| Health as Hobby |
[Dec. 8th, 2009|11:59 am] |
I'm well overdue to write another food intolerance diary, but I have noticed these last few days a very depressing trend in myself -- and millions of others across the intratubes: a ridiculous propensity for spending entire days researching my health complaints.
This would be fine if the wub were full of useful, accurate and objective information. Instead, however, it is crammed to the gills with people whose desperation and contact with each other, has turned them into dreary monomaniacs. This morning's epiphany is that I am now one of them. When you spend hours a day reading dodgy health websites there is no other conclusion to draw.
Have my symptoms grown worse? Is that why I'm doing this?
The answer to that is 'no'. My digestion -- when I stay away from the naughties -- is almost as normal as anybody's now. I don't run out of the room after a meal looking for a toilet. Sometimes I can go for days with no indigestion at all and for the first time in years, my stomach rumbles when I am hungry.
All very novel and exciting.
On the other hand (or should that be 'wrist'?), my joint movement has stopped improving and while I have been left with the ability to lead a normal, pain-free life, I can't play sport and that's just not good enough for me. That's what sent me back to my obsessive research with the sad and the crazy. Nowadays, I spend hours wandering around health food shops, hiding the supplements like a teen with a dirty magazine.
But for all that we might mock the non-scientific with their "Angel Cures" and worse, a large part of the fault lies with the mainstream medical community itself. There is no official cure or official cause for autoimmune conditions like mine. They affect so many areas of the body that our fragmented, specialised medical establishment can only treat symptom A, regardless of the effect it might have on Symptoms B, C or D. A classic example of this is the prescription of stomach destroying drugs as a temporary treatment for inflamed joints.
Many sufferers of conditions that can't be easily categorised are told they are imagining their illness. One of the top doctors in the land said as much to somebody close to me who died of Leukemia. "Go see a psychiatrist," he said. Brilliant! And probably mildly embarrassing for him in retrospect.
But they can't all be crazy, can they?
My research has led me to some very interesting theories and treatments. One I'm looking into at the moment is Low Dose Naltrexone. Naltrexone has been around for decades as a treatment for opiate and alcohol addiction, but a few recent trials into Crohn's Disease and Fibromyalgia have come out with positive results for the drug when used in much lower doses (4.5mg). As a bonus, there are no reported side-effects and it's as cheap as chips.
A lot of sufferers of other auto-immune diseases, such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Multiple Sclerosis have claimed massive improvements in their conditions and are now campaigning for trials to be held. So, if you come across a petition to ask your government for a trial, please sign it. Either LDN works or it doesn't, but without proper trials we'll never know for sure and thousands will continue to suffer conditions far worse than mine needlessly.
Also, until I get better, I have nothing else to talk about. You wouldn't want that, would you? |
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| Three Things Make A Drive-By Post |
[Dec. 7th, 2009|07:14 pm] |
First, thanks for all the recs.
Second, I've been really really busy, thus the general radio silence. Busy continues apace (revisions under hard deadline and of course December which is always busy for other reasons).
Third, for those of you looking for a unique, inexpensive, but TOTALLY AWESOME present for that child in your life, here's a great little coloring book, Onoraptor Makes a Friend, now available on Etsy. |
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| Desssssssssstroooo! |
[Dec. 7th, 2009|11:00 pm] |
Shortpacked!: She didn't know what she was getting into.
 Hey, everybody! So, like, when Jeph Jacques links to you in the area under his comic, apparently that means you get an absolute buttload of traffic. It was like the entire population of a very very large city descended upon us and read through my archives. Hello, new people! I hope you enjoyed my Batman and Frank Miller jokes. Please stay around! My blog's RSS feed is a fun way to follow me.
(Apparently I choose the right cartoonists to draw in compromising coprophilic positions.)
 ((You're next, Danielle Corsetto.))
These pictures are of a custom G.I. Joe figure made not by me, but by my buddy and groomsman Ron "Robowang" McBalls. But I sure wish I could claim it as my own! Yeah, it's friggin' Beach Party Destro. See, he got a Destro head (duh) , a Chuckles torso, and a Sagat pair of legs. Oh, and flippers. Of course. I thought that was totally awesome, and so I asked if I could share it with you.
Things like this are basically why vintage Joe parts interchangeability exists.
So, yeah. James McCullen Destro XXIV, wearer of shorts. Rocker of the luau shirt. Weapons supplier. Party animal. |
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| Music Monday |
[Dec. 7th, 2009|06:02 pm] |
Saw them in concert when they opened for Matt Kearney...quite enjoyed them. I actually liked them better than MK (who I wasn't familiar with, but A was so psyched to go). I like their album Stages quite a lot, this is one of the singles.
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| Yikes! |
[Dec. 7th, 2009|05:55 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | thesis | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  anxious | ] |
My thesis defense is in one week. One week tomorrow, to be exact. I got the thing turned in last Wednesday, took a couple days off to sleep, then got sick. Now I'm better and supposed to be studying, but I haven't been doing a very good job. I hate studying, I dont want to be a student anymore, and knowing that it's almost all over makes me want to do it even less.
One week. I hope I don't stand up there and look like a complete idiot. |
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| Notification System |
[Dec. 7th, 2009|01:15 pm] |
Hey Guys,
Unfortunately with our last release, and its instability, we were forced to roll back releases. Unfortunately in doing so, it would seem that our notification system has been broken somehow. Our engineers are working on this issue as quickly as possible. We hope to have a patch within the next day, so we can deploy our code and fix the notification system at the same time. Please *bear* with us ;)
Currently all notifications are being queued up so they can be processed as soon as the fix is pushed and verified to be working correctly.
Thank you, |
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| MLN's Cover Karma |
[Dec. 7th, 2009|11:18 am] |
Darker Angels By MLN Hanover has been nominated for the 2009 Urban Fantasy Cover Art Award in the category of best female-only cover.
Also of my immediate circle of friends, Carrie Vaughn and Diana Rowland.
I encourage everyone to vote. Only by telling the publishers what sorts of covers you appreciate and value can you influence the future of scantily clad women with wolves from this point forward. The Urban Fantasy subgenre salutes you.
(And thanks to All Things Urban Fantasy for putting on the award gig in the first place.) |
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| Where Is the Snow???? |
[Dec. 7th, 2009|10:48 am] |
Forget my need for snow to get into the Christmas spirit...I'm desperate for a snow day. All this weather seems to be skirting us! As I sit here and type this, I'm realizing I need to change the oil on my snow blower. Can you tell how fried I am? It doesn't help that I had a bad case of ajada last night and was up until 2am. We had chili last night, but I made sure to take my acid reflux medicine, but it was too much and I was hacking all night. Fun. Plus I left all my papers home, including a stack of college essays that need to get back to the seniors. Great. Banner year for the Stone!
My first block lesson, stringently following the "Talent Development" model we're being required to use, went well. I'm really going to give this the "old college try" and hope I can make it work for me. My 11 Advanced kids are still in open rebellion over Billy Budd and I'm not happy with the way I'm doing Advanced this year, so I've decided to "go with what works" for me and get into the 20th century with the literature. We'll see how that goes. I'm dreading 12s next block. Research papers begin. This ought to be good.
I'm definitely going to take a day or two off in the coming weeks to get my shit together, especially as this rewrite looms for me. |
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| Autographed books |
[Dec. 7th, 2009|10:03 am] |
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A quick note to you procrastinators to say that if you want to order an autographed book and get it in time for Christmas, you need to let me know (instructions at the link) this week or it may not arrive by the 25th. Just sayin'. |
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| Books Bought |
[Dec. 7th, 2009|02:56 pm] |
Many thanks to all those who suggested books for me to buy. I've just ordered a lump of reading from Amazon, but forgot (due to an excess of stupidity) to add in some of your more interesting suggestions. I also meant to get Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn -- one of those books whose absence from my shelves makes small children point and laugh at me in public. I'll try to put that right early in the New Year.
For now, the following are already in the air somewhere over the Atlantic and getting closer by the second:
The House of Niccolo by Dorothy Dunnett
The Dragons of Babel by Michael Swanwick
The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
The Price of Spring by Daniel Abraham
The Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce |
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| the crisis and the law |
[Dec. 7th, 2009|11:56 am] |
I'm not sure if the media outrage regarding adjustment of the european civil service salaries has reached any of you (it has mostly been restricted to Benelux and Germany, I think). In short, our salaries are readjusted each year based on the previous year's inflation and the salaries of the civil serice in member states. Since the process is delayed by well over a year, this year we were supposed to get a 3 % increase. Obviously the ministers don't like it (it's the crisis after all!!!) and it is uncertain whether we will be getting our money (although it would be actually illegal). Now, the thing is -- because the process is so long, we would get our salaries significantly cut the next two years anyway, when the calculation is based on the end-of-2008 and 2009 deflation and salary cuts of the member states. So, we would not be getting an incrase this year (illegally) AND be getting a cut for a few years AFTER the economy has recovered. I'm sorry, this does not seem very fair to me. Additionally, a crisis levy had been taken from our salaries since the previous economic crisis some years ago (and it is actually bound to increase next year).
Now, I am still very happy with my salary, even with the cuts. But I am single and have no mortgage. When someone has a family to feed, and a mortgage to pay, the matters don't look so good anymore.
so when we go on a strike, please don't feel outraged like the rest of Europe, because the facts are actually a bit different from what the press tells you ;) |
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| Post-litigation |
[Dec. 6th, 2009|11:01 pm] |
Shortpacked!@TNI: Honorable mention: forklift.
Shortpacked!: It's a real website.
 Hey, it's my coveted Catwoman! The black one! She was sent to me from a man named "Christopher," who only wanted awesome Captain America art in return. (See below.)
A purple redeco of her is available right now at Walmart, part of a $55 five-pack boxset, but I didn't want purple. I want the black original, 'cuz this costume design of hers (Darwyn Cooke's, right?) is by far my favorite. Goggles for the win! (I also would have paid for one with her wearing the ball gown and realistic cat head mask.) The black original is from the DC Superheroes line, and she comes with a buttload of accessories, probably because she's small and female.
 She has her whip and a stolen cat idol and some jewels... oh, and she has a backpack. I wasn't expecting the backpack! The backpack is awesome, especially since it has a cute little tiny cat head sculpted onto the face of it. It's kinda hard to get it on, so I made Graham do it. It's a tight fit!
But the backpack is a thoughtful addition. Where does she pocket these things she steals? In her backpack, of course! (Well, not the cat idol. It's about twice the backpack's size. But, you know, if she's stealing candy bars or whatever.)
After I stupidly stole Jeph Jacques characters for my Friday strip (after cleverly getting away with it the first time), he sued me for quite a large sum! He thought he had me, but I apparently own a very large number of remaindered Justice League Batmen and Supermen, with an accumulated worth that you wouldn't believe. Sure, each one is probably near-worthless, but added up? So, wow, my attic is empty, and I averted financial disaster, and now Jeph has stupid numbers of Batmen. IN YOUR FACE, ASSHOLE.
Buttlicker. |
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