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Catching up
Aug. 17th, 2013 09:43 amSo 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.
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.
