Month: July 2008

Well, That was Productive…

Everyday Adventures

So I finally went to the doctor today. I was sure she’d absolutely hate me for coming in with a laundry list of things that were wrong but she was actually really cool about it. The results of this are as follows:

1) I went for x-rays on my foot. It’s still sorta messed up from the slamming the piggie toes took about a month ago. The theory is that even if something is cracked in there, it may be too late to set it, but we’ll see just in case.
2) Tuesday morning I go in for two ultrasounds
2a) Abdominal because last week’s unpleasantness and the after effects sound a LOT like a gall bladder attack.
2b) Pelvic to check for fibroids (because Mom was recently dx’d with bunches of them and it’s genetic, better to, if nothing else, have a baseline for future reference) and anything else (like a sneaky carcinoid tumor or cyst or anything that could be wrong… it’s one of the few places we haven’t looked and my symptoms are back so…)
3) Bloodwork orders for next week
4) The pain in my right thumb is not Carpal Tunnel (yay!) but is tendinitis (eh). I have two more weeks in a brace and if it’s still bothering me I’m to call TOC for a cortisone shot.

Lots of bases covered but at least I feel a smidgen more in control of the situation and, well, that helps.

Being Bookish

Everyday Adventures

No, I didn’t go shopping!

Well, okay, that might not be completely accurate. I’ve been getting quotes from various printers for the Random Acts… year 1 book (title TBA) and made a dummy so I can get some physical planning done. Now, I’d organized my strips from the first year and had them all in lists and sized and so forth, even to the point of jotting down some notes on additional content to make the book that much better a buy. The dummy, though, it helping me wrap my mind around how many pages (of the 80 I’ve set it at) will be taken up by business-type stuff and where the additional content will fit.

So it’s progress. And that’s a good thing. My goal to have the book done by the end of August probably will need a bit of adjustment, but not much. It’ll still be out in the Fall, it might just be more middle than early 🙂

A Touch of the Surreal

Everyday Adventures

So, okay, in everyday America its the kids that aren’t really doing much with their lives, just kinda getting by and coasting that are asked to justify their life choices. Right?

Imagine my surprise when I found myself essentially defending my rather busy, goal-oriented, always doing something lifestyle to my slacker baby-brother who is just so erudite that he couldn’t even articulate what he was trying to tell me about stress and always being busy being bad for *gesture, gesture* um, you know… (seriously, that’s how it went).

Now, don’t get me wrong, salt of the earth and all that (which he’s not, but whatever). I don’t expect everyone to be well-read and business minded. I also understand and acknowledge that there are people in this world who go to work (whatever job it is, corporate or blue collar) and want nothing more than to come home and veg in front of the television or just, you know, “hang.” I don’t claim to understand WHY they want that, but I accept it and keep a live and let live attitude.

Personally, doing that would (does!) make me antsy. I have to be doing something, I have to have something to show for my evening hours. I relax, I do. And I sometimes overdo my commitments and pay the price. But in general, I have a desire to be doing stuff. I’m not going to be all lofty and claim that I do what I do because I want to leave my mark on society or make something immortal with my time on Earth. Because what I do is just as easily forgotten as remembered. But even if I clear all my commitments and just “veg” for a while, it won’t be long before my hands are itching for a project or an idea occurs that just sounds like so much fun. There is nothing wrong with that and I shouldn’t have to justify that desire.

It was just so very strange. You don’t (I don’t) expect to have your life questioned in that way. Because this is my life. What I choose to spend my time on is my choice and I know that not everyone likes to be busy but I’m used to people knowing that I’m that way and accepting it. You’d think (I’d think) that family would be clued in, as well, but, hey, shows what I get for thinking. Guess I’ll just go finish scanning tomorrow’s comic and planning that Year 1 book (whose dummy I made last night so I could start planning preliminary layouts).

Not much for a Monday

Everyday Adventures

Work was… work. Not horrible, but it certainly didn’t fly by, either. Got a fair amount done, so all’s well. Of course, I was a leetle brain-dead at first when I spent however long trying to figure out what was missing on a bank rec, rechecking all the deposits and checks only to finally realize I hadn’t reset the beginning values on the form. Dur.

Once home, all I had to do was pencil this week’s strips. Distracted much? Yes, thank you. I think I should pay more attention to how much detail I’m expecting from each of the week’s strips to avoid what happened tonight: 3 days, 6 panels each, almost all fairly detailed. Oops! And it’s not that it’s incredibly difficult (a few were tedious from a perspective point of view–ba dum bump!) it’s just I was not totally on-task. Still, at this writing I’ve got two of the three days penciled and the third decently begun. Won’t have any trouble getting Wednesday’s ready for a timely update but it remains to be seen whether they all get inked tomorrow night or if they spill over into Wednesday. I hope not since I’ve got articles to finish up, but it will all get done, it always does.

Going to throw another 30 minutes at it before bed and see how far I can get.

oh! My girl didn’t win on Legally Blonde the Musical: Search for the Next Elle Woods. I was really pulling for the other girl, but, oh well. I’ve no doubt someone else will snap her up for something now that the show has finished.

What a Good Weekend

Everyday Adventures

Pretty much took the majority of Friday evening and Saturday off from everything and it felt good. Sunday, of course, brought the demands of reality crashing back (along with 231 twitter messages on my phone). My body has decided to call off the war or whatever the problem was and I’m feeling mostly human again. And that’s never a bad thing.

Saturday, Spectrum and I celebrated National Daiquiri Day with banana daiquiris that maybe could have used a smidgen more ice, but were pretty good nonetheless. Finally had a reason to open the bottle of Appleton Special I bought a while back.

The spending-freeze for the month has actually not been too horrible. Spec and I have gone out to eat a couple of times, but I don’t consider that much of a stray since I’ve still not picked up take-out on random nights out of laziness or swung by Starbucks in the mornings. 11 days to go and I think I should have a few hundred left from the month to put onto one of the credit cards. That will feel extra nice. Avoiding the bookstore hasn’t been as difficult as I thought it would be, though I do think I’ll be doing a bit of clothes shopping at the beginning of August, but not too much.