Welcome back, old friend

...or should I say, ENEMY!

I reconnected my insulin pump last night, and used it all day instead of my insulin pen.

Surprise, surprise, my sugars were between 14-17 mmol all last evening. I went to bed with my sugars still high-ish and woke up this morning at 3.2 - mmm, juice rarely tastes that delicious!

Anyway, after a day of elevated sugars, I concluded that it was a bad site and changed it a few hours ago, priming a few units into the new site AS I inserted it! In the case that my body is clogging the infusion set within moments of insertion, I'm not going to let it have the chance. I also started my basal insulin.

My sugars have been gently falling, so I'm keeping a tight eye on my sugars. I'm not sure whether that's still from the dinner insulin (3.5 hours old) or from either the priming or basal insulin from the new site. I'm hoping it's one of the last two so I can be sure that it's working. Nothing would make me happier than going to bed tonight knowing that I have a reliable infusion set going on.

For anyone wondering, I'm using the Sure-T set with the 6mm steel needle. Old school, I know, but it's quite comfy and I LOVE the short tubing!

I'm ready for a diabetes revolution! My latest A1C was 8.4, and that's simply not good enough. In fact, it's horrible. I'm doing everything I can to not feel like a horrible person - my essential laziness and apathy are putting my health at risk, and I just haven't been able to care (for longer than I'm willing to mention).

I've emotionally fought the issue of type 1 and type 2 diabetes through my formative years, being bitter that there's a similar condition out there that can often be avoided, or at least managed with healthy diet and exercise...

But look at me - I'm obese and lazy!

My TDD (total daily dose) of insulin is easily double what I should need for my weight - meaning I have hardcore insulin resistance, to the point that even if I wasn't type 1, I would have type 2 diabetes.

It's a catch 22 - the more insulin resistance you have, the harder it is to lose weight, for a bunch of reasons: 1)Insulin promotes fat. 2) The efficacy of insulin is greatly influenced by exercise (in complicated ways); it's extremely difficult to maintain stable sugars while exercising for me and I often have to use either food or insulin to correct.

It is depressing and ineffective when you have to intake more calories than you burn in order to keep your sugars stable! It's not just me, Kerri at SixUntilMe recently wrote about her struggles, and she's much fitter than I!

Long story short, I have an appointment with my endocrinologist on Monday and I'm going to broach the topic of introducing Metformin into my diabetes regime. It's a drug that is normally used for type 2 diabetes management, addressing insulin resistance rather than actually taking insulin. I'm hoping that this will help me to reduce the amount of insulin I'm taking. Also, if (as I suspect) my problems with new infusion sets is due to insulin resistance, my dreams would come true if the drugs solved that problem!

Anyway, I'd love to hear some feedback from any diabetics out there. I'll keep you posted!

Michael Reviews Things!

Today's review:

Lillian Alling

Have you heard of John Estacio? If not, click on his name and check out his website.

[Mini review: The website needs some attention... The angled headshot with cheezy background - it's not really helping! Also, the opera section of your website doesn't even mention your newest opera, and the "upcoming concerts" section starts listing things in Sept. 5/2009]

Anyway, he recently premiered an opera called Lillian Alling here in Vancouver. I was lucky enough to have been treated to the dress rehearsal as a birthday present from a delightful theorist friend of mine.

The Story (Spoiler Alert!)

While I'd never heard of her, Lillian Alling is an intriguing character. Here is a website about her. She is a woman enshrouded in mystery: she came from Russia(ish) and lands in Brooklyn looking for Josef, her lover. She repeatedly tells the tale about how they met in Russia and he said he would marry her, and how her life is bound to his life. Long story short, she walks to North Dakota, then Vancouver looking for this chump. Along they way, everyone tells her what a playa he is and tells her to give up, but she doesn't. You're left wondering, 'why is she so frikkin' naive?!' Some guy falls in love with her, and follows her all around. She feels she can open up to him and then reveals that she's not naive, she's a vengeful wench! The man she seeks isn't her lover, he's the man that killed her family, and I bet you know what she wants to do to him...

So she does, badda-bing badda-boom - bad man dies.

Oh ya, all of this story is nestled inside a side story about an old lady and her middle-aged son who is moving her into the city after a life out in the wilderness (ie. cabin). Surprise, surprise, she's the old version of Lillian Alling, having changed her name etc. Apparently murder is ok, her son doesn't even get mad when he finds out his mom is a killer... oh well!

Really, I liked the story - and the use of the story within a story.

The Music

Mr. Estacio writes good shit. I think he's onto what Opera needs - good solid accessible, but not boring music. At first, I wasn't really hearing the connection between the music in different sections, but as the opera went on and actively listened, it was building a sound story for me. It was a great balance - some kitschy stuff like a coney-island quartet singing when she arrives in Brooklyn, but there were some really well-crafted pieces:

My favourite scene was with the telegraph wire men - singing beepity boops, and all that fun stuff. I'm likely oversimplifying, but it expressed some really refined, yet broad wit.

Of course it's opera, so there were some fantastically orchestrated swells that took you along that journey of Lillian's across the great prairies and the rockies.

Basically, all of the exciting things I've been interested in doing in my own opera, were already masterfully done in this one. I need to look into other contemporary operas, but it seemed like the balance of recit and aria in Lillian Alling was quite far from what I'd been thinking of as traditional. The majority of the opera was in a hybrid dialogue which mixed the flow of recit with the lyricism of aria... ish. The distinction between dry and accompanied recit was out the window, (thank goodness), and it was often hard to find the distinction between the dialogue and the 'song'. Often I would realize they were singing what would classify as a duet/aria, but I couldn't pinpoint when it had started because they had been recit-ing just before.

The Other

This was a sizable world premiere, and Vancouver Opera didn't disappoint! The set was fairly high-maintenance, but was impressive: basically one main formulation with a truck that entered and exited right in the middle, from under the bulk of the mainstage.

There was a video-integration element which was ok, actually, no, I don't think it really did much... It was about a 5-15 minute section (I hate trying to judge time) where there was no real stage-presence. The orchestra was the main focus, and the only visual was the video which had recorded images of Lillian climbing on rocks, etc. For me, this seemed like an interlude which, in really old opera, would feature a ballet scene. I would have preferred to see dancing.

Oh ya, The Performing

I thought the orchestra was very strong, which is very refreshing compared to my last few live opera experiences...

The singers were great - some standouts worth mentioning:

Judith Forst, as Irene (Old Lillian Alling) - her diction should serve as a standard for the care that needs to be taken when singing English!

Colin Ainsworth, as Kristian, the farmer's son - a great tenor voice! The one true aria in the opera, and he ran with it. It was Ainsworth's aria that reminded me, 'hey, this IS opera!'

I really wish that I could scream to the heavens about how great Frédérique Vézina was as Lillian, but I can't. It was dress rehearsal night, so I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume (I really hope) that she was marking. I hate to be a bitch (no, I love it), but I was disappointed with how weak her voice was, but yes, I'll assume she was saving herself for the big night.

In Conclusion

All in all, I was heartily impressed with all aspects of this performance. After what seems like a long line of minimalist operas, I'm excited to see that opera can be comprehensible, engaging, emotive, beautiful, and exciting without lowering itself to the common denominator.

I really hope that this opera gets toured around and performed in many places - and when it does, you should go see it!

Michael Reviews Things!

This post:

Hilroy Notebooks

If you grew up in Canada, you likely used a separate Hilroy Exercise Book for each subject in elementary school. This review starts off with points for invoking nostalgia!

The reason I bought these notebooks is because I've been dissatisfied with the other notebook options out there. Coil bound books are obnoxious to write in and ripping a page out leaves that tacky side of feathery ripped paper. The tape bound books are unreliable. When I saw these ones in the store, I was excited by the simplicity of their design.

I'll be honest, I don't have anything negative to say, so here are my favourite elements:

Colour Variety

Blue, pink, green, and yellow

They're GREEN

They are part of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative and feature Certified Fiber Sourcing.

Map of Canada

When I asked my American friend if he used these notebooks growing up, he pointed out "There's a freaking map of Canada on the front!" It has the up-to-date Territorial divisions which were missing when I was in elementary school - they were so behind the times back then!*

The map is only on the 32 page variety; there is a healthy blank space on the 80-page type so you can draw a picture of your own, or maybe it's a test to see if you can draw the map yourself from memory.

32 or 80 Pages

These are perfect sizes. 80 is good for taking notes in my seminars and 32 is a great size for individual projects or just to carry around with me for notes of interest.

Life Organization

On the back of the 32-page books, there is room for you to fill in your class-schedule information and final examination schedule.

Simple, Reliable Design

This could be seen as a slight weakness, but I like it. for a 32 sheet book, there are 16 pieces of lined paper (twice the needed width) folded in half, with a cover and then stapled to hold it in place. As a result, if you rip a page out, the opposing sheet will also fall out - this is something I remember from childhood. Nevertheless, if you conceive of the book as one notebook, not to be disassembled, it will stay that way for you!

Affordability

While a coil-bound hilroy notebook costs between 3 and 5 dollars, I got 3 80-page exercise books for $2.10 and 4 32-page exercise books for $1.60.

In Conclusion,

These little notebooks are fantastic and I highly recommend them to everyone!

*N.B. I am fully aware that the territory of Nunavut did not appear until after I finished elementary school...

Michael Reviews Things!

This post's topic:

Grand-dad's Birthday!

and

Jenn and Sean's Wedding!

I recently went to Winnipeg for a few big events involving my friends and family. Both events went off without a hitch - here are the details:

On Sept. 25th, my Grand-dad turned 90 years old! My mom and her brother organized a big ol' family dinner that brought together all the disparate family members. She and one of her brother have a long history of being less than pleasant... specifically with each other, haha! Anyway, almost everyone from the 4 generations was there with only two exceptions: grand-dad's sister who is locked up in an old folk's home and my sister because she had to work until 3pm when the dinner started at 5, and she lives 8 hours away.

It was an understated evening. I only ever see most of those people at Christmas time and it's always mild-to-moderately awkward, which I enjoy. This time, it was much more intense. I wish we were a more extroverted family- then it would have turned into a brawl, or there would have been screaming or slapping. Not my family - it's all subtle, underhanded, and spiteful - just the way I like it.

The dinner was fantastic, but I don't recall much about the details. There was chicken with some kind of creaminess and carrots and potatoes.

The next weekend, my friends Jenn and Sean were getting married. I was invited to the stagette, which was an all day affair. I was there for the brunch and a delightful plate-painting experience. We went to a do-it-yourself art studio and we all decorated plates or bowls for the bride. This reviewer thinks this was a fun and creative way to spend time with

the bride and bridesmaids and female relatives....

[Tangent - Davey... where the hell were you?!? Lord knows I'm not very manly, I'm pretty sure I lost 90% of my testosterone because of that day...]

The ceremony was beautiful - I showed up exactly minutes before the processional. The vows were heartfelt and entertaining. They should have been miked, but I heard enough of them to know they were good!

The dinner was also good, but there was no choice (unless you got the veggie option, presumably). It was chicken florentine - come to think of it, that's probably what I had at the other dinner, too. Taking the cake, though, was... the cake(s). The wedding cake had two types therein. The first one I had was quite nice, but the best thing ever was the second cake option: banana cake with 2 types of icing - peanut butter cream and chocolate. That's right ladies and gentlemen, you missed out!

The open bar was a welcomed addition, that I sadly

missed at the previous weekend's birthday party. Nevertheless, I behaved myself much more gentlemanly than I have at previous weddings, but that's a whole different story. A highlight of the evening was when they had a fireworks display honoring the parents. It lasted about 10-15 minutes, which is better than any Winnipeg fireworks I'd ever seen. Even more exciting was the fact that I got a sparkler.

I felt a little like I was put at the wrong table for the dinner. I had a wonderful time, but all of the people I was sitting with left soon after the dinner - the table behind me was the fun table, playing drinking games to pass the time of the speeches... Nevertheless, I had a great time and danced the night away!

Long story short, I had a wonderful time in Winnipeg - it's always nice to have reasons to celebrate; keep 'em coming, friends and family!

Stay tuned for the next installment of:

Michael Reviews Things!

A lot to be thankful for

As a child, I hated the part of Thanksgiving where you went around the dinner table, or at school when you went around the classroom and said what you were thankful for. I would usually come up with some kind of smartass remark, or something so predictable that it never even registered with me as sincere. I guess, with that childlike innocence, I lacked perspective and didn't even realize how thankful I should have been!

This year, I went to two different dinners and we never really talked about how thankful we are. I kinda missed that tradition, or some incantation thereof. One of the questions on a dating profile I recently filled out was about my favourite holiday. Earnestly, I answered Thanksgiving: it's not about religion or materialism, it's practical.

So now, excuse me, but I'm going to get a little clichéd and list off some of the things for which I'm thankful this year.

I'm thankful that I have such a great group of friends here in Vancouver. We formed instant friendships as soon as we wrote the placement exams and as a result, I never felt 'alone' in the new city. As the year and summer went on, I met friends and roommates of friends and expanded my circle well beyond the confines of school.

I'm thankful to have a growing community of friends around Canada and the states. Every year, it seems the landscape changes. Whether I'm going home to visit, or traveling to somewhere new, friends are usually not far away!

I'm thankful for family - near and far! This last visit home solidified my relationship with my parents; I was truly a visitor in their home, and not just the same son I was before I left home. I'm getting closer with my second and third cousins who live in Vancouver; they are wonderful, fascinating people and I'm glad to have that family connection!

I'm thankful for my health. While I may not have the most ideal diabetes control, I'm very fortunate to have the drugs and resources that are available to me.

I'm thankful to be so fully immersed in music - as a student, a teacher, a composer, a performer, and an audience- and to be pretty much able to support myself with what I'm doing. I know that this may not always be the case, so I am overjoyed at the breadth of experience I am currently enjoying.

There are many more things for which I am thankful, but those are the big ones I wanted to mention.

Oh, wait, of course I can't forget:

I am thankful for my blog. It helps me remember things that I would have otherwise long forgotten. More importantly, I love my readers! Thank you all for your loyal support!

Michael Reviews Things!

As part of my never ending, never successful, search for increased readership and blogger popularity, I'm going to do what a lot of successful blogs have done:

Reviews!

The first installment is:

My map bag ® Vancouver map bag.

So, I've developed a bit of a man-bag fetish these last few years. I fully acknowledge that it is a purse, but I like the term 'man-bag'. I always need to carry my diabetes essentials around with me, and those just don't fit in pockets comfortably

The bag features a map of [Insert City Here] and comes with a dry-erase marker so that the wearer can:

-give or get directions within that region

-circle their home address on the map to encourage stalking

-I'm blanking as for real, functional uses...

The store I got it from wrote on it in permanent marker "I'm on sale here" for promotional in-store use, but when I was shopping, it was the last one left, so I got it for 5 dollars! I think the retail price was about $15.

The cons:

As I should have expected, it was pretty cheap. Within a week, the plastic map started to crack. Unfortunately, my apartment is just off the side of the map so I can't even use it for those above purposes.

The pros:

It's a great conversation starter and an interesting concept. One Friday night on public transit, a kind, inebriated gentleman informed me that he had a map fetish, and he would be happy to release some bodily fluid on it.

The permanent marker is pretty kitschy and fun.

In conclusion, I have pretty low standards and this man-bag meets those standards.

Keep posted for the next installment of Michael Reviews Things!

I'm still kicking...

I just wanted to post an update to let you all know that I'm not dead.

My time in Winnipeg was nice, but wholly unproductive. I left my macbook charging cable in Thompson, so I didn't really have my own computer for the rest of the trip. I used my parents, but all my work was inaccessible. Now that I'm back, I can use my roommate's powercord, but I'm still limited in function.

I've been playing catchup all week. I'm trying to get 3 weeks of work done for my lesson today, but I'll be lucky if I have what resembles one week. I feel lazy.

I've had a dating profile up on plentyoffish.com for a while now, but nothing came of it. It was fun for online browsing, but I didn't put much effort into it. Recently, I've decided to take it more seriously, switched to a new site called OkCupid and I've lined up a few dates. There are three guys I've been messaging that I will be going on dates with in the next week or so, starting with tomorrow. I haven't decided exactly how much detail I will be putting on this here blog, but I'll try and keep it interesting for you!

Other than that, not much is new.