hummingwolf | Monday, November 16th, 2009

Now wearing: My peacock shirt with the light beige background, blue jeans, turquoise striped socks with stylized seahorses, old glasses, and boring underwear.

Now seeing: Letters & icons on the monitor, glowing mouse, keyboard. No non-computer lights on in my room, so everything else is too dimly lit to see in detail.

Now hearing: Icehouse's Big Wheel because the title track was playing on my brain radio this morning.
Revolution in the city
Revolution in the street
When the circle is in motion
Then the circle is complete

Now feeling: Achy, dazed, vaguely migrainey.

Now drinking: Hoji-cha (roasted green tea) in hopes that the low dose of caffeine will keep the migraine from worsening. Would rather not take the prescription headache meds if I can avoid it, though they do knock me out nicely.

Now smelling: Not much now that I've set the teacup down.

Last meal eaten: Fried chicken and Korean sweet potato, to which I added onion and gai lan (a.k.a. Chinese kale or Chinese broccoli), all of it seasoned with chili powder and salt.

Adventure of last week: Observant readers may have guessed that I've been to the Korean supermarket recently. It was Friday the 13th, in fact, after a long bus ride and before a neurologist appointment followed by another long bus ride. Exhausting trip, but I got some tasty food out of it.

Food of the week: In spite of the above, I'd have to say Stayman apples from the farmers market. I'm gonna miss that market this winter.

Toy of the day: Did you know that Korean Cheetos have no cheese? It's true: the bag I bought on Friday was a pepper flavor called "Hot & Spicy" in English (which is surely translated into Korean as "Wimpy Flavor Created by Americans"). Anyway, Korean Cheetos have no cheese, but they do come with toys. After some assembly, I now have a spinning top with Chester Cheetah on it (and the English label "Made in Taiwan"). It is good to be easily amused.

Now reading: Not much, unfortunately. It's been too hard for me to concentrate lately, which is frustrating because I have about a zillion books on my stack to be read.

Last TV show watched: Well, I don't have a digital TV yet, but there are still a few low-power analog stations the old TV can get. Last night I watched the latest Hal Lindsey Report. It was not as entertaining as the last time I watched the show (News story suggesting peaceful cooperation between nations = Sign of the End of the World! News story about increasing violence or threats thereof = Sign of the End of the World! Bonus points if it involves Israel (hint: everything involves Israel). New scientific discovery = ~~Interesting in its own right~~ Sign of the End of the World!) As far as I can tell, last night's episode was all about the Fort Hood shooting, the evils of Political Correctness, and the fact that all devout Muslims are ticking time bombs, which last is undoubtedly true if your definition of "devout Muslim" is "Islamic version of those guys who shoot abortion doctors" (everyone else is just not committed enough). Anyway, that's what I watched before I went to bed. Want new television.

Current medications: Aside from headache drugs I'm trying to avoid taking, my dose of Keppra has been halved. The neurologist said some of my recent problems could possibly be side effects, so she lowered my dose of that and prescribed another drug to go along with it. Medicaid, however, decided that they didn't want to pay for Lyrica without special authorization, so until I get that I'm just on the Keppra. Gives me a chance to find out if worsening symptoms get better on the lower dose, at least.

Miles walked: Around threeish, which is a little less than I walked yesterday. Weather both days was beautiful, sunny with temperatures in upper 60s or low 70s, wonderful for walking around on sidewalks covered in leaves. Tomorrow I am scheduled to collapse.

Links: Meant to post this last week: Signature of antimatter detected in lightning--and mad scientists everywhere rejoice (link via