Just when you thought it was safe to go back on Live Journal...
... you realize that the political season has hit full force.
Yuck.
Well, I shall be determinedly fannish until well after the election. Except for this word to the wise: remember that when you're insulting folk on the other end of the political spectrum--whichever end that may happen to be--you're almost certainly insulting some of your flist. And calling people names because they don't happen to agree with you does more damage to your image than it does to theirs. [/sermon]
And now, on to more pleasant things, such as what I did on my vacation from the Internet:
--Wilson has been repaired and broken and repaired again. I discovered anew why Vila-computer needed replacing. I've learned that using a touchpad is even more damaging to the wrists and hands than using a mouse. And since Wilson has been repaired, I've discovered that during the interim, the Internet has moved on to the point where I need to upgrade my browser. Ah, the joys of technology. Although it's very possible I'd give up running water before I'd give up my computer.
--After four(?) years of attempts, I've finally got some properly fitted compression pants that I can wear! Only for about six hours a day, but that's better than not at all. The result: less lower-body pain, more coherent thought. Yay. :-)
--I had a really wonderful birthday. xBIL and IBW brought lovely Chinese food (which I adore and almost never get). IBW made chocolate sauerkraut(!) cake, and we all survived the shock. I received lovely geeky gifts, the most memorable of which were some rather... unusual rubber duckies from bibliohippo; I shall post some pictures of them in a few days. I also received surprise phone calls from Australia (kerravonsen) and Iraq (RocketBoy).
And I did risk opening up Vila's browser and saw all the lovely birthday messages. So kind of you all to think of me when I wasn't even around, thank you so much! I might have gotten all misty-eyed, were I not already Misty-eyed. (Look, this is a non-whiny post; it is therefore nearly required to have some groanworthy pseudo-humor. Deal with it. At least the thanks are sincere.)
--And since I have two months of posts to catch up on (I know, seems like just a couple of days, right?) I'm not certain how diligent I'll be about reading all of them. If you get random comments on old posts, don't be surprised; conversely, don't be surprised if you don't. Best if I just jump into the present, otherwise I might never catch up with you zippy lot.
Anyway. Hello. Nice to 'see' y'all. :-)