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Friday, 28 November 2008

  • Medical Advice: Hick Edition

    I think I might have gallstones.  Not cool.  So I did what’s called a Gallbladder Flush, which is supposed to shock your digestive system into squeezing every ounce of bile from your gallbladder.  It’s done by gulping down 6 ounces of pure olive oil mixed with the same amount of lemon or grape juice.  I chose mom’s homemade grape juice, which is as sour as an old hag and does a nice job of involuntarily scrunching up one’s facial muscles.

     

    The problem was that the juice was frozen, while the oil was warm.  So I let the juice blocks sit and thaw for a few hours, then mashed them up into a frozen sludge and mixed 6 ounces with the same amount of warm, silky olive oil.  Now, the oil ran around the larger chucks of sludge and formed pools around them, so that when I tipped the mug back and began to draw it into my mouth, my lips would suck in a nice, cold draught of grape-flavored slush and then hit a patch of lukewarm oil.

     

    By the time I was done, I was standing over the sink with the mug sitting empty, both arms clutching the porcelain base, a thick layer of oil on my lips, trying not to hurl it all back up.  I am still, two hours later, trying to keep the same liquid from coming back up and it’s absolutely disgusting.  I hope to God I never have to do this again.

Thursday, 15 May 2008

  • The Catch and Release

    A friend of mine recently wrote a note that struck me.  It talked about the strong desire to hold onto friends, yet the knowledge that we should give others freedom to choose to remain close or drift away.  It hit me not because I have a hard time letting friends go, but because of exactly the opposite.  My friends complain not of me hanging on too tight, but of letting go too easily, of losing contact, of affording myself too much space and not enough effort to maintain closeness.

     

    My personality is a very loyal one.  I love my friends and would just about cut off my limbs for them, but I still find it hard to be completely involved in community with them.  There are times of closeness, but most often I feel a bit out of my element, as if they do not fully understand me and that attempting to open myself to them would be overwhelming and they would push away.  So I remain quiet and feel the space grow between us.  Then when the time comes for us to part ways, I have no desire to maintain a connection.  I have love for them, but have to force myself to stay in touch.  This is something that I do not understand.

     

    This is not the case with everyone.  There are those with whom I feel very understood, those few who speak the same language as myself.  I hope that our future paths keep us together.  But for those friendships that will simply fade, I feel both a relief that I am free and a guilt for such apparent coldness.  Why I am so willing to let my friends go is a mystery to me.  Maybe I'm afraid of seeming needy, so I keep away.  I don't know.  Whatever the case, I am truly sorry if I let anyone go why wants to stay in contact.

Thursday, 31 January 2008

Sunday, 26 August 2007

Wednesday, 14 February 2007

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stephendoan

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    • Name: Stephen
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