Jay Lake: Writer

[travel|events] My upcoming appearance schedule, as it stands today

For those playing along with the home game edition of “Where’s Jay”, here’s my current appearance schedule. Subject very much to changes in my health, of course.

Date	Event
Tuesday, April 23rd	Wordos in Eugene, OR, for a discussion of my Nebula- and Hugo-nominated novella, “The Stars Do Not Lie” (with Lisa Costello in attendance)
Thursday, May 2nd	Speaking at Illumina Corp in San Diego on Whole Genome Sequencing from the patient perspective (with both the_child and Lisa Costello in attendance)
Friday, May 3rd through Sunday, May 5th	Guest of Honor at Gaslight Gathering (with both the_child and Lisa Costello in attendance)
Wednesday, May 8th	Meeting with my oncologist to discuss current developments, the formal diagnosis and treatment plan
Friday, May 17th through Saturday, May 18th	Nebula Awards Weekend in San Jose, CA (with both the_child and Jersey Girl in Portland in attendance)
Everything after this point is subject to change depending on the exigencies of cancer treatment per my oncology consultation on May 8th
Sunday, May 19th through Sunday, May 26th	Rio Hondo writing retreat in Taos, NM
Saturday, June 1st through Friday, June 7th	Work trip to Omaha, NE (with Lisa Costello in attendance)
Saturday, 15th	JayCon XIII [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ] here in Portland, OR (with various other festivities TBA around the weekend, pretty much everyone in attendance)
Friday, June 28th through Sunday, June 30th	Locus Awards Weekend, Seattle, WA (with Lisa Costello in attendance)
Thursday, August 29th through Monday, September 2nd	LoneStarCon 3, San Antonio, TX (with both the_child and Lisa Costello in attendance)

Tags: California, Cancer, Child, Conventions, events, health, jerseygirl, Omaha, radiantlisa, Seattle, Texas, Travel, work

Posted: 5:08 am Mon April 22 2013 | Comments(5) |

[personal] Sick

Somewhere between my adventures in Omaha and the last day or so, I have fallen quite ill with what may be the first portion of an epic cold. I slept through most of yesterday’s afternoon’s dinner, then left early, missing the St. Patrick’s Day party completely. You can imagine my frustration at this, given my feelings about how many compromises I already make to my social activities.

Meanwhile, I feel like hell. Supposed to go to Florida Wednesday, which will not be fun if I have to do it with this horrible cold hanging around.

On the plus side, my restless dreams last night included a visit to Australia to hang out with Cat Sparks. If only that were true.

Tags: Florida, friends, health, Omaha, Personal, Travel

Posted: 7:44 am Sun March 17 2013 | Comments(12) |

[personal] Home, and an eventful, friend-filled weekend

I got home from Omaha last night, to be met at the airport by the delightful Lisa Costello. Gabrielle Harbowy and Fanny Darling arrived at almost the same time for a weekend visit, we did the lunch thing, then spent the afternoon at Nuevo Rancho Lake. There we were joined by tillyjane (a/k/a my mom), the Niece and the_child.

This morning, the_child goes off for a weekend of lacrosse, while the rest of us head for Pine State Biscuits, along with Dad, for breakfast. The tribe is having a dinner this afternoon at the home of Lisa and Jersey Girl in Portland with Gabrielle, Fanny, mlerules, and Team E—. We invited Debra Stover as well, but she could not make it. After that, most or all of us are off to a rocking St. Patrick’s Day party for the evening.

Also, today I plan to put the final edits on the submission draft of the nonfiction chapter on steampunk. Maybe some other revision tomorrow, maybe a day off, but I need to get on to assembling my slideware for the forthcoming Nerd Nite talk on genomics and cancer [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ].

For those playing along with the home game version of “Where’s Jay”, I’m off to Orlando, FL on Wednesday to attend ICFA. Yes, Mr. Don’t-Go-Out-In-the-Sun is going to Florida for five days.

Tags: Child, Conventions, Family, Florida, Food, friends, jerseygirl, Omaha, Portland, radiantlisa, Travel

Posted: 7:00 am Sat March 16 2013 | Comments(10) |

[travel] Heading back to Portland

Heading home from Omaha. It will be good to be back in Portland with the_child, Lisa Costello, Jersey Girl in Portland and everyone.

I’m tired.

Tags: Child, jerseygirl, Omaha, Personal, Portland, radiantlisa, Travel

Posted: 1:50 am Fri March 15 2013 | Comments(12) |

[photos|funny] Pool rules

Swimming pool rules, Omaha, NE

So what about people with non-obvious communicable diseases? Somehow this doesn’t make me feel any better.

Photo © 2013, 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: Funny, Omaha, Photos

Posted: 1:49 am Fri March 15 2013 | Comments(9) |

[cancer] Last night I was very, very angry

The fucking hits just keep on coming.

I’m still adjusting to my deepening sense of foreshortened mortality. Doors keep closing on my future, and I’m trying to live in the moment. In Omaha right now for work, which used to be a (nearly) monthly occurrence, but now happens far less frequently. I’m off to ICFA next week, along with some other event and personal travel plans in the next couple of months, because quite frankly I’m trying to cram in not just a year’s worth of living, but probably the rest of my life’s worth, into what will likely be a very narrow window.

At the same time, things happen at home. On this blog I rarely discuss the issues faced by people around me, and even then only with their permission. It’s not for me to breach other people’s boundaries of privacy and confidentiality. Suffice to say that in my circle of family and friends my own cancer journey has brought not just the obvious severe distress, pain and sorrow, but more serious issues including emotional breakdown and even hospitalization for stress-induced illness.

Yesterday afternoon there was a major eruption back in Portland. So serious that I looked into changing my flight home, but that was profoundly cost prohibitive. People are angry, bitter, and very sad; and some extremely expensive things happened which I shall have to pay for out of pocket. At this end in Omaha, I was on the telephone for over three hours dealing with what I could. Friends and family in Portland were far more deeply involved in dealing with things directly.

As a result I did not get any further writing done last night.

As a result I went to bed late and am short slept.

As a result I am probably going to have to cancel my weekend plans back at home.

As a result I am strongly considering canceling my trip to Florida next week.

It’s not enough that cancer has to ravage my own life, stealing both my long-term hopes and short-term freedoms. Cancer also fractures and distorts the people who love me. Their pain and anger then flows back into my life, where I have to deal with the consequences of that. I lose on both the first-order effects and the second-order effects.

I know this is not all about me. Other people’s distress is genuine and real and needs to be addressed. But God damn it, I feel like I cannot catch a break. Even this narrow slice of time where I can travel and do the things I used to do in my everyday life is compromised.

So last night I was very, very angry. I woke up this morning very, very angry. Not at anyone, just at the situation. Much as with the compounding financial issues of end-of-life care, the emotional issues that arise at end-of-life compound one another in a horrid negative feedback loop that tears us all down.

Cancer: it’s why I cannot have nice things.

P.S. — I apologize for talking around the issues. I know this style is classic passive-aggressive Internet drama bait. But some stories really, truly are not mine to tell, and it’s hard to talk about my part in them without breaching that confidence. It’s equally hard not to talk about them at all.

And yes, everyone involved will be all right.

Tags: Cancer, Family, friends, health, Omaha, Personal, Portland, Travel, work

Posted: 5:07 am Thu March 14 2013 | Comments(40) |

[travel] Such a mess

I woke up late for work this morning. I never do this. But yesterday my usual 11-hour door-to-door trip from my house in Portland to my hotel in Omaha wound up taking 18 hours. Including an hour to drive from the airport in Omaha through 3-4 inches of packed snow on the road, plus massive ice patches, plus a 30 mph wind blowing more snow. Plus, at one point, being tailgated by the only other vehicle on the road, one of those geniuses who things their SUV’s four wheel drive exempts them from the laws of physics.

My initial departing flight was cancelled. My rebook was only two hours later, but the logical connecting flight to Omaha was full, so my connection at DFW was over five hours. The earlier connecting flight cancelled, so good enough I wasn’t on it, so my evening flight was overflowing. And left ninety minutes late. And due to weather (I presume) they took about 40 minutes to get the luggage out.

And, and, and… I felt like Mary Robinette Kowal. Have another drink!

At any rate, I am here now, and about to set off for work. Regular wit and erudition should resume tomorrow.

Tags: Omaha, Travel, work

Posted: 6:35 am Mon March 11 2013 | Comments(1) |

[travel] Off to Omaha once more

Yesterday was crazy-busy, so while I got a lot of needed household stuff done, I didn’t spend enough time with either the_child or Lisa Costello.

Off to Omaha today for a week of Day Jobbery. Unfortunately my flight was cancelled, so I’ll be in quite a bit later than expected, as my rebooked flight has a much less favorable connection. Guess I’m having dinner in DFW.

I’ll be home Friday afternoon.

Tags: Child, Omaha, radiantlisa, Travel, work

Posted: 7:20 am Sun March 10 2013 | Comments(0) |

[personal] Valentine’s Day Miscellanea

My friends in the Omaha Beach Party sent me some Family Guy boxer shorts. Which the_child put on and started dancing around the house singing, “I’m too sexy for my shorts” while doing it Gangnam style.

Oy and vey.

Meanwhile, yesterday out on the street, I took a photo of a classic Hudson in pretty deep rat shape. Still a gorgeous car.

Also yesterday, the last of my Steri-Strips fell off. My surgical wound is healed and closed and clean. This means I can go back to Common Ground for a soak with my friends. W00t! Plus I look like a baseball with the seams plucked…

I hope all this gives you a Valentine’s Day warm fuzzy.

Photos © 2013, Joseph E. Lake, Jr. and Lisa Costello

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

Tags: Cancer, cars, Child, friends, Funny, health, Omaha, Personal, photo

Posted: 5:38 am Thu February 14 2013 | Comments(9) |

[travel] Going home

Leaving Omaha today. Heading back to Portland. I’ll see the_child this afternoon, and Lisa Costello. Ace Jordyn has gone back to her home as well, so I shan’t see her for a while.

But home.

Tags: acejordyn, Child, Omaha, Portland, radiantlisa, Travel

Posted: 4:47 am Sat October 13 2012 | Comments(0) |