[links] Link salad wakes up without lifetime coverage limitations on its cancer treatment
Michael Jasper and I have collaborative story forthcoming in Black Gate — Mike has all the deets.
Rilke’s rejection letters — Snerk.
A hike around Jay Lake, WA — I really must go there when I’m back in health.
With an excellent essay on unproveability and assertions of the divine — As I recently said, simply because a religious tenet happens to be popular at this moment in civilization doesn’t privilege it over “turtles all the way down” or any other empirically unproveable hypothesis.
Hey guys! Yes, ladies, this means you — I’m one of those people in whose idiolect “guys” can refer to an entirely female group. (Nicked from Language Log.)
White Skin, Black Mask — A fascinating article from the Indian press about the history of The Phantom.
Too much tea party racism — Golly, an all-white angry conservative movement that reacts only to the financial excesses of a centrist black-led administration while never objecting to much worse behavior of the same kind on the part of prior white conservative presidents? No, can’t possibly racism. Not when they’re spitting on black Congressmen and using the N-word. Nope, no racism here. Stay classy, conservative America. It’s what you do best.
?otD: Do you miss lifetime coverage limitations? The free market sure will.
3/22/2010
Writing time yesterday: n/a (sick)
Body movement: 30 minutes (sick, did it anyway)
Hours slept: 8.0 (moderate)
This morning’s weigh-in: 232.2
Yesterday’s chemo stress index: 4/10 (but still sick)
Currently reading: [between books]
Tags: Culture, Fiction, Funny, Language, Links, Personal, Politics, Publishing, Religion, stories, Washington
Posted: 4:14 am Mon March 22 2010 | Comments(1) |
[personal|cancer] Still sick
Another poor night, though not so bad as the previous. Woke up again after about 4 hours’ sleep with a burning throat and severe dehydration. Woke up this morning with a heavily productive cough that passed quickly, so I think that was post-nasal drip pooling in my chest. Friday’s chest congestion seems to have passed. Still have plenty going on in the upper respiratory. Temp this morning is 97.0, which is about normal for me. (I can routinely run down in the 96.x range.)
So long as I don’t run a fever, this isn’t directly engaging any of my chemo risks. The obvious conclusion is a mild spring cold of the viral persuasion, which under normal circumstances would barely slow me down. As I have extremely limited physical reserves these days, simply sitting still is exhausting. My plan to do my taxes this weekend is zeroed out, and (much more frustratingly) I am also getting no writing done on “The Stars Do Not Lie”. Or the Sekrit Projekt. Or anything else.
It’s weird how I can write even through chemo, but a stupid cold slows my brain down enough to stop me. Friday as the infection built up (I think it started Thursday afternoon/evening) I could feel myself shedding both IQ and EQ. I got dumber and less perceptive as the day went by. This is not unlike what happens on chemo weekend during the infusion process.
And while I’m terribly frustrated to lose my “good” weekend to this cold, I suspect the consequences of going into the infusion center with a cold would be far worse. First of all, they wouldn’t want me in there for fear of infecting the other patients. Second, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t hook me up while I’m fighting this. So even while I am unhappy about the timing, I recognize it could have been far worse.
Sigh.
and arrive this coming Thursday. Chemo infusion session six of twelve starts Friday. My job right now is to get well. But damn it, I want to write. (And blog, some topics backed up in my head.) Need my stoopid brain back from the grip of this virus.
Tags: Calendula, Cancer, health, Personal, shellyrae, Writing
Posted: 5:53 am Sun March 21 2010 | Comments(2) |
[photos] Your Sunday moment of zen
Your Sunday moment of zen.
Portrait of the author as a younger man. Me at 19, back in Austin. Photographer unknown.
Tags: Personal, Photos, Texas, zen
Posted: 5:41 am Sun March 21 2010 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad thinks about HCR
A rather spiffy review of Other Earths from — Edited by Nick Gevers and me.
Top 25 Most Ancient Historical Photographs — Some fascinating images here.
Why We Need to Dream — (Via @JESilverstein.)
For One Tiny Instant, Physicists May Have Broken a Law of Nature — (Thanks to .)
Dark Matter is a nefarious liberal plot? — This is why people like me tend to assume conservatives are crazy, stupid or both. Because moronic crap like this gets spread.
Non Sequitur gets political again — In a very weird way. Also, note the portrait on the wall in the last panel. Heh.
Bernanke: Too big to fail a “pernicious” problem — Hmm. Bush administration. TARP. Bank bailout. Nope, must have imagined it. Can’t remember a damned thing about conservatives or market self-regulation myself. Can you? Nope. Good thing the Tea Party knows who’s responsible!
Menacing — Ah, opposition to HCR. If you’ve got nothing on the merits of the issue, personally threaten the opposition. Stay classy, conservative America. It’s what you do best.
Entitlements Are Never Repealed — Conservative commentator Daniel Larison on healthcare reform, and comparisons to the Civil Rights Act. He also makes some good observations about the ideological history of the two major parties, including connecting a few dots I hadn’t connected before. As usual, I don’t agree with everything he says, but it’s a good read.
Deep South calls in Iran to cure its health blues — In ground-breaking project, one of America’s poorest communities is turning to the Middle East to try to resolve its crisis. Iran’s healthcare outcomes are much better than Mississippi’s. As the article says, The southern state has the highest levels of child obesity, hypertension and teenage pregnancy in the US. More than 20% of its people have no health insurance. Both of Mississippi’s Senators and three of the state’s four Representatives oppose the healthcare reform measures in play now. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it? This is how conservatives define a working healthcare system, apparently. Are Mississippi’s outcomes what you want for your family, your friends, your state?
?otD: Do you really believe that having worse infant mortality outcomes than Iran is a success for market-based healthcare?
3/21/2010
Writing time yesterday: n/a (sick)
Body movement: n/a (sick, might walk later)
Hours slept: 8.0 (moderate)
This morning’s weigh-in: 232.2
Yesterday’s chemo stress index: 3/10 (but still sick)
Currently reading: [between books]
Tags: Books, Funny, healthcare, Links, Personal, Photos, Politics, reviews, Science
Posted: 5:38 am Sun March 21 2010 | Comments(0) |
[personal] Sick
Currently suffering from a moderate rhinovirus, or something of the kind. This is not a weapons-grade cold, but given that chemo robs me of my usual physical reserves, it might as well be. Oncology clinic informs me I just need to lay low unless I run a fever, at which point head for the ER. So expect little to no on-line presence this weekend while I veg and try to heal.
Tags: Cancer, health, Personal
Posted: 6:23 am Sat March 20 2010 | Comments(2) |
[photos] Your Saturday moment of zen
Your Saturday moment of zen.
and me in front of the Changhua Buddha on Pink Lotus, in Taiwan. (We’re right of center in the lower portion of the photo.) © 1971, 2010 Joseph E. Lake.
This work by Joseph E. Lake. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Tags: China, family, Photos, Taiwan, zen
Posted: 6:19 am Sat March 20 2010 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad wakes up sick as a dog, barks
Monkey Augmentation Suit — Sometimes Get Fuzzy makes me laugh so hard I damned near pee.
Zodiacal Light Vs. Milky Way — APOD does it again.
Jon Stewart on Glenn Beck — Wow. An amazing deconstruction of Beck’s insanity. Worth your fifteen minutes to watch. Politics as performance art. (He’s also making me realize how much Glenn Beck works like a televangelist.)
Why We Reform — Paul Krugman on HCR. Money shot. In every other advanced nation, insurance coverage is available to everyone regardless of medical history. Our system is unique in its cruelty. If you’re conservative, if you’re opposed to HCR, please explain to me why it is fine with you that other people sicken and die for your beliefs? That’s profoundly un-American and inhumane. Just pray you’re never in that position yourself.
Bart Stupak: I Don’t Listen To Nuns — Another conservative forced pregnancy enthusiast happy to dish out to women, can’t take it in his own life. Welcome, Mr. Stupak, to the daily life of reproductive health providers, who are subject to such harassment every day courtesy of your friends at Focus on the Family, National Right to Life, and the USCCB. Stupak may be a Democrat, but like most conservatives in public life he’s just as morally bankrupt and inhumane as the bulk of the GOP caucus. Try a little empathy, Congressman. You might be amazed.
?otD: Why do they call it a cold if I’m hot most of the time?
3/20/2010
Writing time yesterday: 60 minutes
Body movement: n/a (sick, might walk later)
Hours slept: 6.5 (terrible)
This morning’s weigh-in: n/a (sick)
Yesterday’s chemo stress index: 3/10
Currently reading: [between books]
Tags: Funny, healthcare, Links, Personal, Politics, Science
Posted: 6:15 am Sat March 20 2010 | Comments(0) |
[cancer] Sleep
Quick update:
Slept 8.5 hours last night. This is cramping my style, but keeping me healthy. Shedding day has been a two-day affair. Otherwise, doing pretty well.
Tags: Cancer, health, Personal
Posted: 5:01 am Fri March 19 2010 | Comments(0) |
[sale] “From the Countries of Her Dreams” to Fantasy Magazine
As reported here by , our collaborative short story, “From the Countries of Her Dreams” has been accepted by Fantasy magazine. (Which happens to be running a different collaborative story from us right now.) This new story is in the Green continuity, and takes place roughly at the end of Endurance.
Go congratulate !
Tags: Books, Calendula, Endurance, Green, Sale, stories
Posted: 5:00 am Fri March 19 2010 | Comments(0) |
[photos] Your Friday moment of zen
Your Friday moment of zen.
(at age 9) at Glacier National Park. © 2006, 2010 Joseph E. Lake, Jr.
This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Tags: Child, Montana, Photos, zen
Posted: 4:57 am Fri March 19 2010 | Comments(0) |
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