Not appropriate, ever. But I kind of want one.

Dick towel.

I know I've been writing about this all the time and it's probably getting really dull for you guys, but I really need to vent about this...

Physical therapy got the better of me along with overdoing it last weekend with housework.:( Pain's not terrible, but almost back up to what it was before I started therapy. Because it hurts more when I stretch the therapist says it's muscular pain vs. arthritis, which is what I sorta figured. I also had another symptom come up over the weekend--more pain when I sneezed or coughed. Not terribly much more, but enough to merit mentioning it to the therapist. She says that could indicate a disc problem.:( This didn't show up on the xrays I had done, so the next step would probably be an MRI to really know for sure. She added a couple of exercises that focus on disc problems to the mix as a precaution. As you can probably imagine, I'm most definitely not happy about this possible development.

I put a call into my primary care doc about that as well as the fact that I've been on celebrex for about two weeks now with no tangible difference in the pain level. She's added ultram to the mix; 40 pills and if there's still no difference with that I need go back to the orthopaedist to get it checked out. We'll see what she says when I go for my follow-up with her on 4 December.

I'm incredibly frustrated about all this and I'm starting to get a bit depressed by it, too. I was hoping that PT would help make things better. It's too soon for that, though. Not that I thought PT would be the end all be all for the pain in a few sessions, but I did think that things would start to at least slowly improve. My general lack of patience doesn't help matters either.

Given what's going on I highly doubt I'll be bowling again any time soon. I feel really bad about this, too. I feel like I'm letting my team down, especially since we've not been able to get a sub to take my place. I definitely intend to keep going to watch them bowl; it's not only a way to get out of the house and it's a pretty good time, too, though not as fun as actually bowling. The pisser of the deal is I still have to pay every week even though I'm not bowling. It's only 15 bucks, but that's a lot of money to just sit around and watch.

Alright, I think I've done enough venting for now. If you've gotten this far, thanks for reading. Gentle hugs and encouraging words are most welcome right now...

In case anyone was wondering, I am still around, keeping up with LiveJournal. This is the portion of our program where I'm up to my ears in work and life stress, and Midwest FurFest preparations are going full-blast. Also, I'm feeling that anything I might post would be whiny, snarky, or drama-inspiring, so it's probably just better that I sit on my hands.

Resistance is Futile...

• Leave me a comment saying "Resistance is Futile."
• I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can satisfy my curiosity
• Update your journal with the answers to the questions
• Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions

-------------------------------------------------------------------

1) What sort of costuming do you have planned for next weekend?

Well, steam punk presumeably. More specifically, it will probably involve fancy skirts and corsetry. And crinolines. And a huge modded handgun with a custom holster. And thigh high stockings. I don't know more specifics because I'm not 100% sure yet.

2) Celebrity lust object?

Helena Bonham Carter, so long as she's insane.

3) What do you get out of cons?

New friends with the same interests, flirtation, tarting up, stealing costuming ideas, new books, new art, new playmates, feeding my constant desperate need for novelty.  And time with my friends I never get to see otherwise.  That and the spark and flare.

4) If you went back to visit Europe again, where would you go?

London is always very very high on the list, but I think I'd like to see Berlin.  I do remember it, though spottily.  I'd need to brush up on my German.

5) What is the meaning of it all?

To love and be loved in return.  You thought I was going to say 42.  :)

If you were arrested, who would you call with your one phone call?

I would most likely call Jason.

Finally, LJ comes up with a question I feel like asking! It's a somewhat silly question...

If your romantic partner told you that, given the chance, s/he would sleep with a celebrity/public figure that you disrespect, would you be annoyed, jealous, or bewildered? How would they react if the situation was reversed?

Hmm...I'd probably be a little jealous and a lot bewildered. It's been awhile, but we've discussed what celebrities/public figures we'd like to sleep with, but for the life of me I don't remember which one(s) he said. Hell, I can't really remember which ones I came up with aside from Hugh Laurie...;)

How would he react? I really don't know how he would react.

..well no bears, but oh my!

Yesterday morning I was getting dressed for work and the shoelace on one of my work shoes broke.  I couldn't find a replacement, even though I'm sure I've got some somewhere.  Rather than spend a long time looking in less obvious places, I got out my more formally dressy shoes and wore those to work.

Since I was out near a local mall in the afternoon, I swung in there to go to the Rockport store.  I figured that even though shoelaces would be far cheaper elsewhere, I'd be able to make sure I got the right size since that's where I got the shoes.  It turns out Rockport stopped selling laces and stuff when they got bought out by Adidas or Nike or whoever owns 'em now.  Yeesh.  Fortunately, the tiny shoe shining/key making place in the mall had some that hopefully are the right size.

Okay, enough backstory.  So I was in the mall and since it's after Halloween, they're putting up all the Christmas stuff.  I was a little disappointed that the place being set up for Santa to sit is basically just a great big ad for the Polar Express, complete with a life sized statue of the conductor.  After passing that, I saw the animals...

First up was a moose.  I'm not sure when moose became associated with Christmas or even winter in general, but there he was in his life-sized plush glory, complete with some fake snow tossed on him and a squirrel perched between his antlers:




Then I came across what has to be one of the oddest winter/Christmas displays I've ever seen.
( It's behind a cut because I didn't want to reduce the picture size. )

In all honesty, I guess I do kind of like it better than some creepy elf statues and snowmen.  It's just kinda weird.

For it is osprey_cat 's birthday!

The anticipation is over! The Midwest FurFest 2009 Programming Schedule and Panel Descriptions are now available from our website! Read! Enjoy! Make your plans now!

Apologies for lack of updates lately... life has been a little difficult lately.

I had jury duty last week, which I thought would be interesting. Unfortunately, I sat in the cattle pen for two days, and never got chosen to go through the questioning process (voir dire? I think?). Bummer.

I think I may have picked up a passing bug, as over the course of the weekend (which was spent with friends and was utterly wonderful), I came down with bronchitis.

So.. I'm on couch-rest for the bulk of the week, if I'm not feeling better over the weekend, back to the doctor I go. I refuse to work another year of MFF with pneumonia. -.-

I cancelled my artshow reservations, as I didn't finish the originals I had planned on, and the ones I have done are odd sizes, so I'd have to get custom mats cut for them. And that's just a bit more than I can deal with right now.

If I am still sick during the convention... I may change my plans about selling in the Alley. So.. we'll see what happens.

Anyway. Back to cuddling a box of tissues and trying to nap under a pile of cats. :)

More substantial updates later!

I noticed an unusual plane parked across the road this morning.  At first I assumed it was an old Russian airliner because of it's unusual engine configuration.  I wasn't sure, though, since this one is painted grey and had markings that, while I couldn't make them out, didn't look Russian.  There's also a definitely not-Russian 'Q' on the tail.

A tiny bit of poking around on the net indicated that there are only two large aircraft that have the rather unusual set of 4 engines arranged in two pairs on the tail.  One is the IL-86, which is what I'd first assumed this one was.  The other is the British Vickers VC10.  The RAF tail markings on an image of a VC10 I found on the web indicate that this is what the visitor across the street is.

Since they haven't been in production since 1970, I have to wonder if this one isn't destined for the Smithsonian's Udvar Hazey center that's adjacent to the airport.  It's possible the RAF is still using them, since they're pretty fast.  The VC10 still holds the record for the fastest subsonic airliner for the fastest Atlantic crossing.

I know a lot of others have already posted this trailer, but I'm gonna share it too:





I want to see this when it comes out.  From the trailer, it's obvious that it's only loosely based upon the first book in the series, but it still looks like a lot of fun.

So I now have Google Wave. Looking for people to Wave with. srass, I already have you in my contacts list.

Anybody else got it?

...and home-built 3D plastic extrusion printers.

My roomie revar is having some pretty good success with his own version of the 'cupcake CNC' design.

Well I finally had my first appointment today.:) It went pretty much as I expected...most of the session was evaluation, and I got two exercises to do 10 reps twice a day. I remember doing these as part of my scoliosis PT program way WAY back in the day.

I asked about bowling and the news I got wasn't totally unexpected, but disappointing. No bowling until I can go three complete days pain free. It usually takes 6-8 weeks for a back strain to heal completely and if I push it with something like bowling too soon the chances of setting myself back are substantial. I'm at week 4 right now. I'm doing a lot better, but not quite there yet. About the best I get is pain between 1 and 2 on a 10-point scale, and that's only occasionally still. And so we wait...:/

Another thing the therapist suggested when I told her that I couldn't take any NSAIDs like ibuprofen or aleve was Celebrex as an anti-inflammatory as it doesn't cause problems with the stomach. So I called my primary care doc and she says it's worth a try, so there'll be a scrip waiting for me in a little while. Hopefully it won't interact with any of my other medications!

My next appointment is next Tuesday, but it's contingent on my insurance and how many sessions they approve. The facility is in network and I was told they would pay up to 60 days per calendar year, but it still has to be approved. I'll find out on Monday how many sessions I'll get.

What are your plans for Halloween?

I'll be going up to Kenosha to see my niece before she goes out trick-or-treating and helping my brother hand out candy. J's gotta stay home to be available for potential work emergencies that might come up on a project. I should ask him if he wants to hand out candy this year since he'll be here?

We did go to a party a couple of week ago that was a combo costume/birthday party, so we did end up celebrating--just a little early, though.

Got my Triforce done yesterday...


I <3 Zelda OoT forever and ever.

Closer - http://i36.tinypic.com/j9wr6e.jpg