Coughing, dreams, Graze, Europa Report

Coughing: A number of people on my friends list are sick, and (unfortunately) that number will likely increase as winter progresses, so I'm going to toss this little piece of advice out there. It's straight from my doctor (I got it too late to use it, but others I've told it to report that it works). You can crack a rib from coughing (or pull the tendons in between them, which feels the same as a broken rib and is treated the same way). If you have bad pain in your side whenever you cough, tuck a pillow between your side and your arm. It will help absorb the movement and keep your rib from being jarred.

Dreams: I don't know what the heck is up with my brain. I used to have nice, logical dreams: A reasonable storyline with a couple wacky elements tossed in. There was always a plot -- things went from Point A to Point B just as they would in a story or movie. The last week or two? Random mishmash of wacky elements, no overriding plot.

Last night I had a dream that I went to see the Avengers movie (first one) in a theater with tersa, who owned a pet goat. Not even a mini one, a full-sized goat. She brought it with her and hugged it to her chest through the whole movie. Darned thing kept eating my popcorn. Plus side: A large popcorn cost under $2. The movie had commercial breaks, too. (Which, apparently, had been a movie thing for years, but since I never see movies in the theater anymore, I hadn't known.)

One of the actors from Married with Children was in Avengers, and his movie-wife was giving birth on the screen. She gave birth to a full grown woman (covered in blood and other birthing fluid stuff). "Baby" was dressed in flannel. Instead of saying "It's a girl!" they said "It's a Republican!".

I want my plotty dreams back. I wonder if I stopped having them because I'm RPing again so my need to tell stories is being expressed that way?

Graze: There's so much I love about Graze. Who knew I'd look forward to trying new foods? Never in my life have I wanted to do that! In my box was texan corn salsa (corn chips, salsa almonds and roasted corn). I would have bet money on me not liking that. I've never eaten salsa before but thought I didn't like it (yeah, I know...), and roasted corn? Not served hot? On their own, each element was only meh. The corn chips were strange ("homemade", not like the kinds that come in a bag from the grocery store), the roasted corn was just really strange (dry, hard, and bland), the almonds were okay. But together? When eaten together, it was amazing! (And now I'm going to try real salsa to see if I like that.)

The only other snack of this box I tried so far was the sour cream and onion cashews. I thought I would love that one (cashews are my favorite nuts and I like sour cream and onion flavor), but somehow it didn't work. I didn't hate it, but it took me all afternoon and evening to finish the packet.

Left to try: scandinavian forest (dried fruit mix: blueberries, lingonberries, cherry infused raisins, and apple) and white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake (raspberry infused cranberries, white chocolate buttons, and hazelnuts). I don't think I've ever eaten a hazelnut alone (not as part of something else).

I still haven't gotten a dipper (a little pot of chocolate or something savory, with something to dip in it). I've thought about putting one on my Love list so I'll have a better chance of getting it, but I'm enjoying having it be random and just taking what I get.

I set my mother up with a Graze account as part of her Christmas gift. There seems to be no way to pre-pay, so I just used my own credit card. Alas she can't eat seeds or nuts, which cuts about two-thirds of the possible snacks off her list. I really had no idea how many things had nuts until I went though and struck them all.

Europa Report: I had no RP last night, for the first night in a while. I had no idea what to do with myself! I went to Netflix and was looking for something to watch. I clicked on Europa Report by mistake and the movie started, so I figured I'd see how it was. I liked it a lot! I loved the nonlinear storyline and Bear McCreary's score was beautiful. If you enjoy scifi movies, you really should check it out.

( Spoiler for end of the movie. )

The movie made me a bit sad, since I'll be dead before man gets even that far into space. I wish this country valued space travel (and science in general) more. At least there are other countries out there who are doing better.

(Way to end this post on a down note, self!)