Cloud Wars: En Giardia!
WARNING: gross medical stuff to follow. . . don’t read this while eating.
Regular readers will be aware that I went to China and Indonesia early this year, and became sick in Indonesia (I’ve been to Indo-land seven times, and become ill every time).
I am still sick almost two months later, so I went to a doctor. Despite the care I took (never drinking Indonesian water, or ice, or salad, and brushing my teeth with bottled water), this is probably what my intestines currently look like:
Specifically, that’s a likely representation of the mucus of my small intestine.
Those cute little guys are called Giardia Trophozites, and they spend their days “actively swimming” and making me feel sick (though probably not as sick as you feel right now, if you’ve got a decent imagination).
The most likely way I inadvertently invited these guys to an intestinal pool party is by accidentally (or intentionally, but I’m pretty sure I’d remember that) ingesting a small amount of “human or animal faeces”. Yep, I accidentally ate some poo.
The medication I’m taking is called “Flagyl” which sounds suspiciously like “flagellate”. The perfectly rational explanation is that it’s named after the four little tentacle-thingies that each of my new little friends has trailing from their backsides.
Hey! Let’s take a closer look!
So, in conclusion, here are some recommended slogans for Indonesian tourism:
Indonesia: Impossible to forget!
Indonesia: An experience that stays deep inside you!
Indonesia: Bring it home with you!
Indonesia: A great opportunity to travel, meet new people, and ingest their faeces!
Panic Ye Not
A few people have panicked over my “bad news”.
No, I don’t have alien growths in my intestines. It’s just that my sister (who moved to another city two years ago) prefers the place she’s now living to coming back home to Canberra (despite the nearly-but-apparently-not-quite-infinite appeal of being near yours truly). She’s my best friend and there was (until now) a strong possibility of her coming back here to live. But why would I even want her to come here when she’s more at home over there?
In the next five years both she and I plan to have children, and I thought our children would be raised together – as close as siblings but without usual decade or so of rivalry, violence, and hate. Then hopefully when we as parents were irrelevant old fuddy duddies, the kids would help each other to be smart, good people. Now they’ll be pleasant aquaintances, but without huge amounts of shared experience (just shared genes, and SOME shared experience).
It’s scary to think of going through pregnancy and early motherhood without my sister nearby. But in five years I’ll have a different life, my children will have other bestest-friends-in-the-whole-world, and I will be grateful for however my life actually is. I am sad that my sister and I won’t have the same depth of shared experience that we would have had, but I’m glad she’s settled into her new home.
PS our internet is running perilously low, so don’t panic if I don’t blog for a few days (although I’ll most likely just cave in and buy more).
Stuffed
Yesterday and the day before, I upgraded “daily crying” to “crying in public”. I also received some very bad news yesterday (the kind that really is devastating, and will have an effect on me for the rest of my life – but in five years I’ll be glad it happened).
But generally I’m less homicidal lately. Yesterday I exercised control over my world by swapping a couch with our spare bed, so I don’t get so uncomfortable watching DVDs on my partner’s computer. Today I plan to make him throw away stuff. That always makes me feel like I’ve made the world a better place.
The doc reckons I have Giardia, but also wanted to do some tests (particularly since I was super careful about not drinking any Indonesian water, or ice, or eating salad, or brushing my teeth except with bottled water). I’ll start taking anti-Giardia pills at lunch today.
Stuffed Capsicum (serves two, or one hungry person):
1. Slice a capsicum in half and scoop out the seeds and ribs so it makes two little bowls. Roast them facing down for ten minutes at 200 degrees celcius.
2. Mix a small amount of cooked rice with crushed nuts (you can smash them to bits yourself with a potato masher), chopped tomatoes, basil, garlic and a teaspoon or so of either cream, butter or oil. You can also put in tuna, cooked chicken pieces, tofu, or almost anything.
3. Flip over the slightly-cooked capsicum halves and fill with the mixture. Cook another 5-10 minutes, top with grated cheese, and eat.
Since I’m using my parents’ internet, here’s a picture:
Cloud Wars: Future Scooter
Still in the “mad science” vein, here’s something that really exists (but only just):
It’s an electric-powered scooter. And it still does have two wheels – they’re just side by side, instead of that stuffy old “one in front of the other” thing.
It’s toally simple to drive – once you get it balanced. Reassured, everyone?
It’s battery powered and can reach about 60 kilometres an hour. And that’s just the prototype.
Cloud Wars: More Mad Science
Here are some scifi images to haunt your dreams (as per usual, I’m not responsible for the content on these web sites, but didn’t immediately notice anything amiss):
http://www.paranormalknowledge.com/articles/tag/science-fiction
http://www.darkfaery-subculture.com/sci-fi/a-look-at-science-fiction-books/
http://www.terpconnect.umd.edu/~ehamm/Elementary%20Genres.html
http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63820
PS
I forgot two things: First, I love watching “So You Think You Can Dance” partly because it’s SO great to see healthy bodies (as opposed to “The Biggest Loser” which is just terrifying). Secondly, today’s recipe:
Most soporific drink ever
Hot milk and butterscotch schnappes.
Mmmmmm. . .
Also good with chocolate milk mixed in (but the chocolate wouldn’t help if you’re using the “special milk” to get to sleep).
So You Think You Can Diet
I’m cautiously optimistic. The scales today said 78.3 kilos. It’s not great, but it’s not awful. They also read 77.6 at one point, but that seems a little implausible so either I accidentally cheated (more than the acceptable level of cheating, I mean), or there was a leak in the space-time continuum. Either way, I’ll weight a few days before weighing myself again.
My partner and I got bits of extra work which added up to about $150, which really takes the pressure off. We still can’t fix either of our cars (yet) but if I need to do something stupid we can go out to dinner.
Yesterday we went to a friend’s place for dinner and he made salad – usually a favourite of mine (I’ve even blogged about it). But there was chicken (my newest, shiniest food-related phobia). And vegetables. I was so hungry I was barely speaking (too difficult to be civil so catatonia was better) but I couldn’t face one bite. So I ate Maccers (which, since it isn’t technically “food” was both edible and a handy way to express my self-destructive urges).
Another friend who was there is obsessed with diseases – the more horrible, the better. He thinks I have living parasites in my gut (based on the fact I got food poisoning in Indonesia in January and haven’t 100% recovered). So I’m going to the doctor today.
Why couldn’t I get the awesomely cool kind of parasite that causes massive weight loss, dagnammit?
Cloud Wars: Mad Science
Science up your day with these two very different but equally insane individuals:
http://cedarconsulting.wordpress.com/2008/05/13/mad-science-or-insurance-laboratory/
Not enough for you? Visit the ten mad scientists post that belongs to the above picture.
http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2009/03/30/10-real-life-mad-scientists/
Snot Monster
Today marks the halfway point. Whatever happens, I’ll have chocolate next Monday.
I did a reasonably honest weigh-in today and got 78.8 kilos. If tomorrow is as bad, I’ll know something’s gone horribly wrong (probably my contraceptive medication, which I’ve been on for four months, would be the baddie). As a matter of honour, I’ll still stay off chocolate until March (official chocolate, anyway – I might get into the Weight Watchers chocolate milk mix).
The title refers to my constant crying.
Today is the 22nd of February, which means I sent “Farting My ABCs” to its chosen publisher exactly six months ago. The publisher’s website says it takes four months to make its replies, but I know from experience that it takes six months for each stage (that is, six months to read the first three chapters and request the rest, then six months to read the full book). “Farting My ABCs” is so short I sent the whole thing (which they specifically say is the right thing to do) so it’s possible it’ll take longer for that reason. Also I know the publisher is especially swamped at present (plus, the recent six months includes the quagmire that is Christmas time). So I estimate they’ll reply in about another month.
I estimate the other publisher I’m waiting on (the one where the book, “Stormhunter”, is getting discussed by the two heads of the appropriate department) will take another two months from now.
Cloud Wars: Steampunk Art
There is a LOT of steampunk art around, and much of it reaches a very high standard. Here’s a random person I found through twitter (and their website, http://www.tribalgothic.com is very pretty too):
