No More Sugar On The Brain - I Moved Onto CNN!

CNN's Intrepid Reporter - Alone in North Korea

  Hello Fellow Travelers!         My doctor prescribed a medication that is 100% effective.  I spent tremendous amounts of time and energy thinking about all kinds of desserts.  I had never liked sweets of any kind but after 2011 sugar became my all-consuming passion.  It's all I thought about.       I saw an ad for Contrave and asked about any medication that might reduce my Jonesing for sugar.  A doctor prescribed Naltrexone and immediately I had my usual disdain for all things with sucrose.  I now have time to fret over the fate of Will Ripley.  Who's Will Ripley you ask?  He's the only Western correspondent allowed in North Korea.  CNN has brave Will broadcast every day from inside North Korea.  Every day I watch CNN to see whether or not Will is reporting to Wolf Blitzer about how crazy Kim Jong Un may be,

I breathe a gasp of relief every day he reports - it's one more day he hasn't been snatched off the street and arbitrarily sentenced to years of prison and hard labor.

Is it me?  Or is this guy in real danger?    

No one knows what North Korea will do!  That guy is truly nuts!  Poor Will!

I feel I'm alone in my fear for Will.  How long does he have to stay there?  Does he get hazard pay?  Has he met Kim Jong Un?  How on earth does he sleep?  Is every day like the end of "Argo"?

The saddest part of this tragedy-waiting-to-happen, is there's nothing I could do about it if he did get shoved into a van.  Have you seen this kid?  He's America personified.  Poor Will looks like Buster Posey!

I know I'm "risk averse" but reporting from "The Evil Empire" seems akin to teasing a rabid bear!

Why Will, why?  Kim is Batsh#t crazy!  Everyone knows this!

Don't play with the rabid bear! It's CNN?  Who cares?  Report from someplace else.  Anywhere else!  What did the robot say on "Lost In Space"?  "Danger! Will, Danger!"


He should get the heck out of Dodge, like now.

Until he does, I'll be watching, praying he's still the only Westerner allowed in North Korea.

What?  You thought I was going to write about cookies?

A Disability I Miscalculated - No Speech - "Silence is NOT Golden!" - It's Mysterious and a Real Pain!

GOT's Sir Gregor Pigayne - "Vow of Silence" or "Who Cares if He's Mute?"
It only makes him scarier!

Hello Fellow Travelers!

One of the more confusing conditions I've been dealing with (or not dealing with) is my progressively diminished ability to speak.  After the tumor was removed my speech slowly began to deteriorate.  Now, only the PS is able to understand me. I have no idea what happened.  But at the time I wasn't too worried, I mean how bad could it be?  As it turns out, pretty bad!  In my grand scheme of disabilities I thought being "speechless" was definitely a minor one.  Collateral damage, worry about it later.  Who needs to hear me, anyone?  I would just "shut the hell up!"  Tons of comic potential!  Mysterious!  Noble,even.  As per usual, I was wrong! 

Did Sir Gregor ever  need to confirm an appointment or need to call his parents?  Didn't think so!  He was too busy ripping someone's head off or torturing some other unfortunate!  Even the most silent of us have to occasionally pick up a phone!

About the hundredth time I couldn't respond with my usual snarky quip to something truly moronic, I determined this "silence" business was for the birds!  And birds make all kinds of sounds!  Birds, in fact, never shut up!

I can't be bothered by ordinary challenges such as driving or grocery shopping.  But I draw the line (well, I think about drawing lines) when I require another human being to answer in the negative or affirmative because I remain unable to make the corresponding noise.

I reconfigured my priorities to include Speech Therapy, and my journey continues...

Caramels and Kahlua Cake - Now I Can Ignore Both!

Hello Fellow Travelers

The Picture I Didn't Believe - Martha!  Say it ain't so!
Look at what they're holding - Melania Actually Looks Happy!

Made you look!  These titans of industry, these pioneers of personal branding are making my very least favorite American concoction - meat loaf.  Need I say more?  Because I will if I have to.  OK, twist my arm, yuk!  I'm talking American meat loaf: raw hamburger + a bunch of mystery junk.   Mixed and shaped into a rectangle, stuffed into a loaf pan baked at 350 degrees until way done.  I have no interest in a loaf of ground meat.  Any food that requires ketchup (lots) to actually improve it isn't anything I need.  Save all comments about how great yours is, it's not, your family is just trying not to hurt your feelings.  All the panko crumbs, fresh herbs and other ground meats in the world aren't going to make it edible, let alone "sandwich-worthy."   Loaves are bread, possibly pound cake, meat and loaf just don't belong together.  It makes sense that it gained popularity after WWII, people were in their new houses, in the 'burbs, into their ovens, into counting pennies, but now?  Retro Food?  Um, war time food, maybe.  There are far too many wonderful things in the world to sample to waste calories on brown ground beef bricks.

There, rough, I know, but it had to be said.

But what I'm very happy about this week is my latest adventure in "Better Living Through Chemistry".   As anyone who has read this blog has probably observed (because I've complained frequently and bitterly)is that I'm obsessed with caramels and cookies.  I dream about cinnamon and Kahlua cake, go to cookie websites.  I went to  Legal Zoom.com just to look at the gourmet toffee.  My best friend sent me French Macaroons, and my father at one point was having ginger snaps sent to me by the case.

I was diagnosed pre-diabetic two years ago, so my PS eliminated sugar from my diet.  I'm good with 86ing sugar, but it's hard to avoid - sugar is in almost everything!

Fruit, salad, any bun.  And forget about actual desserts!

Was my obsession with quality baked goods a cancer thing?  A post surgery thing?  Who knows or cares?  All I know was that this new proclivity to look at dessert menus came at the worst possible time.  It had to go, I have enough to deal with.

This "Sugar Jonz" was entirely new.  I always disliked sweets.  I was a salty/sour snacker.

Nevertheless, I added sucrose to the long list "of things I'll never have again" and though I replaced sugar with Stevia, I was feeling very deprived.  Painfully gypped!

A friend of mine,(possibly to shut me up) whose a researcher, prescribed a small, daily dose of something called Naltrexone.  Since starting this medication four days ago (once daily) my obsession with vanilla beans and caramels is gone!  I researched Naltrexone and found out it was safe, an anti-opioid and patients reported no side effects.  I'm journaling my daily experience with Naltrexone, but I'm here to tell you, if early indications are correct, this is a big log off my "bonfire o' stress".  I'm still hungry but I no longer feel deprived or crave anything.

I'm losing weight at a rapid pace.

It's another obstacle that's been neutralized.  One less distraction.  It works.