Category Archives: life

general posts about my life

Leaving for Worldcon

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So in about 25 minutes we will be hitting the road for the ten hour drive to Reno and the 2011 World Science Fiction Convention. I am excited and looking forward to the convention but this one will also have an undercurrent of sadness for me.

My friend Pat, who lived in Reno and introduced me to fanfic and Blake’s 7 passed away last year after a battle with cancer. Going to a worldocn in her town without her will be a sad affair. I will soldier on and enjoy myself, it is what she would have wanted, but ..well there it is.

 

 

Not a good couple of days…

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Both I and the sweetie-wife have been sick. Started pretty much on Wednesday with a sore through for me, by the end of my work day I was feeling pretty low. Thursday we both stayed home from our job,  I spent like 13 hours in bed in one stretch.

This morning sweetie-wife still felt too ill to go to work and I am going to, but Barbosa her pet lovebird died suddenly this morning.

This is the part of pet ownership I have the hardest time dealing with.

Glorious Day!

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So I saw my headache doctor today. (To be pedantic, I saw the Physician’s Assistant, but she is sharp and on the ball so I am happy with her work.) The chain migraine were simply unbearable and growing in strength. Soon I would have been missing work at my day job, you know, the one that actually pays the bills.  So I arranged for a few hours off this morning and went for help.

Help I got.

I am current taking three medications to break the wide swath of inflammation that is apparently marching across my the surface of my brain as Nazis did across Europe. One pill combines two medications into a horse pill of operatic size, then there is another medication that I took a lot of today, I will take less on each day that follows until I am taking none by Monday.

This combination is working because for most of today I have been pain free. Of it is glorious to be back. Now, I am tired, my sleep has been disturbed, but man I feel so much better.

Tonight I actually got editing done on Love & Loyalty, a new chapter fully corrected and ready for placement in the final novel. I got more work done on Horseshoes & Hand Grenades, that should be ready for my sweetie-wifes cool corrections by the weekend. AND I got some cool idea put into place for my D&D (3.5 edition) game for this weekend.

All in all, as Boromir is wont to say in extended versions of the films, “Today is a good day.”

Quick post

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Well, today during my lunch hour I took some extra time and had an MRI of my brain performed at my doc’s orders. (He does not feel that there are any serious issues beyond the migraines, but we want to rule out any nasty surprises.)

I started today with a mild headache, after the MRI — yes Brad I know nMRI — I have a severe headache, so severe that even new blu-rays can’t distract me.

Want to experience an MRI without bothering with a pesky doctor? Easy!

First crawl into a discard carpet tube so you’re loaded like a torpedo ready for firing. Make sure your head is exposed, because it goes into an old steel bucket (and just like a real MRI — yeah yeah nMRI– don’t forget your hearing protection). Have someone bring over a tweeting bird that’s just starting a cocaine bender, ’cause for the duration of the event you need the incessant chirping to counterpoint the rest. Now, once your head is fully in the bucket, have your friend go at it with a power-sander to the outside of the bucket. Changing it up every few minutes with whack from a lead pipe and throw in a few alarm klaxons and you’ll have an idea what an MRI is like. Primo for headaches, let me tell you.

I’m off to bed.

No Sunday Night Movie this week.

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Last night , about 7:45 I started getting a nasty little headache. By 8:30 it had progressed into a low-level migraine and I knew that there would be no Sunday Night Movie for me. I bid goodnight to my sweetie-wife and crawled into bed. I stayed there, leaving only to call in sick to work, for the next 14 hours. (A tleast I can report that the new bed is comfortable.) Now it has throttled back to just a nasty tension headache.

For those who enjoy my Sunday Night Movie feature, I apologize sorry for the miss.

New Beds

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So Ikea, that bastion of clean elegant style, delivered our new beds today. It was a very orderly and well handled process. we were giving a time frame to expect the delivery and then 10 minutes or so before the actually arrival we got a complimentary call alerting us that the truck was on its way.
The delivery men were prompt and friendly, hauling away our old queen sized mattress and box spring, leaving the new material, packed and ready for assembly, in our living-room.
As is the case with nearly everything from Ikea, assembly was easy and quick. For the beds it really was nothing more than adding the legs to the support boxes and presto instant beds.
The mattresses were more intriguing to me. They came tightly rolled-up and sealed in plastic. (‘She’s dead, wrapped in plastic.‘) Once the plastic was sliced the mattresses unrolled and inflated. They are shipped vacuumed sealed, an aspect I particularly liked given the current fear of bedbugs out in the world, and the air rushes in, audibly, plumping up the mattresses to the full depth, a process neither fast nor dramatic, but one that fascinating to watch.

My sweetie-wife has gone out now for new linens, leaving me to a raining Saturday afternoon.  I think Call Of Duty calls.

Writing Workshops

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One thing I would really love to do is to attend a high-level writing workshop for SF and Fantasy Writers. (Thought I am more of an SF and Horror writer to be precise.)

The problem is that the workshops are intensive in money and time and it’s really hard to see how I can make one of them happen for me.

Clarion:

This is an old, well established and very well though of workshop. It used to be back east, but move to the campus of UCSD recently.

Tuition: $4957

Length: 6 weeks

Housing: Included with tuition, but mandatory that participants stay in the workshops housing.

Airfare: None for me I live in San Diego

There is simply no way I can swing $5000 for a workshop and 6 weeks away from my day job. Never going to happen

Viable Paradise:

Not as old as Clarion, but I hear good things about this workshop.

Tuition: $880

Length: 1 week

Housing: $155/night call it $1000 food not included

Airfare:  $700 (trans continental.)

The cost are much better this with one, I’m looking at $2500 for room, tuition and airfare, plus likely another $500 for food and rental car. so call it $3000

Taos Toolbox:

I don’t know as much about this one, but the instructors are both very talented writers. (One being a favorite of mine and one of the best in the field)

Tuition: $3200

Length: 2 weeks

Housing: Included, but not food.

Airfare: $304

Food/Rental car: $800

So total cost is $4300 but two weeks of vacation time required.

Man I would love to do one fo these, but I just don’t think I can.

le sigh

Happy New Year

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Well, 2010 has been officially put to bed and we have now started the road with Mr. 2011.

Personally I am optimistic about my life for 2011. I am working on a new and improved version of Cawdor which I hope to have completed by my birthday. (Mid-May and gifts are not expected.) I still have a story out that seem to be getting serious consideration from a professional pay (SWFA certified) market for publication, I am happily married and working at a job with good people doing good deeds for people desperately in need of good deeds. All in all, life is good and I am happy.

Oh and I have lost weight. (Well, it’s not really lost I know exactly what happened to it, i transformed it into waste heat and radiated it away.) I went from a high weight in 2010 of about 245 pounds to end the year at 215. I plan to continue to lose weight in 2011 until I am around 200 lbs.

To all my family and friends and causal readers, Happy New Year and may your year be a joyous and productive one.