sarea | Entries tagged with health

Current Mood: all of the things

I am slowly surfacing from my Clint/Natasha coma, by which I mean I am able to once again do things and be interested in stuff that doesn't involve them. I still mostly want to spend all my time with them, but at least it's not an exclusive relationship anymore. *snicker*

I did watch GoT 2x8 'The Prince of Winterfell,' but I barely remember anything about it, other than that it's probably the last time I'll see one of my favorite characters. :/ My lack of memory is partly due to the BlackHawk haze, and partly due to the fact that I had a really bad tummy ache when I watched it. That, my friends, is the price of gluttony. I seriously thought I might have to go to the emergency room. The only thing that stopped me was the idea of telling people that I had done it to myself by eating too much. >< ( Cutting the shameful story, might be kinda TMI. )

I also finished The Good Wife, season 3. TGW is one of those shows that I shouldn't like. It's on CBS, which is like, the most boring network ever, it's a procedural, and it stars Julianna Margulies, who I don't particularly care for (and never have, even on ER). And yet. It is a REALLY good show. The case-of-the-week plots of the weekly eps are almost always interesting and well written, while advancing the non-case-based plots, and it's well acted. It helps that I love both Josh Charles and Matt Czuchry, but they're honestly not the defining reason why I like the show. The only other person I know who watches TGW is

corianderstem, which is weird considering it has like 10 million viewers (if only so many people could have been cool enough to watch Community). Anyway... ( my thoughts on The Good Wife S3. )

Oh, and of course the Other TV Thing I had to shoulder this past week... Dan Harmon being fired as showrunner of Community. The first thing I did was scream and rage and call both NBC and Sony a bunch of frickin idiots. The second thing I did was very similar to the first thing. The third thing I did was feel glad that there's at least going to be a final 12 episodes at all. Here's the thing. I feel strongly that when you take a smart, funny show that appeals to a small, select group of people because they all share in and appreciate that kind of humor, to then remove the guy who brought that vision to life, in order to make it more "broadly appealing," all you're going to do is ruin what it is, alienate existing fans, and not succeed ANYway, especially if you also combine it with moving the show to Friday evenings. But whatever. They have their reasoning, and Vulture has been able to lay some of those reasons out objectively in these two articles. Because I am a reasonable person, and because it seems they're trying to retain some of the writers (like Megan Ganz), I can now see where the other side is coming from, and I will give S4 a chance. I want it to succeed. But I pretty much think that by getting rid of Dan they're changing what the show is, and I just don't know if I would enjoy Community-lite. I do hope they prove me wrong -- but again, even if the show maintains its quality and awesomeness, they're not helping it with its current slot, so in that way they're dooming it ANYway. In which case, they might as well have either canceled the show outright or brought Dan back to run the final 12 eps.

And because this would not be my LJ if I didn't include some Clint/Natasha prettiness, here we go:

From here.

Current Mood: sick

Ughghghgh I am sooooo siiiiiiick. I love my visits to SoCal, but part of me dreads them too because more often than not, I get sick, especially when I visit

jade_okelani. I don't know what it is! It's like I get super susceptible to non-Seattle germs while I'm here or something. And because my visit was so short this time, it's really wrecking the last half of my visit. :-(

I've been having body aches since the day before yesterday, I have a cough, a slight fever, and started out with a headache. I barely feel well enough to get up and have a meal, then immediately afterward I have to go back to bed because I feel so weak. I just hope at least the body aches will be gone by tomorrow, because I'd like to enjoy my last real meal in LA.

Anyway, because of being sick I slept most of the time that I was at Jade's, though we did get in three episodes of The Vampire Diaries. However, we could have gotten in so much more. AND me,

ropo and Jade didn't get to play Pandemic as much as we wanted (yay that they both liked it! They didn't know it, but

adelagia and I have often joked that if someone didn't like the game we'd have to seriously reconsider if we could be friends with such a person lol. Luckily this was not put to the test since we are friends with people who have good taste). I also finally met their friend VicTORia, who I have heard scads about but who I've never really spent much time with. She always hosts these fancy dinner parties and I finally got to attend one -- a Valentine's themed Girls' Gaming Night. It was actually really fun, though I wouldn't have gotten through it without the help of Advil. We played Taboo and a new game Vik had gotten called Zero.

I am REALLY not looking forward to going to work on Monday. I wouldn't have looked forward to it anyway, but now that I feel like ass, it sounds like pure torture.

Current Mood: tired

Wow, I can't believe all the shit that went down at the Abbey after episode 4. ( Spoiler alert: Downton Abbey S2, eps 5 & 6. )

I've used my new sun alarm clock the last two mornings and I think it's working pretty well. I use it in conjunction with my regular alarm (a stereo that plays a CD). I think the 'light' helps me wake up with my regular alarm more easily. It's weird because, when my eyes are closed and the light is on, it seems like real sunlight, so in that way it's good. But when I actually open my eyes, the light doesn't look like sunlight AT ALL. It's like a strange blue-purple color, it's still pitch black outside, etc. But it does seem to make waking up with my normal alarm easier, so that's good. The first day I tried one of their "nature" sounds but it was more annoying than soothing, so I stopped that.

I've been continuing to use MyFitnessPal... I haven't been strictly following my calorie count, but I'm sure I've been eating way less than I used to (if my constantly growly stomach is any indication -- which it is), so that's good at least. Holy CRAP is there a lot of sodium in sausages (I made a divine split pea soup with potato and sausage the other night, but in future I may make it without the sausage or with way less of it). And calories in drinks are the WORST. Even a small carton of nonfat milk has 90 calories! And my morning coffee, with cream and sweetener added, yikes. I'm going to have to go back to drinking only water like I used to (not that I drink a lot of non-water now, but what little I do, I regret the calories almost immediately, because it's not like it's even very filling).

My mom is coming back to Seattle tomorrow. I found this out yesterday. It's such a long story that I don't even want to get into, but suffice it to say that she was really upset (for the reason she has to come), but also looking forward to it (seeing me/the pets/eating Seattle food, which she insists is superior to food in LA). We'll fly back down to LA together at the end of the month, when I'll be on vacation. I'm happy to see her again, of course, but this is NOT good for my new diet. My mom can out-eat me any time, and is always "upset" when I only pick at my food/eat very little (it's like not as satisfying for her if I'm not eating with gusto right alongside her).

Current Mood: nervous

I've started using MyFitnessPal again. I started it like 2 years ago, used it for a bit, then stopped. After my latest doctor's appointment, I felt inspired to go back to it. I really need to lose weight. I barely recognize myself anymore! Usually when I think of dieting, I get really discouraged because it seems like some far away goal, I won't see results right away, it'll take years do undo what I've done, etc. But right now I am on a "lose 1 pound a week" plan on MFP, and I realized that that meant if I really stuck to it, I could be close to my goal weight by the end of the year! An actual, real day that's within sight! So I'm giving it a shot. I have terrible self control, so we'll see. I keep telling myself that I did it before so I can do it again, but back then I had more things going for me -- I lived in a neighborhood where I could safely take long walks, I wasn't running a food blog (there's a certain amount of pressure to, you know, be making/consuming good food when you run a food blog), and I had good distractions... namely, World of Warcraft. >.>

It's made me want to play WoW again. I know, losing weight through playing WoW is like the antithesis of the image people usually think of when they think of video gamers (see South Park's "Make Love, Not Warcraft"). But for me it worked. In order to have fun, you have to interact with the game. Your hands are kept busy. I often ate only a bit of my dinner before I'd get distracted playing, and then I felt full. It's the opposite of watching TV for me -- when watching TV, I like to be doing something else, and eating is perfect. So I just eat and eat. Portion control is very difficult when I'm watching TV -- I don't eat until I'm no longer hungry; I eat until I'm stuffed.

So I'm going to try. Keeping the fitness diary really helps because 1) seeing how many calories something is, is really an eye opener; 2) I don't want to have to add stuff to the diary; and 3) it helps me realize what '1 serving' really amounts to. Last time I cut out, like, everything that was 'bad' -- ice cream, chips, fried foods, bacon, other junk food. I'm not going to do that this time because I think it was so restrictive that I had to fall off the wagon at some point, and I want something I can keep up with long term. Then again, last time I did it not to lose weight, but to improve my cholesterol. That seems under control now (at least so says the physical that I got in September), because I've generally been eating better (just too much of it).

I want to be able to wear all those nice jeans I've unearthed in my closet! LOL.

But speaking of bacon and TV... >.> Today is the last day I'll be curing my bacon. I had enough dry cure to cure it for 6 days, so I'm stopping here. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (the British "meat guru" whose advice I'm taking) says that a 5-day cure is perfect for breakfast slices. Longer cures allow the bacon to last for months, but become unpalatably salty (you have to boil away some of the salt before using). I obviously don't have some drafty shed in which to hang my bacon, so I'll just have to use his alternate suggestion and keep it wrapped in cheesecloth in the fridge. I've also been reading other food blogs about homemade bacon, and there's this ultra simple method of doing it (even simpler than what I did, which was already pretty darn easy), where you just keep it in a plastic bag the whole time with the cure and flip it over every other day to redistribute the liquid (because it does release a lot of liquid). Since I had two slabs of pork belly I probably should have tried one of each method to test which was better, but oh well.

( Finished American Horror Story. Spoilery. )

( Watched through ep 4 of Downton Abbey S2. )

How awesome does the new season of Game of Thrones look?! The trailer (thank you,

akscully):

Also,

ropo found this for me. We'll stop by the next time we're in Vegas. In fact, I think I saw this place the last time I was there!

Current Mood: dorky

OK, another thing I learned from my knife class (I guess I got more out of it than I thought!): quickie guacamole, especially ideal of you have an unexpectedly hard avocado and can't make traditional guac. Put the flesh of an avocado, one clove of garlic, salt to taste, a seeded jalapeno (optional), and enough milk to almost cover the avocado into a narrow container (a tall glass rather than a bowl, for instance). I used my Magic Bullet, which works perfectly for this. Otherwise, use a blending wand to puree the contents. It's probably too small an amount to use a normal blender, but if you were making a bigger batch, you could use that. Texture wise, it's more like a spread/dip, and I normally prefer chunkier guacmole, but this is delicious, and great for when you're in a pinch or are working with a hard avocado.

So every once in awhile, I get a bee in my bonnet about a certain topic and I do a bunch of online research about it until I feel like I have a good grasp of it. You know how that happens. You read about something and then you get interested about some random factoid and do all this reading and you can't even remember how you got to that topic in the first place. Well, I've been reading up on polio. I can't even remember how I got on this... oh wait, yes I do. I was looking up the latest info on the Mortal Instruments movie, which led to an article about Ari Graynor at the Sundance Festival -- I assume because she was the narrator for one of the MI audio books -- which led to an article about John Hawkes' latest role, which got a standing ovation at Sundance. The role was that of the true story of Mark O'Brien, a man who suffered from paralysis due to polio. And that's when I started reading up on both the disease and the vaccination(s) for it. I learned about the two types of vaccines, OPV and IPV, and while right now the U.S. exclusively uses IPV, I believe at the time that I would have gotten vaccinated, I would have been given OPV (in fact, I distinctly remember taking this 'medicine' by mouth because of my relief that I would not have to get a shot, and thought that all vaccinations should be done this way). Both OPV and IPV are efficient, but have strengths in different areas. My question, which I have not found an answer for that satisfies me, is whether people (like myself) who have gotten OPV should or can also get an IPV vaccination. Is this totally overkill, since the polio virus is pretty much wiped out in developed countries (and I am unlikely to travel to areas that aren't developed, and even if I do, I was vaccinated with the version that's recommended for developing countries)?

Well, actually I know the answer to that. The answer is yes, it's totally overkill. But I'm kind of a hypochondriac, and I can't help but think, "But why not? Why not be extra immune (in that you strengthen both areas where the two vaccines are strongest)?" I would definitely not even consider it if I'd been given the IPV vaccine, because OPV has a small chance of actually causing polio (which is partly why it's no longer used in developed countries), as it uses a weakened virus, so the risk doesn't outweigh the benefits. But IPV uses a killed virus, so there's no risk of it turning into the form of polio that can paralyze. Then again, I could be exposing myself needlessly to something like the Cutter Incident, in which live polio virus ended up being in the vaccine, one of the most horrendous pharmaceutical accidents in history. Still, even if that happened, I'm in theory already immune, so...

Yeah. So now I know way too much about that.

Luckily I am going to have a spontaneous lunch with

adelagia, so hopefully she will get my mind off this. >.>

Current Mood: okay

D00ds! I've done it! I've made my own pasta! It's something I've always wanted to do but felt too intimidated by, despite having had the pasta roller/cutter attachments to my KitchenAid mixer for years. -.- All the snow days finally inspired me, I guess. ( Pics! )

This was actually my second attempt. My first attempt was a very plain and simple egg pasta and I didn't take any pictures. It was delicious though. I made this second batch with the purpose of long-term storage.

Recently on Tippr they had one of those sunrise alarm clocks. I'm one of those SAD people (self diagnosed) and I've long wanted something like this. I bought it without doing any research on it, and unfortunately since then I've learned that this particular brand, people either love or hate. Sigh. You'd think as a regular online shopper I would have learned to research first, buy later, by now.

OK, so I've finished Death Note Vol. 7 and am now on 8. ( Spoilers. )

Current Mood: traumatized

So I had a really terrible dental experience this morning. ( Cut for the uninterested and those who have dental phobia to begin with. )

But so that this post isn't just about traumatic things happening to me, here's also something my brother sent me. As Jade says, ( IT'S FUNNY 'CAUSE IT'S TRUE )

Current Mood: cold

Has anyone done acupuncture before? My coworker raves on and on about how awesome it is and how she feels like a million bucks after each session and how "doing needles" has changed her life. I'm very tempted to give it a try myself, particularly since today's Tippr deal happens to be for an acupuncture/massage session...

I baked a rack of spareribs last night. If you've never done this, DO IT. It is so easy and rewarding (due to utter deliciousness) and doesn't cost that much, esp for how many people it'll feed. The only thing it takes is time. I was able to get a rack of spareribs at Fred Meyer yesterday for just over $6 (though I think they weighed it wrong; I think it was heavier than they said it was). Went home, cut it in two so that it'd fit in my roasting pan, which I lined with foil and sprayed with canola oil. Seasoned both sides with salt, pepper, and garlic powder (but really you can use anything you want). Layered a quickly sliced onion over the ribs, then tightly covered everything with another sheet of foil. Baked at 275°F for ~2 hours. After two hours, I removed the top foil, drained the juices (which can then be made into gravy, should you wish), and basted both sides with barbecue sauce (a mix of Stubbs, which is too sour, and Trader Joe's Kansas City Style, which is too sweet), then put it back in for another hour (sans foil), flipping once. For the final touch, I basted the meat side with barbecue sauce again, then put it under the broiler for 4-5 minutes. This produces extremely tender ribs easily eaten off the bone. If you want them to literally be falling off the bone, add an extra hour to the baking time (pre-basting).

I really, really want Head Country barbecue sauce, which is the best bottled barbecue sauce I've had, but it is sold NOWHERE near me. They seem to serve only the middle of the country, not discriminating between north and south. If you live in that part of the country and can get your hands on this sauce, can we work something out? /bats eyelashes PLEASE? I really don't want to have to buy a case of 12, or pay more in shipping than for the product itself. But maybe because it's heavy, there's no help for it. In which case, sigh.

I have found a YA book that sounds AWESOME. Some of you may have read it already. In which case, shame on you for not telling me about it! ;) It's called The DUFF by Kody Keplinger, and kind of sounds like fanfic (in that teenagers are actually having sex, and the whole enemies-with-benefits thing might appeal to other D/G fans). Supporters of the book say that the sex is dealt with in a realistic way; detractors are anti-sex or anti-realism, I can't really tell. Basically it's more for older teens/adults, I guess.

Here's the premise:

Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn't think she's the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She's also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her "the Duff (designated ugly fat friend)," she throws her Coke in his face.

But things aren't so great at home right now, and Bianca is desperate for a distraction. She ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him.

Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out Wesley isn't such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she's falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone. And eventually, through this realization, Bianca begins to see how harmful her unhealthy way of dealing with her problems has been, and finds a way to confront them head on.

One detractor's like, "Bianca's lame! Every time she has an issue she just has sex with Wesley!" Which, contrary to the point of her review, actually makes me want to read the book more, not less. :)) That's how I roll.

Current Mood: gloomy

Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

Just went to the dentist for a routine cleaning/check up, and one of the spots on a molar she's been watching apparently doesn't look too good, so she's going to remove the filling and possibly replace with a full porcelain crown. The cost of this is roughly $1,500. My insurance is going to take care of $650 of it, which still leaves $850 for me. CRY. Currently my appointment is scheduled for late April because of her availability, but to be honest, if it has to be done, I'd rather it be sooner than later. Sigh.

Also, I swear the dentist my mom took me and my brother to when we were little was a total quack who only wanted our money. We didn't have insurance and paid cash every time, and it just so happened that we BOTH needed like every single molar filled before we even hit our teens. We had/have extremely good dental hygiene/habits. When my wisdom teeth came in, we were no longer seeing him, and nothing wrong has ever been found with them. So looking back, I find this all very suspicious. Plus there's the fact that one day he just disappeared, his office closed, without a word to anyone. And now I have all these stupid fillings, which are really only a stop gap, to show for it. GRRRRR.

BTW, this morning I was woken up in the wee hours by the bread machine. When I get something I like to try it out right away, so I decided to make bread with it, and try out the timer function at the same time, so that I could wake up to the smell of fresh-baked bread. Good in theory right? In practice, not so much. Whenever I cook food overnight, in the slow cooker, or in this case, the bread machine, I'll wake up in the middle of the night with hunger pangs. Does this happen to anyone else??? It's like I'm smelling it while sleeping and my body responds to it because I haven't eaten in hours, even though my brain wants to sleep, my stomach wants me to eat, and hurts like hell with ferocious hunger pangs. *facepalm* The good news though is that the bread machine works, and I was able to use the other model's instruction manual to good effect. :P

And now, the meme

mynuet tagged me for!

( Memeing... )

Current Mood: working

By the way, you guys, I am the worst role model ever. This is why it's a good thing that I'm nurturing handbags instead of children.

( Two small incidents from the dinner party Sat night... )

So BEWARE letting me be around your kids.

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Something weird's going on with my arms. Remember last year when I was having shoulder pain/weakness in my right arm? Well it never really went away even after physical therapy. What's weird is that it's now spread to my left arm! So now both my arms are all achy and painful (not so bad now, but last night was pretty bad)! I have no idea WTF is going on. My physical therapist and K. both suggested that I take Aleve regularly for two weeks and see if that helps with the pain (as it will bring down the inflammation). I still haven't done it, but now I'm thinking maybe I will. I want to do it before I make another appointment to see my doctor, because I'm not really sure there's anything she can do. At least if I try this out, it'll either work, or it will be something I can tell her that I did and it didn't work, which might help narrow down what might be wrong. :/

Current Mood: giddy

I'm slowly getting used to the fact that my entire Merlin relationship with

jade_okelani WAS A LIE. There are still moments when I remember something I really wanted to say, but held back because I didn't want to spoil her, and then it occurs to me that I probably wouldn't have been spoiling her at all. Or the times

akscully and I were flailing and giggling at her behind her back on locked Merlin threads, except that it turns out she was reading them all along and laughing at us behind OUR backs. Grrr.

One of my favorite bands of all time is Linkin Park. I just love their sound. Last month they released a concept album, "A Thousand Suns," that's gotten mixed reviews. One critic said, "This sounds like a really good Linkin Park cover band." Ouch! LOL. I recently listened to the full album, and after several play throughs, I've decided that I like it. Screw the critics. Yes, it's quite different from their other albums. Despite the nuclear warfare theme, the general sound of the album is fairly mellow (especially for LP). I think Chester only screams in one song! My favorite songs right now -- Waiting for the End, Burning in the Skies, and The Messenger. I actually like ALL the songs, but those are good ones to start with. Actually the entire album should be listened to in order, since as a whole it's supposed to tell a cohesive story, but I won't ask that of you. ;)

Had a great weekend. I took Friday off, and in the morning K. and I went to Julep for pedicures. ( Now it's ALL ABOUT FOOD. )

I've been dreading my blood workup results because I was sure my cholesterol must be really terrible, but it was shockingly not that bad. I mean, it wasn't good by any means, but I think it was actually better than last time, and it wasn't too far off the mark. The one thing that was really bad was that I was low in vitamin D, which is true of every person who lives here, lol.

I have so much TV to watch, it's awesome. Currently almost done with The Sopranos S1. I still don't see why all the critics say it's the best show that's ever been on TV, but I'm enjoying it. I like most of the main/featured characters in their own way, except Christopher, who I wish would get killed off but probably won't. Then there's How I Met Your Mother, which I'm apparently a season+ behind on (I thought I hadn't watched S4, but oh how wrong I was). Really looking forward to S5. There's also Dexter S5, but Jade has convinced me not to watch it until the whole season has aired. It's only 13 episodes, so I'm pretty sure I can resist as long as I don't start it. Then, of course, there's the current seasons of Glee, Merlin, and Vampire Diaries (I finally had to look up when they each actually air, so that I'll know when the next ep is available for download). I've paused on Supernatural for now. It's just not the kind of show where I'm dying to see the next episode. I gave my discs to my mom, who loves that kind of thing.

Oh that reminds me, I saw a movie recently, The Last Exorcism. ( Spoilersssssssss. )

Because of the Merlin 3x10 trailer, I have plot bunnies hopping around madly in my head and they seem to be multiplying by the hour. I'm just like, don't you guys know it takes me like 3 years to write a story? Go away! And take your chicken with you!

Current Mood: blah

My shoulder is bothering me again. Argh! I think this means I need to just suck it up and go the route of having them inject steroids into the area. That's what my physical therapist suggested (she thinks it'll just solve the problem once and for all), but I've been avoiding it because I don't like the idea of being injected with steroids like I'm a pro baseball player, and it was getting better for a while. :/ SIGH. Also they're changing our health plan benefits at work, so if I'm going to do it, I should do it now.

It's gotten very cold, very quickly (or so it seems to me). Last night I was wearing three layers to bed. I try to resist turning on the heater for as long as possible because otherwise I get used to it and then I have to turn it on every day. It's only October! There are months of coldness to get through!

Had a really lovely dinner with

slitherhither at Dahlia Lounge last night. That place is so yummy. We each had 3 cups of coffee afterward. Tonight I'm going to Tilth with my cousin. Never been there before, so that'll be fun.

( More Vampire Diaries spoilers through 1x18. )

Current Mood: sneezy

Gorgeous day today. Might explain why my allergies have gone crazy -- at least I assume they're allergies, since other than sneezing, itchy eyes and needing to constantly blow my nose, I feel perfectly fine. :P I don't get it though, I've been taking my antihistamine pill every day for Jaime, shouldn't that work for seasonal allergies also?

Speaking of Jaime, he has this toy mouse. It's like a little puppet. It was very cute at one point, with dangling arms and legs, whiskers, pink ears, etc. Both its arms are now gone, its feet have been amputated, and its body is now quite grimy and sad. It actually resembles a REAL dead mouse, as opposed to a cute stuffed animal. You do not know how many times how many times I have found this disgusting thing on my bed. He sometimes carries it around in his mouth like it's a fresh kill, and all I have to say is that I am very thankful I don't have a mouse problem, because if I ever found a real dead mouse in my bed, I would freak. out.

I had the most amazingly delicious dish at Ka Won, my favorite local Korean restaurant. It's a black cod stew/casserole, served on a huge sizzling platter. Since it's supposed to serve like 4 people, it's not cheap. I'd love to try making my own sometime, but online searches for recipes have yielded nothing, and none of my Korean cookbooks have it, either. Sigh. If you know of a recipe for this dish, called "Eun Dae Gu Jo Rim" in Korean, please let me know, I'd be so grateful!

In the last few days I've rewatched all three Bourne movies, and I must say that it's one of the best action/suspense trilogies out there. (And Die Hard, of course.) Usually a good movie's made, then subsequent sequels follow, which don't live up to the first. They have a great blend of action, character development, shades of romance, and intrigue -- with enough complexity to keep things interesting and provide depth, but not so much that it becomes ridiculously convoluted and unintelligible.

Current Mood: bouncy

OMG. I'm reading Mockingjay, and no plot spoilers, but I've just gotten to a part where we meet two minor characters, brothers, who are named Castor and Pollux. The second I saw those names it struck a chord of recognition in me, so I went to Wikipedia. And I was right!! Those are the names of the brothers in Face/Off (one of my favorite guilty pleasure movies)! Castor Troy (played by Nicolas Cage) and Pollux Troy (played by Alessandro Nivola)!! Now that I know Suzanne Collins must be a Face/Off fan as well (I mean, I just can't believe those two particular names could be coincidental), I'm super tickled. Yeah, and how big a fan of Face/Off must I be to recognize those names like that? LOL.

Edit: OMG, whatEVS you smarty pants with your knowledge of mythology and what not. Way to be a buzz kill. It was so much more fun to imagine SC being a fan of Face/Off. Also, it's pretty sad that after loving mythology all through school and even taking a class on the subject in college, I never once learned about brothers Castor and Pollux.

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Can't really tell yet if the antihistamines are working. My eyes seem less itchy, maybe? Hard to tell re: my arms, since they already have the rashes going on it'll take time for those to heal on their own before I'll really be able to help if the antihistamines are going to prevent them from happening.

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Tried Zippy's Giant Burgers in West Seattle today. It's gotten tons of write ups. I think there's a bitter feud between them and Red Mill Burgers, which is possibly Seattle's most well-known burger joint. I've only been there once, and that was a long time ago, so I can't directly compare the two. But Zippy's grinds their own chuck in the morning and hand-shapes their patties, which is great. I prefer the fries at Five Guys, though.

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I curse and love

corianderstem for introducing me to Ciao Bella's key lime graham gelato. It is AMAZING. The only thing, in my mind, that would make it better is chunks of graham cracker crust. I bought some of Ben & Jerry's key lime pie flavor because theirs does have the crust, but it was disappointing. The flavor of the ice cream isn't as good as Ciao Bella's (and, being ice cream instead of gelato, the texture isn't as creamy), and the chunks of crust aren't really all that great either. I think I may actually just make a graham cracker pie crust and crumble it on top of the Ciao Bella gelato. In the last few days I've eaten so much ice cream that I've run out of spoons before washing, which hasn't happened in I don't know how long.

Current Mood: hopeful

So I think I might be allergic to Jaime. Or if it's not Jaime, it's something. In the past couple of months I've developed some weird itchiness on my arms and around my face -- nothing too bad or serious, but today it feels extra bothersome. I've been suspecting that I might be allergic to Jaime/cats, as he's basically the only thing in my life that's changed recently. I have the usual symptoms of itchy eyes and sometimes feel congestion, but that part's not that bad. I'm not sure if it all points to allergy, though, because the itchiness on my arms doesn't seem like it's a normal symptom. Maybe it's just a bout of eczema that I've somehow developed at this point in my life? O.o That seems weird, though.

Anyway, I've purchased some otc allergy medication and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it works. Because if it doesn't and there's something else wrong, I'll have to make a trip to my doctor's. I've already seen her a number of times this year for other, unrelated problems... she's going to be like, omg wtf's wrong w/ you.

On the other hand, if it does work, it means I'm allergic to Jaime, which means I'm going to have to keep taking antihistamines for years. ><

===

HPB's having their annual 20% off sale and I went and picked up Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn books. Tom Sawyer/Becky Thatcher is one of the earliest pairings I can remember shipping -- not that I knew what to call it back then. It might have pre-dated Anne/Gil. Anyway, if the Internet had been around back then, I probably would've gotten sucked into Tom/Becky fanfic.

Current Mood: bored

Jaime feels that he is now mature and independent enough to have his own place. Therefore, he has obtained a share in a new development that was miraculously built overnight, and is now the proud owner of a new ( kitty condo! )

The weather deities heard my bitter tirade and things have slightly improved today. It's 64°F (which is still way too cold for summer, but better than 51°F), not raining, still cloudy, but here and there the sun is being allowed to peek out.

My shoulder is still bothering the heck out of me. I mean, in terms of injuries, it's fairly minor. It's not like it doesn't function. But when something just doesn't work/feel right, it's really disconcerting. I should be able to pick up a grocery bag or open a door or stretch my arm up without feeling a twinge of discomfort. Still going to physical therapy, but I have to say I'm kind of skeptical.

Oh no,

ropo, what are you going to do?! Campbell Soup recalls SpaghettiOs

Speaking of R., she linked me to this awesome clip. Newsies meets Lady Gaga! Christian Bale and co. dance to "Bad Romance"! Etc. Maybe y'all aren't as big Newsies geeks as me.

TV Show Meme, Day 01 - A show that should never have been cancelled.

Like

obtabius, who I gacked this from, I have to go with "Firefly." It was not only one of the most unique premises I've ever seen -- seriously, is there another show/movie/book about space cowboys? -- but so well done. The characters were rich and well developed, even though they only managed to put together a small number of episodes before being given the axe. Great cast, great writing, great direction. Unfortunately, it seems it was a bit too brilliant for the masses. (And definitely too brilliant for FOX.)

Current Mood: hungry

Apparently I have a lot to catch up on.

I'm thinking of getting a cat. ( Project: Cat! )

If anyone has advice about what supplies I should get in order to prepare for having a cat in the house, let me know. Also, if you think it is a very good/bad idea for me to get a cat, speak up!

Several nights ago K. and I went to Senor Moose for dinner, and visited this packed gelato place on Ballard Ave. They weren't officially open yet, but were having a 'soft opening' that night, so they were giving out the gelato for free. ( Gelato is yummy. )

I've read two books since I last posted, one an excellent nonfiction book by Barbara Demick, following the lives of several North Korean defectors called Nothing to Envy, and total mind candy called How to Be Popular by Meg Cabot. I highly, highly recommend Nothing to Envy. It was fascinating to look into the lives of these North Korean refugees and get an idea of what life is like there, the oppression they suffer without even KNOWING they were suffering it, their experiences with defecting, etc. I challenge pretty much anyone to read this book without gaining new appreciation for what we have. Basically, after I was done I was like, "Wow, I should never complain about anything in my life, ever again. I am so freaking LUCKY." As for the Meg Cabot book, it was actually fairly good mind candy, even if it suffers from what MC books always suffer from, which is a lack of depth, convenient plot devices, and characters that are pretty much the same from book to book.

I've also been to physical therapy for my shoulder twice now. ( Stupid shoulder pain... )

Totally missed Glee last night. >< The long (crappy and cold) weekend threw me off and I didn't even think about it. I'll have to catch up on Hulu tonight.

Also, saw Sex & the City 2. Thought it was cute (if outlandish and over the top in a typical S&tC way), but liked the first movie better. The problem with S&tC movies is that they ended the series too well. The series finale was just so good and perfect that following on it is sort of overkill.

Current Mood: bored

My co-worker's wife had their baby this morning. It was 9lbs, 15oz. As far as I know, not a C-section birth. I can't. even. imagine. :O

Went to the doc's this morning. They took some X-rays and she had me perform some simple strength tests... everything went normally except when she had me hold out my arms in front of me, thumbs pointed down, and pressed down on my arms. I was able to push back with my left and keep it up just fine, but my right arm couldn't do it. She says that she's going to start me on physical therapy, because that's usually the solution for most problems, and we'll see how it goes in the next 2-4 weeks. After that, depending on the tests the PT people do and what they can gauge is wrong with my arm, she may then want to do an MRI, etc. It's possible that I've torn one of the muscles in my rotator cuff (ironic since it's a common injury for athletes and I am like the opposite of an athlete); if that's true I think I even know exactly when I did it. Regardless, what a pain.

I've started reading the 3rd Temeraire book, Black Powder War. There's a dragon in it named Arkady; when I was at the doc's and making an appointment with PT, the girl making the appointment for me's nametag read: Arkady. What are the chances, with such an unusual name?? Synchronicity, so freakish. As for BPW... ( Spoilers. )

So did I mention that I've nearly killed all my seedlings? :/ They were growing SO well. And then I repotted them, kept them out in the sun too long over the weekend, and overwatered. Now they are yellowing and some leaves are curling and so frail they're practically transparent. Cry. I guess I wanted them to grow up too soon. I'm now coddling them again; they're back in the guestroom under the Grow light and no inclement weather. I think they'll survive, but they look so pathetic compared with how they looked before. :(

Current Mood: full

Okay, I've mentioned this briefly before, but the music from "Into the Wild" just kicks ass. My favorite songs right now: "Long Nights," "Society," and "Hard Sun," which is a cover apparently. <3 Links go to YouTube so you can listen w/o downloading anything. I'm not vouching for the vids, which I haven't seen and I think are fan made. Eddie Vedder, you are a such a rock star!! Hmm, that kind of praise doesn't quite have the same ring when it is literally true.

I'm sorry but weather.com is totally useless. Their forecast was all rain, all the time. Right now it is cloudless and sunny. Yesterday after a very brief bout of rain, it was pretty sunny and clear in the evening. WTF? I moved the aloe plant into the house because of all the rain forecasted! The poor thing is so starved for sun and now it's not even getting some that it would have gotten.

Tomorrow I am going to see my doctor about some pain I've been having in my shoulder for, oh, about a year now. I kept thinking it was going to heal/go away on its own, and it seemed to be getting better, but recently it's flared up again so now I'm like, uh oh, I wonder what's wrong with it. :/

On Saturday the handyman from Tippr is going to come, and according to him, he thinks he can take care of all the things on my list in the time allotted to me. All I have to say is, if that is true, it will possibly be the best $45 I have ever spent.

Friday is K.'s birthday. There will be cherry sorbet. :D K. and D. have given me their Sirena espresso maker. They had it for several months and used it every day. Then something went wonky with it, and since the repair shop was near me, I took it in and picked it up when it was ready (it was still under warranty, and it was just that a gasket or something needed to be tightened). However, while it was gone they got used to the counter space they regained, and D. got snobby about homemade espresso. So they were going to sell it on Craigslist for like $50 but said that if I wanted it I could have it. I decided to give it a trial run, because why not? I made my own Americano this morning and okay, maybe it wasn't as good as the one I had at Macrina, but it was just as good as any I can buy at work -- maybe better! And it'll probably improve, too, once my familiarity with the machine increases, so that's exciting. I'm using 2 shots for 8-10oz of hot water, plus lots of cream and vanilla syrup. :P

Current Mood: full

So, Canlis. We had a good time, but neither of us would go back. ( More details. )

Now I am really looking forward to Crush, which is tomorrow. Had a great time the only other time I've been there. So far K. and I have been to 3 of the RW restaurants, and they've all served halibut, lol. This is the problem with going to restaurants that pride themselves on serving local, fresh, in-season ingredients, back to back -- you get very similar menus because of what's in season!

As a physician, K.'s advice re: my lip problem is to use 1% strength hydrocortizone on them twice daily and see if it helps (she also says that I might need prescription strength to make any difference, but given the area she'd try something mild first). My appointment with my doctor isn't for another week and a half, so I might as well try. I also took

slitherhither's advice and bought some Dr. Hauschka lip balm. When K. saw me picking it out at PCC she was like, "Hey! That's what all the celebrities like Jennifer Aniston use!" Which was of course news to me as I'd never even heard of it before. For what a lip balm cost, I can see why though, lol. B., you have good taste. ;) Actually it's perfect because it's all natural and all the Internet research I did kept telling me to avoid chemicals like typical drugstore brand chapsticks and Vaseline (which, of course, was all I used), that the skin of lips needed to breathe, etc. Hopefully the hydrocortizone will heal and the new balm will soothe, and I won't even need to see my doctor at all. Though part of me wants to get a referral to a dermatologist anyway so I can figure out what the heck caused it in the first place.

I just ordered a pile of new cookbooks. >< It's all David Lebovitz's fault, him and his new dessert book and his taunting video of delicious chocolate chip cookies. Gah! I am but a mere mortal! I can't be expected to resist such temptation! I also got one for Thai cuisine (gasp -- I know, but I'm wondering if maybe I can make my own not-so-sweet Thai curry, I might like it more), yet another Vietnamese one (it IS one of my favorite cuisines, after all), and one that is totally self indulgent because I can't see any practical application at all, really: Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing. I'd love to read all about it, even though I don't own a smokehouse (and wildly guessing that I probably never will), and I can't imagine going through the effort of curing my own meats. Finally, I also got Western Garden Book of Edibles, for help with my garden. Also, even though all my links go to Amazon, I actually bought them at Buy.com because not only were the books a bit cheaper there, but they don't charge me tax. I love Amazon, but why do they have to be based here?!

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Page Summary

You poked the bear. I asked you not to poke the bear.
blech
longest. week. ever.
I'm bald now -- I've always been bald. I've merely dreamt of having hair.
guacamole recipe and polio. sorry for my weird brain.
I was thinking more about our imminent and daring escape.
Fish meat is practically a vegetable.
Think how much better our friendship would be if we added...doin' it.
la dentist y el meme
I never said I was a role model!
Werewolf Road leads straight to Vampire Boulevard!
That's for me to know and to you to... dot, dot, dot.
Look at us. Look at what they make you give.
zomg! why am I awake!
cross your fingers
Kitty condos, memes, and more!
"No! Not the children!"
Remember last month when I paid back that loan? Well now I need YOU to do a favor for ME.
I will always be better than before...
Bart, with $10,000 we’d be millionaires!

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Page generated Jun. 7th, 2025 02:30 pm

It Started with a Journal

Going Up and Down the Steps of Adulthood

Entries tagged with health

You poked the bear. I asked you not to poke the bear.

blech

longest. week. ever.

I'm bald now -- I've always been bald. I've merely dreamt of having hair.

guacamole recipe and polio. sorry for my weird brain.

I was thinking more about our imminent and daring escape.

Fish meat is practically a vegetable.

Think how much better our friendship would be if we added...doin' it.

la dentist y el meme

I never said I was a role model!

Werewolf Road leads straight to Vampire Boulevard!

That's for me to know and to you to... dot, dot, dot.

Look at us. Look at what they make you give.

zomg! why am I awake!

cross your fingers

Kitty condos, memes, and more!

"No! Not the children!"

Remember last month when I paid back that loan? Well now I need YOU to do a favor for ME.

I will always be better than before...

Bart, with $10,000 we’d be millionaires!