Alright, so at about 10:00am yesterday or so, I started getting this funny feeling in my chest. It was right underneath my sternum, and anytime my heart beat, it felt like a strong beat an slightly uncomfortable. As time progressed it gave me a small headache (that was countered with BC Powder, thank you Jordan). I didn’t notice any other issues for awhile.

We had flag football practice during lunch and I felt fine the whole time. But after I cooled down, it was a different story. This odd feeling had progressed to my lungs. It wasn’t connected to my heartbeat anymore, but rather connected to my breathing.

I started feeling like I couldn’t breathe in deep. So you know how there’s an upper-bound on the amount of air you can take in? You know, your actual lung capacity? Well, I couldn’t breathe all that in. At some point lower than I normally hit in breathing in deep, it felt like my airways were restricted more and it became uncomfortable to breathe in deeper… And if I kept going, pain.

It’s basically been like that since. I feel like my upper-bound is higher today than yesterday, but it hasn’t gone away. And to top things off, after dinner last night I’d feel uncomfortable anytime my heart rate increased. So I’m worried that I may not be able to participate in flag football this evening, because if athletic endeavours make my breathing more labored, then it might not be a good idea. We’ll see.

I have no idea what this is… So far I’ve got three theories. Two from WebMD and one from a coworker:

• Asthma. It had better damn well not be this! This is the last thing I want to deal with!
• Anxiety/stress. Could be, I’ve been practically nonstop busy for nearly a month now… But I don’t feel particularly stressed out right now.
• Chest muscle issues. I could have some tightened, sore or otherwise abnormally-situated muscles in my chest. I’m kinda hoping it’s this one and easily remedied.

So if this doesn’t end soon, I get to go see a doctor. Whoopee.

First, read this article.

Now, on to my arguments for why such a labelling system is a joke and the problems with their proposal here.

1. Violent movies have been linked to increased aggression in the past, yet they bear no warning label.
2. Oftentimes, a person who is already aggressive can be drawn towards violent video games because they already have violent tendencies. Their violent tendencies are not necessarily caused by violence in video games.
3. There is no hard scientific evidence that violent video games increase aggression in the players. As such, putting a warning that there is a link means you’re putting out a health warning on something that scientists don’t even agree upon.

This kind of stuff irks me to no end. I am so endlessly sick of people trying to blame video games for society’s woes. Makes me sick. I watched violent movies and have played violent video games both since I was about 6, and there’s nothing overly violent about me. You just need good parenting, that’s all.

This all probably stems from this case, among others.