About Kimberly Lazarski
Quick Facts About Me
- I have hot pink hair (this week ;))
- I'm XXXY
- I have a severe soy intolerance and very mild soy allergy
- my favorite fruit (so far) is avocado
- I love Corvettes
- My favorite bands are Pink Floyd, No Doubt, and Queen
- I have quite a few piercings and two large tattoos
- I like Saabs
- I hate surfing the web (I feel like I've seen everything)
- I think Gwen Stefani is hot
- The first thing people notice about me is either my labrets (lip piercings) or funky-colored hair
My Username
When I first got on the Internet, it was usually easy enough to get my preferred username: "kiml." However when AOL and Prodigy opened the spigots to getting every Tom, Dick, and Harry online, I'd end up getting "kiml736291" for a username. So, I had to come up with something that I knew would always* be available.
I'm into Corvettes (especially the ZR-1) and my name is Kimberly, or Kim for short. So, I started going with "kimvette" for the username, figuring it was unique enough no one else would use it. I had intended to register this domain for many years but only now got around to it. What prompted it was several factors, including remembering that someone "stole" my "trademark" username on twitter.
*Oddly enough, when I broke down and signed on twitter, I found that the username "kimvette" was already taken. I was shocked!
About this web site
I've had quite a few personal web sites over the years, starting with static HTML sites and then moving on to content management systems, first dotnetnuke and then Drupal, and now I am using Drupal again. I'm also on MySpace and Facebook but honestly I prefer the openness of the web, and being able to say what I want without being constrained by microblogs. I prefer real messageboard to the discussion boards on MySpace and Facebook, because those closed communities make it very, very hard to sort, query, and re-read old discussions.
Anyway, on this site I am going to continue what I usually do - writing up howtos on various computer-related topics (usually Linux) and post my views on politics.
Don't assume I'm liberal - I'm not! (but that doesn't mean we can't be friends)
That brings me to my next topic: politics. Everyone who meets me assumes right off the bat I'm a bleeding-heart liberal. I mean, I'm androgynous (genetically XXYY and have CAH), I have piercings and tattoos, and my hair often changes color. Sometimes my hair might be blue, or purple, or back to my natural blonde. It is sometimes combinations of all of the above. For example, right now it's my natural blonde with a lot of hot pink streaks.
But the thing is, I'm a bit of an anachronism. I'm in generation X, but I call my elders "ma'am" or "sir." I say "please" and I believe in personal responsibility, the right to express one's opinions, that in the USA you do not have the right to not be offended, and that we have the right to bear arms as a component in our system of checks and balances, to fend of tyranny from a corrupt government. I believe that if you want to eat, or have a roof over your head, you ought to work for it; don't look for the government to take care of you. If you want health care, buy it. Don't ask me to pay for your health care. I'm not against gay marriage, nor am I for it; I am against ANY government-endorsed marriage. Why?
Marriage is a religious covenant (contract). It is between men and women and their god (or gods, or higher power, or whatever). It is a religious construct, always has been, and the government should have NO business dictating who can marry whom. Liberals love to preach about separation of church and state, so why are they pushing so hard for gay marriage?
On the flip side, why is the right pushing to ban gay marriage? Their justification is "if gay marriage is allowed, polygamy is next." Those so-called "Christians" have obviously never cracked open their Bible. I read the Bible quite a bit - I always have. Because I have read the Bible, I've learned that the greatest kings, prophets, and judges all had multiple wives, and yet they were considered righteous by God. So, that kind of shoots down the whole "Christian" argument, because Biblically speaking, there is absolutely nothing wrong with polygamy. Laws against it are simply establishment of religion and limiting the free exercise thereof, which IS forbidden by the first amendment to the Constitution. The whole reason the church ceded marriage to the government was to end polygamy. Which brings us to an end-around.
Because the church ceded the authority of marriage to the government to enforce their prejudices (which are not based in scripture), they have lost their say in the matter. Because marriage became a civil proceeding, it has to be open to all. Otherwise, rights are not being meted out equally; there become privileged classes and oppressed classes. So therefore, if government is to mete out marriage, then the left is right to push the gay marriage issue.
The whole problem is that the far right wanted to sneak and get their twist on a religion enforced (one man/one woman) that they had the government enforce it, and then some people woke up and realized that the church dropped the ball so now gays can marry. The church f***ed up, plain and simple. They should have kept marriage a purely religious matter, then it would be a non-issue.
Tolerance
Although I am a conservative (note I didn't say Republican!) I believe in being tolerant. Liberals preach tolerance but they are the most intolerant people I have had the displeasure of being around. They love to bash Christians, they love to bash straight people, they love to bash constitutionalists, and they love to call everyone who doesn't worship Obama a racist.
That prompts the question: If liberals aren't tolerant, what is tolerance? Tolerance does NOT mean agreeing that all views are equally valid. Tolerance does not mean that I have to approve of you, or that you approve of me. Tolerance is simply possessing the maturity to agree to disagree.
Let me repeat: tolerance is being mature enough to agree to disagree. Nothing more.
Just as 2+2=4, there is one truth about whether there is a god (or gods), or higher power, or life after death. There is one truth about whether there is an absolute morality or not. There is one truth about whether or not a fetus is a human life worthy of protection. The question is, who is right and who is wrong, and can we agree to disagree but still treat each other with the dignity of human respect?
Genetic Oddity
I found out in 1994 that I have genetic mosaicism - my genes are XXXY - an intersex condition (the XXYY thing is something I haven't disclosed to family, mainly due to hostility from my mom. My mom would blame hormones I've been on. Funny, hormones don't introduce chromosomal anomolies nor do they introduce genetic diseases). I was undergoing all kinds of testing to find out what was going on with me emotionally, hormonally, and also to find the cause of my migraines (I used to get 2-4 severe, crippling migraines per week), quick temper, constant hunger, and fatigue. Finding out about the genetics was pretty shocking, to say the least. Doctors never did find the cause for my migraines. The endocrinologist also remarked "your adrenals are a little off" in addition to my hormones being all out of whack, but didn't identify the CAH (more on that later - and it's another intersex-related condition). I asked "what does that mean" and he said "Oh, nothing. It's no big deal." (that was to come back and bite me in the butt later)
They put me on Fiorinal for the migraines, which I took once and didn't like (narcotic effect but didn't kill the pain) so then they put me on Imitrex. Oh my god, that stuff works wonders for migraines! It stopped migraines dead in 20 minutes with no narcotic effects. I was going through a lot of Imitrex for a number of years.
Adrenals made their condition known
Fast forward a few years: the (dot com) crash happened, and it affected me in late 2001. I did the foolish thing and turned down the many high-paying job offers I received (more commensurate with the work I was doing, than I was getting paid at the time), instead started a business. We didn't stick to our business plan (I agreed to move forward on a side project which turned into a nightmare) and I went totally broke, and had no health care. Stress kicked in from a bad event in my life, I was living on food I was severely intolerant of (didn't know that at the time) and my adrenal glands finally decided to go south. I was sick as a dog; I went from quick-tempered to downright bitchy. I'd snap at everyone for really small, petty things. I'd throw things, and was up all night not able to sleep, and falling asleep during the day. My back hurt constantly in the kidney area (I always chalked it up to hard physical work and trashing my back when I was younger), had constant pain in my abdomen, and I started getting panic attacks at night, and frequent night terrors. Then, I started getting chest pains during the days and my eyes and skin were yellowing (jaundice). I also packed on 60 lbs over the course of abouty three months. Also, at the time, I could eat an entire footlong sub, a large snickers bar, and a large bottle of Coke and still feel famished. I was fast on the way to liver failure and possibly congestive heart failure. So much for my adrenal glands being "a little off."
Having no money to go to the doctor, there wasn't much I could do. Truth be told, I turned to God and prayed. I prayed to God for the answer. A few days later, someone entered my life (and is now one of my best friends). It turns out she had the same conditions, and actually got to the point where her liver failed completely and she also had heart attacks. She told me I needed to get soy out of my diet right now and explained why: the reason my adrenals "were a little off" was because of CAH, and because of the CAH, I have a severe soy intolerance. She also suggested I eat a LOT more cholesterol.
So, I googled and found the "soy decoder" (which is no longer in existence - I am going to post it here since I saved a copy before Geocities shut down) and started shopping. I cut out 100% of the soy from my diet - that means no margarine, no tofu, no vegetable oil, no vegetable shortening, soy flour, mono and diglycerides, or MSG.
Within two days, the migraines went away. My temperament changed - not only was I not in a rage over little shit, my brother couldn't even push my buttons to irritate me any more (he used to love getting a rise out of me). I was finally fairly mellow! When I started eating more cholesterol the constant hunger pangs went away. Before that I never knew what it meant to feel hungry - the way I always knew it was time to meet was I'd start to crash. Little did I know it was my adrenals fatiguing and not producing enough cortisol. Now, when I'm hungry, it's normal. I feel it in my gut. It was a nice change. The heart pain went away, my skin and eyes cleared up, and I felt GOOD.
So, from running into someone with the same condition and sharing experiences, I found the solution to a life-threatening problem. Within a few days of adjusting my diet, I was a completely different person. Pleasant to be around. Could be satisfied (food-wise) on a little bit of cheese. The migraines didn't diminish - they VANISHED (now the only times I ever get migraines is if I go too long without eating and crash, or if I eat soy). It was amazing.
It was so amazing to feel good and happy that I literally could not believe it. I reintroduced soy back into my diet, and returned to how I was feeling before, except it was worse. I don't know if the symptoms were actually worse, or if I was previously so used to being in constant pain that I perceived it as worse.
I still get kidney pain when I don't eat enough cholesterol, but quickly recover if I eat a couple of slices of cheese. It's not a big deal, and it's a treatment that is vastly superior to going on steroids (the other possible treatment). I've long since had the records for my bloodwork pulled and had the diagnosis confirmed. If the treatment is a higher-cholesterol diet, eating no processed foods, and getting more exercise, I'm okay with that! :) I do miss fast foods, though.
