Masta Cleansuh Diego Catalan

Jim is doing this crazy Master Cleanse. My sort-of friend Crystal* (a lovely gal I like lots but don't know well--she's my friend Garrick Cheyne's wife) did the same cleanse several months back and wrote about it on my myspace blog every day for a week--the results were positive overall, but I'm not going to fast anytime soon. For one thing, skipping a meal or two is a recipe for disaster on the Migraine front. Plus I like to eat, and I'm sort of a bitch when my blood sugar is low. (Don't corroborate that story too eagerly or I'll punch.)

Anywho. This marks the end of the second full day of his lemonade diet. He's made these brews according to a very specific recipe. I shall now summarize it generally: A little lemon juice (from lemons, not from the bottle!), some purified water (preferably warm), real maple syrup (darker grade the better), and a smidgen of cayenne pepper. YUM! I took one sip and it wasn't all that bad, especially since fasting with it for ten days or more promises "the fastest and most effective way to regain your vitality and to feel the joy of living again."

I'll let you know how he's acting and feeling after a few days. He tends to get a bit grumbly when his tummy's empty (like me!) but hasn't been like that at all, surprisingly. Perhaps he is as tudey as he usually is when starving, but this time he's holding it in because he has this new monastic je ne sais quoi about him.

I leave it to you.

some pain in the membrane

I have had the same Migraine for two days now. This hasn't happened to me in awhile, though it used to be the routine. This feels like my Migraine pain of yesteryear. I once described it to my mother like this: someone has used a cold metal drill to drill out a hole from my eyebrow straight back through my head, behind my eye. Now a cold, cold, icy wind is blowing through, sending the nerves into fits and starts as they spasm in pain. Like floaters in your eyes or dim stars in the sky, the pain is not always easy to sense--the moment I try to focus on it to describe it, it morphs and seems to dissipate. Seconds later, I get distracted and it comes rushing back, the stars becoming clear as soon as I shift my vision to the left or right a bit.

It sucks.

But I don't mean to complain.

I do wonder why I always am so worried that people think I'm complaining. If you think I'm complaining and don't like it, don't read it!

And now I'm worried I'll offend.

Turns out I'll just lie down now and hope the meds finally kick in in time for me to do my storytelling job at 7. So far I'm thinking they won't, as all day I've felt the same. Blllaaaaaaaaahhh. Wah.

One week 'til the primary!

Another handy-dandy internet quiz helped me determine what I already knew: Barack Obama is probably going to be my main man when I go to the polls next week for the Democratic primary. Last time I voted in a primary I was a bit confused to find out that I wasn't registered--turned out my little hippie self had registered independent in Florida, so I couldn't MAKE MY VOICE HEARD in February 2004. This year things are much different, as we all know.

I've taken a couple of those internet quizzes designed to help you decide which candidates' points of view mirror yours best, but www.glassbooth.org is the best one I've come across (thanks, Kimizaki). You start off with twenty points and can allocate those points to a list of issues as you wish--for me, health care and the environment were two issues that got more points than others. On the next page, you take a quiz dealing with the most pertinent issues. The third page shows you which three candidates you match up with best and (here's the best part) why. There's a drop-down list to the right where you can choose other candidates' names and see how close of a match you are to them. I am matched up to Barack 75% according this one survey; another, less in-depth survey had him and me togetha foreva at 83%.

Anywho. If you're drifting along as cluelessly as I tend to be, www.glassbooth.org is a good jumping off point. We haven't got much time to get in the vote! (Even if you're one of the few non-Democrats reading this, I do so want you to be informed, too. More than that, I want you to vote for who I vote for. But we'll let that rest for now.)

Rest in peace, Cayle Bywater

It's with a heavy heart I tell those of you who haven't heard yet of the news that Cayle Bywater's body was found in a Memorial Park lake in Athens this afternoon.

A quick Google.com search will let you find any and all recent, relevant articles.

letter to the press

I can't stop thinking about the missing girl. It has occupied my thoughts for days. Today I found out that the last person to see her is a casual friend of mine. That must be such a strange position to be in.

Here's the letter I've been sending to news outfits. Feel free to use it as a template or a starting point for your own. It's far from polished, as I whipped it up in about 50 seconds. Links to the places you can email letters to can be found in my previous post.

Take care and be safe.

To whom it may concern:

I find it surprising and disheartening that Cayle Bywater, a 29-year-old graduate student in Athens, Georgia who has been missing since December 31st, is not getting more prominent coverage in your paper. In order to ensure her safety and increase the chances of her safe recovery, this story needs to get out to as many people as possible as quickly as possible. Please do a feature on Cayle, including her photograph(s), so that people will be able to recognize her as a missing person if they come across her.

All press releases, photographs, and information you need for getting contact info for her family and the Athens Clarke-County Police can be found at http://findcayle.blogspot.com/

Thanks so much for your time.

Sincerely,
a concerned Athens resident

http://findcayle.blogspot.com/

A site has been launched to help consolidate all information related to missing UGA grad student Cayle Bywater. I copied some information from an Athens Banner-Herald article about her disappearance a few days ago and have gotten some comments and messages from friends and people on the search team thanking me. As in all cases when someone is missing, I suppose every little bit counts.

Walking around downtown Athens this weekend, I saw her face on the MISSING posters in several windows of stores, bars, and restaurants. You can hear people here and there talking about her in hushed tones, people who don't know her at all or who have seen her around. People who wonder where she could be, people who hope she has just wandered off for a bit and will soon be discovered. My friend Paul told me that six years ago or so a young woman in Athens just up and vanished and was never heard from again. I don't know what the details of that story are or how sensationalized it is, but it made me go cold inside, just as I went cold when I first read about Cayle, whom I've never even met.

The local and national news channels are going haywire covering what little information they have on the missing Georgia hiker and her dog, but there's been virtually nothing on Cayle. In no way am I trying to minimize the anguish of the missing hiker, who is, according to the news reports I read this evening, now believed to be dead. That is awful. But how is one human being's utter disappearance any more important than another's? It seems we're stepping into elusive territory here. One friend said, "Maybe that's 'cause going missing in the mountains is creepier somehow." I disagree. I think it's far scarier, far more menacing to go missing from your own home.

I'm sure that hundreds of people go missing each year, and the media become obsessed with one or two of them. We can make it our job to make sure they pay attention to both these Georgia women. Perhaps you can write a quick email to your news channel, even if it's just to direct them to http://findcayle.blogspot.com/ They'll find all the news articles and links there.
Below I've created a quick list to get you started. Won't you take a minute to do this? Thanks.

1. Here is an article on the 11Alive website. You can post a comment to ask them to cover the story more prominently. (I just wrote a comment--writing it took one minute!)

2. Here's the Fox 5 Atlanta article. Same ol', same ol'. Here's their contact form--why not ask them to feature it on the news and not just on the webpage?

3. Write The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and ask that they make the story a feature. Their contact address is: newstips@ajc.com Be sure to send them the link to the blog with all the news articles! (http://findcayle.blogspot.com/)

Taking the devil right out of Halloween!

My friend and former roommate NYU Sarah (known to me by the name of "Lover") sent me a wonderfully helpful link during the Halloween season. Unfortunately for all of us, I never check my NYU email account, so I didn't get the message in time to follow the Christian webmaster's suggestions. If I had, we could have had a Hallelujah Party! (you know, where people dress up as Bible characters!) instead of going downtown and drinking on Halloween.

Let's get planning for next year, kids! http://retirementwithapurpose.com/hobbies/afhalloween.html

missing person: CAYLE BYWATER

I thought it couldn't hurt to repost this news release. Nuci's Space is also having a search for her tomorrow (Thursday, 1/3) at 9AM. The link to their site is below--you'll find info on the search there.

http://www.nuci.org/

ATHENS, Ga -- The Athens-Clarke County Police Department is asking for help in locating 29 year old, Cayle Bywater.

Bywater was reported missing on New Year's Eve when a neighbor found her dog running loose near her S. Milledge Ave. home.

She was last seen on Saturday and spoke with a family member that same day. Police found her backdoor open. Her purse, wallet, keys, cell phone and car are all still at her residence.

Cayle Bywater is described as a white female, 5'3" tall, 113 pounds, with curly red hair and blue eyes. Anyone with information should call:

Athens Clarke County Police Central Communications (706) 613-3345

BLOGGERS: Please post this notice about Cayle on your blogs, especially if you're in Athens!