[cancer|personal] For one brief, shining moment, I was myself
Very briefly this morning, while talking to
Look out. I am coming back.
Posted: 5:54 am Wed June 30 2010 | Comments(2) |
[conventions|repost] JayCon X
Mark your calendars now. In celebration of my natal anniversary, JayCon X, my 10th annual 37th birthday party, will be Saturday, July 3rd, from 2 to 5 pm at the Flying Pie in SE Portland. (That’s this coming Saturday.) Come help me celebrate both my birthday and my successful completion of six months of chemotherapy in late June. If you can read this, you’re invited. Prior JayCon experience not required.
We’re partying because I was born, and because I will have beat cancer. Again.
Flying Pie Pizzeria
7804 SE Stark Street
Portland, 97215
(503) 254-2016
http://www.flying-pie.com/
[ Google Maps ]
As is traditional for JayCon, Paul M. Carpentier is specifically not invited.
Posted: 5:51 am Wed June 30 2010 | Comments(1) |
[cancer] All is quiet on the Southern front
Much better day yesterday, after I finally listened to
Watching
Meanwhile, bright forces gather for JayCon X this Saturday.
I am starting to see better terrain for my body and my mind and my spirit, and oh, goodness, is that a welcome change.
Posted: 5:29 am Wed June 30 2010 | Comments(1) |
[photos] Your Wednesday moment of zen
Your Wednesday moment of zen.
Lamp post, Washington, DC. © 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.
Posted: 5:22 am Wed June 30 2010 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad meets the Big Calm
The Witch Strikes Back — Nnedi Okorafor on writing about sensitive topics, in this case, female genital mutilation. The specific topic is important and difficult, but I was also struck by the broader application of this comment: First of all, I speak about what I choose to speak about. Let’s see you try to stop me. Secondly, if writers only wrote about what they’d experienced, then few people would write about wizards and unicorns. I wish more people in our genre community understood these points.
Where are all the female skeptics at? — In many ways, this same could have been written about female sf writers. (Snurched from Pharyngula.)
Washing the numbers, selling the model — Science, journalism and suppressed data.
How Russian spies infiltrated suburban America — Carefully-crafted American normality shattered with the arrest of 11 people on charges of being part of deep cover espionage ring.
Some Republicans think that repealing health reform is a winning campaign issue — Promising to take away people’s access to health care might not prove as popular as they thought. Um, yeah. That.
Haley Barbour’s lack of preparation now causing problems — Mississippi Republican governor mocks oil spill worries until oil hits Mississippi beaches, now asks for help. That’s what I call leadership.
Conservatives Against Journalism — A fascinating little squib. I don’t find myself possessed of much sympathy for the author and his complaints, however.
Weigel, WaPo, and the Tracy-Flickization of Public Life — This isn’t the core point being made here, but I was struck by this comment: Memo to my friends on the right: If you bristle at being stereotyped as an undifferentiated bloc of racists and crude blowhards, maybe you shouldn’t take automatic umbrage when someone points out particular individuals who are. Much of the rest of the column echoes my recent remarks about being a public person [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ].
Sharron Angle’s Fringe Third Party Sponsored Virulently Anti-Gay Flier In ’90s — This is part of why so many of us see conservatives as “an undifferentiated bloc of racists and crude blowhards,” as mentioned in the previous item. Some of your candidates for national office are unrepentant lunatics. This is who you pick to represent you, your public face.
?otD: Have you left your soul there, down by the sea?
6/30/2010
Writing time yesterday: n/a
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 8.5 (solid)
This morning’s weigh-in: 226.2
Yesterday’s chemo stress index: 3/10
Currently (re)reading: Children of Dune by Frank Herbert
Posted: 5:20 am Wed June 30 2010 | Comments(0) |
[cancer] Slowing down the avalanche
So I finally broke down and took an Imodium. After much urging. And everything stopped.
Is still stopped.
Will possibly remain stopped all day. ETA: Or not…
Sigh.
On the whole, I am feeling better. A lot to do today, before the energy runs out.
Posted: 5:42 am Tue June 29 2010 | Comments(1) |
[photos] Your Tuesday moment of zen
Your Tuesday moment of zen.
Mushroom, Alexandria, VA. © 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.
Posted: 5:40 am Tue June 29 2010 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad wonders about choirs of clouds
SF Airshow — This is some serious cool.
Jiffy Lube: 1904 — Steam locomotive pr0n from Shorpy. Mmmm.
Save Your Eyes: Use Your Goggles — Steampunk before steampunk was cool. Like 1936.
Wondermark on the difference between engineering and math
The dreaded vuvuzela claims its first victim — Soon they will stalk the night, their flat-toned hunting calls striking terror everywhere.
Why We Dream: Real Reasons Revealed — (Snurched from io9.com.)
Trees, Sky, Galactic Eye — This APOD photo functions on so many levels…
Handing Out The Car Keys — The Edge of the American West on WASPS, privilege and wisdom. Um, yeah.
The Thing About Dave, Cont. — Ta-Nehisi Coates with more on Dave Weigel. I was struck by this bit, near the end: It’s fun to be mean, and it makes your side howl–and sometimes it’s even necessary. But my game is as follows–stating my opinions directly, clearly and without equivocation and without undue malice. That’s pretty much what I was getting at in my post a while back on kindness in discourse. [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ] Also, if you’re interested Ed Brayton and Keith Olbermann on the same topic.
?otD: Do you really want to go to heaven?
6/29/2010
Writing time yesterday: n/a
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 9.0 (solid)
This morning’s weigh-in: 225.4
Yesterday’s chemo stress index: 6/10 (GI follies)
Currently (re)reading: Children of Dune by Frank Herbert
Posted: 5:38 am Tue June 29 2010 | Comments(1) |
[cancer] A lovely if somewhat fundamental parting gift from my chemo
Well, the chemotherapy regimen is not going quietly into the good night. My lower GI has been even weirder and more difficult this past week than what we laughingly call normal around here.
I’m not kidding. Go away now if this stuff grosses you out. I’ll still be your friend when you’re gone.
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
Still there? On your head be it.
…
…
Yesterday’s festivities included twelve fully productive, very loose, violently odoriferous bowel movements, and about as many again false trips to the toilet. I’d guess I spent about four to five of my waking hours in the bathroom. Shedding Day is apparently extending indefinitely. I’ve begun consuming probiotics in the hopes this will help my intestinal flora fight all this off. Also been eating things like oatmeal for a while, just to anchor and slow things down.
This is insane, and it’s becoming seriously problematic for even everyday life tasks. When
I eventually just wanted to go to sleep, badly, but literally every time I moved I would have either deeply noxious gas (chemo farts are vile beyond belief, trust me) or the need for a return to the toilet. So the simple act of getting into bed with its associate twists and turns of the body would drive me right back out again. I wound up settled in the easy chair in the living room, still trying to talk to
I wound up spending the night in the chair, pretty much unmoving, until I shifted my weight around 3 am, and, presto!, had to return to the toilet. Since getting up at 4:30 to exercise, I’ve had three productive bowel movements (two before exercise and one after), and as I write, the time is still not even 6 am.
This is a freaking nightmare. All of which is causing me to seriously consider Imodium, except Imodium makes me so damned miserably stopped up that I wind up with the reverse problem to the one I’m experiencing right now. And the comedown off Imodium is no picnic, trust me.
So I can shut it all down, but that’s kind of going nuclear on my own gut to do it. Or I can just let the storm rage until it winds down on its own. I’m getting plenty of fluids, and I’m never far from the bathroom, so it’s not like I can’t just keep going. I had really been looking forward to a somewhat relaxing weekend, and instead I’m getting world-class GI nonsense.
This, too, shall pass. I just want it to pass a little more swiftly and gracefully.
Posted: 5:37 am Mon June 28 2010 | Comments(2) |
[help|photos] Neues Schloss Stuttgart
Thank you for all the help on yesterday’s mystery photo post [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]. Users skh and
My Dad, who was the originator of the help request, is quite impressed with the community response. On his behalf, I extend thanks to everyone who pitched in.
© 1955, 1956, L.E. Lake, Sr.
This work by L.E. Lake, Sr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
Posted: 5:14 am Mon June 28 2010 | Comments(2) |