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Something about me and my DNA relatives - skydiving

4/23/2018

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According to 23andMe: "compared to the average 23andMe customer, your DNA relatives are 105% more likely to have skydived". Who knows what 105% means by the way? There are 1068 of my DNA relatives in the system (all of them pretty distant, no second cousins found) - does it mean they all have skydived at least once? :)) Coming from Russia I am a bit skeptical about percentages over 100...
I can't find the info again but for me personally this percentage was above 74% if I remember correctly. This number seems more reasonable to me.
Well, anyway, at least for me it's true - I have skydived. We (me and my husband) did it when we were 19. That was back in Russia. Our first child was 3 months old then (yes, we were teenage parents). We left him with my in laws - and mother-in-law was not happy - she was claiming us irresponsible parents asking who would care for our son if we break our legs (not to mention necks!) But she couldn't stop us. As apparently - at least for me - it was in my blood (genes). And you cannot argue with that.
We were kind of irresponsible I have to agree - but we have chosen the safest (and the cheapest, and I'm afraid that - not safety - was the main decision-making factor) type of skydiving - 800 meters jump, pretty robust, simple and predictable parachute - the prototypes for those were used in WWII and even scared first-time jumpers in the middle of the war scene were usually able to use it correctly. For example the probability for it to not open is pretty low as the main parachute's cover is attached to the plane by the hook - so when you jump out it's pulled out from backpack automatically. The only thing you need not to forget is to pull the ring - but this ring doesn't open the main parachute (as I thought) - it doesn't let the safety parachute to open. If you forget to pull the ring you just descend dangling between two parachutes in an awkward position and cannot land gracefully. We had a serious training for a whole day. They did prepare us for a lot of situations - strong winds, electrical wires, lake landing etc. The day was perfect - there was practically no wind so the jumps went smoothly anyway. I was really curious if I would be able to step into the sky by myself - but the trainer didn't give me the possibility to check - when I was in the door frame I found out why everybody was jumping out without hesitation - he was pushing everybody :D
About 1 minute in flight and only several seconds of free fall - that was it, but it was a beautiful experience! And I would like to do it again - with a more sophisticated parachute this time. Moreover - the thing that attracts me a lot is a wing suit. If you don't know what it is - go to YouTube. Looks so much fun! But I am a bit responsible after all and I will wait until both my kids are grown enough before (and if) I try this one :D
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Something about me - Gluten free beer

4/17/2018

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Well, that's actually something new. According to my teenage daughter apparently I became a real hipster - it's been about a month without gluten for me. Who knew it would define me as a hipster! The real reason though is not trying to follow the trendy crowd but just checking out would it work for me? To tell you the truth - I was always kind of skeptical about gluten free diet, I was like - ha! People (if they are not acutely allergic to something of course) are designed to eat almost anything as long as food is more or less healthy. But I do have an autoimmune disorder - I have Hashimoto's disease (another fact about me which you probably didn't even want to know) which means that my thyroid is being attacked by my own immune cells (a bit stupid thing to do in my opinion, but well... we need to work with what we have)
And the problem with Hashimoto's is that it's not really being treated, you just take the pill of synthetic hormone each day, but nobody tries to cure it. This pill makes your blood tests kind of normal but you often still feel not ideal, and actually sometimes even crappy. There is also a constant problem maintaining optimal weight even if you eat well and exercise. Being not only an artist but also a biologist I am constantly screening the internet for possible solutions, checking ideas in scientific publications and after some reading and consideration I found that despite my skepticism gluten-free diet could be useful for me (of all people!). I did come up with a plan. As a scientist I realize that I don't have a control (second version of me), and I also decided to mix two experiments in one - I am not only avoiding gluten but also trying intermittent fasting (skipping breakfast and lunch two days a week). I do feel much better and I did loose some weight. The weight loss is reeeeally slow and the lost number is not that big yet but people did say that it seems to them that I am loosing weight. And my clothes look better on me which is a good sign. Well - the goal is to be that "hipster" for two more months and see what happens! Sorry for a kind of medical post - I actually feel not like a hipster but a bit like an old lady sharing exciting stories about her health :D But I thought - maybe it will be useful for somebody?
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Well, I told you it works!

4/2/2018

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Last Monday I was not sure that the spring is actually here, but I was diligently performing my magic (see the previous post) and it worked!
On Thursday night we've heard them - the spring peepers. They are tiny frogs who spend winter under old leaves and sticks and as soon as the night temperature becomes bearable they go to the nearest swamp and start a concert! They are tiny but really loud, and their music is wonderful :) If you hear them - that's it! The winter is over!
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Today it was snowing in the morning. But don't worry! Spring peepers are pretty hardy animals and it's going to be just fine :)
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