看些什么吗？”抬头一看，原来是一位SALESWOMAN，一身职业套装，满脸亲切微笑，听口音也应该是中国大陆的新移民。(现在多伦多的中国移民成了气候，很多大商店不敢忽视这股购买力，都纷纷雇用了讲普通话的店员。)

“我们就随便看看...”我们敷衍道。不过这位女士很懂推销之道，很快就跟我们讨论起家具搭配，购买预算等问题来。

突然，也许是不经意地，也许是忍不住好奇，她问道：“你们俩是什么关系呀？”(在这么一个Suburban区，在这么一个IKEA opposite的店，两个一起挑家具的小伙子确实很扎眼。)

What the hell! 我心理暗想，这跟买家具有关系吗？但一转念，有啥可隐瞒的？我倒要看一看，一个普通中国新移民对同性恋的反应。

“我们是一家子。”我答道。

“噢，不过你们看着可不像兄弟。”

“我们是COMMON LAW。”

“......”

她楞了一下，两秒钟后终于反应了过来，不过笑容变得有点僵硬。“那...那也就是朋友关系啦...”她勉强笑着，有点不好意思，好像在COME OUT的不是我们，而是她自己。

BF觉得这个情景很有意思，又假装问：“您如果对接待我们不comfortable的话，我们可以找别人。”

“不用不用。”到底是训练有素，很快就恢复了常态。

......

回到家，我们笑道：这位女士今天下班后第一件是就是对她老公说：“嘿，我今天上班碰上一件新鲜事，你绝对想不到......”

(Originally posted on Beitong on April 4, 2004)

IKEA里的同志招贴画

前几天去逛IKEA，发现店内又重新布置了，他们把DEMO区按照不同的LIFE STYLE，划分为“40平米的生活”，“60平米的生活”等主题，让人觉得情趣盎然。

有意思的是，其中“40平米的生活”的招贴画居然是两个帅小伙，一个系着围裙在做菜，另一个端着一杯红酒凑过来，微笑着作欣赏状：显然是一对同志伴侣嘛。

不愧是北欧的公司，对同志的友好态度让人敬佩。

下面的文章是关于1994年IKEA在美国作的一个以GAY COUPLE为主角的电视广告。这个广告被认为是广告界第一次在美国正面接触GAY RELATIONSHIP: This groundbreaking, famous spot for Swedish furniture maker IKEA made news around the world, though it was rarely seen. It features a male couple shopping for a dining room table together. The two middle-aged guys, who finish each other's sentences, say "a leaf means commitment." At the end, one says, "We've got another leaf waiting for when we REALLY start getting along" -- perhaps implying having children.

文章最后提到此广告的最终命运：The IKEA ad disappeared only a few weeks after it began when the retailer got a bomb threat at a store from conservatives, along with calls for a boycott.

如想阅读全文并观看此广告，请点击以下联接：
http://www2.commercialcloset.org/cgi-bin/iowa/portrayals.html?record=76

(Originally posted on Beitong on December 13, 2003