Saturday, March 31, 2018

ALO EXPOSED



I decided to make the best of my new diet and rate some of the things I'm getting to test out.

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Original + Honey ALO Exposed aloe vera juice drink • tasting notes

It looks like slightly cloudy water with small chunks of clear translucent slime. They try to hid that in a translucent green plastic bottle.

It smells like cherry and grape Kool Aid.

It tastes like cherry and grape Kook Aid.

The mouthfeel is a bit slimy, primarily due to the chunks of aloe pulp floating about.

This is more of what I expected when I first tried aloe water. I like the flavor profile of this a bit better than my first go. The little slimy chunks of aloe pulp make this a bit fun to drink. And it is more of what I expect when I hear the phrase "aloe water."

It's not beer or tea, but with both the novelty of the pulp and the fruity flavor, I could see myself drinking this from time to time, even when not a necessity.

Friday, March 30, 2018

ALOE GLOE



It appears that I get to limp into another decade of life. Recent health issues have drastically changed my diet, hopefully temporarily. All of my favorite foods and beverages have become problematic. I can't have donuts, hot dogs, chocolate, or beer. I likewise can't have soda or tea, as well as a bunch of other foods. So I am having to make adjustments.

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But I decided to make the best of my new diet and rate some of the things I'm getting to test out.

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White Grape Aloe Gloe organic aloe water • tasting notes

It looks just like water.

It smells like grape Kool Aid and shampoo.

It tastes like shampoo (without the soapiness) or lotion (without the soapiness), aloe vera, and grape Kool Aid.

The mouthfeel is a bit oily. It's slightly thicker than tap water on the tongue, although one wouldn't notice any different properties with the naked eye.

It's not unpleasant, but it's kind of a weird thing to be drinking. If it helps my digestive track, though, then I can tolerate it from time to time.

Cheers!

Saturday, March 17, 2018

FARE THEE WELL, FENRIS



Twelve hours ago, just as St. Patrick's Day started, I had to say farewell to my best friend.

The good thing is that I got to hold her as she died from an overdose of anesthesia, slightly prematurely and with less suffering than she would have naturally.

The last week of Abby the (Wiener) Dog's life was one that we were able to spend together, since I had a planned staycation that happened to coincide with a possible stroke and subsequent decline in Abby's health and quality of life. We spent a lot of time napping together and snuggling on the couch while I read poetry to her. She didn't eat most of the week, losing both weight and an interest in even having treats. But she still wanted to be held, so I did just that.

Once she was vomiting on a regular basis (water and bile, mostly, since she wasn't eating) and her energy was quickly waning, she and I visited the emergency vet so that she didn't have to suffer any longer.

A couple of days before she died, we took our last bike ride on the Riverwalk Trail. She sat in her trailer and spent the entire trip sniffing everything she could as she passed scents and aromas and smells for a final time. On her last day of life, she found enough energy to bark at and chase after crows that had landed in her backyard. She was feisty to the end. She will be greatly missed.

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Fare thee well, little Fenris Wolf. Until we meet again...

Friday, March 02, 2018

THREE THREADS



There are three threads I'm currently pursuing in my Homer/ancient Greek "cutting in" reading project.

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Thread One.

I am reading The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel by Nikos Kazantzakis. I've completed Book One (of Twenty-Four). It is very slow going because the language is so rich, dense, and chewy. My guess is that is due to both the original Greek and many metaphors that Kazantzakis wrote in, as well as his translator Kimon Friar (a fellow Greek and a poet in his own right) trying to capture the words, rhythms, and images of Kazantzakis in English as best as possible.

In other words, I'm reading this epic poem much differently than I did either The Odyssey (in a glorious spare translation by Emily Wilson) and The Iliad (through a fascinating translation by Caroline Alexander, as well as two simultaneous readings of poetic "versions" of the same—Memorial by Alice Oswald and War Music by Christopher Logue—each with its own interpretation of Homer's original text).

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Thread Two.

I discovered that one of my local libraries has the film versions of two plays by Euripides, as filmed by theater and film director Michael Cacoyannis—The Trojan Women (1971) and Iphigenia (1977). Both films were based on earlier stage productions that Cacoyannis had directed. I'm looking forward to delving into both. One looks at the start of the Trojan War from the Greek side of things (Iphigenia), while the other looks at the end of the same war from the conquered Trojan vantage point (The Trojan Women).

Having seen a live stage production of The Trojan Women, I'm really looking forward to both films.

(I watched the first half-hour of The Trojan Women during lunch today and it is spectacular and gut-wrenching. Katharine Hepburn as the Trojan queen Hecuba and Geneviève Bujold as her daughter Cassandra were powerful performances I won't soon forget and am hoping to continue watching tonight or tomorrow.)

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Thread Three.

A few years ago, I picked up a hardcover copy of The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes at a library book sale. It was obvious the book had never been read, which is how I'm sure it came to end up being removed from circulation. Similarly, I've yet to read it. It has sat on a bookshelf of my home library, untouched.

But now it will get a good reading. Apparently, large sections of it focus on The Iliad and how the "gods" of that epic poem are auditory hallucinations from one side of the brain to the other side of the brain of the heroes who are being spoken to, due to the fact that the rosy-fingered dawn of what we think of as modern consciousness (and the internal monologue and voices that we think of as our own) had yet to fully emerge. Likewise, how the shift to dawning consciousness has taken place by the time we get to The Odyssey, and so the relationship between Odysseus and the gods is different in his journeys than when we encounter him on the battlefield of the Trojan plains. (And then I'm pretty sure that the sequel of Kazantzakis will push Odysseus further along in experiences of consciousness as he engages existential crises and encounters "versions" of Don Quixote, Buddha, and Jesus Christ.)