Not exactly back, but...
Jan. 8th, 2007 01:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
calic0catI just wanted to touch base and let everyone know that, yes, I am still out here. I'm just basically operating in tunnel-vision mode for the time being as I try to clear out various RL and fandom commitments and get used to dealing with a bunch of longterm RL cr*p.
Way back in November, I went to Toronto for a few days to go see the musical "Wicked" and spend a couple of days at the Royal Winter Fair. I had a great trip but unfortunately came home with the Cold/Flu That Would Not End - just in time to go back to a very busy time at work, so busy that I couldn't afford to take a few days off to recover from the damn cold. After spending the better part of two weeks with virtually no voice (and basically coming home from work to eat and fall into bed to try and get enough sleep to make it through the next day at work), I finally got my voice back and started to feel a bit better.
Just in time to go to the doctor and get the news about the X-rays I'd had done a month or so earlier. I've had a bit of a limp ever since I had a broken leg as a kid, but it had been getting worse lately and my opposite hip and knee were bothering me quite a bit. Part of the problem was a leg-length discrepancy (still working on getting the new orthotics tweaked to deal with that properly), but the biggest problem turned out to be osteo-arthritis in both hips. Oh joy. :P So, the doctor gave me a script for physio, started the process to get me a referral to an orthopedic surgeon, and asked me what I was taking for pain. I gave her a blank look and said, "Err, nothing?" Geez, I think if my feet and legs didn't hurt, I'd think there was something wrong; I've had flat feet all my life and a bum leg for most of it. So, after me telling her that I didn't take anything for pain, the doctor gives me a really funny look and hands me a prescription for what the pharmacist later described as the equivalent of Tylenol-3's. *blink-blink* I take it that (1) my X-rays must be really Not Good, and (2) my pain tolerance must be even higher than I'd thought it was.
I still haven't taken any of the pills that she prescribed, though I have taken a single Extra Strength Advil a couple of nights when the physio has made me particularly achy and I've had trouble getting to sleep. I just don't see the point to taking heavy duty painkillers if I don't absolutely have to.
At any rate, exercise and weight loss have now become even bigger priorities than they already were. This has made a rather serious dent in my "free" time. I've also been consistently totally swamped at work for the past two months, and the next two aren't looking any more promising, which means no LJ or writing during lunch, etc.
Despite this, however, by more or less staying offline, I've managed to clear a couple of RL commitments and am finally making progress on a couple of fandom ones. I'm partway through finally clearing out my old freeservers.com site and transferring the remaining stories to my calic0cat.net site. All of my own stories have now been moved (yes, I finally bit the bullet and made it through moving LWH today). All of the fanart has now been moved as well. I'll be continuing to work on moving guest stories as time permits; my original intent was to move all the stories before posting any of the queued updates to guest wips on my calic0cat.net site but I'd forgotten just how much still needed to be moved, so I may reconsider that decision.
To those oh-so-patient folks that I owe stories, etc. from charity auctions and the like - my apologies once again. These are amongst the "fandom commitments" mentioned above; I am working on them and you will be offered a bonus gift as an apology for the utterly ridiculous delay - the "bonus" just won't be a written one, since I'm still struggling with writer's block, as I have been for the better part of the last two years. I will be attempting to contact people before too long in order to arrange delivery of something, whether it be the apology bonus alone, the incomplete story to tide them over while I continue to struggle to finish it, or everything that they're owed. If you're one of these folks and you don't hear from me by the end of the month, please do feel free to give me a poke; I may have misplaced your contact info.
In the meantime - yes, I'm working on my website; yes, I'm working on my writing and other commitments; no, I'm not reading LJ or even email regularly and I have no idea what's going on in fandom in general. If you post a comment here or drop me an email, I'll try to get around to responding eventually - just don't hold your breath. To abuse a famous phrase, I'm very close to "drowning, not waving", and I've had to seriously reprioritize in order to try to stay afloat. Hopefully, one of these days I'll catch a glimpse of dry land. :P
Way back in November, I went to Toronto for a few days to go see the musical "Wicked" and spend a couple of days at the Royal Winter Fair. I had a great trip but unfortunately came home with the Cold/Flu That Would Not End - just in time to go back to a very busy time at work, so busy that I couldn't afford to take a few days off to recover from the damn cold. After spending the better part of two weeks with virtually no voice (and basically coming home from work to eat and fall into bed to try and get enough sleep to make it through the next day at work), I finally got my voice back and started to feel a bit better.
Just in time to go to the doctor and get the news about the X-rays I'd had done a month or so earlier. I've had a bit of a limp ever since I had a broken leg as a kid, but it had been getting worse lately and my opposite hip and knee were bothering me quite a bit. Part of the problem was a leg-length discrepancy (still working on getting the new orthotics tweaked to deal with that properly), but the biggest problem turned out to be osteo-arthritis in both hips. Oh joy. :P So, the doctor gave me a script for physio, started the process to get me a referral to an orthopedic surgeon, and asked me what I was taking for pain. I gave her a blank look and said, "Err, nothing?" Geez, I think if my feet and legs didn't hurt, I'd think there was something wrong; I've had flat feet all my life and a bum leg for most of it. So, after me telling her that I didn't take anything for pain, the doctor gives me a really funny look and hands me a prescription for what the pharmacist later described as the equivalent of Tylenol-3's. *blink-blink* I take it that (1) my X-rays must be really Not Good, and (2) my pain tolerance must be even higher than I'd thought it was.
I still haven't taken any of the pills that she prescribed, though I have taken a single Extra Strength Advil a couple of nights when the physio has made me particularly achy and I've had trouble getting to sleep. I just don't see the point to taking heavy duty painkillers if I don't absolutely have to.
At any rate, exercise and weight loss have now become even bigger priorities than they already were. This has made a rather serious dent in my "free" time. I've also been consistently totally swamped at work for the past two months, and the next two aren't looking any more promising, which means no LJ or writing during lunch, etc.
Despite this, however, by more or less staying offline, I've managed to clear a couple of RL commitments and am finally making progress on a couple of fandom ones. I'm partway through finally clearing out my old freeservers.com site and transferring the remaining stories to my calic0cat.net site. All of my own stories have now been moved (yes, I finally bit the bullet and made it through moving LWH today). All of the fanart has now been moved as well. I'll be continuing to work on moving guest stories as time permits; my original intent was to move all the stories before posting any of the queued updates to guest wips on my calic0cat.net site but I'd forgotten just how much still needed to be moved, so I may reconsider that decision.
To those oh-so-patient folks that I owe stories, etc. from charity auctions and the like - my apologies once again. These are amongst the "fandom commitments" mentioned above; I am working on them and you will be offered a bonus gift as an apology for the utterly ridiculous delay - the "bonus" just won't be a written one, since I'm still struggling with writer's block, as I have been for the better part of the last two years. I will be attempting to contact people before too long in order to arrange delivery of something, whether it be the apology bonus alone, the incomplete story to tide them over while I continue to struggle to finish it, or everything that they're owed. If you're one of these folks and you don't hear from me by the end of the month, please do feel free to give me a poke; I may have misplaced your contact info.
In the meantime - yes, I'm working on my website; yes, I'm working on my writing and other commitments; no, I'm not reading LJ or even email regularly and I have no idea what's going on in fandom in general. If you post a comment here or drop me an email, I'll try to get around to responding eventually - just don't hold your breath. To abuse a famous phrase, I'm very close to "drowning, not waving", and I've had to seriously reprioritize in order to try to stay afloat. Hopefully, one of these days I'll catch a glimpse of dry land. :P
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-01-08 07:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-08 02:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-08 10:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-08 10:32 pm (UTC)Don't worry about the lack of ficcage, or updates, or the website, or anything like that. Your health IS more important, and real life has this way of sucking you in that you can't ignore, even if you want to. People will understand, and if they don't, well tough. Its your life, after all.
Sorry to hear you've been in pain though. :) If you need help, I realize we don't really know each other much, but I'd be willing to put some time in. *shrugs* just a thought.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-08 10:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-09 01:15 am (UTC)