learnteach

No news at 11. Stovebuying dude failed to show. Wah, etc.

For your amusement:

A very humorous take on the 2008 trends, done as a London underground map:

http://www.nowandnext.com/PDF/trend_blend_2008_map.pdf

Charles Stross has a short story about Bob:

http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=story&id=61

And I am failing to do anything. Ah well, onward!

Having now been to both An Tir and Western 12th night this year, and wondering what was interesting to do, and where everyone was...there's an arts display, there's merchants, there's court court court....it's an SCA office party, to a degree.

Things to ponder there.

The hospital resent the bill. As requested, the recharge of the bonus for early payment had been dropped. Then everything had been moved twice to other invoices, re-added, new charges, with dates that make no sense. Now they claim I owe them another $458 dollars. Spent 10 minutes on hold trying to get through today, but after hearing the "leave a message" message and being dumped into the menu a few times, decided to go in person to begin the next set of hours of discussion.

Feeling grumpy due to many factors. Perhaps this will give a chance to deal with it.

On the other hand, pork still good. Pickles still good. Sorry, cvirtue, I'm not going to know if they go manky after two weeks, they'll all be gone by Thursday afternoon at this rate.

But at a cost of $6 for 4 containers of dill pickles, pickled onions, and pickled peppers, and the ease of doing it, I'll certainly be doing it again.

However, I just remembered...I left 4 lbs of ham in the oven all day. So much for that...

EDIT: Talked to the nice man. Supervisor invoked. Now we have the whole "but that's a legit charge" thing. I'll deal with it in the afternoon.

EDIT II: Dropped the 2nd wound visit charge (I was not informed that you only get one) but insist the $400 lab charges, which did not show up on any of the earlier bills, be honored. I checked 3 times with different people as to whether those had been covered. They all said I was clear. What happens now?

Is anyone driving back, and want a rider who can drive in snow AND will share gas? I'll be up there before the event, and want to know if I should buy a plane ticket now or grab a ride.

Comment if you can!

Thanks!

Most of the years, this is a tough time for me. Too much to do, too many disappointments, not enough sun, end of the year, family things...

This year? Due to an amazing concatenation of events, I'm full of the holiday spirit. What's done it?

Telling a story about how I was lucky to be able to pass some giving spirit along has generated other offers of passing luck and things along.

The Messiah Sing, followed by Dicken's Faire, where I waltzed (hoped I was healed enough, I was) followed by the Hallelujah chorus followed by meeting friends of an absent friend. Who have an amazingly appropriate painting.

Singing in the choir. Friends coming to stay. Meshugga Beach Party! Durer and Brueghel and Goldsworthy.

And getting a good referral. Greg Barsten, DC (etc) of www.healthquestlosgatos.com reduced and realigned the hand fracture today, and in checking my shoulder found a subscapular adhesion, which after he massaged released and gave me 2" more range of motion going over the back. I can't remember when I've had this much freedom of motion. I have to highly, highly recommend him and his practice, also because I heard the receptionist/staffer turn away someone who wanted to make an appointment while feverish. "Go to the clinic, get cultured, get the right antibiotics or cold medicines, then come see us when you're not contagious!"

(EDIT ADDED:) Having one of the students who I thought was lost contact me and is doing much better. Yay!
It's been a long, tough year (with high points and low points and a lot of grind) and this season, I think is waking me up.

So, at the end of Mass today they announced that the Angels and Animals would be rehearsing. My immediate and strong thought: "I want to be the MONKEY!" I could blame re-reading Lamb (one of my Christmas reads, with "Hogfather" and some Dickens) or a certain person could laugh at me (for reading too much, you know who you are) but after noting size differences and the fact that I was wearing the big green sweater, Xtal told me I'd make a good Godzilla.

Who would YOU be?
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What are dancers? You could make a strong case that "dancers" are zombies--my sign is vital, my hands are cold--say goodbye to my soul. Weird. "When you dream of home tonight--there is no message we're recieving--let me know, is your heart still beating?"

Although the question, "Are we human?" is always worth asking.
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Grey sea and grey cliff in grey month
wave upon wave upon wave beating foam
Sometimes in rain, sometimes in dark.
The cliff eternal, the wave renewed--
both echos of distant turmoiled birthing.
The cliff, distant in time, the time of gods;
the wave, distant in place, beyond memory.
The ephemeral wave always returns, permanent.
The permanent cliff erodes, ephemeral.
To the God's eyes.

Winter comes. Some hold homesteads hard;
some willingly withstand weather.
Some seek surer shelter--
May great gods gather them in.
No decision is born of weakness;
though we may judge strength misused
What man may judge another's choice in this,
Truely. Without self, at night's dark,
all have some urge to move on.

The largest wave hits stone the hardest;
Against endurance great strength can be destroyed.
Waves remain even after the cliff;
waves of words and memory, like Odin's ravens.
Hold high the memories, let the words surge.
Remember the oaths, the victories, the times.
Remember the man who brought them about.

I will cast two ounces of silver to redeem his word;
I never found it false, though I may not have found it pleasing.


Thoughts towards Barak Ravensfuri.

Shoulder still ouchy. Bruise is size of thigh. Hand still tender, had thought it was the first finger first knuckle, now feels like fingers one and two long bones.

Not sleeping well. Didn't I just go through this? If you have any spare energy for healing, though, send it to Tink's mom.

Short story: Had many cool adventures. Drank wine, sang, collected rocks, ate excellent food, had wonderful conversations. Went and learned how to ride a Suzuki 250 in mud and dirt course.

Fucked up, did crash. Jacked L. shoulder/ribs, right hand, right thigh--picture is the thigh. (Think it was handlebars through the 3 layers of cloth.) Thank goodness for hot tubs and Ibuprofen. But this means no fezziwig's (can't dance right now), lotsa sleep (not so bad) and not much house mod (r hand very swollen, hammering/sawing bad. ) More typing, reading, etc.

More on this later. But really--when you find yourself 6 feet above the ground, face down, there's a lot worse things that could happen. And I know how to deal with this level of injury fairly well.