Scraps (n. ,fem., singular)

And I have no clue what to write about. Lots of stuff happened today (no work from the doctor’s, of course) but nothing it writeable. And I don’t care that that’s not a word.

Oh, and I got bored and cut my hair.

That phrase, in an email from an old friend, made me giggle this morning.

What didn’t make me giggle was the lack of word from the doctor. Blah. So I’m still waiting to see if Tuesday morning was a waste or not or if we’re ever going to figure me out.

But I did get _some_ good news: My name is finally right on my PayPal account, now! Yay! See, back when I set up my account in 2000 I had a different last name. When I changed it legally it really didn’t seem that big a deal to not go through the hassle of supplying documents, etc to PayPal to effect the change (hoops, they have them). But, since I plan to open pre-orders for the RA Year 1 Book in the next month or so I wanted there to be no question of who was doing business here. So last week I trundled through the process again and found that you can now upload scans of the required documents (and thank goodness the Clerk of Court has actual scans of documents on their website, made things so easy)! Yay! But there was still no sign of the change as of today so I sent them a polite status request email and wonder of wonders, it’s now updated! Whee! I’m me again

The piggies aren’t broken. Apparently the x-ray was perfectly clear, I can still maintain my “no broken bones” title (knock on wood), and it’s just a matter of the soft tissue healing. However long that takes (up to another month I’m told).

Aside from that. Nothing new to report. My anxiety leading up to this mornings ultrasounds was (of course) way worse than the actual experience. I actually lucked up and got a very personable sonographer (usually I get the prune-faced battle axe who has the bedside manner of a bean) but she couldn’t tell me anything what (if anything) she saw. I don’t know why I thought I’d know something today and, really, I’ll be lucky if I get my results by the end of the week but I’m hopefully. I’m not generally a patient person and this sort of limbo is never really helpful. So I’ll just try to stay busy in the mean time.

But I don’t really feel up to blogging about any of it. Maybe tomorrow I can muddle through it a bit more. In the mean time, I’ll just ruminate in silence while inking this week’s comics.

I teetered a bit on that whole no-shopping thing this weekend but it wasn’t much. And it was in the name of research and good will as while he was ringing up my purchases I sweetly asked if i could conduct a brief interview. So, yeah, total expense account. I can only claim laziness and cravings for the meals out Friday and Saturday but it still wasn’t at all extravagant. So I didn’t make it an entire month, but I got close! And I’m going to stick with it until Friday, anyway.

Work-wise I’m in the midst of wrapping up my last 4 articles for the month. It always feels good to get another month in the can which leads directly to another check in the mail. Always a good thing. And since it gives me most of a week before I need to start writing the next set of articles that gives me time to not only work on this week’s comics but scripting all of next month as well. Back to the photo editing for the articles, though.

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.

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

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).

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.

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.

“anyone comprised with an immune system”

As it was a warning for the young and the elderly to avoid Serrano, etc. peppers as they could still contain some salmonella (tomatoes having been given the all-clear, not that it does me any good) I’m fairly sure that should have been “anyone with a comprOMised immune system” but that’s just a theory

Decent day at work, no real tummy troubles (yes!) and an SCA meeting tonight. Got a load of towels and sheets laundered, tested out a new printable for Random Acts… (functionally sound, just needs color and accessories) and tidied up a bit. Also came up with a new layout idea for the RA website. Now just to figure out how to get the ComicPress theme to do what I want it to I don’t expect it to be impossible, just challenging. Challenging I can do

And do I really want to know?

This afternoon a woman and her young son came and knocked on my door. They were, apparently spreading awareness of {mumbled} Disease which makes people sprout red, white and blue fibers from their skin. And she said that with a straight face, as she then offered to sell me my very own American flag-on-a-stick.

Ignoring the fact that there is a definite No Soliciting policy for this complex and that I really dislike the whole door-to-door in your face sort of thing, I happen to be a bit of an iconoclast when it comes to the flag. Essentially, so many people have waved it and plastered it every which way but loose in defense and support of all sorts of varied, at odds, reasons that it’s pretty much lost all meaning for me. I understand on a logical level that, to many, it remains a symbol of really good things and I’m glad other people feel that way and are willing to make all sorts of sacrifices in the name of it and I respect their reverence thereof as a valid response for them. But for me, not so much.

And, for the record, I feel that way about a lot of over-used iconography. Frankly, any item that is taken so seriously that instead of a symbol of ideals that are revered the THING is what becomes sacred or revered in an almost idolatrous fashion is a sign that the situation has been taken too far. Things fade, break, get soiled and generally go away. There is nothing inherently divine in two pieces of wood nailed together (oh, yeah, I’m going there) aside from the fact that it was created from the same molecules we are. Statues are not people, they are 3-d representations of people. Not the same thing. A metal circle is not a marriage, it is a symbol, it can be crushed, scratched, dented, become tarnished and can be lost.

Ooh, bit of an unexpected rant, there, but hey, it’s momentarily distracting me from the fact that I still feel very icky and urpy.

Some days you win, some days you lose. Today was sorta in the middle.

Work was okay ’til lunch. When said lunch decided it didn’t want to play nice. Granted, I didn’t feel too well after supper last night (which was the same thing: Garden Salad with Salmon, simple, healthy, tasty) but I thought it was a fluke. Er, no. So, okay, feeling very ill for a couple hours while I trudge through some receivables reports. Enter confused client. Confused client is sorta disputing an alterations charge because the salesman (big surprise) neglected to inform, yadda yadda yadda, Boss walks in as I’m getting off of that call, explain to him what he overheard, have to dress-down salesman who tries to tell me he told the client all about it (which I doubt since there’s nothing in writing and it’s a credit card order and he knows we have to have price changes in writing).

And my body said no. My face and chest splotched bright red and stayed that way, burning, full-on flushing, for the rest of the day. Which, you know, might not sound like much but it’s actually really draining. Thing is, this isn’t the first time this reaction had happened, recently, I’ve been having more symptoms in the last month or so compared to the last 6 months prior combined (or longer). It kinda bums me out that this stuff is back again, that I might not be able to breeze through that next round of dr’s appointments and labwork in September. It’s not what it was 3 years ago, before I knew what it was and what I could do to help the situation, but it’s ramping up a bit. Trying not to spaz about it, and all, but it’s annoying.

On the up side, though, I totoally managed to get all the inking for this week’s comics taken care of tonight, scanned, uploaded and blogged. Whew! That’s what took today from majorly sucking to being moderately okay. Had a very safe supper, ditched the rest of the salad leftovers, and am looking forward to a much better day tomorrow. I think it might be a good time to work on the next article and play with the Print Gocco kit, finally: two birds, one stone.

Man, this ISBN or not to ISBN is totally giving me a headache so I’m tabling the issue for a little while longer. After all, I still have the extra strips to do for the book and all the layout, I really only need to know before I design the cover (holy cow, the cover, not a clue there yet).

I mean, getting the ISBN is really just a matter of a form and a check. The thing is, I’d be the publisher of record so I suppose I should really do it right by setting up a fictitious name (another form, another check) and get a PO Box for it just to be all official and everything. And I’ve been thinking a PO Box wouldn’t be a bad idea, anyway, just to use for business-type things. It just feels like a much huger step than a couple of forms and a couple of checks, ya know?

Of course, it’s not like Book 1 is meant to be a bestseller. Honestly, part of it is for tax reasons, showing a good faith effort in actually, eventually turning some sort of small profit so that art supplies, etc. are acceptable write-offs. I have no need, at this stage of the game, to go anywhere near Inc or LLC status, so at least that’s not hurting my head, but the rest is official enough for right now.

Since this is me, of course I’ll probably just go ahead and deal with the forms and pay the fees and have 10 ISBNs to use over the next however long (for instance, did you know electronic “books” require their own, separate, ISBN? They do… go figure! and, of course, each individual edition needs its own and while I don’t plan to do revisions on the Year 1 book, there are other projects in the works). I know I will. It just started to seem a tad overwhelming for a bit.

It was a choice between the meeting, tonight, or productivity. Let’s face it: on meeting nights my time gets chopped up and I can’t find a rhythm. By the time I get home (and this would have likely been another long one) I’m usually wiped and/or flighty. So, knowing that I’m still constantly exhausted, had a headache, and still had work on two articles for the 15th, I opted for productivity, slow as it was.

Now I have two articles drafted, a third begun, a closet of clean towels and a tidied living and dining rooms. Not bad for having to bribe myself with several games of WordTwist in between the more ornery parts. Last night I started on an idea for some paper doll scenery and I think it’s going well. Got the basic shape and construction issues on paper, now for a few more details, ink, color, and the accessories which will go on a separate sheet. This is so much fun, I’m going to have to be careful not to get carried away with it

Too bad a portion of my living comes from them. That portion being a bit of a bane right now. I sorta misread a tax-related thing and made a tiny mistake, but it’s okay, the damage is certainly not irreprable, just kinda wigged me out at first. That sorta killed my productivity for the night. I started on an article and I’ll just have to press on through tomorrow night because it’s early to bed for me.

What? I’m all out of the funny.

Comics are done for the week, leaving me plenty of time to write after dinner tomorrow night. Things are still on track, so far, both at work and home. [Passed] Time for bed.

Last week just took twice as long to do everything as planned. But everything got done, so I suppose that’s all that matters. Trying to get back on my usual schedule this week and so far, so good. I have most of this week’s penciling done, one article drafted and two more pretty well-formed in my head. As long as I can keep up with things I should be in good shape. Hopefully I can get some of the additional content done for the Year 1 book worked on as well, this Fall is coming rather quickly, you know?