sundries

[rm]

What healthcare reform does, or rather doesn't, mean for LGBTQ Americans.

UK B&B turns away gay couple. I LOVE staying in B&B's and have recently introduced Patty to the joys of it. But I worry about this EVERY TIME.

British kids think hacking is wrong. 25% of them have tried it anyway. I blame Spooks.

Last night we went to a restaurant we always go to, where I ordered what I always ordered, but alas, somehow the place decided that a satueed chicken breast should be dipped in flour first. I thought I was being paranoid, so ate half my meal, then realized I was having stabbing pains and am now dealing with gluten poisoning. Honestly, I got off easy as I did everything I could once I realized, but I still feel awful.

On an average day last week, I paged Patty three times. Obama paged her 6 - 10. I'm this close to writing an essay about how Obama thinks they are going to the movies together on Friday night or something.

White Collar fen: the difference between plane and plain. Learn it. Love it.

I was having an excellent conversation with neifile7 the other day somewhere where you can't see it, and we were talking about the thing where Torchwood fandom is all over White Collar and what that's about.

White Collar seems to be hitting something in people other than "pretty suits" and "lying liar who lies" and I suspect it's because we see Neal getting that hand-at-the-back mentoring from Peter that I think a decent number of the folks who identified with Ianto really wanted to see Ianto get from Jack (and we don't see it overtly, like we do in White Collar, we had to assume it, and for me, in that regard Ianto had very much arrived in terms of competence by the time of CoE, so I think maybe people didn't just lose the character, they lost the dynamic they both wanted and needed him for, hence the rage in some cases). So I think it's meeting that need for a benevolent but harsh taskmaster thing as gen or as kinky as the viewers want.

Peter makes Neal a finer thing. People _wanted_ Jack to make Ianto a finer thing, but whether he did (whether he tried, whether that was the dynamic there) is far more arguable.

That's what I'm seeing anyway, as someone who wasted a lot of their 20s wanting someone to make me a finer thing and then decided no one else was really worthy or capable of the job (I am not saying this desire is jejune, btw, I am saying this desire led me to be an idiot and didn't work for me; your storybook may vary).

And I didn't watch Torchwood through that lens (I saw Ianto as someone Jack (and others in the past) forced to learn to do such stuff for himself, fast, and I appreciated the relationship for that reason. I also didn't identify with Ianto, which is separate but tangental). Watching White Collar, however, gives me a nostalgia for the desires of my 20s. I recognize, very keenly the texture of the day-dreams it evokes for me.

Every time I try to plan a shooting excursion, EVERY TIME, there's some social conflict that makes it really, really impossible. *Cranky*

I'm feeling better and better (and more excited about) the new Doctor Who series and Eleven. I worried it was going to be somehow short on the epicness and the darkness (because I feel like a lot of people are happy to say goodbye to Ten because of said epicness and darkness). But I've been watching the new trailers and it makes me tear up in that way that the Whoniverse does and I think it's going to be AWESOME. Besides, the Moff totally brings the 51st-century, so even we don't get more Jack, we get Jack context. Also: I WILL BE IN THE UK WHEN THE NEW SERIES PREMIERES.

Comments

[sinonmybody.livejournal.com]

Do you have the story of how you came to your diagnosis of Celiac written up anywhere? I remember reading something about it at some point, but I was wondering if you have it somewhere easily-linkable?

Also... any particular books you'd recommend for making the plunge to go gluten-free?

[rm.livejournal.com]

Short version, I got really sick, was sick for weeks and weeks. Doctor started by saying I had various infections, then couldn't figure it out said "maybe cancer" said "let's take your gall bladder out and see what happens," I flipped out, googled, found this disease and the 20 most common symptoms (I had 19) and the 20 most common things it was misdiagnosed as (I had 17) said "I think have this," stopped eating gluten, felt better in two days.

You really don't need a book. You can't eat gluten. You can't eat anything that has come into contact with gluten. You can't use a toaster glutinous bread has used. Gluten is contains in wheat, rye, barley, spelt. Oats are generally contaminated with gluten and some people with celiac also can't eat "clean, gluten-free oats" (that's trial and error). You can't have beer. You can only have wheat free soy-sauce, which means no soy sauce out EVER (hint, it's often in BBQ sauce and balsamic vinagrette dressing) unless there is an explicit gluten-free menu. Flour is often used as a thickener in soups and sauces, so ask questions. You can't eat food fried in the same oil as stuff with gluten, so if a place serve mozzarella sticks, no fries for you.

[sinonmybody.livejournal.com]

Thanks much! We don't ever eat out, actually, and probably will continue to do so, since uhh... somehow I doubt I'd find anything gluten-free while out here in the armpit of Italy. :P My big challenge is trying to figure out what I will eat now, since so many things I eat on the regular will be off the menu...

[rm.livejournal.com]

I had the easiest time being gluten-free in Italy. celiac disease is very common there and most restaurants even in rural Sicily were able to provide me with corn-based pasta.

Everything you eat now you can eat in gluten-free versions, you just need to find them.

[sinonmybody.livejournal.com]

Did you have to ask for the corn-based, or would it be on the menu?
Where we are at in Italy is really very... almost redneck-y? Many of the locals really are very xenophobic and thus not fond of the American presence, and so don't or refuse to speak English, so I've had a hard time ordering sometimes just for that. My mom had a hard time eating out while she was here, but we didn't really think to ask for an alternative.

[rm.livejournal.com]

For no wheat, you say "no fermente" and they'll go "si si si" and bring you fish or if they have it, corn or rice pasta.

No, it's never on the menu, there. Although, where I was there, most restaurants didn't even have menus (I really don't know what else to say to you other than rural Sicily (where my family is from and lots of first cousin marriages, which seems normal to me but is upsetting to Americans). All the grocery stores have a whole aisle of wheat free products. Italians have one of the highest rates of celiac disease in the world and all children are tested for it at age 5 before they enter school.

[sinonmybody.livejournal.com]

thanks!! :)

[rm.livejournal.com]

http://www.gfguideny.com/learnmoreitaly.html

[sinonmybody.livejournal.com]

ooh, double thanks :)