après le pause, Fax :57

[jawnbc]

We are expecting a meteorological miasma tomorrow and Tuesday. By this time tomorrow we may have 20cm of snow in downtown Vancouver. By the same time Tuesday it will be pissing down rain. In between is slush, mush and perhaps an ice storm.

Ice storms are pretty. Pretty dangerous. Magical when you're a kid though. *zap*

But the very next day, you turned out gay
Saturday morning toneyvr and I went cross country skiing for the first time this season. Great fun, but I got rubbery thighs today. We also grabbed the 2 Victory Ceremony tickets I won for buying my season pass early. Amazingly they're on a night I had nothing booked (23 Feb), and some Canadians should be collecting hardware that night. Sadly, it's Billy Talent. Who da fook is/are Billy Talent?

Last night was querrelle's company holiday shindig. Very posh. Great food. Nice company. But we are still old fat fooks who couldn't stay up past 23h. OK I'm an ould fat fook. He's a hawt fat fook. Today I brunched with spikeharris and did some holiday shopping.

HIV, yeah you know...not me
Earlier this week I had a rapid HIV test. No I can't think of how I'd been at risk for HIV, but I wanted--first and foremost--to understand how rapid testing works. We have a new gay men's health NGO here in Vancouver and they're running a drop in for the testing. But like most things "new" among us downtown homo types, a friend and colleague was who I ended up seeing. We chatted while he poked and drained me. And voilà! a (negative) HIV test in less than 10 minutes. We also submitted assays for a range of other fun conditions, which helps them in their research.

A few years ago this new form of testing was viewed askance here in BC. Mostly by folks with good intentions--concerned about someone not "ready" for a positive result, whereas standard testing's 2 week turnaround gives time to consider the possibility. But if someone's ready and doesn't want to wait, why should they? Besides, we also know that a number of folks who test positive never come back for their results...perhaps preferring "not to know".

However I did do a home pregnancy test today...looks like I'll be living with another Gemini come summertime. HMMG save us!

Comments

[rob-nickel.livejournal.com]

Oh you'll HATE Billy Talent. Pretty screamy pop metal. The guitarist has the most ridonkulous HAIR! Of course I like them...!

If you like, I'll go in your stead, in exchange for...oh...I don't know. Something!

[jawnbc]

You're not working 24/7 during the Games?

[paterson-si.livejournal.com]

Geminis rock, be carefuL! :)

[foresterx.livejournal.com]

In Australia they don't use the rapid style test as they are still not considered acurate enough and the standard turn around for a HIV test is under a week - viral load takes about 2 weeks though

[jawnbc]

The rapid test is very accurate, though there is a trade-off: 1 in 1 million false negative vs 1 in 100 false positive. But that's the same as the Elisa test used in a lab environment (any positives via Elisa are then re-tested with the more nuanced western blot).

The results probably come in faster here as well, but it's often access to the front line healthcare worker that delays results. Phone results are not allowed, for example.

[foresterx.livejournal.com]

I think that is where the difference is - I can normally get into a GP within 1-2 days at most, and HIV results are always in person. My Positive test took 2 weeks becuase as you said - they sent the blood result to another lab for confirmation, but my neg test was within the week