especially when you feel like you’re running on empty in the hours you’ve got. Such has been the last several weeks.
After finding out the results of the liver biopsy tagged me for a rare genetic protein anomaly that leaves my liver and lungs vulnerable to damage (aren’t I lucky?) I go to Dr Z for the 6-month check in to find out my cholesterol and insulin are high and now my thyroid is, too. Joy. The alpha 1 antitrypsin deficiency is still in question as to severity (waiting on appointments with the pulmo and a new gastro) but mainly will mean I get flu/pneumo vaccines each winter and more aggressive treatment for respiratory infections. The cholesterol might have more to do with the raising thyroid levels (right now I’m at subclinical hypothyrodism level) than my diet (which is already high-fiber/low-carb) though, as always, the goal is to loose weight and improve labs overall.
In other news! Work is good, not always as productive as I’d like, but some days are tougher than others. Just finished up another month of articles this weekend and have 6 of the required 7 titles planned for October. It’s been a year since the new contract and I was worried then that I’d run out of ideas. Thankfully that doesn’t seem to be much of a problem at this point, so as long as I can keep all irons in the fire that should still be going good. The comic went SWIMMINGLY this past month with the story that I’ve chose to call “A Fine Romance” that chronicled the first 3 months Spectrum and I dated. I’m sure there will have to be another installment in a few months, but for now I’m switching gears and hoping to use the time the next month’s updates will allow to work on the Year 1 book.
And still the ideas come. I have so much that I want to do, one of these days I hope to get a fraction of it started 
Tags: health, work, hobbies, AIAT
At least for the first half of the month. With the first 3 articles turned in this evening I’m starting on next week’s comics. As soon as those are finished I expect to be able to get at least the next 2 articles finished before going in for surgery on Thursday. I might even be able to get more done, depending on how productive I can be this weekend.
Went to the grocery store and stocked up after work. Combination of the usual 2 weeks worth of food and extra supplies for post-procedure: fruit smoothies, pudding, soups, jello, etc. All light stuff to give my digestive system a chance to adjust with the minimum (I hope) of tummy upset. Tried one of the fruit-protein smoothies. Oh, god, I hope it was just a matter of it not being cold enough or something because, y’all, it tasted like vomit. Seriously. I’ll give it another shot and maybe try mixing it with sprite or something but if that doesn’t work I’m tossing that particular one. Nasty!!!
But, you know, at least I can supposedly eat normally. Last time I had to recuperate it was my throat surgery, so really no solid anything for quite some time. Still high on anesthesia I was sick at just the thought of popsicles and pudding for a week, I asked V to get me some baby food, figuring at least it wouldn’t be sweet. And for the first day it tasted great. The next day, the super-drugs having worn off, I realized the oh-so-error of my ways. Luckily, a client of ours had a small child and she could use the unopened stuff. The desserts and some veggies were still good, but if I never have to eat pureed turkey dinner, etc. again it will be too soon!
Tags: articles, food, groceries, baby food
Didn’t get 2 articles drafted, but did get one article written along with the majority of the example pictures taken. It was tough getting started tonight, but progress is progress.
And speaking of…
I actually called the diagnostic place this afternoon to see if they’d finished with my file. Turns out they have faxed the report over already (she never did say exactly when) but it didn’t go through (straight from the computer apparently doesn’t send up the same sort of transmission error as the old-fashioned way). So while they resent it to my doctor they also sent me a copy, so that portion of the wait is over!
As we thought: gallstones. Apparently several, but the gallbladder was tough to image so it was more the impression of them than a clear picture. I’ve already made an appointment for Friday morning to go over the results and discuss options. Laparoscopic surgery is generally the default and usually equals 1 night in the hospital and 1 week of rest. Whether that’s an option according to my doctor and the insurance company remains to be seen, but it’s pretty common these days and was already mentioned by my primary before she sent me for the ultrasound.
While I’m not exactly giddy over the prospect, if it really will be that simple I’m more willing to go ahead and have it done than wait for another stone to get stuck somewhere or the organ to become inflamed and go through all that another time or two before getting fed up. Plus, one source got me thinking that the heartburn, etc started getting steadily worse back in February and perhaps it’s not from the hiatal hernia (which gave me very few problems before this year) but the gallbladder acting up. It’s a possibility, from what I can tell, and another reason to go ahead and fix it sooner rather than later (aka quality of life and one less pill at night).
Nothing else of note showed up on the studies, so that’s good, too.
Tags: health, gallstones, crafts, articles, writing
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.
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
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?
Not totally, of course, there was the scanning and the PhotoShop cleaning of the print pages which did get done. And all those grays I was erasing stray marks to be able to pick them up better? They totally dropped out anyway. Apparently 20% cool gray is ass for scanning. Oh well, just tweaked the levels and left them out. I was kinda worried how they’d print anyway so it’s probably just as well. If it’d been only a little uneven I just would have gone back over it with the airbrush to fix it. Oh, well, live and learn.
Other than that, nothing had really happened tonight. I had totally planned to start on this week’s strips tonight, at least getting pencils down but, well, no. Didn’t happen. And I’m not going to beat myself up over it, either. I can definitely get Wednesday’s up tomorrow night so there’s no crisis and after pushing myself so much these past couple of weeks I think a night off is not uncalled for.
Now about July… July is going to be a “chill” month for me. Of course I still have the comic and my eHow articles to do but here are some things I’m not going to be doing:
*taking on new projects
*scripting Act 2 of Wedding Tarot (it’ll wait til August)
*committing to new projects for future months
*throwing a party (it was a possibility, but no, I need the break)
etc.
I also plan to curb the superfluous spending for the month of July, kinda like a lifestyle detox. Of course, that just meant that I ordered the print gocco machine tonight rather than waiting on later this month, but I’ve been planning to order it for 2+ months now and it will actually be used for an article, at that. But enough excuses. Aside from things like gas and groceries and necessary art supplies it’s gonna be nix on the other frivolities. We’ll see how that goes 
Probably. Sigh…
So last night I had a sneezing fit. Today my head starts getting very stuffy, my ribcage is sore and I start coughing. This is _so_ not a good time for me to get sick, I’ve got so much to finish. Of course, this is exactly why I’m now on the precipice of illness (and a coworker is getting over a case of bronchitis, timing sucks!) because I’ve been working so much and not getting enough sleep. Vicious cycle and I really do know better, just sometimes it’s what has to happen.
Ended up giving in to the zombie-like feeling, the ickyness and the stormy weather and took a nap after work. Would have been a longer nap but the phone (finally) woke me up. And I’d left it in the other room on purpose, too! Oh, well, it allowed me to finish a beading example and a card project, both of which are for the articles I’m looking to get finished up tomorrow night. Still have writing and editing to do, but the long part, the examples, are complete and I’m really jazzed about how they both turned out. Definitely worth sharing.
Now I’ve got Carol Burnett from Annie running through my head. I spent the evening editing a couple of articles and finishing some clay doll parts for one of them. Between all the typing and mousing and drawing and now the clay stuff my right hand is really smarting. Time to dig out that elastic brace and some ibuprofen!
I can hardly wait to check out my pageviews for Random Acts from today. I threw $5 at a Project Wonderful ad (lasted for about 7 hours on a high-traffic site) just to test and I know I got 15 clicks (12 uniques) from the ad but I wonder if more people went to the site directly instead of clicking through. It’ll be interesting to see how many archive crawls I can detect and, more importantly, how many come back later in the week. Basically I earned the paypal money from the eHow WCP and if it’s in my PayPal account its ‘play money’ in my mind, so if it doesn’t pan out, it’s no great loss. If it does, well, then I’ll try a few different sites/days/hour combinations as long as there is funds in the paypal. Thinking about buying a newsletter ad for next week, too, again just to experiment. Baby steps.
For a brief fraction of a moment. On the comics at least. Managed to get this week’s strips done tonight and at a reasonable hour, too. It has a lot to do with some streamlined backgrounds this week compared to the host of details involved with the last week’s mini-arc. If I can keep them minimal but complete, I will be happy and done sooner. Buffer is a long way off, though, as I’ve sorta used up my wiggle-room on the RA… print submission. I have til the end of the month before I break my self-stated deadline to the publisher and I don’t intend to break it. Work work work
But the rest of the week can be split between the print special and my eHow articles, which should get me back on track and in line with all of my deadlines. Maybe I’ll even have a chance to get more script written on Wedding Tarot!
It’s merely the Universe’s way of apologizing, in advance, for everything else that’s going to happen.
Actually, my day wasn’t all that bad, I just managed to get two stains on my shirt (one I still don’t know how it happened, I just looked down and there was this splotch of something) so it went from ‘my hair looks so good it’s too bad I’m only going to work’ to ‘thank goodness I’m going straight home.’ I mean, we’re talking the accidental hair perfection that usually only happens the day you’re scheduled to have it cut! You know what I’m talking about…
Anyway. Finished up my 3rd eHow article tonight and have tomorrow’s comic ready to go. Friday’s still needs a lot of work, but it’s all still doable. I’ve been taking the strips to work to ink during lunch and the first day was a little tense (I kept thinking someone was going to come in and start looking over my shoulder or asking questions and I really wasn’t ready to be _that_ public to my workmates–most of whom are not comic people) but today was a bit better. I generally get the lettering and main lines in, which just leaves detailing for after supper. Still need to work on that buffer, though.
Or would that be May? I always get those two confused
Anyway, I debated with myself for about an hour about whether I was going to go to the grocery store today or tomorrow. I didn’t actually NEED the groceries until tomorrow evening but I knew I wouldn’t want to deal with the store PLUS cooking tomorrow night so I resigned myself the tackling the list today. And as a reward for not killing half the people in that store for being absolute imbeciles, I had dessert before dinner.
But really it’s been a productive evening. I finalized another article, started on the pictures for the third of the month (due Thursday, so I’m actually on track to not panic) and pencilled Wednesday’s comic in full and paneled and lettered Thursday and Friday. I even did penance for that dessert on the stationery bike. Not a bad evening. If I keep it up for the next two nights I’ll be able to start getting ahead by this weekend (wouldn’t that be freaking awesome!).
Looking at the to-do list I started the week with is a bit depressing, to be honest. I was able to cross off almost half of what I _did_ get done last night and this morning. Sigh…
Tasks accomplished 8.6 of 17 (some lines have multiple parts, hence the .6)
*Comics 4 out of 4
*Articles 1.6 out of 3
*House 0 out of 4
*Websites 2 out of 5
*Book 1 out of 1
Exercise (not included in to-do list count) 3 out of 7 days
Granted, I still have time today to complete a few more bits of the article list but technically I made that list on Sunday of last weekend, so the week is already up. Time to transcribe what’s left to this week’s list along with the new goals and hope that I manage to juggle things better this time around.
Away from the numbers it looks a little different. I spent quality time with my boyfriend and Mom, accomplished my first w-t-f update schedule with Random Acts…, made a boatload of banners to prepare for advertising said strip, scripted an entire month of RA strips, fought with the comicpress themes for several days, and managed to renew talks on a new opportunity for the webcomic. So what if i did pretty much nothing on the household chores? All in all, I think it counts as a success.
So! The birthday was wonderfully low-key and surprisingly perfect. Spec and I had lunch at the park with the obligatory feeding of the ducks, followed by various shopping and then dinner with the family and Palmie. Afterwards, Palmie came over and played Disney Scene It (a birthday gift from Spec) and we watched a movie. As such, not much got done on the comic site revamp, but that’s okay, the comic went up as scheduled.
Thursday it was back to work, sluggishly, and then squeezing in Friday’s comic before and after the SCA meeting. Once again, it got done, but I really need to start working and working ahead now that I’ve got to 3x per week. But at least I have until Tuesday night to upload the first one of the week.
This evening I started revamping the site’s logo but was gratefully interrupted by Spec’s arrival to watch tv and hang out. Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day in the morning, followed by an SCA event in the afternoon for me. In deference to the comic and the need to start on my articles for the month, not to mention finishing the banner recreation, I’ll only be going out for the afternoon and court. Sunday I’m supposed to meet up with Books who is in town for her baby shower (which I will miss) before she heads back down to Tampa. Busy weekend!
Wow, so far I’m being very productive. But, then, I’m also going to be turning on the television soon so that could change.
Last night I worked on getting an article drafted after dinner, then Spectrum came over after spending his day unpacking his kitchen and bathroom. What follows is how we got from the cable guy (not the movie) to A Mighty Wind (the movie):
Spectrum tells me about his day which includes the partial installation of his Cable service. Extra cable needed to be run into another room and it was almost done when the crawlspace needed for access was found to be inhabited by a snake which took off farther into the crawl space when Spec tried to snag it (by the tail… he’s lucky he didn’t get bit!). This reminded me of Sneaky Snake, which is a song by Tom T Hall on a record of barnyard songs that I had a child that I’d recently rescued from Mom’s closet. Todd had never heard the song (and, of course, I could only remember two lines of it) and while I was in the ladies room looked it up on You Tube. While we were listening to the various TTH songs on there I grabbed the album cover. Well, there were some songs on there that we’re online so I proceeded to dig out my ancient stereo with the turntable on top and–lo and behold!–actually was able to play the album on it! That led to looking through the rest of the albums on the shelf and I found the one with the Battle of New Orleans on it. Which then put me in the mood to watch A Mighty Wind (which Spec hadn’t seen) so I dashed off to Blockbuster for the DVD. Unfortunately the DVD was very scratched but we were able to watch most of the movie without too much interference. Gotta love the way an evening can develop.
Today I finished up another article for eHow (one left for the month) and wrote about 16 pages on the script. I’m up to 77 pages now, the winner’s bar is totally reachable in the next 4 days. Now, though, I’m going to layout Tuesday’s comic (the last of Year 1!!!) and work on that last article for a bit.
Two nights in a row of major productivity. Tonight I managed dinner, cleaning the bathroom, another 4 miles on the stationery bike, inking Thursday’s comic, drafting an article, and scanning examples for another article. Whew! Granted, I was up a bit later than intended but, you know, it’s no biggie. The rest of the week and through the weekend is likely to be just like this.
Holy cow on a snowboard! So, last night as I was attempting to fall asleep it occurred to me that I have 7 days to finish up my eHow articles for this month. Why does this always feel like it sneaks up on me? After momentary panic I reminded myself that not only do I have all three remaining articles titled and planned out, I have the weekend to wrap things up as needed so really there’s no cause for worry.
Of course, when I then add in the two comics that needed doing for this week and the three for next week, plus the banner revamp the site conversion to the new theme, various housework and, oh yes, Script Frenzy which ends in 9 days and which I totally intend to win, well, okay– things start to get a little hinkey. What do I do? I make a list. Because, really, what better motivation is there than being able to cross things off said list with a tremendous flourish? None, that’s what.
Tonight, after dinner, I managed to detail tomorrow’s comic, sketch most of Thursday’s while palmie came over and chatted for a bit, clean the kitchen and take out the trash after she left, do an entire series of in-progress pictures for one of the eHow articles (the most labor intensive, I assure you), chat with Spec about his impending moving schedule and spend some time on the stationery bike (though that was earlier in time than it appears on the list). Now I am determined to finish the sketch for Thursday before turning in. I won’t let myself cross it off early! One more panel to figure out the angle for the backgrounds and I’ll be good.
Tomorrow is looking just as hectic.
Probably because it us. Had a great weekend visiting Drew in Orlando. Spent a pretty penny at IKEA for some organization stuff, kitchen supplies, and some more linens and such. Lots of fun and we apparently lucked out crowd-wise which was good on several levels. Saturday night we wandered through Downtown Disney, which Mom had never been to in it’s current incarnation (the last time she was at Disney there was a small shopping area known as Lake Buena Vista that we _think_ is what is now The Marketplace) before getting a late supper at Outback.
You’d think that living and working in Orlando would be hell as far as traffic and such goes. For some, maybe, but Drew managed to find an apartment that is right next to a major shopping center with just about anything you’d need on a regular basis (and then some) and is within 3 miles of work to the point that he doesn’t have to get on any toll roads or the Interstate for his usual business. Go him!
Since Mom wanted to drive, I got to spend the trip down there and back blocking the pages and panels for the Script Frenzy project. Now just to transfer them from the scrawled notes into Celtx and I should be able to reach goal with no problem. But first, time to finish the comics for next week and work on the next eHow article. Back to the merry-go-round!
Last night I managed to format all of the pages I had pre-blocked (up to 52 physical pages of the graphic novel) so it’s good that I planned to block in the car while Mom drives us to Orlando.
And, wow, tonight was just a whirl. A very good question was posed over at the A&E forum of eHow and it sparked an instant article. As soon as it gets approved (tomorrow if I’m lucky) I can post it as a reply instead of just a well you could do this, this and this. But it was just something I hadn’t thought to do an article on and there didn’t seem to be one already written on the site, so it was providence, indeed. That’s four of my 7 for the month
Also put my new tag on the car, today. Sweet! I wasn’t really “sold” on the State of the Arts plate but it really does look nice when it’s actually on the car, goes well with the blue. Then there was the SCA meeting, amusing as always, come home and pack my overnight bag, start the dishwasher, and worked on next week’s comics. Whew! Busy night!
2008 Estimated Taxes figured and the first quarter’s payment ready to go in Monday’s mail. Whew! Then spent the rest of the day working on an eHow article. Fun day! lol Actually, it wasn’t too bad, just the example required spending the afternoon beading for pictures. Tomorrow will be editing, drafting the next article and then starting on next week’s comics. Just another busy weekend in the life of me.