Well, I WOULD have a lot to write about today, based on all the great blog comments I have received, but I am feeling a bit too lazy now. I will post a better post tomorrow. Ah, why am I feeling lazy? Well, this morning I got up before dawn to go to the hospital lab for my blood tests, so I confess to being a bit tired. I try to get there early to avoid the crowds, but even at 6:45 AM there were already 41 people in line in front of me (well, it is a take a number system, so you can sit down once you have a number, it’s really not hard at all, plus I am rereading Gerald Durrell’s books, which I read as a kid but still give me the giggles, so the wait was actually easy). I should be getting my test results (in the mail) by the end of this month. I asked my GP to add a new test called monoclonal measurement or monoclonal dosage (a literal translation from the Italian dosaggio monoclonale ), which should turn out to be the M-spike. I am a bit doubtful only because the nurse was puzzled by this test request and couldn’t find the specific code for it. Well, we shall see what happens.

Today I began my fall experiment: two months on resveratrol. I took my first capsule at lunch. Very exciting. And yes, this will be in addition to curcumin, quercetin and flaxseed oil, except now I have to decide how to take my curcumin: capsules with bioperine (again) or curcumin powder mixed with a fat (again)? Based on Wiroj’s comment (see previous post), I am seriously thinking of trying the powder concoction again. Hmmm. Today I chose the capsules. Lazy…again!

This morning, as I was driving home from the hospital lab, dreaming of a nice hot cappuccino and a pastry that I had just picked up at the Pasticceria Stefania (best patisserie in Florence, conveniently located in my neighbourhood!), I learned that Luciano Pavarotti, the great Italian tenor, had died earlier today. He had pancreatic cancer. Well, that is sad news indeed. I am not an opera fan (I am, however, a HUGE classical music enthusiast), but Pavarotti’s spectacular voice gave me goosebumps. He is probably best known for singing Nessun dorma (from Puccini’s Turandot), but the radio station I was listening to broadcast his rendition of a chirpy song titled Voglio vivere così, which means I want to live like this. Here are a few lines from this pretty song, describing how he (he = the author, who also happened to be a tenor) wants to live, enjoying the simple things in life: Voglio vivere così, col sole in fronte, e felice canto, beatamente… Translation, more or less (I hope!): I want to live like this, with the sun on my forehead, and, in high spirits, I sing happily. Ok, it sounds better in Italian, and this excerpt is out of context so perhaps it’s hard to understand. But that’s how I would like to live, too, happily, enjoying the simple things in life. For the most part, I do. Except on the days I go for my blood tests! 😉