Darkoshi

There's saffron on these roasted carrots!

If I'd realized that from the start, I'd have been able to appreciate the flavor, rather than wondering why the carrots tasted so suspiciously odd.

I've installed the LED light tubes in the garage. Doing so was much easier for me this time. In part, because the tubes are plastic so I wasn't worried about glass breaking from me applying too much pressure on them. But mostly because I now know that I have to push the bottom of the tombstones outwards to make more space width-wise, while pushing the tubes up into them. As well of course, making sure the pins are lined up right with the slots.

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The cumin soda turned out to be a disappointment. I don't like it. The flavor isn't cumin + other spices; it is only cumin, which is a lot more off-putting to me than I expected. This soda is also thick, more syrupy than normal, and SALTY. Now maybe I could appreciate a salty soda if it were some other flavor, like salty lime. But thick salty cumin soda turns out to be not my thing.

The lemongrass basil seed drink on the other hand, was good. It was sweeter than I'd like, but when I drank it I'd been working in the yard, getting hot and sweaty, so I didn't mind the sugar. The flavor reminded me of something pleasant from the past, but I couldn't remember what. The basil seeds make a fun swishy feeling in the mouth; hard to describe and different than chia seed drinks.

I wonder if dogs even notice or care whether their water is filtered tap water versus unfiltered. I've been giving them filtered water, under the premise that as they have a good sense of smell and taste, that they would prefer filtered like I do. That's what I put in their water bowl. But I also fill another shallow bowl with unfiltered water, and put their food bowl in that (like a castle surrounded by a moat - to reduce the number of crawly bugs that can get in their food). The big dog seems to drink out of either bowl indiscriminately. I haven't really noticed which bowl the small dog drinks from. Maybe I shouldn't bother giving them filtered?

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Burger King's onion rings currently include whey as an ingredient. From what I remember, they didn't used to.

But their french fries still seem to be made of vegan ingredients, as do their new "satisfries".

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I am going to stop taking the butterbur for a while, as I suspect I may be getting desensitized/immune to it. I'll try taking loratadine and/or fexofenadine every day in the mean while, to see how well those work for me. In the past, I only took them when I was having an allergy attack. Sometimes they helped, sometimes not. They're supposed to last 24 hours, but even when they did help, they often didn't last that long. Do you have to take them regularly in order to get consistent relief for a whole 24 hours? Or is it common for people to have to take multiple types of allergy medication per day to keep their allergies at bay?

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Um. Guess that's all for tonight, folks.

Oh. Halloween. Thinking about doing anything for it gave me a feeling of dread the last couple of weeks. (If I buy one of those nice pretty pumpkins, I'll have gone too far: Then I'd be stuck - I'd have to design a face for it, and carve it, and buy candy, and put up decorations, and think of something to wear, and find a way to fit the pumpkin into the fridge, and cut up and cook the pumpkin, and then make pies and meals with it...)

Today in the store, walking by the Halloween candy, it felt possibly do-able. I'm feeling a bit more energy for it. Yet in my neighborhood, I've only seen one house with decorations up. It's sad really, that it's only one house. It's sad (from the perspective of myself) to buy a bunch of candy and to have the possibility of no trick-or-treaters even stopping by. On the other hand, it would be sad (from the perspective of me thinking of potential treat-or-treaters) for me to keep the gate closed and to put up decorations and carve a pumpkin just for myself.

Re-reading this paragraph makes me think, maybe I don't have the energy. Hmmm.

My foster sister said she was having a Halloween party *this* Saturday. Eh. All I'd be able to do by then is to put on a hat and throw some scarves around my neck for a "costume". I suppose it wouldn't be my kind of party. I suppose I have never even been to a party that was my kind of party. Except the ones by myself in my own room, maybe. Maybe I should have myself a Halloween party, by myself. With the gate closed, so that there's no anxiety in the back of my mind whether anyone will be coming to trick or treat or not. Except then I'd be feeling anxiety at having the gate closed and at being part of the downfall of Halloween.

I have a theory that drinking tea - any kind of flavorful-hot-steaming-watery tea, including herbal teas - can alleviate my symptoms when I'm having an allergy attack. It's a theory I've had for quite some time.

I haven't tested it in a systematic way, as it's not usually convenient* to make a cup of tea whenever I'm having an attack. But various teas have definitely helped on some occasions.

I recalled this theory after reading this page about 5 Native American allergy remedies, 4 of which are herbal teas. (The other one is elderberries... hmmm, that is worth doing some research on.)

*such as when I'm about to go to bed, or about to leave for work. Or when I wake up sneezing in the middle of the night. Or when there won't be easy access to a bathroom, as drinking tea makes me need to pee.

As it isn't always convenient to drink tea, I ordered some butterbur capsules. Research studies go both ways on the effectiveness of treating rhinitis with butterbur. I figured that trying it out myself, especially before my symptoms get to the very bad stage, couldn't hurt.

Last night, right before dinner, I took the first butterbur capsule. During dinner, my nose got runny. An hour later, my nose wasn't runny anymore and my throat was feeling thick and constricted. It is similar to having a sore throat, but without the soreness. This may be due to:
- the butterbur drying out the mucous in my nose and throat, as could be expected from an allergy treatment.
- maybe just coincidence. Maybe I am coming down with a sore throat.
- maybe I am somewhat allergic to butterbur itself.

My throat still feels thick this morning. I definitely want it to get back to normal, before I try out another capsule.

The capsules have a distinct, sharp peppery smell. Based on this, it would be fairly easy to distinguish between butterbur and a placebo. I wonder whether that had any effect on the research studies. Maybe butterbur worked better than placebo, as the people taking it could tell it wasn't a placebo. In other words, maybe that increased the placebo effect, compared to the placebo.

Coltsfoot - a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Asteraceae that has traditionally had medicinal uses.

Neatsfoot oil - a yellow oil rendered and purified from the shin bones and feet (but not the hooves) of cattle. "Neat" in the oil's name comes from an old name for cattle.

I've been feeling like I might be coming down with something. So I decided to get something against sore throat, in case I end up needing it. While looking at cold remedies at the pharmacy, I came across an item made out of "pelargonium sidoides", aka umckaloabo. From what I've read so far, it sounds promising.

ho! for the first time while eating okra, i noticed how wonderful it is to eat the little tops off first! cute yummy little things that come right off by a gentle tug of one's teeth... like... like... little okra tops!

and what is it about cilantro that makes it taste, not like lemons, but like lemon dishwashing liquid? but i think i'm finally getting over that, finally beginning to appreciate the cilantro flavor itself... without thinking that the dishwashing liquid must have fallen into the food.

i didn't know that Saipan was a part of the U.S... well, sort of.

this black nail polish isn't nearly as startling to me as the cornflower blue one was. it's not even weird, really. it's just... black. it would probably be more impressive if my nails were longer. and pointier. or maybe if i was wearing black clothes.
heh. with the cornflower blue, the next morning, after stumbling out of bed and into the bathroom, seeing those blue nails woke me up with a "whoa!"
oh, and picking your nose with bright blue nails is weird, i tell ya.
oi, maybe i shouldn't have written that.
ahem - "carefully cleaning one's nose out" with bright blue nails...

while wearing nail polish, i'm noticing my hands do this annoying thing, as if i'm afraid to touch anything properly, as if i'm afraid that doing so would ruin the polish, ie., "ruin my nails". how... ucky. how not like me.

the other day in the bathroom at work, i was turning and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, and i could just ...see... an earring on my left ear. a ring-sized loop one. then i immediately began thinking, hey, that would look pretty cool...

but, putting a hole (or multiple holes) in my ear(s)...?
i don't know about that.

and now i was just thinking it would be nice to have a hermes-symbol necklace or pin or something...
what is happening to me???? i'm turning into a girl!!
accccckkkkk!!!!!!!!!!!

no. this androgyne's growing up and becoming... dang, what's that word?
curious? exploratory? ermmm. nope. there's another word, dangit.

and someone seems to have just removed a post of theirs. i was reading it on my friends page and then went to open the comment page, but the page was no longer there. well, friend, the post didn't bother me...