Barnstorming on an Invisible Segway

Hm. I think my family was using that phrase about me on into college.

In general I do eat as much as my body needs; it's just often less than other people think I need. Also, I'm not good at the stockpiling thing; if I eat enough to last for hours and hours, I may be able to go longer without additional fuel but it's at the price of being queasy for the first hour or two. It's better for me to eat a little, frequently. I don't have a problem making it through the night, though; my stomach not only sleeps soundly but is slow to wake up. It does sound annoying to be woken by hunger. At least this time there was something worth the experiencing.

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sksperry.livejournal.com

I am not a very good eater, in the sense in which people apply this phrase to babies and small children

You eat babies and small children? Cool.

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Not very well, I'm afraid.

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My family does not officially acknowledge wind chill, so I feel like I've let them down by mentioning it with the weather. I can't get out of the wind while I walk to school, so it's pretty meaningless anyway.

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In general I do -- on the average of a month, say, I am not in grave danger of running out of Mris. It's just on a daily basis that we have problems.

And I am terrible at the stockpiling thing, due to hypoglycemia, and also due to just not liking the feeling of being "full." Which can frustrate other people who don't work that way, because sometimes it would be convenient to plan on eating nothing until 10ish, having a large brunch, and then nothing again until 6ish. But I have physical difficulty with that kind of schedule, although sometimes I can make it through without falling over if I supplement with fruit leather.

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Is their theory that it's going to be windy all the time anyway? Or what?

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papersky.livejournal.com

I just read a book in which someone who describes themselves as "not a good eater" and starves to death, so I found this post alarming.

It's Barbara Pym's Quartet in Autumn, oh, and it has single older female protagonists, no sex, no romance, no violence -- the starving to death isn't violent, or even very graphic -- and one swear word uttered by a vagrant, so you can put it on your list.

Also, please remember to eat.

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Worry not: I am hypoglycemic, so if I forget to eat, I fall over.

Okay, so that might not be the least worrisome thing in the world. But the point is, my body has a very efficient alert mechanism (Hey, dummy, you forgot to eat!) that kicks in long before starving to death could even think of taking effect. And mostly I am very aware of this, because I don't enjoy falling over. It's inconvenient all around.

The exception to this is at cons: I would still fall over, but I am out of my routines and mentally engaged with other things and might forget that this sort of thing is coming until it's inconveniently near, so, "M'ris, have you eaten?" is always a reasonable question for anybody to ask me at a con. The answer may be, "Yes, thank you, just now at noon," or, "No, and I hadn't thought of that, thanks," or, "No, but Karina and I were going at 1:00 and you're welcome to join us," but it's never going to be, "Leave me alone! You're not my mom/dad/parent-who-declines-to-state-gender! I can take care of myself, thank you not at all!" etc.

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The windchill measurements used to be pretty bad, I think-- I have heard they originally came from watching bowls of water freeze-- so that might be some of it. Part of me wants the weather.com column that says 'Feels like' to change; if every time it's zero degrees F, it feels like ten below, that's what I'm going to think zero feels like. Which is a semantics thing.

I don't think it can get too cold to snow. Too cold for water snow, yes, but once you get past that it might snow something else. I don't think windchill will matter too much at that point.

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I've got the hypoglycemia thing too, pretty clearly. Never bad enough to talk to an actual doctor about, just that if I go too long without eating I get first crabby and then quite extraordinarily can-hardly-walk dead tired. Luna bars work for me, except that we can't get them here. But they do have tasty fruit-filled bars, so we get those instead.

For me though, it's less about just not liking being full and more like actual diminished capacity to go out and do anything after overeating. I will spare you the details.

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sksperry.livejournal.com

When I was younger--say, like, you're age--I used to routinely go a couple of days without eating. Especially in the summer, where I'd be spending time at the beach and hanging with my friends and stuff. I just basically forgot to eat. Eventually, stomach cramps would remind me.

By the way, part of the Samurai code of Bushido states that you should never eat until you're full.

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It can snow water far below the temperature at which it's likely to snow water. And yes, I'm sure other things would kick in after that, but the QoA&D is not that bitchy. Yet.

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It's all part of my Samurai training! That's the ticket!

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the-flea-king.livejournal.com

This is exactly the way I read that at first too.

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Good. Global warming/cooling/chaotic weather patterns are scary enough without the threat of methane snow.

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It is a very good thing I don't have superpowers. I'd probably find some way to mess up the climate. "Hmm, I can bend paperclips. How am I doing this? Oh, there's something going on with the metallic bonds and the electrons. What if I try to bend the air next to the paperclip-- oh, cool!"

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sksperry.livejournal.com

Yeah, cause the Valkryie/Samurai is making a big comeback.

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tanaise.livejournal.com

I haven't yet woken up with snow light coming in the window. It might be freezing cold outside, but it doesn't feel like winter without snow. I was going to blame Hannah, but that's just silly, cause why would Hannah withhold snow if she had anything to do with it?

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I have often said that it's a good thing I'm not God, because I would so overuse the "SMITE" button, but the "I wonder what that would do" function is probably at least as dangerous.

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It's far superior to Valkyrie/Ninja, you see, because as an ethnicity, our strong suit is not, perhaps, with the Quiet. Also throwing stars etc. are much easier to slip around quietly with than axes.

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I don't think I could use the SMITE-- I'd hope people would notice the rains of frogs and other signs before it came to that, but it's *people*, so probably not-- but I'd get in trouble. Right now? Things that can snow other than water. Rather more specifically, it can rain frogs, or at least frog rains are an accepted sign of deity displeasure and/or boredom. Can it snow frogs? Smaller frogs, with parachutes so they come down lightly and pile up in drifts? And how would one arrange that? Just lifting up a pile of amphibians and dropping them, that's the accepted method, but I'd rather see what I could do with allowing a frog to coalesce from oversaturated air around a nucleus of dust or smoke. Except that means a lot more than water in the atmosphere.

I think I'd make an interesting auxiliary god. Prayers would begin, "Hey, I bet it'd be cool if...."

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-cheerfully- I would rather have it your way, dichroic.

I can get ballistic if I haven't eaten enough and have lost track of my not eating - for whatever reason. Normally I get hungry about every 4-6 hours. "Feral" is a polite description of my extreme unfed state.

But I sometimes get wound up in a project, and then I eventually forget the wisdom of eating. I don't like the ravening. :< It is very much like having a brief virulent manic episode - not recommended.

Food coma is something I didn't experience much previously. I have noticed it happening more nowadays.

- Chica

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Might not be that much like then - manic states sound pretty fun, from the descriptions I've heard (though not for those who have to keep the manic person from implementing the brilliant idea of the moment).

I don't exactly get food coma, more like lack-of-food coma. It's unpleasant and inconvenient if you're out somewhere, but not that difficult to prevent if I use a modicum of forethought (e.g. carrying a fruit bar along). My overfed state is less about coma than about gastric upset.

As for having to whether it's better to deal with ravening or instant exhaustion, I think if I get a choice I'd rather have neither. I'd just prefer to have the sort of system you shovel food into periodically and it chugs along just fine until the next installment is due. Sigh. I suppose that would come at the price of some other inconvenient quirk, though.

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I hated being manic. Horrible feeling. Remember those cars in drivers ed? They had two steering wheels. Manic feels like your steering doesn't work - and it's terrifying to get swept along.

Probably the best way to keep a manic person under control is in a padded cell. -reflects- Which sounds very cruel, doesn't it? One hasn't got any judgment then.

-empathy- Gastric upset is very nasty...

Agreed - rather possess neither ravening nor instant exhaustion. Faugh upon them both!

- Chica

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Maybe it's like speed, or other "upper" sorts of drugs. I think they sound horrible (have never tried them) but clearly others disagree or there would be no drug problem, at least not with those.

The close relative who's on meds for bipolar enjoyed the manic state enough that it wasn't easy to get him to take meds to end it. I think I'd be firmly of your opinion, though. (If I inherit it - and it affected him late in life - I suppose I'll find out. Oh joy.)

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Very typical for mentally ill people to not take their meds. :[ Some excuse always appeals - feeling too good, too bad, better, no change. All flummery.

From my angle, most don't want the meds - it's acknowledging the illness. As if accepting medicine is a tacit defeat. But I -have- the illness, it doesn't have me; I am a person and this is a part of my life. Many people can't get past that. It takes getting used to, trust me.

A depressive-only friend said that he envied me the mania. (I was inarticulate then - but mania is never good.) Manic can be euphoric.

Probably very like uppers. They sound horrid to me also.

Your brain breaks when you're insane. In me, it affected my memory, certain features of language, and basic math.

Disturbing to be a bookworm and unable to read. I COULD NOT HOLD STILL. Nor could my eyes stay on the book. Had 3 manic periods, for I will not have a 4th (as Cosby said of children). -faint grin-

I can't say that you will or won't become bipolar. You can check the symptoms - and you can make sure that people know you well. (You know M'ris so you have a head start I'd say.) Well enough that if you did get sick, you have someone to listen to you. And hold your hand. :>

I called friends before I checked myself into the hospital. One was a reverend and guessed that I was bipolar before then. It takes the average person 7 years before diagnosis. It was less than a year between my first mania and that hospital...

I wish you all luck, dichroic. I've a unipolar aunt. May you have a North American screaming bird instead - then Steve would envy you. -twinkle-

- Chica

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Heh. Last time my Dad had a manic episode, I was the one who diagnosed it. I'm the one who was on the other side of the continent then (on a different continent now), But he called me - normally he doesn't like talking on the phone so when he calls me I'm automatically suspicious. And then he was talking fast and slurring a bit. Turned out other physical issues had croped up, and affected his body chemistry enough to unbalance those meds. I was worried enough to track my mom down at her gym. Sometimes changes are harder to notice in someone you see constantly.

Anyway, in a way this manic episode was a good thing, because I couldn't have diagnosed physical symptoms over the phone and at the time those were the more immediate serious problem.

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