Ginger, clean five year mark is a fantastic thing.

Continued pain with no diagnosis is a gigantic PITA, and I wish you resolution and alleviation. SOMEbody has to have an answer. Somebody you don't have to pay buckets of insurance money you don't have.

Kalliope is a gorgeous name, for an inevitably gorgeous girl.

I just discovered "group accupuncture" which isn't nearly as creepy as it sounds and allows me to get regular needling, which helps lots with the chronic pain, without having to deal with insurance or high fees. I am loving it. All the acupuncturists are fully trained and liscensed, but the treatment (fully clothed) happens in a large room with lots of recliners.

Since with acupuncture you are paying as much for the time spent lying on a table full of pins as you are for the actual time spent putting them in and taking them out...it makes the process WAAAAAY cheaper. Like $10 to $30 per visit instead of $80 to $150. Dunno how common this is in other parts of the globe, but it's catching on quite nicely in Portland.

eta: one major con is sometimes other patients in the room fall asleep and snore, which is super annoying. Some ppl bring earplugs, allegedly.

Gronk. Second night in a row with 3 hours sleep.

Work today is going to be fun

erin_o what I wouldn't give for fees like that! Mine is $110/visit. At least I get to lie there for about an hour, but still.

Welcome to the world, Kalliope.

Can you not get the salad at Olive Garden sans parmesan? I mean, it's the world's most boring house salad (at least if you take off the big black olives) and it's usually way over-dressed, but I mean... it's salad.

And I'm surprised that all of their pasta has eggs. Or is it the sauces that are all unvegan?

Probable post n run:

Hiya, Kalliope! May you truly be an inspiration.

Hil, not that I'm vegan, but that's one more reason for me to loathe Olive Garden. The other reason being that I've eaten their food twice and gotten sick both times.

Ginger, I wish I had a magic cure to suggest.

La la la, it's Friday.

Olive Garden isn't an Italian restaurant, it's a parody of an Italian restaurant. The only thing missing was the organ grinder and monkey.

ca-lie-a-pea

This one. She's one of the muses.

This was my belief as well! However, over in Natter Flea just said:

Yay Kalliope! I know a 6 month old Kalliope whose father is Greek and it's pronounced the Greek way, Kall-ee-OH-pee, and she's called Popi (POPE-ee). But I think Kall-EYE-oh-pee is beautiful too.

And I'm all WHAT?!?!?!?

Olive Garden. Feh. I belonged to an improv group that liked having their meetings there. And it was conveniently located and had a nice big table in a quiet room that we could get which is no easy trick in this city without spending a mint. It had its merits. I also thought it was kitchy fun...

It turned out that half of us thought it was kitchy fun but half of us ACTUALLY LOVED THE FOOD. It was one of the primary snob moments of my life.

Yay Kalliope!

Sparky had a muse!

And we have a new amusement.

Ginger, sorry for the pain ... but yay for the clean bill of health.

And Olive Garden - I also have a friend who's gotten sick every one of the few times she's eaten there. I never have ... and, from what I hear, never will.

And Tom, they could also add a gondolier singing "Santa Lucia".

I've eaten at Olive Garden a number of times with no ill effect. It was one of the few restaurants near the hospital where my parents both spent a lot of time, and I found their chicken parm to be pretty good comfort food, if not good Italian food. I don't think much of their salad, but that's not why I was there anyway.