If you haven’t had boribap, and if you cannot read Korean, it means “barley rice”. It’s often used in a kind of be bim bap (mixed rice) dish, where you take the rice (boiled with barley) and mix in vegetables and some hot sauce, stir it all up real good, and eat it. And then it grumbles around inside you for hours, dragging itself along every available surface within (which is very cleansing, I suppose) and giving you the most amazing gas. You also need to make sure there’s a bathroom available to you on demand for the rest of …
Category: PERSONAL
Vitreous humour is not funny
For those who arewondering why my eye has been bugging me, the process of liquefaction of the vitreous humour — the jelly like stuff that makes up the bulk of your eye — is discussed in this Wikipedia article. I was asked recently what was happening with my eye, and gave a long explanation I don’t wish to repeat, but I’ll note that things are a fair bit better now. My new glasses prescription and the unscratched lenses of my new glasses are definitely helping. In addition, the rest and stress-reduction of the last few days seems to be helping …
Rhythm method criticised as a killer of embryos
A link from this mailing list I’m sort of on, in one of the few threads I’ve been reading: a scientist criticises the rhythm method as a killer of embryos. Essentially, he’s saying that the incidence of intercourse at the fringes of the fertile period causes conception of far more embryos that can’t survive, and therefore that many more embryos are conceived and then die by this very calculated means than by other forms of contraception. Interestingly, he reports that Roman Catholics have statistically higher rates of miscarriage, at least according to one study — but of course, this is …
Is It Better? Is It Not?
Frankly, I can’t say at this point. I’ve changed so much in the hope of alleviating some of the problems with my eye, that I’m still not adjusted to all of those changes yet. I honestly won’t know for a day or two how they’re panning out… at the soonest. However, I have at least managed to reduce some of the workload and thereby some of the stress; I also picked up a new pair of glasses, and it was shocking for me to walk around with them on. People have faces again! Facial expressions! It’s not that I couldn’t …
Tune the Damned Thing
While I have been trying to rest my eyes, one of the things I’ve noticed is that trying not to look at anything too long, or in a way that strains your eyes, leads to you noticing more about your aural surroundings — the sounds that surround you. This morning, I woke to what I think were magpies — black birds with blue and white patterns on them. Someone upstairs hollered out his window at them, in English: “Hey birds! I can’t concentrate!” I can see why. They were really dreadfully loud, and their “call” sounded a lot like electric …
Less Worried
My eye is starting to get back to normal. I still have a little hazy light in my peripheral vision when I read too much or focus on the computer screen, especially with glarey overhead lights. But in general things are getting closer to how they were before. I am beginning to think stress and eye strain are a big part of the problem. Anyway, I talked to my mother, among other things to make sure she didn’t hear about this episode from one of my sisters who may have read my site. I didn’t want to alarm her. Among …
That “Brain-Hemorrhage” Look…
Lime tells me that when one pupil is dilated and the other isn’t, this is a sign of a brain hemorrhage. It’s quite a disconcerting thing to see in the mirror, really. Click for a better look at the horror, the absolute horror! Let me reiterate: in my case, it’s not a case of brain hemorrhage. This effect was achieved with some eye drops that relax the muscles of the eye in order to facilitate an examination of the interior. I think I haven’t mentioned the fact that I noticed a dark spot in the lower left-hand corner of my …
Twitchy
Looks like I’m not the only Clarionite-to-be who’s having eye troubles. I do feel somewhat better, and maybe it’s nerves, that are compounding the general fatigue, but my right eye — that is, my one good eye — is not doing so well these days. I credit lack of sleep, stress, and strain. The eyedrops the doc prescribed me are helping, but aren’t erasing my nervousness about it. I mean, when you have only one good eye, you kind of have to take care of it, you know?
I Hope The Info Packet Suffices
People in the Academic Affairs Office are once again requesting more explanation of the Clarion Workshop. This is the third time they’ve asked for more info, and this time they’re looking for some kind of official explanation of the “Program”. I explained that there’s no official “program” and that it’s not really a conference but more like a “course”. I’ll be bringing the Info Packet I received in the mail to the office tomorrow morning, to see if there’s anything there which can be photocopied to explain the program. I really hope that suffices, because I can’t think of any …
Amusing Quote From a Speech Today
Today some of the students in my public speaking course made presentations. They’re technically “extended presentations” which means they ran from 7-10 minutes each. 4 people presented and we only managed 4 speeches plus some announcements by me at the beginning of class. (We’re supposed to fit in 11 more next class, plus a short Powerpoint Presentation… I’m dubious, but luckily, many other profs will be canceling class on Wednesday.) Anyway, the funniest line of any speech was as follows: “Guys, a blind date is like a war: it’s a kind of battlefield, I mean.” I had an interesting time …