sundries

[rm]

Between some extra Patty time yesterday (I have never been so grateful for a Starbucks), choosing to sleep in today and and the time change, I feel pretty good. It seems like a nice day here, but sadly I have to do some work for work, finish this screenplay, and then if I can really get some Internet that functions beyond my LJ client, do some work that I left behind in NYC.

Happy Halloween! It's weird to be somewhere that almost completely ignores it. Tomorrow is a religious holiday here, however, and the offices are closed (although I have stuff to do).

Children are playing in the common space again. I forgot to mention that in town a few days ago, I saw some playing a game like tag, where one would break away from a safe group, run to the church, shove their hand in the holy water outside of it, cross themselves, and then try to run back to the safe group because the chaser caught them.

I would also like to say, lest you think I've left Torchwood and Captain Jack behind me, that large groups of children chanting numbers (which seems to be a feature of many games here) in languages I don't know is causing me surprisingly inordinate amounts of emotional upheaval (And, oh god, this song. I've not listened to it in ages, but I woke up craving Puccini but this was the best my laptop could come up with -- I did not plan for music out here).

I have just discovered that a very long post I wrote at my most depressed here didn't go through. Now I am trying to decide if I should post it for the record, or not share, since I don't feel so terrible anymore. It's an interesting post, but it's also full of hubris and neuroses. Am also debating if I want to talk about why the screenplay exercise was so confronting for me, but am pretty sure it's over the dignity line.

Despite the presence of gluten-free croissants and my ability to say celiac in German, it is very hard to manage my health here. I did get glutened yesterday (although I noticed right away so had only take one small bite of the strawberry parfait with the biscuit in the bottom) and the waiter just sort of shrugged. It's being treated like I don't matter that's often hardest about being here. Maybe that sounds spoiled, and maybe it is, but my health thing is real and mistakes happen, but pretend you give a shit.

Anyway, aside from that, this remains the country without vegetables. I like meat and cheese as much as anyone (probably more), but my body and tastebuds are getting a little fed up. The provencale potato chips are go though.

Last night there were bats chasing each other around outside my bedroom window. NOT EVEN JOKING. Bats are good, but need to stay away from my fucking windows.

Last night the time changed here and in the UK, so Patty and I are still an hour apart, but not in the US, so right now you all are only five hours behind us, and not six.

Dogboy & Justine is up to 58 backers for a pledged total of $2,2825, which is a very exciting 47%. I have to do a phone interview with a journalist about it today.

I've read a little bit about the Colbert/Stewart rally (I was on a boat on the Zurich lake at the time), but I was wondering if anyone could offer insight -- it is being covered as an oddity, as a critical political event, or as a legitimate but not very important event in a loud election season? I'm wondering if I'm missing a Moment.

"Tolerance" (I hate that word) in public vs. private schools. Unfortunately, it looks at private religious schools vs. public schools, leaving out the world I came from and one form which I suspect you'd get some very interesting and intense results.

Student slang and the policing of social boundaries.

Noose found at Equality California office. When the worker who found it called it into the cops, the office allegedly said, "sometimes you have to live with being a victim."

The anti-gay AGA in Michigan who was harassing a college student, may lose his job.

Comments

[lookingaround17.livejournal.com]

The thing with celiac reminds me of how it used to be with vegetarianism, that people not interested or informed (including some serving staff) figure it's sort of a pissy choice thing on the part of the diner, and that eh, if it's sort of okay, that's good enough, like they pick the big chunks of meat out of the sauce. In my view, though, it's sort of like the things we avoid as vegetarians/people with celiac or other allergies/etc. is dog poop: even a little is not acceptable, period. Even if the rest of the crowd finds nothing wrong with a little or lot here or there, we do, and want none of it at all, and firmly say so at the start to avoid that very thing--

[gwyd.livejournal.com]

I am not only a vegetarian, but i have a pork allergy. I get really fucking sick for days with pork contamination, so I'm that asshole that questions waiters minutely. "Is there any lard in this? Did it touch bacon or bacon bits?"

I collect safe cuisines like celiacs collect gluten free food sources for pretty much the same reason. it's extra important when traveling as that whole two days in the bathroom thing puts a real cramp on trips.

I am not celiac, but I do have a lot of sympathy for my homies with celiac as it's a lot of the same sort of hassle getting safe food, I think. I live in an area where I don't have to think about it a lot unless I'm traveling or eating somewhere new, but when I go back east, it's still a big issue finding kosher and halal food sources as at least that way I know no one's cross contaminated me with pork. (It's not like I can properly digest other meat, but it's nowhere near as dire.)

[featherofeeling.livejournal.com]

Ugh, yes, I think it's still like that with vegetarianism and certain religious food observances in parts of Spain and France. I have a vegetarian friend who studied abroad in Spain and whose host mother would make her meals almost every day. My friend would occasionally find out that the soup had been made with meat stock or would accidentally bite into something with meat in in, and her host mother would just smile mysteriously and shrug about it. And my boyfriend doesn't eat pork because he's Muslim, and one of his colleagues in France (where we live now) told him that a dish that he (the colleague) was already eating was pork-free, despite the fact that when he (my boyfriend) bit into it, it clearly had lots of pork in it. That time, too, there was that smile and shrug and absolutely no apology. It's exactly like what you said, like it's not a big deal because it's not what they're used to. Even though it's a serious ethical choice, it's like people are waiting for the vegetarian/religious diner to realize that they haven't been struck by lightning, or that the dish is delicious, so it's totally ok to eat. It makes me angry.

So I can see how that attitude, if extended to people with allergies, could cause serious health hazards as well as inducing high levels of anger and frustration!