Well, I finally did it! I got LASIK on Thursday and lemme tell you, it is AWESOME! I was debating for a long time about whether this is a good idea in a naturopathic sense. I had a consult from another company about three years ago and in that time my left eye has changed tremendously. Well, when one of the chiropractors at my new job (within the clinic system) said, "If God were to have invented a surgery, this would be it!" that was enough convincing for me as someone who believes in keeping people as drug-free as possible is pro-LASIK as he had it done and loves it.

The way I see it, my vision will never be back to what it was 17 years ago when was not myopic. Before the surgery, my right eye was corrected w/ -4.5 and my left was about -6.5. It's very unpleasant wandering around the house trying to find your glasses but you are so blind you can't find them! Contacts were OK, in fact the CIBA Night and Day brand were the closest I ever came to actual lasik but they did not correct my slight astigmatism so they weren't fun for reading.

The surgery itself is a little freaky but they put you on 5 mg of diazepam ahead of time and I also did about fifteen minutes of pranayama breathing one of the exam rooms before it was my turn to have the procedure done. It still does not prepare you enough for all the crazy stuff that is about to happen as I began having heart palpitations in the middle of the suction and cutting part. Oh, but what a delight to go home and even as I had to put the antibiotic, steroid, and preservative-free lubricant drops in I was able to watch the entire women's free program on the Olympic ice. And the whole procedure maybe takes about 5-10 minutes each eye! It is phenomenal!

Oh, and the ultimate sweetness came when I went in yesterday for the post-op eye exam and was handed a form to give to the Driver's License station to have the Corrective Lenses restriction taken off! Oh, I never thought THAT day would come! And arriving at that bureaucratic cesspool to put my face up against the eye exam machine and reading off the letters perfectly. What a lovely moment in time!

In the world of Erika's perpetual quest to cook BTD A and O-friendly meals, I made a kick-ass lasagna for the first time last week. It was based on a pesto lasagna recipe in the Joy of Cooking. OK, if you don't have that book yet, ask for it for xmas, whatever, just get it. This is the bible of cooking.

I made my own additions and subtractions to this recipe as I saw fit. For instance, I used rice lasagna instead of wheat. This is the one pasta dish so far that really hasn't suffered due to deviation from the traditional semolina. I've had issues in the past with rice, spelt, quinoa pastas, etc. But this turned out fantastic. In fact, Grubster, who in his type O male stubbornness will not give up wheat, still has no clue I used rice pasta, haha.

I also used whole milk ricotta cheese as the filling and added a very strange fish to the dish called Skatewing. What the hell is that? I don't know but it shredded nicely when it was done cooking and mixed in with the filling quite nicely!

Oh, I could go on and on about this lasagna in braggard style but I guess I really take pride in knowing that it came out so well being my first time making it! Try it yourself and you will be impressed. Another deviation from the recipe: I did use premade pesto from the Wedge co-op here in the Twin Cities. They make a fantastic vegan version w/o the parmesian with walnuts instead of pine nuts and it is to die for! Only stipulation, it comes in those plastic food tubs that I'm sure are leaching pthalates like they are going out of style!

God, knowledge is a blessing and a curse. Ignorance is bliss for a while, but you can't help be conscious of not only whats inside and outside the box but what IS the box? Plastic food containers, with all their estrogenic properties, are a new focus for me as of late.

What else have I made lately? Well,

"I caught you a delicious bass."

-Napoleon Dynamite

I poached a fabulous Asian inspired sea bass about two weeks ago. The tamari made it incredibly salty but it was still a nice meal. Grubster loved it, too!

My gosh, I almost forgot to give an update on the Building Biology project! Ever since I've had it done, my migraines have decreased tremendously. If I forget to turn off the switch as I accidentally did when Grubster and I listened to a hypnosis CD in in the bedroom (which required the circuits turned on) and then drifted off into sleep, each time this occurred, the headaches have come back and I haven't slept as soundly. Building Biology really is a miracle and one of the best ways to deal with the setbacks of modern technology! When the switches are turned off all night long, I wake up and the migraine lets me know it's still has potential (my temple is tender to the touch), but does not manifest into a full blown throbbing agony.

I am a little concerned about my head though. The migraines almost always occur on the left side. My prescription on the left side of my head is poorer and changed so much in the last three years and I also have another strange pain at the back of my head. Couple this with the feeling of a strange calcification under my jaw or swollen glands, it would not surprise me if I have a huge tumor growing in my head. I spent hours upon days with the cell phone mostly on my left side for years before wising up and using a handsfree device. This was even worse when Grubster lived in Madison and we were trying to have a long-distance relationship. That thing was glued to my head more than it should have been. Oh, the dumb crap you do for love. Cell phones are truly the next cigarette. Mark my words.

Well, if this migraine crap continues, I'll be sure to have an MRI done by some physician who hopefully does not think I'm just a crazy hypochondriac. Better to be safe than sorry.