Jay Lake: Writer

[personal] In Omaha with the Child

I can’t in good conscience recommend a cross-country flight the day after finishing a chemotherapy course, but in fact things worked out okay. It would have been a much tougher trip without the_child wrangling me. We made it, however, and even in one piece.

She loved the clouds, got a funny photo of me sleeping after takeoff from PDX, and was impressed by the extensive flooding visible from the air around Omaha.

Jay eating Mt. Hood

elusivem met us at the airport in Omaha and ferried us to the hotel, where we also met up with garyomaha. Us travelers wolfed down a late meal, visited a while, then crashed off. I do seem to have survived.

Working Day Jobbery today through Friday, ballooning as weather permits. I’ll have to really manage my spoons this week, and if we do go up high, that may affect my online availability. (Ie, oversleeping to get over it.) the_child will be spending time with various friends here while I work, though I am taking her into the office Wednesday or Thursday morning, depending.

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Photo © 2011, B. Lake

This work by B. Lake is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Tags: Child, friends, Omaha, Personal, Photos, Travel

Posted: 5:33 am Tue July 05 2011 | Comments(0) |

[cancer] Chemo session four

I did not blog each day of chemo this time due to the extreme sleep. I think I slept about 25 hours over a two day period from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. I also spent much of my waking time dozing.

H— took care of me this time. She made me a matching hat and gloves while she was here.

We had cute monkey bandages for when I came off the needle.

the_child made the 4/12 burning.

And lo, we burned it.

No nausea, lots of sleep, and I’m feeling pretty ok.

As usual, more at the Flickr set.

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Photos © 2011, B. Lake, Joseph E. Lake, Jr. and Emily Siskin.

This work by B. Lake, Joseph E. Lake, Jr. and Emily Siskin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Tags: Cancer, Child, friends, health, Personal

Posted: 6:39 am Mon July 04 2011 | Comments(2) |

[photos] Your Sunday moment of zen

Your Sunday moment of zen.

Bud, Moses Coulee, WA. © 2007, 2011, 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: flowers, Photos, zen

Posted: 7:58 am Sun June 19 2011 | Comments(0) |

[photos] Your Friday moment of zen

Your Friday moment of zen.

Bad-ass old truck, Palisades, WA. © 2007, 2011, 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: cars, Photos, zen

Posted: 9:13 am Fri June 10 2011 | Comments(0) |

[photos] Your Wednesday moment of zen

Your Wednesday moment of zen.

The Palace of Fine Art, San Francisco. © 2007, 2011, 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: California, Photos, zen

Posted: 6:12 am Wed February 16 2011 | Comments(0) |

[travel] Oops

DEN-PDX flight was first delayed by a cockpit computer problem. Now we are back at the gate due to smoke in cabin on taxi out. They are still saying the flight will make. And here’s me with a tight schedule back In Portland. Sigh.

Tags: Portland, Travel

Posted: 8:04 am Fri October 15 2010 | Comments(3) |

Signal Boost

Shannon here, posting for Jay. I’ll just copy what’s on my LJ:

Just talked to the surgeon a few minutes ago…he said the surgery went “perfectly.” They were able to do it laparoscopically, as planned, and with a smallish incision at that. jaylake‘s recovery should be pretty good; he might even go home Sunday, not Monday, depending on how he feels and eats and all that.

But the BEST news is that the surgeon does NOT think the lesion looks like cancer. Now, this is not at all definitive–we have to wait for the pathology report, mid-next-week, but in his opinion, this is not a met.

::insert weepy relief and joy and hope and, yet, caution here::

Now making all the phone calls and texts and posting on all the blogs and getting the word out and all that….

Jay’s in recovery, and will probably be there another hour and a half or so, then he’ll move to ICU and we’ll be able to see him.

Oh whew, and wow, and, oh, to dare to hope?….???

Tags:

Posted: 3:09 pm Thu September 16 2010 | Comments(35) |

[travel] Coming into Los Angeles…

Just passing through LAX. calendula_witch and I are in the Star Alliance business class lounge right now. Free food! Free booze! Flight from Portland was notable for the passenger immediately behind me being arrested when we landed and made the gate. Apparently I missed all the drunk and disorderly fun when I was in the bathroom. He did spend quite a bit of time tapping his foot against the base of my seat, but that isn’t actually an indictable offense.

Off on the Big Hop in a couple of hours. Boy howdy am I exhausted. I do have my Au Contraire schedule now, but I’m too wiped to post it at the moment. I will be the auctioneer Saturday, so if you want to see live, raw feed Jay Lake, come on by. (Assuming you’re in Wellington that day.)

For now, rest easy. That’s what I’m going to try to do.

Tags: Calendula, California, Conventions, New Zealand, Travel

Posted: 10:04 pm Wed August 25 2010 | Comments(4) |

[books] A bit more on The Specific Gravity of Grief, and where I’d like see it go

As I said in Link Salad this morning, The Specific Gravity of Grief was reviewed by GeekDad at Wired.com. It’s a thoughtful, interesting take on the book, which I’m always grateful for.

I have a long term ambition for this book, which is to have copies make their way into oncologist’s offices and infusion centers around the country. I don’t feel a need to make any money off that process, which will push the price down, or possibly lead to some fund-raising as well to place copies very cheaply.

However, for any of that to happen, we need to sell through the 250-unit limited edition printing that Fairwood Press has put out. The wired.com review will help, as will forthcoming reviews. But one of the best things you could do for me and my cancer is spread the word, so people who are interested know about the book and can consider purchasing it. If we can sell through this printing, Fairwood Press will do a cheaper trade paperback edition, which I will work to drive the price down as far as possible on.

Take a minute and go read GeekDad’s review. If you’re interested, or know people who might be, spread the word. The book is available here from Fairwood Press. If you’ve already done so, thank you for supporting this project.

Tags: Books, Cancer, Grief, health, Publishing

Posted: 10:42 am Sat June 05 2010 | Comments(6) |

[links] Link salad brushes up its language skills

New Fantasy Fiction Review, Green by Jay Lake

My problem with steampunk — This essay more or less aligns with something I’ve said for a while: that in print fiction at least, and movies as well, steampunk is an aesthetic, not a movement. It doesn’t have the sharply-defined themes or critical backbone that (for example) cyberpunk did/does. In fact, my forthcoming single-title novella The Baby Killers (from PS Publishing this summer) is my own attempt to address this, but I’m fairly certain I failed. Failed nobly and well, one hopes, but still… ETA: Updated to a more accessible link.

The Money Killers: 1917 — There’s something about the phrase “Destruction Committee. Maceration of old currency” that just rolls off the tongue.

Discovering the Soul of the Ringlings’ Circus — Classic circus photos.

Listening to (and Saving) the World’s Languages — Lost languages in New York City. As Huey Lewis asked, “Where else can you do a half a million things / All at a quarter to three?” (Via Language Log.)

Why don’t you learn German, Spanish, and French?? And Chinese and Arabic for good measure. — An essay about language acquisition, and how it plays into the immigration debate. Yes, Virginia, English is a darned hard language to learn. (Thanks to CH via .)

Strict Abortion Measures Enacted in Oklahoma — A second measure passed into law on Tuesday prevents women who have had a disabled baby from suing a doctor for withholding information about birth defects while the child was in the womb. Conservative America: an identity defined by persecuting pregnant women. Stay classy, guys. You do it so well.

The Party of No Credibility — This evidence accumulated over ten years shows a shameful but undeniable fact of American politics: our right wing now contains a lot more liars, and a lot more folks who spread lies out of gullibility or wishfulness, than our left wing. Also, this just in: the sun rose in the east this morning.

?otD: How many languages do you speak?

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4/30/2010
Writing time yesterday: none (chemo brain)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 7.0 (solid)
This morning’s weigh-in: 232.0
Yesterday’s chemo stress index: 4/10 (fatigue)
Currently (re)reading: Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett

Tags: Books, Culture, Green, Language, Links, Personal, Photos, Politics, reviews

Posted: 5:00 am Fri April 30 2010 | Comments(6) |