A Twist of Things to Come

Today at GC we have Nightsky's wonderful Gifts for Whedonites. Ooooh! Oh! Zoe vest!

Last night, I also put up The Carol of the Bells - Muppet Style which I've also posted below.



I just *love* the viral muppet channel on YouTube. It makes me happy.

***

In other news, I still feel damned sick and feverish. I could sleep all day and night. I mean, I could were it possible. Maybe I can give the kids a sick day, on account of their teacher being sick. Oy.

***

The writing continues. As rough drafts go, I am pleased with it. I'm just getting to the Roller Derby (well, like Roller Derby, if Roller Derby had knives).

Actually, my squee may be slightly subdued by the fact that my throat is scratchy and I got all weepy over nothing (well, close to it) yesterday, leading me to believe I'm coming down with something. It always starts like this for me - I get emo just before the fever/aches start. *sigh*

In any case, the website has been flooded with wonderful articles by my regular contributors, though this morning's offering isn't one of them. I'm proud to announce our first-ever Guest Blogger, the awesome Jennie Rigg (aka miss_s_b )!!! I'm positively stoked to have a top blogger such as herself slumming with us. *g*

So please go check out Sarah-Jane Smith: Feminist Icon for Kids. Show her some love, and maybe we can coax her back sometime!

***

One cool thing about the off-kilterness of being slightly ill is that I slip a bit easier between reality and my story when I'm feverish. The details of my character's lives become so vivid I have to take notes - textures, sensory stuff as well as and things they did as children. So the writing is going well enough, though I imagine there will be plenty of clean-up editing to do later.

The downside is I totally spaced on an article I promised someone for yesterday, I still haven't paid the bills, and my eldest needs math help and I cannot remember squat. Ah, well, I shall muddle through. :)

Doctor's appointment went well. The kidney-related numbers were better, leading the doctor to believe that he was right to take me off the HBP medicine. I'll be on something eventually, but it won't be that particular medicine. Right now my blood pressure is fine, but HBP is a side effect of the disease.

I was thinking about moving, and all the crap I have to get rid of or sell. I don't want to be encumbered, but there are issues here that are not issues for a lot of people. Family photos, the side table my grandfather made with his own hands, my mother's dolls she brought back from Germany -- these are family things, that for most people my age would still be at their parents' house. I still have a bunch of my mother's jewelry, most of which I am unlikely to wear.

It's so hard to get rid of her things.

*sigh*

So, not the best frame of mind. I came home and took my vitamins and ate some lunch. Shortly thereafter I became violently ill. When my eldest came home I told him I was sick and crawled off to lie down. He warmed up some pizza for himself and the Wee Boy. I dozed and felt a bit better.

We had a nice evening after that, but on balance I'm beset with anxiety over all sorts of things that I know I should not be worried about. Perhaps I can sleep it off.

To everyone to whom I owe reader feedback -- sorry for the delay. I'll try to get it done tomorrow.

And honestly, I don't feel so hot, either. Drippy nose, sore all over. *headdesk*

But the doctor was super. I really like my kid's pediatrician. He opened the door and said a greeting while still glancing at the file, but when he looked up and saw us he brightened visibly and greeted us warmly. He was so helpful and encouraging while all that was going on with Big Boy. He'd had similar issues with his own son (who has the same first name as Big Boy) and was just super understanding. As it turns out, we attended colleges that were in the same circle, and he attended med school with some KC grads (KC is huge on the pre-med thing, and producing Rhodes scholars and all that happy horse doo, but anyway).

I think being vaguely from the same region gives us a cultural commonality - it's just easier to communicate with people who have certain social gestures and habits in common with you. The same context for your words, not just the same language.

Anyway, he always ends the well visits by ordering the boys to "be good to your sweet mama," which sounds kind of creepy when you write it out like that, but in cultural context, it's like tipping his hat or holding the door or something - a way of acknowledging and showing respect.

He asked about Big Boy and my Beloved (who always tries to make the kid's well visits) and Wee Boy, who was feeling well enough to be a bit chatty, spilled the beans about us maybe moving. I realized, if we move, it will be a long drive to the doctor's office, because I SO do not want to leave this practice.

***

In any case, the treatment for the flu is the fever, so I guess we get to bake a bit, and keep the fluids up. I feel as though someone has beaten my back, like I got a piece of Annie's chair (and me not even a vampire!). Erm, sorry. Been passing the time by watching Being Human which I would utterly adore if I hadn't seen the pilot with the other actors. The new Annie... well, I can understand her without the subtitles on, at least, though I liked the other actress just fine. She had a bit more kinetic presence than the new one. But the Mitchells are the sticking point. I would love the new Mitchell if I hadn't seen Guy Flanagan in the role first. The new Mitchell (Aiden something) is adorable -- he has a great smile and a charmingly understated Irish accent. But Guy Flanagan had this languor to his movements that was kind of fascinating for a character who is 120 years old. Also, he's a classic ectomorph -- tall and very thin, giving him a sort of anemic look. Which, you know, VAMPIRE. Aiden Whatsis moves like a regular guy -- nothing really preternatural in his physicality.

But the story is good. I'm loving what they did to Owen, and wondering whether the door will wait for Annie. I care.

The one who had me from the start - and I'm glad they didn't fire HIM at least - is George, the werewolf. Some of you would know him as the young officer on the bridge with the captain of the Titanic on ... That Christmas episode of Doctor Who with Kylie Minogue. (Oy, I'm brain dead tonight.) It's not just because of the mostly-naked post werewolf scenes. He's smart and he wears glasses and has the most amazingly enormous ears -- the overall effect is quite lovable.

Last episode comes out this weekend. I'm very curious how well they manage to end it, and whether they'll order more.

The Boys are on break from school this week. We had plans to go roller skating tomorrow, but that looks like a non-starter since Wee Boy had a high fever today.

I knew something was seriously wrong when he only ate two bites of a cinnamon roll for breakfast. I kept checking his temp with the ear thermometer, and it kept showing up just slightly high, but he felt really hot. His face was red, even. Now, Big Boy gets pink cheeks from a walk outside, but Wee Boy does not get pink cheeks unless he's sunburned or has been running hard for as long as he can.

So, I knew something was up. We hunted around the house for another thermometer, and finally found a good ol' mercury one. That one said 102.5*F EEP!

I've always hated that freaking ear thermometer. Now I have proof it's crap. Ugh. We treated his fever (he has no other symptoms besides some aches) and he perked right up. Still, I bet we should hit the doc's office tomorrow.

All our plans for the break will be on hold until we kknow what's up with him, poor tyke.

***

Today I made a checklist document that lists the cleaning tasks that need to be done regularly, room by room. I snagged the idea from the very wise and efficient amy34. Wrote it up while sitting in the dentist's waiting room, and made the actual checklist document today. I think it will go a long way toward teaching the boys just what is expected of a clean room.

I made other checklists for longer term house-related projects, too.

Well, now. I am about $1000.00 poorer but I have a temporary crown and an appointment to get the permanent one. Not having dental coverage sucks, but a plan with dental coverage runs almost that much a month, on top of what we are paying for health coverage already.

But now you see why I gave recovering the other one a try before committing to a dentist. He was cool, though. He said, "I'm self-employed, too. I know." Then he didn't charge me for the eval or the X-rays, just his fixed costs, which was nice. He didn't have to do that.

***

Big Boy is staying on top of his work like a real champ this term. I'm proud of him and, truly, I can see that he is proud of himself.

The boys' buses arrived at almost the same time today, so they came in together and we all went to play with our dog, Bitey (we favor metonymical pet names, for some reason), in the back yard. The weather today was lovely, just a tad crisp.

***

I went through my feedback from Boyhouse, and I have sketched out a plan to rectify some of its deficiencies in the opening chapters. Still, I know where I'm going with it and have made steady progress on the story, tooth-swallowing/horking up notwithstanding.

Also, I had some great feedback from extremely talented and insightful writers who have since made names for themselves, like Sarah Prineas, Leah Bobet and Elizabeth Bear! I even had one from Ellen Harris-Braun. Memory of this had been lost to the pressures of Wee Boy's Early Intervention and Related Crises, but I had saved the files.

That made me very happy.

***

I don't watch soap operas, never have. Technically, I still don't, but... I happened upon the story of Luke and Noah on As the World Turns, via YouTube. Luke was this soap's first character to come out as gay, and sometime in the last year or two they decided to give him a love interest. A closeted love interest who was banging Luke's best friend so his father would approve of him. Or something. The motivations on soaps always baffle me, and of course people who have been shot or had kidney transplants never have scars. You know how it goes. So, for some time the writers have had to figure out ways to keep them apart, because, I suspect, they like keeping the religious right and the gay groups equally stirred up. I don't know. Noah's father tried to kill Luke, and Luke was paralyzed (only for a little while - pretty people never get permanent disabilities, didn't you know?) and then Noah married an Iraqi girl so she wouldn't be deported. Luke cheated in a student election and Noah wouldn't lie for him, so he was kicked out of college and started drinking. Then his grandmother's new husband started hitting on him... You get the idea. It's utterly ridiculous.

But... There are cute young men macking, and I'm very shallow.



So, now that they are an official Gay Couple doing Gay Things, I suspect they will have much less screen time. Then again, you never know.

***

It's time for Ibuprofen. The feeling is coming back in my mouth, and that feeling is "OUCH."

So, yesterday at lunch, I lost a crown off a molar. It's the only crown I have, placed there a few years ago when the molar started to crack. It had come off before, and I had put it back on to go to the dentist. The dentist tried to get it off but couldn't (he was afraid if he applied too much force, he could break my tooth.

Well, it came off whilst I was chewing and I reflexively swallowed it before I even noticed it was gone. I don't know why, but I decided to induce vomiting. I suppose that one goes under the heading of It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time. I had just finished lunch, so I figured it could not have gone far.

I will spare you the details of the endeavor, but it was partly successful. I now have a bit of dental hardware lodged in the tender folds of the back of my throat, and an appointment with the dentist today. *sigh* Eating is tricky, because anything that is not precisely body temperature causes me to twinge.

This totally frakked over my plans for Getting Things Done in the afternoon yesterday. I'm still a little puzzled by the whole "What was I THINKING?" aspect of it, but there you go.

***

In lighter, but perhaps less interesting/ridiculous news, I had a great morning with my happy boys, getting them off to school with smiles and hugs and such. I love the wee monkeys so much, I just want to squeeze them until they wriggle away in embarrassment. ;D

Big Boy keeps playing the "Midnight" episode of Doctor Who, and it really has grown on me. Even though it is Donna-less (and loves me some Donna) I think it illustrates all too well the difference between acting/dramatic traditions in Britain and the U.S. For one, the timing is excellent, and it seems obvious that the actors have a firm grounding in stage work. Plus, who in the U.S. (with the exception of Joss Whedon) would write a story in which minute differences in the timing of dialogue becomes a major plot point?

It's stunning. Glorious, even. Geeky, but fantastically so.


Big Boy and sometimes look at each other and say, "Shamble bobble dibble dooble" just to see if we can do it right.

OMG, how I love my kids! Sometimes I look at them and marvel that I had anything to do with making them the fantastic little monkeys they are.

I woke up this morning and not in pain. This is the most awesome, fantabulous news EVER. See, yesterday I woke up at 4am, feeling like tiny animals were burrowing in my head, and chewing on my neck. I got up and distracted myself as best I could, and helped get the kids off. Then I showered and sat in the floor while I dried my hair and blubbered, begging god to look after my babies because I was so sure I was going to die. (Kind of a long story, having to do with the fact that having MORE pain when you lie down might mean a brain tumor, and me being too bedraggled to think very clearly. I was just really, really tired, and tired of being in pain, and afraid of not being able to pay my ginormous deductible and copays if I went to the doctor and he ordered tests or something. It wasn't rational, but like I said, I was really, really tired.)

So, I went to see my little Reading Buddy, and she was great therapy. Her teacher said I was really helping her, and I found out she had been in Wee Boy's First grade Teacher's class last year (my most favoritist one at the school) because we bumped into her in the hall. Always great to see her.

In any case, I begged off on some other volunteer work and went to the doctor. No prescriptions or anything, but just seeing him seemed to help. because with nothing more than Ibuprofen, I slept like a baby.

The moral of this story is that I have issues with Screen Fatigue, something that has become a problem with teh work I'm doing on my website. Plus, my workstation could use some ergonomic changes.

But, oh, praise Jesus, I don't hurt anymore! (Yeah, my Buddhism is like verdigris -- I've still got a pernicious Christian core.) I'm giddy with relief.

***

I started in on my re-write (pen and paper in the waiting room at the doctor's office, so no additional screen fatigue, but nothing to share yet, either) and was happy with it.

***

Still catching up on the website stuff, but even more committed to it. It's going to be fun, and I really want to promote my friends, their work and their websites, too. It's something I'm quite passionate about.

I'll post with more details once I have some stuff finished to show y'all. ;)

***

Also, my poor dog, Bitey, has mange. Must go give her a medicated bath. Yes, her name is really Bitey. You let your kids name your pets, stuff happens.

The time has just run by me today. Ziiiip! I made some progress on the website, a workable logo which I hope to run past your discerning eyes very soon, among other things. I'm just wiped. Exhausted. Not yet fully operational. But it will come.

***

The next ep of HMOWK is up at the fic journal. I'd only had it written for three weeks. *sigh* It occurs to me that I am very close to the end of something I've been writing for years, and that is kind of exciting, to be so close to finishing something that has been around that long, even if it is a 1,000 page smut epic fanfic. I'm gonna need a new hobby. ;)

Speaking of stories that have been with me for years, hominysnark helped me decide on a decent starting point for the shape-shifter novel re-write. I think it will work well, once I've had a chance to sleep on it.

I'm not sure why everything has taken me so long to do for the past ten years, but I managed to complete several projects in the last couple of months, so maybe I'm beginning to buck the trend. In the last week before my brain tried to explode, I'd learned enough about Photoshop to make some graphics I was pretty pleased with, and worked through some exercises on Premiere Pro.

Even being ill I managed to get Big Boy to clean up his own room by making it clear what the acceptable parameters for "clean" were. Wee Boy still needs some training, but the skill is in progress.

***

Tomorrow, I hope to post more about the website, and solicit suggestions and opinions. Right now I think I'll just relax for a while in the bosom of my family.

Ugh. It started around 10am yesterday with sudden, stabbing pain and my vision doing that thing it does when you stand up too fast. Only I didn't stand up too fast or anything. Is this a migraine? I do not commonly get migraines. The last time I thought I might have a migraine, I had viral meningitis, and was in the hospital for a week. That really sucked, but this hurts nearly as much.

No fluttering or what have you, and no symptoms of detached retina. And then I felt sick to my stomach.

Ah, well. After lying still in a dark room most of the day and night, I feel better. I still have a pain in the neck that I suspect is muscular. but when I try to massage it I get a recurrence of the brain stabbing thing. But at least I do feel a bit better.

Now for some fun stuff:


more animals

and:


more animals
( Slightly saucy LOLs )