Labor Day and so forth
'Bout time I updated this thing, isn't it? Lessee.
So, about Wednesday night the cough I've been having for the past few months got way out of hand and started making my chest hurt more than usual, and I said to myself, "Why, Ysabet! You should pay attention to this cough like your friends/family/total strangers have been telling you to do! You should hie you to a next-day appointment and see your local medical practitioner and make sure that you're not about to die of the Black Plague!" And not quite being stupid enough to ignore the fact that I seemed to be hacking my lungs out in what sounded suspiciously like seal-barking coughs, I did just that. Said medical practitioner chewed me out for a bit and then sent me to have a) chest x-rays, b) blood work and c) a tuberculosis test.
So far I've gotten the skinny on the x-rays: negative, thank the gods. And therefore the very real possibility that I had lung-tumors is a no-go (see, the most common place for breast cancer to resurface at is the lungs), for which I am seriously thankful. I'm still waiting on the blood work results (they're testing me for Valley Fever and other stuff) and the TB test (won't know 'til Thursday), but with any luck the damn cough'll turn out to be because I'm allergic to some prevalent species of mold or some such. In the meantime, though, I am tumor-free! ^__^ **coughhackcough**
So on Sunday I headed up to the NADWCON, the first North Americal Discworld Convention; and I got to meet Sir Terry Pratchett and had my copy of The Last Hero signed by him. His Pratchettness was this magnificent grayhaired Brit who showed up for a talk on publishing and for his booksigning wearing a plain black t-shirt and pants; they provided him with an AMAZINGLY GAUDY throne of a chair (we're talking carved lion-heads on the arms and curlicues and embellishments and red velvet inset cushions here) while all the publishers (there were 5) that had worked with him sat in folding chairs; it was rather neat. We had each been assigned #s for the booksigning; I was Lucky Number 13, something that tickled me immensely... The con was, in general, quieter than most cons; but I had a great time and met up with Willa and Ari and Ryan and Teresa and a few others that I knew. It was pretty damn neat; I'll post the pics from it once I get 'em downloaded.
I was staying with dqbunny (who kindly put me up on her futon for the night) and that evening we went out to a rotating sushi bar, Haru Sushi. This was my first experience with sushi-in-movement and I am completely sold-- first off, the sushi was decent sushi (not gourmet by any means but fresh and tasty and the rice was seasoned right), and secondly it was cheap ($1 to $1.50 per plate, which held anywhere from 2 to 4 pieces), and thirdly the chefs were constantly putting new stuff out in a huuuuge variety, and fourthly it was amazingly hypnotic watching those little plates sail past on the conveyer belts right in front of me. I loved it; it was seriously cool. I slept the sleep of the overstuffed... and then in the morning, she took me to Tempe Yarn & Fiber, which is an evilly cheap-and-friendly yarn shop. I succumbed to the lure of some cobalt-blue Peruvian Highlands Wool and am gonna turn it into a hat for my older sister per her express request. Thanks, dqbunny ! You're an evil ennabler, you know that?
I headed on back after that; could've gone on to the con again, but I admit that I was still feeling a little under the weather and wanted to make the drive back while I still had some energy. Good thing, too; by the time I hit Tucson I was totally beat and crashed for about 4 hours as soon as I made it to the bed.
So... decent weekend, all 'round. I don't have cancer again, I got to meet His Pratchettness, I had a fun time at the con, I ate moving sushi, I got to see a kickass yarn shop and I'm feeling better. Not too shabby. I kind of hate it that I missed Crown List (though I hear that Ed won again-- yay Ed! He's such a good Estrella king and he enjoys it so much!) but I'm glad I kept things fairly low-key and rested a lot.
Anyway, that's pretty much it for the moment.
So, about Wednesday night the cough I've been having for the past few months got way out of hand and started making my chest hurt more than usual, and I said to myself, "Why, Ysabet! You should pay attention to this cough like your friends/family/total strangers have been telling you to do! You should hie you to a next-day appointment and see your local medical practitioner and make sure that you're not about to die of the Black Plague!" And not quite being stupid enough to ignore the fact that I seemed to be hacking my lungs out in what sounded suspiciously like seal-barking coughs, I did just that. Said medical practitioner chewed me out for a bit and then sent me to have a) chest x-rays, b) blood work and c) a tuberculosis test.
So far I've gotten the skinny on the x-rays: negative, thank the gods. And therefore the very real possibility that I had lung-tumors is a no-go (see, the most common place for breast cancer to resurface at is the lungs), for which I am seriously thankful. I'm still waiting on the blood work results (they're testing me for Valley Fever and other stuff) and the TB test (won't know 'til Thursday), but with any luck the damn cough'll turn out to be because I'm allergic to some prevalent species of mold or some such. In the meantime, though, I am tumor-free! ^__^ **coughhackcough**
So on Sunday I headed up to the NADWCON, the first North Americal Discworld Convention; and I got to meet Sir Terry Pratchett and had my copy of The Last Hero signed by him. His Pratchettness was this magnificent grayhaired Brit who showed up for a talk on publishing and for his booksigning wearing a plain black t-shirt and pants; they provided him with an AMAZINGLY GAUDY throne of a chair (we're talking carved lion-heads on the arms and curlicues and embellishments and red velvet inset cushions here) while all the publishers (there were 5) that had worked with him sat in folding chairs; it was rather neat. We had each been assigned #s for the booksigning; I was Lucky Number 13, something that tickled me immensely... The con was, in general, quieter than most cons; but I had a great time and met up with Willa and Ari and Ryan and Teresa and a few others that I knew. It was pretty damn neat; I'll post the pics from it once I get 'em downloaded.
I was staying with dqbunny (who kindly put me up on her futon for the night) and that evening we went out to a rotating sushi bar, Haru Sushi. This was my first experience with sushi-in-movement and I am completely sold-- first off, the sushi was decent sushi (not gourmet by any means but fresh and tasty and the rice was seasoned right), and secondly it was cheap ($1 to $1.50 per plate, which held anywhere from 2 to 4 pieces), and thirdly the chefs were constantly putting new stuff out in a huuuuge variety, and fourthly it was amazingly hypnotic watching those little plates sail past on the conveyer belts right in front of me. I loved it; it was seriously cool. I slept the sleep of the overstuffed... and then in the morning, she took me to Tempe Yarn & Fiber, which is an evilly cheap-and-friendly yarn shop. I succumbed to the lure of some cobalt-blue Peruvian Highlands Wool and am gonna turn it into a hat for my older sister per her express request. Thanks, dqbunny ! You're an evil ennabler, you know that?
I headed on back after that; could've gone on to the con again, but I admit that I was still feeling a little under the weather and wanted to make the drive back while I still had some energy. Good thing, too; by the time I hit Tucson I was totally beat and crashed for about 4 hours as soon as I made it to the bed.
So... decent weekend, all 'round. I don't have cancer again, I got to meet His Pratchettness, I had a fun time at the con, I ate moving sushi, I got to see a kickass yarn shop and I'm feeling better. Not too shabby. I kind of hate it that I missed Crown List (though I hear that Ed won again-- yay Ed! He's such a good Estrella king and he enjoys it so much!) but I'm glad I kept things fairly low-key and rested a lot.
Anyway, that's pretty much it for the moment.