do you think you can defeat me with your rebellious beard?

Richard is working late this week (2pm-11pm), so I see him for a while in the morning depending on when either of us manage to get up, but am devoid of wuzzieness in the evening. As a result I shall be watching videos like this one: "Carmensita," by Devendra Banhart, featuring Natalie Portman (linked by fellow wuzzie epi_lj). It features a mad singing wuzzie with vast quantities of hair, including some which you don't usually get to see! And he loves an octopus! Further analysis in The Guardian.

By the way, Richard's beard is currently longer than it's ever been. He may be going for some sort of personal record.

some of my health is not crap!

I meant to post the results of my blood tests, seeing as I got them on Friday. Apparently my liver function is all well in the middle of the normal range (I've forgotten the exact number). My TSH is within the range of normal, but somewhat on the high side - mine is 3.81 uIU/mL and the normal range is 0.4 - 4.0 uIU/mL. This means that I do not have hypothyroidism yet, but probably will within the next 20 years. Yay :/ But the reason I wanted it measured was to find out where it was because I suspect I'm likely to become hypothyroid later, so it wasn't a surprise.

My cholesterol level is great. My LDL ("bad" cholesterol) is 1.7 mmol/L, and the target value is less than 3 mmol/L. My HDL ("good" cholesterol) was 2.4 mmol/L, and apparently is super awesome! A desirable level of HDL is greater than 1.0 mmol/L and is associated with average risk of heart disease. A good level of HDL is 1.5 mmol/L or more and is associated with a less than average risk of heart disease. Also, you have a lower risk of heart disease if HDL is more than 20% of the total cholesterol level, and my HDL is 58.5% of the total!

Admittedly, this isn't the most exciting news in the world ever. I mean, I've been vegan since 2005, and the only significant plant source of cholesterol is avocado [1], which I don't eat. I also eat vast quantities of soya, and soy protein supposedly lowers "bad" cholesterol. Nonetheless, it's pretty cool, because 80% of gallstones are made of cholesterol, and lower cholesterol levels may reduce your chances of getting them again.

[1] iirc. Wikipedia is being entirely unhelpful on the subject at the moment, as the current entry on cholesterol manages to claim both "Plants have trace amounts of cholesterol, so even a vegan diet, which includes no animal foods, can have a high amount of cholesterol depending on the diet and oils used." and "For example, to ingest the amount of cholesterol in one egg yolk, one would need to ingest about 9.6 litres (2.1 imp gal/2.5 US gal) of pure peanut oil." Now, one egg yolk is something that many omnivores eat every day or every other day, but I seriously doubt there's a vegan on the planet who ingests 9.6 litres of peanut oil in a day! I think someone with a clue needs to edit that.