Open letter to all who like burning things.

Dear world,

Please send one of your most subtle flamers to set fire to my lab. Then maybe my school will finally grant me my Master's because my thesis experiment can't be repeated for the third time because we'll have no lab. Then I can go back to Canada, move on with my life, and stop coming dangerously close to destroying all glassware in an uncontrollable rage.

Signed,
Me (from the lab)

P.S.--I hate science. If science were personified, I'd set fire to him.

Update and stuff for Nancy

Since this is the blog for people in real life, I don't feel obligated to state that I'm alive despite how long it's been since my last post. In case it wasn't obvious, writing useless crap here isn't my top priority in life.

I'm currently back in Toronto with Rebecca, living with Emily and Ana in a sweet bachelorette pad. Ana moves out any day now (a month earlier than we expected her to), which sucks, but she's got her own life to lead and we'll simply have to bribe her back to us with SWEET CUPPIN' CAKES. Becca got a job at the world famous comic store "The Beguiling," which is both teaching her about comics and letting her build up her upper-body strength (comics are heavy). I spent pretty much all of July getting a much-needed vacation and am now back to the usual--freelance comic book editing, which, when not combined with several other jobs and full-time school, is quite a relaxing profession. Things are definitely an improvement over the first half of 2007.

My migraine/dizziness/vomiting problem is much improved, although what proved to be the main source of the sick--a chronic neck problem--has a long way to go before it's fixed. I officially can't afford regular therapy anymore, so healing has to take place via home stretches, ice/heat packs, the occasional visit to a doctor or chiropractor (when I have money), and simply knowing when I have to sit differently or walk around or lie down with my head propped in a certain way. It's definitely a pain in the ass, and the aches and pains with my neck are worse now than they were before, but knowing what the problem is and having some control over it is a huge relief. I'm not dizzy or vomiting nearly as much anymore, which is what I hated the most. I can deal with my neck hurting for half the day if it doesn't mean I'm also going to be hunched over a toilet. (Although, of course, I look forward to the day where NOTHING is hurting or coming up. I actually think good health is a possibility now, so I'm going to stay positive.)

Also! I'm visiting West Hartford at the end of this week, for about a week. I should be coming in Friday night at, like, 9 pm, and hope to see the usual kids when they're free. I have a lot of things to do while I'm home, but at the very least I'll see Nick + Adam + Nancy + Lily + Jay while I'm there and can do another stuff swap (they still have stuff of mine and I still have stuff of theirs).

Speaking of stuff, I have something for Nancy:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/975xge

It's that music I promised, albeit very very late. Sorry! I figured you were busy preparing for, going to, and then recovering from Otakon, so I sat on that file for a while. I included in the zip file an "I'm sorry" comic addition, which is not to be looked at while someone could be looking over your shoulder. You know what that means.

My sister-in-law is now officially 5 days overdue to give birth. That means I expect to be an aunt within the week. Yessssss.

Toronto again.

Life is pretty good right now. I have no major complaints.

Also! In extremely fun news, Becca and I are coming up to Toronto this weekend. It's a sudden trip, but we need to deliver some stuff, so we'll be up Thursday (May 31) night and will stay until about lunch on Sunday. We'll do the next chunk of the Emily Starting The Renaissance girl game, for the girls who are interested. I also suspect there will be reckless eating.

Hope to see most or all of you.

Confirmed: Toronto

Becca and I WILL be coming up to Toronto next week. We'll arrive Friday evening, Feb 23rd, and will be leaving around lunchtime on Monday, Feb 26th. We hope to stay with Emily and Ana and Sarah please? I'm now doing the "I gotta pee" dance, but I don't have to pee--I JUST WANT GO TO TORONTO. I'm thinking this trip will be very fun, and very full of food. Korean BBQ, yes? The Beguiling? Girls hanging out? Me trying my best not to make fun of Jae and failing miserably? Oh, 'twill be a fun weekend, and I hope to see you all.

...And in case it's still not clear, going to Toronto doesn't make me have to pee.

Lady Emily insists I post again!

In case anyone's been following the Trouble in Paradise (read: angst in West Hartford) lately, the matter was solved last night. I felt a giant weight lifted off my back, went out to dinner to celebrate/relax, and then promptly vomited up everything I ate. I think the stress and lack of sleep finally caught up to me. After sleeping 10 hours, now the world looks newer and considerably brighter.

Why do I get the feeling this blog is becoming my Sick Journal?

Anyway, my birthday came and passed this weekend, and all things considered, it was pretty good. The parties were rather poorly attended due to logistical problems and stress, but there's not much you can do about that. (Thank you, Nick, for staying until 5 in the morning to entertain me after everyone left at midnight. Thank you, Jay, for bringing flowers and a friend. Thank you, Lily, for showing up both that night and the next day for Dim Sum. Thank you, Babette, for leaving a cake to attend when you couldn't that first night.) Becca wined and dined (and baked cheesecakes!) for me, which was excellent, I saw most people at least once, which was good, and I forced everyone to geek out with me for two hours, which was funny. And I got a pink Nintendo DS! I'm trying to decide what to name her and what Hana Kimi stickers to plaster her with. Actually, I made out like a bandit, present-wise--the DS and a new computer chair were from my parents (and a delayed sushi dinner, which is coming up this weekend), a 250 GB external hard drive filled with anime was from my friends (yes!), and birthday money bought me a cool DS game and cords that let me watch anything on my laptop on Becca's huge-ass TV screen. We spent the actual day of my birthday watching anime and the live-action Taiwanese Hana Kimi drama in her basement. Much love to Becca.

There's a lot of traveling/travelers coming up, so let me post some details:

THIS WEEKEND (2/8-2/11): Bennie's coming home to WH.
NEXT WEEKEND (2/15-2/18): Cat's coming home to WH.
NEXT-NEXT WEEKEND (2/22-2/25): Becca and I go up to Toronto maybe.

We'll have to see about the Toronto thing, but if it turns out we can't free up our schedule that weekend, we'll probably just push it off a few weeks. Come hell or high water, we're visiting again soon.

On that note, I'll also be forced to post again soon. Talk to you then.

In the maw of the beast.

Warning: post of anger/angst/upset.

This week will go down in my personal history as one of the worst weeks of all time. The following has happened to me in the past three days:

1.) My great uncle, the priest who married my parents 30+ years ago, suddenly passed away without anyone in my family getting to say good-bye--because we were informed after he passed, not during the two weeks he was on his death bed. He lives 45 minutes away, so if anyone had bothered to tell us during those two weeks, we could've come to visit immediately. This upsets me pretty severely.

2.) My grandmother is in the hospital. She's fine because she called my mom when she wasn't feeling well and they caught her problem in time, but had she passed out or something, I think she wouldn't have made it. Now I'm really anxious about my grandmother living alone.

3.) I was this close to getting fired from one of my most favorite jobs. My boss is cool, and I think she forgives me, but I really disappointed her and that makes me sick to my stomach.

4.) I had to ditch out of my second job--college tutoring online--during the last weekend before finals because of all of this. My boss and co-workers had to pick up my slack, and that sucks really hard considering how much they cover me on a regular basis.

5.) My knee problems have come back with a vengeance, and now I'm in constant pain that gets severe in the evenings. My doctor doesn't know what's wrong with me, and since it's been 6 months, I have to go to someone in orthopaedics (sp?) to get checked out. I'm probably going to have to go into physical therapy or surgery to get fixed...although I'm hoping for some magic needle cure.

Most of these things happened Sunday through Monday morning, and I only slept 2-3 hours Sunday night, so I spend Monday afternoon in a state of walking dead. I wanted to vomit, cry, or sleep, but my body couldn't manage to do any of those. I settled for blankly working on a deadline while dry-heaving and massaging my knees.

And now I have a funeral on Wednesday, a hellish amount of thesis research/writing for Friday, and a deadline for Monday. And a friend of mine who was trying to comfort me just found out that her parents are getting divorced after 30+ years, so she's in the emotional dumps with me.

I just hope X-Mas goes smoothly this year, because I don't have the strength for it not to.

Thank you, Torontonians!

Becca and I had an awesome time during our tiny trip to Toronto. In particular:

-Thank you Emily, Ana, and Sarah for letting us stay at your place. It's lovely, and we got to sleep on things that were actually soft--we love you, and not just for that.

-Sunita, the ballet was awesome, and we must do it again.

-Julia, we're very happy that you dragged your diseased body downtown to come see us. That really means a lot.

-Alicia, thank you for letting us mess up your place. And now that you've started sliding down the slope of YOU-KNOW-WHAT, Becca and I will be there to grease your route down.

-Happy birthday to Joe.

-Hello and thanks for good times to Alex, Jordan, and Andrew.

-Ben...I'll see you in two weeks, so there's not much to say.

-And Jae, as usual, I'm sorry I'm so horrible to you. I'm sure some nice strong man is more than willing to comfort you.

...I did it again. Dammit.