A Twist of Things to Come

...and will likely have to go back at least once more in the near future. :P

Turns out the stretch marks on my son's spine may just be a weird quirk of genetics and growing fast, or it could be an axillary manifestation of a truly horrible genetic disorder that could result in what's called an "aortic dissection." That's when some part of your aorta just randomly rips open. People survive this, but the only way to really improve your odds of surviving it above 5% is to be in the same room with a skilled surgeon when it happens. Give or take

So the endocrinologist we went there to see walked us over to the cardiologist, who worked us in for an electro-cardiogram and an echo-cardiogram. Both looked fine. He has a mild mitral valve prolapse, but otherwise seems fine. The cardiologist said he wouldn't do an MRI on his descending aorta unless he actually gets a formal diagnosis of Marfans from either a geneticist or an orthopedist, or if the orthopedist orders one, he will ask that they look at the aorta while they're at it. So.

My honest feeling is that, while my Big Boy and I share some of the characteristics of Marfans (stretch marks along joints in early adolescence despite being extremely thin, long fingers and toes, pectus excavatum/mitral valve prolapse, certain irregularities in the eye and unusual joint flexibility), it is probably unlikely that we have any of the major issues related to that disease. I mean, statistically speaking, if I had a weak aorta, it should have blown by now, and I have no serious cardiac or pulmonary issues or orthopedic issues that I know of. Well, I do have a tricky hip, but hardly the easy dislocations that go with Marfans.

On the other hand, I couldn't blow off the evaluation, because if I did and his aorta blew out I'd just have to throw myself in front of a train for incurably bad parenting.

I do feel that we have been blessed with extraordinarily competent and caring doctors. I love them all. But I'm exhausted.

First, today's xkcd is like a peek inside my head meats:

http://xkcd.com/883/

Second, here's the Doctor Who panel at ... WonderCon? In any case, cool beans.



***

Yesterday, we took our guest to the French Quarter. It was its usual awesomely weird self (I will post pics when I have some time). On the way we passed some movie crew guide signs. Those are colored signs with the production initials and arrows printed on them. They are put up as guides to help the cast and crew find the filming locations that day. These were bright yellow, with ALVH printed on them. My Beloved pointed them out to our guest, explaining what they were.

My Beloved: I don't know what movie ALVH is, though.

Me: Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter

Everyone: ...

My Beloved: Is that a real thing?

Yes. Yes it is. They filmed a scene in the park I run in, the other day.

I LOVE this city. I really, really do.

Here are a couple of Korean cable channel trailers for Sherlock (the first is my favorite, the second is just too cheesy). However, this is a cable channel, I think this a bromance gimmick and not an indicator that Koreans are slash-obsessed.





***

In honor of my eldest son's surrealist short story "The Floor is Lava" being up fro publication in his school's literary mag, I give you this:

http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_162_if-everything-was-designed-by-5-year-olds_p2

***

I watched Jekyll this week, and thoroughly enjoyed it. (Well, until the something-jumps-out-at-you coda, and the painfully snigger-worthy American accents, but it's still better than 90% of American television.)



***

I also posted some Some Awesome Videos by Geek Femmes over at GC.

I missed pimping it by a few days, but there is also Nightsky's 25 years after Challenger which is more than worth a look.

***

Still trying to work myself up to making something myself. I want a personality transplant.

***

Also, if you haven't friended angrybeige, I sincerely suggest that you do. Her Sherlock comics are totally cracked.

motetus gave me five words. If you ask, I'll give you five words I associate with you, to pass the meme along. :)

Geekachicas That's my website, which you can see here. I blather on about it, sometimes a bit too much. I always post links to articles, and often whinge about how it's not going well, or about how ell it's going and how I really don't know how I'm going to top the content next week. But the truth is, it's a labor of love, and a huge blessing in my life. I collect cool people the way a magpie collects shiny things, and this website is my chance to show off my friends' work. It's awesome. Not only is it awesome because of that, but also because of the new cool women whom I've had the opportunity to get to know because of it.


Bruck Chun He's a minor character in the first few Jedi Apprentice novels that I totally co-opted for my fanfic/smut epic, Help Me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, You're My Only Ho (which re-imagines a popular Jedi character as a sex worker - I slay myself. Narf!). Anyway, Bruck is a major part of the subplot. This is probably because I have a thing for the blonds, and this one is actually described as white-haired, and fannon has amended to be dark-skinned, making him something of an anime hero in my head. This is how I drew him for HMOWK:




Writing This is a thing I do, that I can't NOT do. I consider it part of my father's OCD genetic legacy. When I discovered his stash of somewhat cryptic, obsessive journals after his death, I went back and took stock of my own growing stash of filled-up blank books. That's when I decided that, if I was going to be doing it anyway (can't stop) then I might as well try to get good at it. I've taken classes and joined workshops and slaved away trying to produce something that didn't make me want to hurl. While I might not be the best writer ever (or even the best writer I'll ever be), I've recently stopped gagging when I read my output. So that's a start.

Angry Cat My cat always looks pissed off in pictures, possibly because sitting for pictures pisses him off. So I made a Birthday Greeting that has become a tradition here on my LJ. Here is the original Angry Cat photo:



Parenting I'm a parent, but unaccustomed to thinking of it being a verb.;) Most of my parenting involves exposing my kids to great masterpieces of geekdom, ranging from Firefly to Speaker for the Dead. I'm also homeschooling. Last year I used curriculum, but this year I've been making my own as we go. This usually involves letting my son exhaust his interests/pursue his obsessions with some forced learning thrown in around the sides just to keep the subjects that don't interest him as much from falling by the way. So far, so good.

( Almost every child will be kidnapped and murdered at some point in their lives. NOT. )
***

And at GC, we have Pearce's review of Devil, Toast Landing Jam Side Down Now Valid Scientific Test for Demonic Presence. That girl SLAYS me.

And an awesome article from Nightsky on Sally Ride Science, written after attending a talk by Dr. Sally Ride. We should totally do a Sally Ride profile, because femme astronauts are the shizat.

Then Jesse shared a trailer for Indie Spotlight: Carl The Movie, an upcoming indie flick.

Dang, I need to get more stuff up there soon. I'm falling behind! But that is probably a topic for another post.

In GC news, so far this week we've had Pearce's ....okay, Predators?, in which she comes to the whole Predator thing fresh and contemplates a ripped Adrian Brody.

AND! Nightsky's exciting breakdown of Comic-Con! which was evidently Femme-Geek rich in content, so much so that there are hopes of more next year. WOOT!

****

I'm finally back from der hinterland, and boy, was that a trip. It was great to see friends and family, but in my absence the hubby, who had insisted that he would 'cherish the silence' got all weird and grumpy and isolated. I came home earlier than planned.

Then Big Boy got homesick, and the in-laws brought him back earlier than planned, and spent the weekend. It was fun. We got to go to the WWII Museum, which was great. It was also very traumatic for me, because going through the part of the place and the film that dealt with the Pacific, I couldn't help but think of my Grampa Robert, who was on Iwo Jima and other places, and traumatized to the point that we were forbidden to ever ask him about the war. Once he got lost in Atlanta, and forgotten who and where he was. In his mind, he was back in the war. I don't know what happened, whether a mugging or something set it off.

The only time he ever mentioned the war was in the 80s, when the famine in Ethiopia was all the news. He said there were children starving, everywhere they went in the Pacific, and he got in trouble for giving them his food.

So, yeah. I was affected by what I saw at the museum, but I could not help but think about how the same media that helped me understand what he went through could have been very destructive to him had he seen it.

***

In other news, I got nothing accomplished on my novel while traveling -- too many people to see and too much to do. I did not escape several calls from writing group people wanting to talk about stuff. Seems they have staged a sort of revolution to set up new rules and not listen so much to the organizer. At least I was out of town for the fireworks.

I like the group, but I suspect they are all too kind to me when it comes to critiques. I suppose I have some decisions to make.

***

Soon my oldest will be going to school, and I'm all tense about it. He's not. I know he'll be fine, it's just... being a parent is tough. I mean, we all have our defenses - people strike out at us, and we can take it. Our kids can take it, too.

What they don't tell you (or maybe they try, and you just don't get it) is that having a child is like having your tender bits hanging out there, defenseless. When Big Boy was six weeks old, I realized that I would be capable of killing to defend him, and not even think about it until afterward.

He's a teen now, and I'm trying to keep the Mother Bear on a short leash, but it isn't easy.

***

So now I'm back and I'm feeling behind on everything, like nothing is getting done. But that's not true. I have stuff going forward. My novel is still almost complete, though no closer than when I left. I'm in a better place to tackle it.

Today at GC we have an article by Nightsky, The Chicas' Guide to Comic-Con Part 2: The Sequelling. I wish I could hit a Comic-Con just once, because that looks like fun. Have not had much of a budget for travel here lately, though. Maybe soon.

***

On my plate today is a some critiquing for the writing group. We have a meeting this Friday, but my plans are still so iffy that I can't be sure I can make it. It is a holiday weekend.

Most of my time has been taken up this week with kidstuffs. Boy the Elder had testing for math placement yesterday morning. I dropped him off and too Boy the Younger with me to get our Louisiana inspection tag and a few bits of groceries we missed on our last visit. Then the hubby called to say that Big Boy's dentist had called to say they had an appointment open up if he could come in that afternoon instead of Wednesday. So, we did it, and scheduled his orthodontic lab for Thursday. Whee! That ate up most of Monday, minus some serious cleaning and the next chapter in our read-aloud of The Hobbit.

Today the hubby, thinking we had another gallon of milk in the fridge, put it all in his morning smoothie. He apologized, but I still ended up walking to the store in the rain to get milk. Oh, well.

This afternoon, if the rain goes away, we are scheduled for the Park Day swim at teh Whitney-Young pool. I kind of hope the rain holds out, even though it would be unusual for it to rain all day. It rains almost every day, sometimes twice, but it never rains for long.

Tomorrow, laser tag with the Janowskys. Thursday, an early-morning orthodontist appointment for Big Boy. Friday is another meeting for the writing group. Though I'd rather be on the road to visit friends and family, it doesn't seem to be happening.

Of course, yesterday we were going to go on a bike ride and didn't, but the heat index was well over a hundred, so, yeah. Also, my biking clothes did not fit properly. (I may well have over-indulged in the good food this past week, what with my birthday and all, though I did eat a lot more salad than usual, too.)

So, instead of biking, we finally sat down and made William's flip book from a couple of years ago into a short video. He was very pleased:



It wasn't bad for a barely 8 year old, and of course putting it together as a video was fun.

***

I've been holding at 80,000 words on my novel, even writing like mad. It's because I keep re-writing sections I've deleted. I believe the story will be better for it, but still. It's kind of like being in one of those rodent wheels right now.

***

ETA: OMG! Almost forgot to mention that I finally got to see Hamlet with the hunny bunny last night. (I'd been holding off to watch it with him, and he's been working late a lot in the past several weeks.) It was great! Sort of makes me wonder, though, if there will ever be a performance of Ophelia that *doesn't* make me want to slap her silly. Also, Laertes' teeth gave me nightmares. *Chomp, chomp* They're coming for me!

That said, it really was wonderful. Tennant was awesome, Stewart was amazing, and it probably had my favorite Horatio ever. Just lovely.

***

My no-spoiler impression of the Doctor Who finale? *SQUEEE* It was lovely. I think I may even be getting past Mat Smith's giant, distracting, head. He really did some fine acting, there, and I admit I have a soft spot in my heart for Doctor Owies.

Also, I want to build a Pandorica in my basement. No particular reason. *whistles innocently*

Why are you looking at me like that?

Yesterday was easily one of my best birthdays ever, despite being pretty normal in most respcts.

The hubby made me a special smoothie for breakfast, and the kids were most solicitous. I think this may have been my first birthday ever on Facebook, because WOW. Folks popped up with felicitations all over there.

An old friend from college even posted this for me:



That cracked me up, so much. This guy is one of two of my Beloved's friends from college who was also a full-fledged friend of mine as well. (Oh, the stories I could tell on him!) Anyway, that was a laugh.

Then there was LJ, which also seemed to be over-flowing with birthday wishes (and one super-cool virtual gift from the incomparable lotusice WOOT!)

Add to that phone calls from my buddies Teresa, Ben, hominysnark, my sister and a singing birthday message from my Papa and I just felt swathed in love from head to toe. My sons sang and danced , followed by their famous amoeba hug (it absorbs all in its path)They even refused to let me do anything around the house. They swept and made their own food and snuggled with me to watch some X-Files during the usual afternoon thunderstorms (got to keep up their geek education).

Then I got to wear one of my new sun dresses to Crazy Johnny's Steakhouse, a restaurant I requested for my birthday dinner, even though I hadn't eaten there before. The menu is limited, but they get the same cuts of meat as Brennan's at a much more reasonable price. Plus it was noisy and dress-code-less, so the boys could enjoy their meal without an etiquette refresher. The food was SO GOOD and carried no sticker shock.

So. Much. Fun.

I don't talk about it much, but my kids are amazingly funny and smart. They never fail to make me laugh. I totally lucked up in the family department. My friend department is none too shabby as well.

You guys rock.

I have now crossed the Mississippi River more this week than in my whole life before. *sigh* But hanging out on the West Bank has helped me focus, as it has a dearth of things to distract me. Unlike my New Orleans neighborhood.

Speaking of which, two of our nearest home school friends are moving this month. One is not going that far, but out of easy walking distance. The other will soon be on the far side of the French Quarter, just barely within the non-dodgy confines of Bywater. The latter is my older son's best friend in town, so this kind of sucks.

Still, it's New Orleans, which means *no part of it* is all that far away. *sigh*

I still love my neighborhood, though, and intend to stay put until the path to other lodgings is made clear and unavoidable.

***

Up at GC today, we have our first article by new addition Peta Jinnath Andersen, Geek up your kids with this Superhero A-Z. Let's hear it for the next generation of geekdom!

***

In somewhat less uplifting news, CBS has apparently decided to severely reduce the female characters of their hit show, Criminal Minds. One of the best things about the ensemble cast, for me, has always been the presence of competent women getting the job done. Now, they are planning to cut the character of JJ, a wonderful exemplar of a working mother who is competent, focused and successfully juggling motherhood and her career. Wonder how they'll write her out. (Yes, that's sarcasm.) The other female character looking at a drastically reduced role is Prentiss, which pisses me off even more because she's my hero. She's tough without being played mannish, smart and accomplished. Oy.

agirlnamedluna probably says it best in this post, which also has a list of places to make our ire known.

In addition to those listed by Luna, there is a campaign to send CBS lipstick as a means of protest. Since I have a bunch of old lipstick that I hate with a passion, I'm all over it. The address is listed in the link.

I'm genuinely annoyed that they think only men -- or even mostly men -- watch this show. Or maybe they just don't care, because the advertisers are not as interested in the female viewers. Whatever. F*ck you CBS. In the nostrils. With a baseball bat. Wrapped in rusty barbed wire.

Okay, maybe I'm more than annoyed.