update

Well, I'm feeling a bit better today, but not well enough to chance going to work. Same symptoms, just all in lesser degrees.

Last night, vidicon and bheansidhe were nice enough to pick up some won ton soup (thanks to bethynyc) on their way over, which served as my only meal yesterday. It definitely seemed to help. I had the rest for breakfast this morning. I'll probably stick with the soup concept for lunch as well.

I still won't be online much today, as it's still much more comfy to lie down.

This morning wasn't helped by my having to play Bad Cop with Elayna. She dawdled in the bathroom this morning -- something we've talked to her about time and again -- to the point of spending forty minutes there reading. This meant that we were late getting out the door again. Fortunately (being the ocd-ish person I am when it comes to time), we always leave early enough to give us some wiggle room. But it was still frustrating, and I had to chew her out, as she ignored our repeated warnings.

We've decided that since the punishment (no tv) for dawdling doesn't seem to be working, that she's no longer allowed to have books or her gameboy in the bathroom. Which is a tough punishment to administer, as I've always believed that books in the bathroom are a quasi-religious freedom. But sometimes, drastic measures are needed.

Anyway, various pains in various parts of my body are telling me to lie down again. I promise that my next post won't be about my health. Really.

(no subject)

So, the wonderful bheansidhe offered to grab me ginger ale and more won ton soup today. I upped the ante and asked if she'd be willing to drive me to Kroger, as I was feeling better and wouldn't mind getting out for a bit. And with the impending "ice storm" worries, I wanted to grab the stuff we need (like OJ for Elayna) asap.

After grabbing groceries there (including lots and lots of ginger ale) and soup at the chinese restaurant (got won ton and egg drop this time), we came back and chowed down. Other than the noodles I dumped in the soup, I've avoided solid foods pretty completely for the last day now. It definitely seems to be helping. I'll be making a pasta bake for dinner tonight, so that'll be my first attempt at true solids again.

One nice thing about the last few days is that I've gotten lots of reading done.

I finished Night Watch, for one, and I must say, it got better as it went along (and especially once the time-travel "meat' of the plot kicked in). It still dealt with some issues that might be too serious for a typical DW novel, but they were all integrally connected to the world's history. This was, to put it simply, more Men at Arms than The Fifth Elephant.

I then re-read the first Riverworld novel (To Your Scattered Bodies Go). It's been literally twenty years since I read it, and I really regret not re-reading it sooner. It's still damned good. Much of what I love about it was stuff I missed the first time (like not catching the very obvious PJ Farmer surrogate character, Frigate), but I'm just really enjoying Farmer's style. I'm really enjoying rediscovering the New Wave movement. I'm now halfway through the second book, and loving it just as much. How could I not love a book about Sam Clemins on a RoadRiver Trip with a lisping giant?

I followed this up with the latest Burke novel from Andrew Vachss, Only Child. Like Night Watch, it takes a while to build up (there's a good twenty or thirty pages wasted on something that, as far as I can tell, is solely there to set up a future novel with a major Mama plotline), but once it gets going, it's damned solid. Vachss has started to find his sense of humor over the last few years, and although it never gets in the way of the serious world about which he writes, it adds to the depth of his characters (and makes the tragic stuff a lot more touching -- the off-screen death of a long-time minor character really affected me).

And I've also caught up on Andromeda and the Sopranos on the Tivo. It's amazing how efficient I can be when I'm merely entertaining myself!

Oh, as for the final health update, I'm about 90% better. My major issue right now is weakness, more likely the result of lack of sustinence than anything else. Also a major hurting in my shoulder, due to the fact that when Elayna and Shadesong returned from karate last night, Elayna felt the need to ring the doorbell forty-six times, cause me (in my fevered and napping state) to start up, pushing my weight down on my shoulder. Twenty years from now, I'll be referring to my bum shoulder as an "old war wound," and have a nifty story about how I got hurt while saving my entire platoon. Temperature-wise, I'm at a bit over 99, which is high, but not excessively so.

And on that note, time to pre-heat the oven.

(no subject)

Links ganked from mactavish

First: Coffee -- future savior of the universe! -- http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/04dec_mgm2.htm?list755878

And, for the less scientifically-minded, the Satanic Hamsterdance (NOT worksafe) --

http://greymatter.org/satanichamsterdance/

(no subject)

I've come to a conclusion:

Cats are Republicans.

Seriously.

First, let's remember that the Republican party, in general, is on the side of the corporations, and goes with the upper class in most class struggles.

One of the best ways for the Haves to prevent the Have Nots from getting anywhere is to use knowledge as a weapon. Prevent the oppressed from knowing how to vote, and they can't participate in the process, or know when they're being shut out. Prevent them from seeing their fellow citizens being murdered in Ohio or jailed in New York, and they won't have any urge to rebel against their government. Keep them from reading, and they won't know how to get ahead anywhere.

So, with that in mind, try the following.

Walk into a room in which a cat is lounging.

Sit down, far enough away from the cat to make it clear that you're in the room for your own sake, not the cat's. Do not make eye contact with the cat -- you don't want to give it any excuse to pretend you were asking for it.

Take out a book or a magazine.

Open it.

In less than twenty seconds, the cat will approach you. If you are reading with the book or magazine sitting open (as might happen when you're reclining on a couch), the cat will sit on the item. If you're reading with the book held high, the cat will head butt the book until it is impossible to read it anymore. This is because cats have been genetically programmed by teh Republicans to help with their insidious anti-literacy campaign.

Some cat apologists will claim, "Oh, that's silly -- cats just read with their butts." I used to believe this. But then my suspicions were aroused, so I decided to put it to the test. After Max (our chocolate point 'mese) sat on my copy of time for ten minutes, more than enough time for him to absorb all information in the article on Shania Twain, I gave him a short reading comprehension quiz. Nothing tricky -- all straightforward stuff he could have gotten on the first read. And he couldn't answer a single question! Not even the one about what country she's from.

So whatever he was accomplishing by sitting on Time, it didn't involve learning anything (and for those who consider a Shania Twain article a bad test, I also attempted this with articles from the domestic news and the international news section, with the same results. I also attempted this with an old issue of Dick Tracy Weekly. When I pointed to two characters and asked, "which one is Mumbles?" he had no clue, and eventually turned around and rested his butt on Mrs. Pruneface.

So, getting back to my point -- cats are evil agents of the Establishment. Do not trust them.

Why I love South Park

( from last week's episode )