Magic!

What is it about magic that is so captivating?

I went to a big, shiny, dazzling spectacle of a magic show today. Two hours of pretty much every kind of trick you can imagine - Vegas style, with backup dancers and a moderately-modestly scantily-clad assistant.

It's not that I'm skeptical, but I spent most of the time trying to see the trick, trying to figure out how it's done. Mostly, I wouldn't want to be a naive observer.

At the same time, I don't want to know:

I remember when a bunch of my friends were into magic tricks as kids. I learned a few, but I was never able to get satisfaction from pulling the wool over other people's eyes. Once I understand the trick, it's ruined for me. Call me selfish, but I want to remain ignorant so I have claim to that sense of wonder.

After the magic show, I went for some food with a group of people I went to music school with. It was a delightful time and I loved hanging out with some of my most devoted readers.

A magical shout-out to Chief No-Balls, The Illustrious D, and a delightful Pet Wolf/Cow!

I believe I'll be spending new year's with the same group of people, so I'll leave that for another day.

Who knows if I'll have a chance to post again tomorrow, so 2009, I bid you adieu!

Here we go 2010!

Flavour Tripping

Have you ever heard of Miracle Berries?

They are pretty nifty!

Miracle berries make anything that would normally be sour, taste sweet. I ate slices of lemon, lime, grapefruit, oranges, and blackberries. They were incredibly sweet and delicious. I also had a sizable sprinkle of salt, which was an interesting experience; it made me salivate like you do when you have something salty, but it didn't taste overly salty.

It also took the bite off of some normally unpleasant liquids!

I hate vinegar. I hate vinegar a lot! I smelled the vinegar in the little shot glass and it smelled horrible, as usual, but then I sipped it and it was not disgusting at all. I won't say it was delicious, but it was completely different. I also drank scotch and rye - they had no bite whatsoever. This could be very dangerous... but I stayed moderate.

In conclusion, the effect was pretty super. At the same time, it reminded me that I'm not such a big fan of sweetness. Sure, I like 'sweets' as much as the next guy, but this was more of that puckery, sickly sweet sensation - a little too much for my tastes. Nevertheless, I do recommend giving it a whirl.

Happy tripping, my flavourful friends!

Already finished with Christmas!

My parents just left to drive my sister and brother-in-law to the airport in Grand Forks. I am staying at home with the puppy dog.

I love my puppy niece. We're sitting together on the couch, having quiet time. She has separation anxiety, so having 4 of the 5 people in the house leaving at the same time was rather upsetting. I took her for a walk while they were leaving - it made thing quite a bit earlier. Nevertheless, she's a little mopey because she can tell that her parents have left.

Anyway, back to this post's title. Because H and G are gone for the holidays, we did Christmas dinner yesterday and presents this morning. My parents and I will still go to my grandpa's for Christmas eve, but it's nice to be done with the holidays.

Rather, it extends them - extra joyousness for everyone!

A Christmas like the olden days.

I did all of my Christmas shopping today. It went by quickly because I had a very limited budget - 20$ per person for my mom, dad, and sister-and-brother-in-law.

This is the lowest Christmas budget I've had since maybe early high school or I don't know when...

When I was in high school, my sister and I were both working part-time jobs where other than 'savings', 100% of that income was expendible. I expended a lot closer to that 100% than my sister, but that's a different story altogether. Since that point, the amount we've spent on gifts for each other as a family has gone up and up. The last few years, while living in Ontario, I shouldn't have spent as much as I did, but I did anyway. Even though everyone knew my student-esque financial situation, I felt I needed to give generously anyway...

This year, I chose my budget only because that is all the money I COULD spend. Now I have literally JUST enough to pay tuition in January, not bounce a cheque that should be cashed in the next few days, and make a minimum payment on my credit card.

Now, I'm doing something that I've been thinking about for a while, but haven't had the courage to actually do - I'm taking my debit and credit card out of my wallet and leaving them at home.

It's two weeks until my payday, for which the money is already spoken. I might get some pity money from my parents, or something in christmas cards, but I'm not counting on anything.

This is going to be the christmas of no spending.

Term is almost over...

I fly to Winnipeg on Tuesday.

I have a paper due on Tuesday.

I hope that the paper doesn't take until the very last minute because I'll need to pack, but we'll see.

I'm looking forward to friends and family, just not the cold. I think I'm becoming a wimp with weather. That Winnipeg-bred boy is disappearing. Oh well, I love an excuse to wear hand-knit items... er... winter ones...

It's really hard to believe the term went by so quickly.

Anyway, I'll post from Winnipeg in a few days.

For now, I need to work hard!

Lifesavers, my lifesavers.

The Illustrious D brought up a good point when he asked about the diabetes sponsorship placement program. I suppose it's not a real program, per se, but one of the biggest happenstance sponsors of diabetes is...

Lifesavers Candy!

These have been a part of my life since I was diagnosed. I'm sure I had them before, but in my mind they are tied very strongly to my condition.

They are what they are: Pure Sugar!

I know there are other products that are aimed specifically at treating low bloodsugars in diabetics, but I think these maintain a high rank amongst diabetics.

My standard for treating a low is orange juice, but lifesavers are perfect for when juice is not handy. Juiceboxes are handy ish, but lifesavers won't burst open and make everything sticky in your backpack if you sit on it... (Thanks grade 3!)

Growing up, mom always had a pack in her purse. Now, there's a pack in my jacket pocket or bag at all times.

No, this isn't one of those cheesey MasterCard commercials from a few years back. Just a boy proclaiming his love for those sweet little circles!

I made it up and down the mountain and home again safely! The picture above was taken at the summing of Mount Gardner, on the helicopter pad.

I should have posted earlier when I was super positive about it. I'm still mostly super positive about it, but I'm getting exponentially sorer as the evening progresses. I think I'm going to down some advil and have an early night.

I had been worried about my sugars last night, but I woke up at 8.9 - a healthy enough number. I corrected and eventually had a timmy ho's breakfast sandwich to start the day off with protein. By the time we started the hike, they were down a bit and not long into the hike they were establishing that downward pattern so I started munching on the lifesavers.

Just under an hour in, I started eating a granola bar. My mouth was getting dry, I felt my sugars moving down and I was weak - I stopped and passionately told my friends that I was having serious doubts that I would be making it to the top of the mountain. I could not ask for better hiking friends. They reassured me and told me we could take as many breaks as I needed. I stopped, drank water, ate lifesavers and felt better. After a few minutes, I was happy with my sugars and we continued. A mixture of dehydration and lowering sugars does not make for a functional hiker.

Long story short, I pulled through and made it to the top, frolicked a bit, shivered because of exposed winds and impressed myself and friends at how well I did.

Diabetes: We hiked for almost 4 and a half hours. During this time, I took NO insulin and I ingested 2 packs of lifesavers, half a granola bar, and 1.5 sandwiches; about 115 carbs. My sugars never went above 6.7 or below 3.9. This, was even with the considerable decrease in Lantus, my background insulin.

Diabetes management is so much easier when you are constantly exercising vigorously. I am reminded of the summer when I worked in a factory - I barely needed any insulin aside from the background insulin.

Yet, another reason I should exercise more...

Anyway, I'm sore now, but it was well worth it. I look forward to more hiking in the new year.

I'll be comin' round the mountain...

It's quarter after 11 and I'm getting ready for bed. This is unprecedented!

Tomorrow, I am meeting a small group at 7am to go hiking up Mount Gardner. I don't know much about what these numbers mean, but it's about 600M up and the length of the trail is 17 kilometers-ish. We're going to do it at a leisurely pace, 6 hours roundtrip.

Living so close to these magnificent chunks of rock, it's something I need to do. Why wouldn't you?!?

As someone who is out-of-shape, I'm a little worried. Nevertheless, I'm treating this as an opportunity. Either I'll be surprised at myself tomorrow and gain self-confidence, or it'll be the kick in the ass I need to get myself to be more active!

As a diabetic, there's lots to think about.

Any kind of extended exercise wreaks havoc on sugars. I remember one day, walking around downtown Vancouver for a few hours - I turned my insulin pump off and my sugars were still plummeting.

I'm packing lots of sugar: sandwiches, trail mix, granola bars, life savers, glucogel and I'll buy a thing of juice sometime tomorrow morning.

Also, I'm cutting my basal insulin by a chunk - down from 36 Lantus to 28. It will effect me for the whole day, but I think that's a compromise I'm going to have to make for safety's sake.

I hate that I have to think so much about something that should be so freeing, but a little bit of pre-planning can make all the difference.

I can't wait to get back tomorrow and have lots of stories to tell and pictures to show!

Technology illuminates creepers...

With all of my attempts at updating my website, I added Google Analytics to my website and blog so I can see if I'm actually getting any traffic.

Surprisingly, it tells me that I have some silent readers - those of you who never comment...

Don't worry, I don't know any specifics - just numbers and countries.

Long story short, I'm glad to know that people are reading.

I am motivated to make this blog even better for all my faithful readers! I've learned from previous experiences that you won't make suggestions about what I should write about, so I'll try new and exciting directions!

Starting next time...