LadyCrimson

If it ain't 8+ glasses of lemon juice/water+ cayenne pepper, it ain't a real cleanse. I rarely ate bread per se - my goliath is white rice. Y'know, (mostly) meat and (cabbage/bok choy other) veggie stir fries over a mound of plated rice. Now I'm not supposed to eat white rice (at least not much of it). 3 slices of whole grain bread a day. 1/2 sandwich or with a tiny bit of jam or put my veggie mixes on it. Sigh.

My solution to backlogs is not to develop a backlog. You don't save money, so to speak, if you never actually play/use those things you bought on sale. Such always reminds me (in an offhand/parallel way) of those old folks who would spend a dollar+ in gas to drive across town/city to save 25 cents with a coupon. That said, I'm kinda the same way these days regarding often installing a newly purchase game that I think I might be interested in (since there is rarely a "new" game I'm truly interested in), but then by the time it downloads/installs, I'm doing something else or don't want to play, and it'll sit on the PC untouched for ages. At some point you just have to either: --admit you're not going to play it any time "soon" and just uninstall it --force yourself to play it for at least two hours, or maybe two sessions of 2 hours. If, after that, you still never go back to it for weeks/months, uninstall it and consider it off the backlog.

Kodachrome - another one of those movies in the Netflix watchlist for ages. Finally got around to watching it. I love Ed Harris, so to me he's the best thing in the movie. I also like (well done) "road trip" films. This one is ok but drags occasionally and is overall rather downbeat (Ed Harris' chr. is not a lovable one). I was expecting father and son, but was given father, son, and a nurse (with a predictable side of romance stuck in that could have done without). I liked the nostalgia related to photography and 35mm (35mm film cameras seem so small/light now vs. the bigger DSLR's). I remember putting in the film, winding it up...taking a picture and manually pulling the lever to advance the film...memories. Anyway, maybe a 7/10.

So...more diet stuff. Sorry, it's become my life (eventually I'll have it all worked out and I'll stop thinking about it). I can eat some starchy carbs, right, just very limited amounts per meal/day, because starchy carbs = high Glycemic Load (how much/high blood sugar may spike). According to the 'net (and we all know the 'net is never wrong), a baked russet potato would/could have a higher GL than ... a doughnut (not that I care, I almost never ate potatoes anyway). Thus diet is now high veggies/high fiber and low starch and sugar carb foods (I learned too much fruit isn't great...). "Starchy beans" tho, are supposedly good or at least a lot better so that would be a filler most would use. My personal problem: I hate starchy beans. Hence one reason why I don't like/don't eat typical burritos, chilis, etc. Hearty soups and casseroles - 99% of recipes call for one or more of the following (seemingly making up about 90% of the meal): --lots of potatoes --lots of beans --tons of white/egg pasta --lots of rice (often white rice) --lots of meat/sausage/bacon etc. (I want min. protein and low-med. fat, at least in shorter term) So...hm. Use lean hamburger or white chicken (and less of it) vs. other meats. Use mushrooms and eggplant (I love eggplant) instead of beans. Try brown rice (not fond of that either but...). On the bright side, I treated myself to a pizza - eggplant, sausage (they never put tons of it on anyway), artichoke hearts, tomato. Ate one piece. Scraped the topping off a 2nd piece (too much "white bread") and put it on whole grain bread. 90 minutes later, blood sugar was still "reasonable." Cool. I can still eat pizza (just can't have meat-junk pizzas...). Huzzah!

*idea flash* I know! We have enough concrete slab patio area in the backyard - just need to cover some of it, then put an exercycle out there (with a cover for it too). Then I could ride it while staring at the trees in the backyard, watch/listen to the rain, etc. Hey hubby, get on that. (rain/sun cover).

Don't really have the home footprint space for typical exer-machines. The house is tiny, 980sf (built 1950's), w/almost no closet space, and bedrooms are stuffed with tech and desks, 1 car garage has washer, hubby's work table and giant shelves of "stuff" and the smallish front living area with table, shelves, TV/furniture. There's like no large open floor space at all. The backyard is bigger than the house, ha. That's why I bought my heavy duty pedals-only thingie that you can use sitting in a desk chair you already have. It works quite nicely actually, but as I said ... I'm lazy. I did re-arrange my "office" so it's easier to use it (don't have to move it around the desk/out of the way all the time, maybe slightly more motivating that way).

^ Hubby had two monitors, then three, then around covid and work at home, four (27"/1080's), now he's obsessed with testing 55" 4k TV's (so he can have 4 1080 programs on one screen for all his work at home remote desktop and other stuff). I wonder if he'll go blind from all the glare from less than 2 feet away. Of course, like I should talk. I'd steal his 55" if it would fit on my desk w/my other stuff. Hasn't been very long but after diet adjustments and body healing, blood sugar is already pretty low (100) upon waking and tolerable a couple hours after eating (200 +/-). Gives me hope I might be one of those who someday could maybe not even need insulin shots (some oral meds maybe). Diet's overall no problem. But exercise ... Without specific activity/friend hobbies like I did in my youth, on my own I've always been lucky if I got off my arse and did 30mins twice a week. Everyday? pffffft. I'm trying but at the moment more like 30-40min light/moderate every other day. Plus I'm still muscle-weak (excuses...). Did gain back a few pounds (mostly water weight I'd guess) but my legs/hips are still sticks, I can barely get my knees/upper thighs to touch when standing. Better than skin and bones now but still ugh. Anyway...lab appointment in 3-4 weeks for them to check the triglycerides. Hoping with body healing/pancreas not going crazy and all of that, that those will have gone way way down too. Maybe closer to "normal" even.

Borderlands 3 - apparently they patched the game so Legendaries now appear in vending machines. Of course I had to check that out, and yup, they sure do. Way too often. Sometimes 5 at a time. Seriously Monty Hall. And they're pretty cheap to purchase, as well. Of course, those very rare ones (with the parts/Annointments you want) would still be very rare and likely better off still farming certain bosses for those few (the Legendary loot pool is too RNG large and most are trash). Still ... they really need to lower the odds for the machines. Must be like 30%-40% chance to spawn one/more. It does however make it easier to get some Mayhem10 Legendaries, since you can farm machines and not fight a single thing, until you get something that can help survive M10 to farm bosses for the ideal things/versions.

^ I think Borderlands type games are about as "shooter" as I'd get on a controller. I'm half-comfortable with that level of it by now, where you side step to adjust aim a bit, more than you "turn". But if you then get on KB/mouse you're reminded how much more precise, faster and easier it is, how much less often you miss, etc, even with something like Borderlands.

The Outpost (Prime rental) - the very tight frame cropping for this film made me wonder if it would've played better in a theater (or at least "widescreen") vs. 16:9 cropping. Maybe it was a director thing tho. It's not that there were extreme face close-ups but you know how most framing has some emptiness to the sides that's not very important to a scene? This movie had little of that - it's a strange sensation is all. Anyway, it's a war film and for most of its run time it bounces back and forth between a bit of sudden firefighting and the soldiers talking in soldier-y ways re: their post, lives, that are supposed to pass for characterization and bonding etc. Then a big fight towards the end. Some shaky cam in spots but not excessive. Looks good and actions are filmed well enough but doesn't really have arcs, plot in a normal sense, imo. Not awful, but not really worth the rent fee, save it for a freebie someday. There is a brief bit before the halfway mark that was super funny tho. Most interesting thing (to me) is watching Scott Eastwood. Occasionally he sounds so much like his father it's uncanny. I've a loose eye on him for a bit - don't think he'll ever reach Clint's abilities/level but he may do fairly well over a long span if he's picky about his roles.

Vivarium. Very Twilight Zone-ish, but there's a reason why most of that series was less than half an hour long. Film has an interesting (if not particularly original) concept/ideas and it's on the surface creepy at times, but it's stretched too thin (and without much characterization, seemingly purposefully) and you'll get a little bored trying not to fast forward. Also, there's no concrete answers given and most of what is given you've already guessed before it's halfway through. Ambiguous/largely unexplained is fine but this isn't satisfying.

At least there's lots of little walking paths around here, amidst all the office industrial places, that are just 5 minutes away or whatever. Most of the time I simply walk out the front door and walk some blocks tho. Easier. Phone cameras still suck, imo. Could you spend more time/effort/settings to make them come out better in some conditions? Probably. But half the time you can't see the screen well to frame (too bright outside) or hold it steady enough so why bother. Shrink it enough and it looks ok... ha. Best for middle-closer distances. Hence, food blogs and selfies, right. Squirrel!

I laughed heartily at that one, thanks. One thing that tossed up a flag and stubbornness on my part was she was prescribing a 2nd cholesterol/heart prescription on top of the one they already gave me, because of the triglyceride level while in the hospital I guess ... "to make sure we get that down." But how do you know I need it if you don't have me come in and run blood tests to see what the levels are NOW or another week from now? I can't check for that one at home. I don't want a 2nd med that does sorta the same thing on top of the first without knowing if the first one has been ineffective, y'know? And it's only been like 5 days. Diet and more exercise might help it a lot on its own over a month or so, too. It's not just me, right? That's stupid?

Hubby: "Can I listen in on your "phone doctor appointment" this afternoon?" Me: "Sure, speakerphone it is." 15-20 or so minutes later: Hubby: "About the only thing I learned from that was, you need to request a different doctor." Couldn't understand half of what she said (very thick European accent I think), she was obviously not comfy on the phone, and wasted half my time trying to sales pitch me on other services and non-diabetes tests like mamograms vs. focusing on my immediate health concerns. I think they're more concerned with "LIkes" and trying to make people not badmouth them than anything else. What happened to the days when ppl like me could get ill, see a doc, grab some meds, maybe a follow up or two to check stuff, and that was it. They left you largely alone. Everything's part of a "program" that they keep trying to hustle you into now.

Went to the local farmers market store (been around for 30 years). They had Rainer cherries. OMG I love those. I always called them "white cherries" - like "white peaches". Anyway, never liked Bing/purple cherries. But Rainer's ... I bought two bags and have to keep myself from eating more than a handful a few times a day. One of those truly nature's candies.

Lunch (crumbled meat is ground turkey) Snacks. To keep the sweet and snack cravings in control fruit is great. And a couple large tablespoons of vanilla ice cream, softened and mixed with lots o berries works well as a tiny treat. I may not be that impressed with "FOUR CAMERAS" in the phone but it does take better pics than the tablet at least.

Dear Diary: Hospital stay w/no physical access to spouse made me finally think about/cave in and get a working cellphone account. So I got me a Samsung Galaxy A51. Not the most rational choice for my purpose but the perky young sales rep didn't have to work hard to convince me. Should last me 4-5 years without changing it, if not more. I put hubby's cell on it and now it shall sit forever plugged in on a shelf for emergencies or when hubby wants to call and ask me if it was this bread or that bread I wanted from the store. It's a fairly powerful mini-tablet I guess. Salesguy was so excited about it had FOUR CAMERAS in it. I took a picture with it and eh. Maybe I will use it to send 50 short texts to hubby every day (even if he's just over in the next room) because he hates texts. Hehe. I prefer my 10.5" tablet for mobile styled media/game activity 1000% more, this phone will only be for true mobile use. I do like being able to easily video-call with one button but hubby hates doing that too so... Spent the past couple days getting my "exercise" running all over towns looking for lifestyle change supplies and things vs resting and recuperating. Had to sit on the floor in the BestBuy for a while and ended up with a cluster of sales reps asking if I wanted a chair. Done now. Next couple days I am going to do .... nothing.

That would be me as well. Every time I've tried onboard I just can't stand it - likely it's just their drivers/softwares differences, but onboard always sounds tinny/screechy or muffled or awful in some way (using the exact same "desktop speaks"). When I built my rig last time I gave it a shot again and same thing. Toss in one of my many soundblasters and suddenly those same $50-$100 speakers sound fantastic (for what they are, I mean, I'm not looking for/expecting audiophile sound in my gaming personally)).

I'm sure there are some places that might illegally "rig" their machines but generally speaking it's the same as any gambling - the odds are just very very poor/stacked against you. You'll maybe win just enough to make you keep chasing and (if you're not an unreasonable addict), you're likely to walk off a little poorer but not extremely much so. I'm not sure coin slots are even around now, they've probably gone all digital making you use prepaid insert cards and $1-$10 pulls I'd imagine. Maybe they have dim backrooms with a few dusty coin slots for nostalgia. Back then nickel slots were just for having the fun of playing them longer without losing much money. You didn't play them expecting to win anything even if you won, so to speak. Quarters could still get expensive pretty fast.

Well, as they say, you definitely can't win if you don't play. I stopped even thinking about it early on, when they changed the way the (Calif.) lottery worked (and multiple versions/winning pools) and the odds went up/against even more ridiculously - like maybe from 1:15million to 1:40million. When it first started/the period Gromnir mentions, it used to seem like someone got the 5 numbers and won a "jackpot" (3-8 million+) almost every week or two. When that isn't happening it's hard to even pretend anymore. *wink* I think I also bought some scratch off tickets super early on when they were a dollar, but never again. Last time I looked I noticed $5 scratchers and the possible prize amount for that one and lol'd. I will however put a lot of nickels and quarters (do they even still have nickel slots? Probably not) in a slot machine while in Vegas once in a blue moon. At least I feel like I'm "playing" something that way.

Today we bought a new fridge, which we've needed a while but now more than ever with what feels like a 3 tons of produce in it. There may be no real diet restrictions but the past couple days it's a strange confusion like I'm almost forcing myself to eat 3 small meals (plus a couple healthy snacks like an apple) but it's not enough calories. But if I have more fruit or the cracky type breads that's like eating little stones or almost anything much over that amount of food, the blood sugar goes up over 250 again (that's very high, btw) and I feel a bit oogy (get very thirsty again, other mild symptoms). Yet don't really have a mental appetite/can't eat a lot at once at the moment. Do I make 8oz of a vitamin/low protein/non-fat milk shake? But that's extra milk sugar and others. Do I eat a peach, has fiber/slower to digest supposedly (then crap snacks anyway)? Eat a small bit o' meat AND half an apple? Just inject a small amount more insulin before your next main dose? Generalized plate rule: divide by quarters and fill each quarter with the different groups (vegies, fruits, protein, etc). Already learned some new tasty veggie recipes. Tossed out any old or junk. Anyway, meal planning overall not hard. But trying to figure out how to get enough daily calories without spiking blood sugar to stupid levels again, at least in these early stages of "recovering" and sussing out tolerances, not so much. Does Kaiser's kitchen deliver ready made meals and can I just eat that? They made decent (small sized) burgers and meatloaf and soups....I'll pay extra, Kaiser. Pretty please?

More or less, so far. Right now it all still feels kooky from the IV mixers and then now being removed from said mixers (I had 6 constant IV drips at one point) but I certainly feel tons better than I did some days ago! I think I remember that time period and you talking about diets. They didn't remove it. After a lot of mucking about, since my test results always seem to confuse docs (I'm lucky that way, haha) they classified me as heavily Type2 diabetic. I was asked so many times if I had a drinking problem because of the pancreas aspect and apparently the first 24 hrs hubby had to keep explaining "she doesn't avoid drinking because she had a past problem, she just doesn't drink/never has." (well, outside of some times 30 years ago) So in the end they don't have a final chicken/egg answer. I'd guess Type2 for some years that had no dramatic symptoms (as mentioned I'm not a big "doctor checkup" person) then mild losing-function pancreas symptoms (fatigue, aches and pains "I'm just getting old") then finally several progressively worse acute attacks over the past year or so. So initially I'm on Type2 regimen - 2 insulin per day. Hoping can get it down to at least one instead. I have no specific diet restrictions outside of the very important portion size aspect and not overbalancing any food/sugar/carb groupings too much any one meal/day. So got lucky there I guess. EDIT: Because they don't allow vistor access at all at the moment, hubby said trying to get docs on the phone once a day to get information about even what they were doing to me was really difficult. He was pretty freaked out. EDITEDIT: Hubby even .... cleaned the house!!

What kind of rig do you play that best game in the world, on? I wonder if the sprites would be too speedy on my main rig, now. One day I'll install DK1 and perhaps finally I will no longer be able to hand grab lvl10 imps effectively.

Death Stranding looks great on the 4k PC. Not much else reason to have bought it twice. Except that I love the damn game. It's like an open world game of meditation. Oh sure sure, there's a bit o' fighting and huuuuge chunks of story scenes but most of it - it's still so strange how delivering packages and planning out your travel structures and routes for efficiency is so ... calming.

Do you bruise easily? Don't like needles? Don't end up here, then. Also, if you don't like hospitals and are convinced you'll be fine in a few days, maybe don't listen to yourself. ...too tired for long details. Was another bout of the back/stomach pain/puking, weight loss etc. Twas acute pancreatitis. I'm at home now. Supposedly I was "close" to dying (triglycerides were through the roof). If hubby hadn't decided I was being too loopy and walked me to the car and hospital I guess I might've. I did have some mighty fine visual and mental hallucinations tho (no fake ppl inserted, sadly). Would make a good paranoia film script, those. Edit: With covid, not a hospital-great time to be generally sick. They checked for 4 or 5 viruses too, zero patient visitors allowed etc. It was interesting