Beer, Birthdays and Boneheaded butth....er... Melissa McDowell 8/21 '14

OK, I will be good. 

My old boss invited me to his birthday at the Brewery.  It did not occur to me until this morning on the way to work that there was a good chance The Sphincter might be there.  It's a long  story.  But I hadn't seen Old Boss since Feb of 2013 when I left NASA with a boatload of angst, embarked upon 7 months of retirement followed by re-employment at a place that is, essentially, European. 

I went to the event anyway.  At a brewery.  I was kind of hoping there was an attached restaurant so I could get a burger. Um. Nope. 

So, I threw all caution to the wind and ate pizza, which I should not, and drank beer, which I also should not.  Since these things used to cause me intense discomfort, sinus pain and arthritis like pain for about 36 hours.  Well, on the theory that this is all a result of leaky gut syndrome and the fact that I missed lunch today made me stu...er adventurous.

My sinuses are a little unhappy.  So far, not so bad.  Haven't eaten "regular" pizza since before 2000.  It wasn't that great, but hell.   If my gut has healed up sometime in the last 14 years maybe there's hope!  Not 100% sure it's  "gluten" issue - since the "gluten free" beer in Bavaria still killed me.

Tomorrow will tell.  Or maybe tonight, is this the incipient headache or is it just me being hypochondriac?  Will not even consider checking the blood sugar, there's naught to be done about it.

I said not a word to the Old Boss about the beer/pizza and only a few about how awesome the new workplace is.  He was happy when I mentioned I still use one of his metrics (it's OK to wait on the customer, it's NOT OK for the customer to wait on YOU), and that I selected the "pig" stein out of the pile of give-away steins, of which I did not take a photo.  And we have a deal to take the motorbikes to Richmond.  Soon.

So if I can avoid serious joint pain and sinus explosions in the near future, life will have gotten both easier and harder.  Easier to worry about finding a meal away from home and harder to avoid the temptation of the evil carbohydrate.

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8/21 '14 4 Comments
Power, sister. Still dealing with a crazy list of restrictions. The good news is that when I adhere to them, which is basically all the time, I feel like there's nothing wrong with me.

Then I slip off the wagon and DAMN!

Currently my idea of a radical indulgence is putting a little forbidden ketchup on a (soy-free) veggieburger. Yeah, I'm a wild man.

I should be grateful that my digestive symptoms are, well, digestive. But then again, why feel grateful for any of this bullshit?
Thomas Boutell
If it keeps you from eating stuff that's bad for *anyone...* then it's not so bad. But as a person who is an asymptomatic Type II Diabetic as long as carbs are strictly avoided I can attest to the sheer annoyance of having to find "things I can eat." It is also known that people with chronic conditions occasionally say "fukkit i'm gonna do X" which is pretty much what happened today. There may be other consequences - I know folks with unpleasant digestive side effects from wheat - and I haven't scarfed any in long enough that I don't really remember. Because once I realized I shouldn't eat it... I didn't.

And the whole idea of "wrong with" is problematic anyway. As an example, wheat is not something humans could even eat without enough tech to process it - so for the long majority of evolutionary history. So what is "wrong" with a human that doesn't tolerate gluten? Nothing, really.
Melissa McDowell
My one lucky break, and it is a big one, is that gluten doesn't bother me at all.

But my list of dealbreaker ingredients is long and I functionally cannot eat in an A-list restaurant. If soy isn't in it, citrus invariably is.
Thomas Boutell
Sounds like a super pain in the...er... sounds troublesome.
Melissa McDowell