this isn't about food, but it's about something good to ingest anyway... mefenamic acid.

this drug blocks the release of chemicals that cause inflammation and pain. it's one of the most universal, safest, and most accessible painkillers around and for that i love it.

don't bother with ponstan 250, that's for wimps. 500 minimum is the way to go. 1000 is even better - but not at once. take the pills at about an hour's interval. that way the level in the blood stream will be a bit steady.

once, before an accounting final exam, i took 3,000mg worth. which, i suppose, partly explains why i was thrown out of the program. 

not only am i skinny, but thanks to my recent baguio sojourn i have become completely inedible.

was up in baguio to collect stories for this project i'm working on. did the work in saint louis university where the library is, um, 7 stories high. elevators? an unheard of invention. so we'd go up to the 6th floor, get stuff, down to the 3rd to xerox, then back up to the 6th... well, you get the picture. oh, and we were carrying loads of around 10 pounds each in the process.

so now, i'm tough. like old, stringy beef. 

three things to always have handy:

skyflakes, apples, and chippy

all washed down with:

gatorade

coming down from baguio last week was hell. terrible tummy cramps, fever, nausea - all in an enclosed van with no reclining seats for 6 hours. hoowa.

but we had chippy and gatorade and that, i think, was the essence of survival at that point. gatorade to replace all the electrolytes lost and chippy to retain water - because basically when your bowels won't stop for squat and you vomit all night long, what you really are in risk of is severe dehydration which, by the way, is fatal.

skyflakes are also good - nice and neutral food - but then i personally find chippy yummier so there you go. 

so everybody, when you get into this kind of hapless situation, you know what to ingest. say it with me: chippy and gatorade. 

(the apples come in when you're safely home and there's somebody actually strong enough to walk and buy apples)