a conversation about Drugs

Healthcare discussions make me angry. The discussions about 'reform' are taking place with professional politicians who used to be lawyers or businessmen and for the most part have never had a problem getting healthcare or paying for treatments. It all makes me so angry I don't even want to open up my opinions for discussion here. However despite that, I felt the need to share this conversation that two of my favorite vloggers have been having this week...
Meet Hank;

and meet his brother John;


Capitalism is good for many things, but allowing your health or sickness be the determining factor of someone else's profit is dangerous.

Cheese; It's what's Not for dinner

Think about all of the yummiest and quickest meals you love. There are grilled cheese sandwiches, Mac and Cheese, Enchiladas, quesadillas, cheesy mashed potatoes, cheddar perogies, nachos, fettucini alfredo and how about cream of broccoli soup. It's an easy list to make.
I can't eat any of them. Since I read about how dairy intolerance can cause acne, depression, lethargy and insomnia (all problems I've had) I've decided to try living "dairy free". So far my "before" and "after" photos aren't exactly a miraculous transformation, but I do have more energy and have been sleeping better, so those are good signs.
Going without milk and butter was a surprisingly easy transition because of good soy substitutes. Unfortunately there is no good non-dairy cheese (Vegans claim that there is but that's only because they have forgotten what cheese is supposed to taste like).
Even if this dairy experiment proves to be inconclusive I have at least learned how dependent on cheese my snacks and dinners have been. I am guaranteed to cut calories from my lack of cheese and butter. Breakfast has been fine. I've used soy milk and soy butter and even found an Amazing vegan pancake recipe. Lunch is ok, mostly I have sandwiches,or soups or rice with vegetables anyway, so that wasn't a big adjustment. Dinner is the hard part of the day. I have to think really hard to avoid the entire list from the start of this post, plus a rather shocking amount of other dairy filled foods. I am fortunate to live in Berkeley where we have at least seventeen restaurants (that I counted) that are vegetarian and four of those are exclusively vegan. Since I cannot afford to dine out every night, I find myself staring at my veggie bin thinking "these would all taste great covered with cheddar cheese." Despite the cheesy longing in my heart, I must admit this is much easier than trying to give up bread. When the Low-carb craze hit I tried to cut out pasta and bread for three miserable days. Every single day I thought about bread all day. By the third day I could smell it everywhere, that was torture. This lack of cheese is sad but really only distressing when I have no idea of what I should eat. The no bread thing was a diet (which I haven't done before or since) if this no dairy thing works out it will be a lifestyle change which I think will be much better for me.

Still, right now cheese would be the Easy thing to make for dinner. I need to add more recipes to my repertoire.

cheese and crackers... quiche... cheesecake... baked brie... Limburger on Rye... cheddarwurst... patty melts... ranch dressing... Oh sigh.

Day off?

The biggest problem with having a single day off only once every few weeks is that you put so much pressure on that one day. You wake up thinking "I AM GOING TO RELAX AND HAVE A GOOD TIME TODAY DAMN-IT!" and frankly I get so wound up with needing to relax that it spoils the whole day. I turn into my father on vacation (sorry Dad) where I've tried to schedule my relaxation and my fun and then when it doesn't go as planned I get so frustrated. Today I slept past yoga partially because of the drizzly grey weather. I decided to go to the city and see the Marie Antionette exhibit at the Legion of Honor. There had been a big traffic accident on the bay bridge and I wound up getting stuck going 0 to 6 miles an hour for three miles (yes that ate up about 40 minutes of my "fun" time. In my frustration I decided to take the BART to the city because I'M GOING TO THE MUSEUM TO HAVE FUN. By the time I got off the freeway, onto the train and actually into the city I finally took a moment to breathe and realize that to get to the Legion I would need to take the 38 Geary bus all the way across town. To do that takes around an hour (thus the original impulse to drive in). By the time I got to the museum I would have about fifteen minutes before they closed, and that is assuming that traffic is good and the bus is running on schedule. For a moment I thought about going to the MOMA instead but I've seen their collection several times before and I'm not in the mood for modern art, so I turned around and took the train back to Oakland where I had left the car unsure if I had remembered to lock it or not. This all could have been karmic punishment for blowing off my responsibilities and not taking my car in to get smogged, or something... but really I think I'm just so busy and wound up that I shouldn't even try to take a day off until I can take several days off.