Catching up

[lizbee]

So after many months of generalised gastric distress, my gastroenterologist has reached a verdict: I am gluten intolerant. More precisely, the current state of my small intestine suggests I'm pre-coeliac. Also, my bloodwork is overflowing with auto-immune factors, and she wants me to see a rheumatologist, as she suspects I am in need of disease-modifying drugs.

Exciting fact! Coeliac disease is also an auto-immune disorder, and is closely linked with rheumatoid arthritis, and also every other condition in my immediate family.

For now, I am to be entirely gluten-free for six weeks, then have more blood tests, and (she thinks) I will be able to have occasional amounts of gluten and not worry too much about cross-contamination, etc.

Having been gluten-free for four days, I have to say that I have not suffered a single digestion malfunction, and I'm in slightly less pain.

I'm trying really, really hard not to be that person who talks about her food intolerances all the time, but it's a challenge! So far I've discovered that gluten-free bread is much nicer than it was a couple of years ago, although one slice does not make enough toast soldiers for the perfect boiled egg. And I'm really going to miss dumplings and steamed buns.

(Luckily, I'm not really into cakes or biscuits any more. And gluten-free pies seem quite nice so far!)

*

In matters unrelated to my digestion, I'm sloooooooooooooooooooooooooooowly catching up on Welcome to Night Vale. I feel quite disconnected from the fandom, though, because not only am I quite uninterested in Cecil/Carlos, but I don't even like Cecil that much.

See, WtNV is, on some levels, a satire of America. And Cecil represents those parts of the mainstream media which congratulate themselves on insightful and truthful journalism, while they're actually shoring up problematic power structures. This was driven home in ... I think it might have been "Eternal Scouts", where the city council decides that death is a privilege earned through productivity, and there's the whole death-as-health-care-analogue routine. I find it hard to like a character who's sincerely spouting Republicanesque opinions, you know?

Also, more generally about WtNV, because the only voice we hear is Cecil, I just find the whole thing quite ... dudely. I know Mara Wilson and Jasika Nicole turn up later, and there are women being discussed, but they aren't exactly there, you know? And I struggle with media that's devoid of women.

*

Media that's not devoid of women: Mass Effect. I feel a bit bad about my decision to have Shepard stay faithful to Liara through this full playthrough, because I just love Garrus so much. On the other hand, do I love him as a pixel-friend, or as a pixel-love interest? Who knows?

When I'm done with Pointy Cheekbone/Tight Bun Jane Shepard, I'm going to have a go with Joan Shepard, The One Who Looks Like Lucy Liu, and she might get a Garrus romance. If she's lucky.

Comments

[wolfy_writing]

I always thought the person everyone dreaded to listen to wasn't the one who talks about their food intolerances, but the person who goes "I have this food intolerance, so everyone in the world must have it!"

Anyway, I'm interested in baking. Never done any gluten-free baking (sounds like a challenge), but I'm interested in hearing about it.

[lizbee]

I always thought the person everyone dreaded to listen to wasn't the one who talks about their food intolerances, but the person who goes "I have this food intolerance, so everyone in the world must have it!"

Well, I try really hard not to be that, as well, but ever since I met someone whose sole topic of conversation was "The food I can't eat", I've tried to avoid that.

[wolfy_writing]

That would be off-putting. I don't think I've ever run into anyone acting like that. I've known people who learned of food issues and had a couple of good conversations because it's a new things that's on their mind, and i didn't find that at all boring or annoying. (Although the cute bi girl I had a crush on in college probably could have talked about things way less interesting than her peanut allergies and had me listening raptly.)

[inkstone]

Yeah, I've been listening to Night Vale in the background while I do chores or cook, but it's not something I feel the burning need to plow through like other media I consume. I don't care for Cecil/Carlos either and I actually kind of find Cecil to be... stalkerish? of Carloes in general and it bothers me.

[lizbee]

Yes! I know it's the nature of the medium and all, but talking about his crush on Carlos on the radio seems really disrespectful. Like, boundaries, you know? It really puts Carlos in an awkward position. I'm glad there's been a long run of episodes with no mention of Carlos, actually.

[tree_and_leaf]

Yes, it's a bit creepy. And not in the tentacletastic way that I listen to Night Vale for.

[lizbee]

Yeah. I've been thinking about it a lot, to be sure of my motives (ie, is it "everyone likes this so I don't" coupled with "I don't like it, therefore it's problematic"), and I just ... yeah.

[tree_and_leaf]

I don't mind it in context, because I'm not sure that we aren't *supposed* to find Cecil questionable at times, but it does baffle me that people want to ship him with Carlos.

[umadoshi]

...how did I not know that Jasika Nicole is involved in WtNV? *_*

[settiai]

Both Fem!Shep/Liara and Fem!Shep/Garrus are awesome, so it's a win either way. :)

[tree_and_leaf]

Do you know 17catherines? She has a cooking blog where she does a lot of GF recipes, or provides advice on how to make them with GF alternatives (she even has some very good GF cake recipes, if you find you start missing them after all). - http://www.catescates.com.au/gluten-free-recipes/

[opusculasedfera]

WtNV is pretty dudely. I won't say the fandom isn't overwhelmed by Cecil/Carlos, but there is a moderate amount of fic for the female characters, if you're interested in poking about in that direction, and that most of the non-Cecil/Carlos I've read so far has been quite good.

It is a good point about Cecil's unpleasant opinions though. I feel like they haven't quite decided if they want him to be sarcastic or not. Obviously he's meant to be satire, but some jokes (like the "he is rich and therefore he must be a good person" running gag) are overtly sarcastic, whereas the healthcare/death bit was more like it was his own opinion, which is rather unpleasant.

[pearwaldorf]

Shepard and Garrus as a couple and not as a couple are pretty awesome either way, so I think you'll be fine either way.

Re: Cecil and dudeliness, I totally get where you're coming from. I absolutely don't want to wave it away as a restriction of the medium, but it is one of the problems with having everything filtered through his POV. I have also never been able to figure out how much we are supposed to rely on Cecil as a narrator (as somebody else noted, he's a bit off. I wonder who he'd be on the outside) or objective presenter of actual events, which might be the point? idk.

(Also I'd never made that connection with Cecil as part of the system. The fishbowl [i.e., living in America] makes it difficult to see past it sometimes, so thanks for that.)

[lizbee]

(Also I'd never made that connection with Cecil as part of the system. The fishbowl [i.e., living in America] makes it difficult to see past it sometimes, so thanks for that.)

I hope I'm not squee-harshing!

I have also never been able to figure out how much we are supposed to rely on Cecil as a narrator (as somebody else noted, he's a bit off. I wonder who he'd be on the outside) or objective presenter of actual events, which might be the point? idk.

I feel like it's not just that Cecil himself is unreliable, but Night Vale actually warps perceptions, too. Until "The Sandstorm", I was quite convinced that Desert Bluffs was a really nice place, and it was some power exerted by Night Vale that made it seem terrible.

I mean, it is a nice town, if you like viscera and corporatocracies.

[pearwaldorf]

I hope I'm not squee-harshing!

Oh absolutely not! I appreciate outside perspective, especially when it helps with character understanding/development and not just because this may turn into a fic at some point. I may be reading too much into this, but Fink and Cranor have stated they write Cecil from a point of sincerity. But obviously the text works on both a Watsonian and Doylean level, at which point it becomes meta-meta commentary and then my head starts to hurt.

I feel like it's not just that Cecil himself is unreliable, but Night Vale actually warps perceptions, too. Until "The Sandstorm", I was quite convinced that Desert Bluffs was a really nice place, and it was some power exerted by Night Vale that made it seem terrible.

Put together, Night Vale and Desert Bluffs are more or less what America has to look forward to. Pick your poison and all that ahahaha oh god.