Thursday, January 7, 2010

Schnoz


I thought I was turning off the camera, hence the completely unselfconscious shot.

There's no doubt about it - my nose is my most prominent feature, oh yeah. When I was in middle school I had fantasies about cosmetic surgery to reduce its size. Thank God I was too young and my proletarian parents would never have approved. Thank God!

Over time I've come to appreciate many things about my nose. In addition to having ... uh ... character, and doing a bang up job of holding my glasses on my face, it does a splendid job sniffing. Smell is certainly the most highly tuned of my senses. My eyesight has always sucked, but my sense of smell? It is so good that I can smell on my clients whatever they had for dinner last night. I know anytime someone has had a cigarette, or a drink. Actually my sense of smell is a curse as well as a blessing. Sometimes I really would prefer not to know these things.

(Hmmm ... I do also have an excellent sense of touch, and I used to have great hearing before the days when my main focus in life involved standing at the front of the music venue du jour, getting blasted with sound, dancing around, drinking excessively. I remember that P-Funk All Stars show when we were so close to the stage that George Clinton jumped into the audience right in front of us and danced for awhile with my ordinarily shy friend Eric Chang. My ears rang for three days afterwards. That same thing happened (prolonged ear ringing) several times after seeing The Cramps. But I digress.)

What my nose has been doing since seeing the acupuncturist yesterday is helping me cleanse away what appears to be many many many many many toxins, multiple viruses and God knows what else. So far I've worked my way through two giganto boxes of kleenex.

I should have known it would be a dramatic healing when, after checking my pulses, the Sufi acupuncturist said, "Well. It has to come out." It. He is somewhat inclined to believe that what I'm suffering from are the symptoms of detox since I quit eating wheat a week ago. Wow. If it's this intense to get that out of my system, I hope I never eat anything with wheat in it ever again!

I'm going to work tomorrow. My theory is that somehow I will continue feeling better and better as I work. After my mega cleansing of the last two days, I can't imagine there could be much more goo left inside me. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

27 comments:

ellen abbott said...

Well, it makes a lot of sense. What made you decide to give up wheat?

And I love that picture of you. So relaxed and unaware.

Meri said...

Stick to your story, but shed the goo. I'm thinking about cleansing and detoxing too. Hmm.........

Ronda Laveen said...

Great self-portrait. The bottom photo is quite surreal. The Cramps? That's a new one on me. I find it hard to believe that the sinus cavities can hold that much snot. Truly one of life's mysteries.

And the new picture of Jake on the side bar? His head IS really cute. He looks so snuggly.

Linda Sue said...

Glad to hear that you are on the mend! Welcome back to the gooless...Love the self portrait, you know, everyones noses look large when the lense is that close.

steven said...

hi reya! ringing ears after p-funk!!! for me it was after shriekback, suicide, simple minds, and a bunch of minor bands i forget. three days was the usual ringing out time!!!
that's such a nice picture of you.
steven

Reya Mellicker said...

OK, Steven. I am so happy to imagine you rocking out to those bands. Really, in spite of what it did to my hearing, not to mention my liver!, those days were well worth it.

Ellen, it was one of those epiphanies. I quit eating wheat for awhile during the late 1990's and felt so much better. But then I forgot and went back to it. It's so easy to eat wheat.

Fortunately for me, I don't really like bread, crackers, cookies, pastries or pasta. Cake tastes good but gives me heartburn. But I had no idea the detox would be so serious. I don't remember this from last time. Wow.

Ronda the Cramps were absolutely fabulous. If you click the link you'll see mostly Poison Ivy, the singer/guitar player. But they were all great. Loud, really loud. But great.

Linda Sue? My nose just IS big. Really big. It's OK. I like it.

Delwyn said...

Happy new year Reya

I love the candid shot...

you know that ear ringing sound...well it can return in the form of tinnitus...I now have a constant companion - a chorus of cicadas chirrupping in my ears. Fortunately you can learn to live with it...

Happy days

Reya Mellicker said...

Delwyn, hello! Yes, I suffer from tinitus. Fortunately (I guess) I live in a noisy urban area where it doesn't seem unusual.

Gary said...

Let's not forget your dancing eyes and charming smile.

Reya Mellicker said...

I love you, Gary!

lacochran said...

I like your nose.

That is all.

Mrsupole said...

"That's my story and I'm sticking with it."

I love how that line ties in with the gooey part of the story.

I have allergies so bad that I have to keep a box of Kleenex nearby at all times. Allergy pills just help a little and so I know how you feel about the goo. Our sinus's are probably the most efficient part of our body due to the amount of goo that they can produce.

I hope you get well soon and that it is just you detoxing from lack of wheat. I wonder if we are more addicted to wheat than any other addictive thing out there. I would have to say that we could all give up smoking, alcohol, and drugs easier than most of us could give up wheat.

You are a brave person to give it up. Just look how freaked out people in Italy were with the thought of having to cut down on their pasta. Yes, we are addicted to wheat.

Hi, my name is Mrsupole and I am a wheataholic.

God bless.

Anonymous said...

I love those unaware pictures! A friend of mine recently took a video for twenty minutes without realisins - It was hilarious!

Ronda Laveen said...

Okay, I had time to click the link. How fun! Poison Ivy, huh? Those are definitely some of the lowest, hip hugger pants I've ever seen. And when he slipped the microphone down his micro-fly, ha!

Were they a S.F. band?

Pauline said...

your photographic eye has nothing wrong with it!

had to chuckle at the pun of ridding yourself of goo and still sticking to your story...

Reya Mellicker said...

Sticking to it?? Ewwww!!

Ronda, the Cramps began their illustrious career in NYC sometime in the '70's - probably late 70s.

Poison Ivy is the woman with the red hair piled up. Who you were admiring was the lead singer, Lux Interior. Yes he always put the mic down his pants. In the day it was quite racy of him. He died about a year ago. So sad!! What will Poison Ivy do without him? (I believe they were married.)

Reya Mellicker said...

Mrsupole I am not actually addicted to wheat. Pasta, cookies, crackers, cake, pastries? I could take 'm or leave 'm. So it's an easy cleanse for me, all except for the detox part of it.

If someone told me I had to give up rice, I would be really upset. I love rice.

David said...

Sans gluten is a good way to go. Yay to know wheat. I splurge every now and then, but mostly I stay away. Helps keep away the inflammation I find.

Tess Kincaid said...

You have a most beautiful nose. I'm glad you didn't change it, Reya. Wonderful pic!!

Unknown said...

Hope you're feeling better soon! I think my longest ear ringing episode had to do with a Ramones show, & it was definitely in the 3 day category!

Reya Mellicker said...

Oh man. I never saw the Ramones live. I would have been honored to get tinitus from a Ramones show. John you are so cool!!

Thanks Willow. I like my nose, a good thing. But beautiful? Hmmm ... wouldn't be the adjective I would choose.

Yes David I think wheat is so bad for me! And since I can eat anything else I like, it doesn't feel like a terrible thing.

Fresca said...

My first thought was what beautiful HAIR you have!

I have a friend who stopped eating wheat last year, and I was amazed at the difference in her behavior---in the past, after dinner, she'd always drop out of the conversation. I'd assumed she was just tired at the end of the day, but once she cut out wheat, she stays present after eating. We are what we eat, eh?

Elizabeth said...

Dear Reya,
you have a very lovely nose
small noses are awfully dull.
Read Cyrano's defence of serious noses....I should know.
I think I need to go to the Sufi acupuncturist to heal me of all my sinful addictions
all the bad stuff I totally love
see sugar etc etc.
anyway
the new year is bitterly cold otherwise shaping up well
since I was given 3 massages for my b'day
one of them is a Tibetan foot something or other I shall surrender to its bliss
am off to the green market now
since I need to make squash soup for the coming COLD SPELL

your blog continues to delight
as always

Reya Mellicker said...

Elizabeth, when was your birthday? Many happiest returns. Three massages? That's heavenly.

Fresca, thank you. I never liked my hair, not for my whole life, until I stopped dying it auburn (something I did for like ... 30 years!) Now I think it's great. Who knew??

And YES we are definitely what we eat. Oh yeah.

Reya Mellicker said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Steve Reed said...

It's funny, Reya...I've never thought of your nose as particularly prominent! But I envy your sense of smell. My sense of smell is terrible...undoubtedly my weakest sense.

karen said...

What a great photo! Good luck with the gluten free mission, I'm sure it'll be worth it!
I've also been catching up on your old posts, hate to miss any!

Wishing you the very very best for 2010, Reya!