This year will be full of art. Seriously! Stay tuned for an art show on January 11th, at the Whistlestop bar. I will be showing a batch of Suspicious Vegetables. Ink drawings on watercolor paper. Yes!

Currently I’m reading The Shallows (What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains) by Nicholas Carr. It’s very fascinating, so far focusing on the plasticity of our brains biologically, and how we can alter synapses simply by altering the way we process information or by newly established habits. This eventually results in the decay of other synapses, such as those that allow us to memorize or focus, as our brains happily begin to follow the path of least resistance. Carr also wrote Is Google Making us Stoopid? a few years back which caused a bit of controversy.

So that is Change Number One; moderating my use of the internet and exchanging time spent in front of the computer for time spent either reading literature, gardening, studying (more on that later), doing art, or simply being outside.

Change Number Two is more of a Transition, and it started because I’ve had seven migraines in 10 days. I was diagnosed with migraines a few years ago, and before that I always thought I just had “really bad headaches”. You know, the “bad” ones that caused sensitivity to light & noise, nausea, and only occurring on one temple…wait a minute..those aren’t just headaches (duh). I was basically getting a migraine every morning and evening. In between, I would go to work and hope that it would simmer down enough that I could function. I take Maxalt 10mg, dissolvable tablets for my migraines, which was something I found with the help of my primary physician. I tried others, but this did the trick. It makes my nose burn, my mouth and throat dry, and leaves me feeling disoriented, but the migraine is gone in one hour flat. Afterwards though, I am exhausted and feel a bit drugged for the next 6 hours or so. Seven migraines means a lot of Maxalt, missing work, and time spent in a very dark room (even moonlight causes light sensitivity when I’m struck with a migraine).

This led me to believe that there was something that I was doing wrong, reflecting on the old saying that “pain is a barometer of health.” I been studying holistic methods for treatment of migraines, including making herbal infusions (Feverfew is excellent for migraines), certain exercises, use of aromatherapy & essential oils, dietary suggestions & restrictions, breathing, posture and relaxation techniques. Turns out several of the “triggers” for migraines I have been consuming daily, and some things habitually.  Dark chocolate, caffeine, black tea, ages cheese, refined sugar (granulated white, pre-bleached “brown” sugar, glucose, fructose, sucralose, sacchrine, corn syrup, high fructose, etc), and others that have nothing to do with edibles: artificial fragrances (perfumes, lotions, body washes), and lack of beneficial exercise. All of this seems common sense, but is easy to forget when one goes through the day-to-day eating comfort foods, going to work, snacking, coming home and spending time on the internet, and then going to bed.

Cutting out the refined sugar was a huge plus. I’ve felt so much better, more energy, and less headaches. It’s incredibly hard to find products at the average grocery store without sugar. So many things have it in the ingredients beyond the obvious products like juices & sweets. Bread, crackers, canned meats, salad dressing, “raw” peanut butter, canned fruit, flavored tea bags…I’m surprised it isn’t injected into the produce. I have a major sweet tooth though, so this hasn’t been easy.

I also have hypoglycemia (low blood sugar, not diabetes) which I manage by eating several small meals a day and healthy snacks. Hypoglycemia is not technically a disease, it’s a symptom, but it’s tricky because it can simply be a symptom that exists on it’s own, without an end to its means, if that makes sense. So even though it doesn’t get the title of a “disease” it is still managed like one, with lifestyle & dietary changes and no actual “cure” besides health management and body awareness.

Here are the substitutions I have made for both migraines & hypoglycemia:

Brown Sugar: Unrefined organic brown sugar (standard C&H brand “brown” sugar is just bleached white sugar with added molasses to color it, so you’re still getting it refined)

Packet Sweetners (Splenda, Equal,etc) — Stevia root, Sucanet (dehydrated cane juice), Organic Honey

Granulated White Sugars, artificial sugars: Do not consume. This includes most store brand starches which have sugar in them as well (pastas, cereal & bread).

Caffeine (from coffee, black tea & espresso): Green tea (preferrably Jasmine Green Tea). Still caffeine, but with powerful anti-oxidants and health benefits.

Pain Treatment: Aspirin, NSAID’s: Relaxation techniques, herbal tea infusion of Feverfew or Chamomile tea, if migraine is serious (incapable of basic functions) I am still relying on Maxalt, but am moving away from pharmaceutical chemicals.

There are still so many changes and transitions to make towards “unprocessed” and more “natural” lifestyle modifications, but I think I will have to start a different blog for that.

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In art news, I will be contributing to a zine in September & I will be posting the art for that soon. Also, my friend Trista recently had four bunions surgically removed from her feet and I would like to make a cartoon follow up about that, since I made one in 2007 about what her bunion situation (then affectionately referred to as her “knobs”). She is keeping a blog during her healing bed rest, which can be found here: My Aching Knobs

Here is a snippet of the cartoon (the full version can be viewed on her blog). I still love this doctor I came up with. Is that a stethoscope around his neck? Where’s his other arm??

I also sold a photograph (from a four part series of photos taken with my Yashica Samurai X3.0 half-frame film camera) at an art show last month called “B-Side” at the Jett Gallery in Little Italy. It was this photograph titled “Liquor”:

That was pretty exciting. There will be much more film photography to come. Not only because selling a piece at that show reinforced my enthusiasm for focusing on photography as an art form, but also because I am anticipating the rare gift of an estate collection of vintage cameras from the 1970′s, in barely used condition (some in the original packaging). More on that at another time.

]]> http://gubba.wordpress.com/2011/08/28/catch-up/feed/ 0 gubba http://gubba.wordpress.com/2011/05/19/exposed/ http://gubba.wordpress.com/2011/05/19/exposed/#comments Fri, 20 May 2011 03:49:11 +0000 gubba http://gubba.wordpress.com/?p=773 ]]> Starting to shoot film again, and got off to a good start by exposing some film. Oops. At least Zeppo looks cute underneath that big red stripe. 

The first is made from sticker letters & numbers only, none have been altered from their original shape/form. I’m rather pleased with this one, especially the curly little hair flip on the flying bird, and the little bird at the bottom.

Shapes & lines & dots, feeling a bit shattered I suppose is the context here. I wanted to make something a little different with shapes instead of faces (for once) that would be cool to see in a big black and white art show. It was fun to make too, which of course, makes everything better.

And finally, an oddly shaped lima bean piece of paper with some ol’ pigeons looking somewhat forsaken:

Off to Nippon!

Tetsunori is a pretty cool dude. That’s him on the right, with my other friend Max. And below that, an art installation Tetsunori did in Japan (of course – he lives there).

Yeah!

I took this photo at the San Diego Zoo last summer. This brave big hippo came up to the glass and started grinning at all the yummy children in front of him, and then after posing like this for a few minutes, snorted really loud a few times (it sounded like a hippo “muah-ha-ha-ha”). So I figured I could immortilize the moment with a Dabbers flyer for our next show at the Casbah.

It will be presented/formally hosted by FM 94/9 for their About The Music program, which donates funds to schools for music education/classes. Cool!