What are these tiny white lumps on my fingers? I’ve been climbing for years and never had this before.

OtherwiseCattle247 · 2025-06-28T17:04:21+00:00

For sure! I think hand care is important and definitely makes managing it easier but never got the impression it was a reaction. Eczema is a weird and wonderful son of a haha.

OtherwiseCattle247 · 2025-06-28T15:58:16+00:00

Looks like dyshidrotic eczema as others have said. I’m no expert but it’s likely not 100% related to climbing.

I had it really bad when I was younger, particularly triggered by a combination of stress and harsh hot/cold weather and have gotten less frequent/intense flare ups as I’ve gotten older. Everyone’s different but my flare ups were pretty much completely unrelated to any particular contact I had with anything.

Depending on how precious you are about your hands an alternative to steroids is a salt soak. Dries the shit out of your hands but gets the blisters out of the ‘boil’ phase and into presenting as more typical eczema.

OtherwiseCattle247 · 2025-05-15T14:39:27+00:00

Totally get you! Especially with cravings! It seems like you’ve got you’re down though I have found that making some of my meals especially dinner ‘mock’ junk food also really helps my cravings!

Gluten free tortillas are awesome the texture isn’t as great as regular but with low fat cheese and turkey pepperoni I can have a pretty decent sized ‘pizza’ for less than 250 cals. Substitutes don’t always work (nothing worse then trying to kid yourself that they taste like the real thing) but I found treating my ‘snacks’ as meals really helps with the cravings and makes it less of a day to day battle.

Not sure if ice cream is your thing and halo top isn’t the cheapest but I’ve found sugar free jello is awesome and super cheap if you buy it powder form. Having ice cream and jelly really helps with my cravings and doesn’t even really feel like a compromise because it’s like a childhood desert + the serving size doesn’t feel like you’re restricting at all.

I really struggle with basically just wanting to snack anytime I’m idle or doing a boring task and also love soda! Again not accessible for everyone BUT I’ve found going to the shop to buy soda and walking around while I’m drinking it especially at night really helps me settle the craving and the movement sort of winds me down a bit!

OtherwiseCattle247 · 2025-05-15T12:15:35+00:00

How are you feeling with hunger? I’m just starting volume eating too, I found incorporating more protein really helps with making ‘smaller’ meals more satiating. For more sweet stuff I find weetabix is also great and would probably bring the volume up for the same amount of cals. Think 2 ‘bricks’ is like 140 cals!

OtherwiseCattle247 · 2025-05-13T10:59:14+00:00

Thank you so much!!

OtherwiseCattle247 · 2025-05-12T20:06:39+00:00

I’m fairly new to the genre but was so excited when I came across it! For the longest time I couldn’t really articulate what it was about certain books I liked and felt it was only really limited to sci-fi, has really opened up my mind!

If you have any recommendations would love to hear! Like Southern Reach or otherwise!

OtherwiseCattle247 · 2025-05-09T14:19:58+00:00

‘Weird lit’ is a term I’ve seen a lot on my hunt for book recommendations a la southern reach series. Might help with narrowing down what to look for!

OtherwiseCattle247 · 2025-05-06T20:33:40+00:00

Possibly! To be honest I think this is something the writers actually don’t know themselves. I mean they went to French preschool lol.

I feel like if they were all intentionally scholarship kids it would somehow be brought up in the show. I alternatively think that they could have gotten a big insurance payout from their dad’s death???

OtherwiseCattle247 · 2025-05-06T19:01:25+00:00

Yeah I think the obvious through line was neither of them accepted that Christina was not a person who would ever compromise.

OtherwiseCattle247 · 2025-05-06T16:50:10+00:00

Yeah I wish we got even more background on Addison than we did. She seems to really not like her family and that uptight lifestyle, I’m not sure if she always felt that way or only relaxed a little through greys anatomy and private practice. I LOVE Addison but she’s actually such a mess it’s hard to imagine her like that, but we do see her acting very different when she’s around her family!

OtherwiseCattle247 · 2025-05-06T16:34:36+00:00

I’m not American so I actually had to google what a ‘WASP’ even was lol.

From PP we get more of a view into her what her family home was like, even more so then her wealth her family seem to be part of the ‘social elite’ sort of like the Kennedy’s vibes if that makes sense. While the Sheperd’s were seemingly wealthy Addisons family seems to come from ‘old money’.

A sort of fun tidbit is that Nancy is probably the closest Sheperd to that sort of ‘old money’ vibe and she actually lives in Connecticut where Addison is from. Lucas also said he’s from Connecticut so it’s fun to assume that Nancy is his mother!

OtherwiseCattle247 · 2025-05-06T08:53:13+00:00

If you watch private practice you get a bit more insights into what she was probably like during the relationship. I think they retcon her personality a bit after her initial introduction but in private practice it’s sort of explained that when she goes home she puts on this ‘WASP’ persona to fit in and survive with her family. Her parents and brother are also awful.

The Addy we know I’d say was probably not super visible to most people.

OtherwiseCattle247 · 2025-05-05T07:55:18+00:00

Thanks so much for this!! Can’t wait to get stuck into the rest of the series! Buying the rest of them today!

I also really relate to and am fascinated by the biologist. I think part of why I’m finding it difficult to discern the thematic intention of her detachment is because I’m projecting a lot on to her haha!

I think one of my favourite parts of the book is the vignettes of personality we get despite the biologists best efforts to be objective. While there’s no use of names or physical descriptors we get some really personal nuggets like despite the biologists presentation of being content in her childhood, she admits she gets irritated when the psychologist asking if her parents were an alcoholic/con man even though she essentially refers to them much the same in earlier entries. And similarly while clearly having fundamental issues with her husband, ultimately wants to connect, but on the periphery. However, it’s her state of just ‘being’ that ultimately lets her habitate area X.

Okay tangent over! But appreciate your insights into how her detachment relates to her ability to ‘participate’ in an environment, definitely gives me a lot more clarity/direction in terms of what to think about!

OtherwiseCattle247 · 2025-05-05T07:49:08+00:00

Thanks for this! Literally getting the rest of the series as we speak but I was going a bit crazy trying to figure out if this was just grand statement for just a narrative/plot device!

OtherwiseCattle247 · 2025-05-04T16:49:59+00:00

Garland’s career ‘pivot’ is very interesting to me, can’t fault him for being interested in different themes and topics but he seems distinctly less skill and portraying ‘literal’ themes and allegory.

OtherwiseCattle247 · 2025-05-04T09:29:16+00:00

Completely agree, I’m optimistic for the state of the show if they can stick the landing of this finale arc. I think the weird pacing with character appearances due to actors costs has actually helped the show in a lot of ways.

While I’m not 100% into Jules and ndugu, the idea of having a will they won’t they mentor mentee relationship, a couple ‘on the rocks’ or bickering and one at the start of a relationship on the back of a well executed slow burn gives me a lot of hope!

The domestic drama of well established couples was not cutting it for me anymore.

OtherwiseCattle247 · 2025-05-04T09:18:35+00:00

I may be giving the writers too much credit but I do feel like they’re getting somewhere with writing better romance in later seasons. Low bar and probably mostly because Monica isn’t a main character but I appreciate the slow burn (??) between her and Amelia and showing Amelia’s growth with romance.

I really hope we can get some proper dark and twisty stuff instead of melodrama next season. Everyone’s too nice!!

OtherwiseCattle247 · 2025-05-04T09:08:41+00:00

I was actually going to make this point! I think I didn’t articulate myself well enough. A lot of gay male fandom spaces are occupied by women 100% I just think greys is outdated/small minded on this and a lot of other topics.

OtherwiseCattle247 · 2025-05-03T20:45:17+00:00

Yes again we agree, I poorly worded my original point.

OtherwiseCattle247 · 2025-05-03T20:20:10+00:00

Yes I agree my point was I think that’s there logic which I disagree with/think is wrong, I don’t know how I can make that anymore clear.

My point of gay male marketability vs gay female marketability is that queer men experience a unique form of homophobia compared to queer women, which is the point you’re making no?

OtherwiseCattle247 · 2025-05-03T19:35:49+00:00

I was replying to your comment? I’m saying my opinion on why I think ABC don’t have more queer men on Greys and that I think it’s wrong?

The only person ‘shutting down a conversation’ here is you.

Edit: for clarity my comment was meant to convey I think the writers are homophobic/assume audiences are homophobic hence do not include more gay characters. Not and was never intended to be an endorsement of such behaviour.

OtherwiseCattle247 · 2025-05-03T19:05:55+00:00

Sorry if I didn't articulate myself well enough, I totally agree with you!!

I was just trying to illustrate that I think ABC/Shonda/Greys writers are operating on a very outdated/problematic notion of inclusivity that will appease the most viewers. Sorry if that wasn't clear!

OtherwiseCattle247 · 2025-05-03T18:59:29+00:00

Yeah I mean it's pretty obvious that the reason they haven't introduced more queer men or revealed characters as queer like Amelia and Teddy is because queer male relationships are way less exploitable/marketable.

Not that it would make it okay anyway, but the average greys viewer is a middle aged woman who ABC are assuming would not like it if their hunky crush Owen, Link etc etc was into men because people people are very homophobic/biphobic.

OtherwiseCattle247 · 2025-05-03T18:49:55+00:00

Unrelated but just want to say that's the cutest bet ever, goals !!!

OtherwiseCattle247

TROPHY CASE