Not so much.

The MRI was indeed, WAY better than anticipated, thanks to the open MRI machine. The top piece was mere inches from my nose, but touched no part of my body. There were no sides, so I didn’t feel enclosed at all.

Mostly, it was boring, although they did play some nice background music – more of the sounds of nature/flute kind, which really helped. After a while, and I can’t say how long I’m shite at time-sense, my shoulder/arm started to hurt because of the position it was in.

Basically, I toughed it out until the end, which was about 30 minutes after we started.

When I got home, I took a painkiller (Ultracet) – which I dislike doing because I tend to sleep poorly and with funky, nearly hallucinogenic dreams.

Last night was no exception. For some reason, I dreamt that I was visiting* the Shrub** and his lady wife, Laura. WHY was my twisted psyche going there? Because really, that’s pretty much the last thing I care to do. I woke up this morning with a sense of “WTF was I doing there?”

Maybe when I go see the doc for follow up after the MRI results come back, I can get a different kind of pain pill. I’m seriously not doing that again.

Off to work…

*By “visiting”, I mean socially, as if we were friends!! EEP!

** And by “the Shrub”, I mean the person that is now in the White House pretending to be President.

I’m in t-shirt sleeves, because the temps here today are in the mid-to-high 60s. OTOH, my folks in San Antonio are suffering from a cold front, which dropped their temps to below freezing. Jeebus!

I’m at work, because we’re staggering our winter holidays – with half the company here today, and the other half on President’s Day. It’s fairly unstressful, because many of our clients are not working. I like it like this.

In a bit, I go to get an MRI on my left shoulder. It’s been paining me for quite some time and I finally went to the doc about a week and a half ago. I did the Xray fine, but when I tried the regular closed MRI, I absolutely lost it. Evidently, I’m extremely claustrophobic. My appointment is with an open MRI place near Shirlington. Wish me luck.

Rome: wasn’t built in a day, and OMG it’s making me have to go get HBO again. I was going to keep my cable service at minimum digital, but noooo, only takes one episode of Rome and the subsequent fannish squee to make me want to order it again*. Seems like Comcast ordering department is taking the holiday, so I won’t be able to upgrade until tomorrow. Thank goodness for On-Demand. I did, however, order the DVD set for Season 1.

Miscellaneous:
Article re: James Purefoy getting naked

Slings & Arrows Article

* Of course, re-ordering HBO has absolutely nothing to do with astolat writing Vince/Eric…nope, not at all…

Just finished reviewing my edits for Matters of the Blood. My editor has the eye of an eagle and a way with a red…well, not pen, but font. ::g::

For all but a few minor phrasing things, I was 100% behind her editorial suggestions. Very few “stets”. This is real editing. I appreciate every red letter, every strikethrough, every comment, because in Matters v.1, my entire edit was a quick; this looks good; one or two typo catches, and a “watch out for the use of ‘girlfriend’” (the latter comment from my sister).

Paula (my editor) also caught my unfortunate habit of using varieties of a word overmuch. In this case: utter, utterly – in the sense of completely; and only once in the sense of uttering a word. Jeebus! What on earth was I thinking? How did I not see this? Oh well, that’s why other eyes need to proof/review.

Had a nice IM chat with my buddy, Donna Andrews this afternoon, who informed me that as a result of my panel discussion at the Dying to Write conference in October, one of her friends has produced a vampire story.

Way cool! I guess that means I’m an Influence…if only of the bad kind. ::g::

Rec’d the latest Locus in the mail on Monday, only to find the lovely face of naominovik on the cover. Great feature article, too – so go buy a copy.

March seems to be shaping up as an interesting month. Not only will it see the debut of Matters 2.0; but the weekend of the 24th I’m doing a DS fangrrl gathering at starrcat‘s (courtesy a ridiculously cheap $100 fare from Continental); then the following weekend I’m off to MuskratJamboree to rub elbows with 99 others of fannish persuasion.

Now it’s off to watch this week’s episode of House, then install my Roxio Toast upgrade. Whee!!

On the occasion of their mutual birthdays.

A short piece of fiction, spoilery for Torchwood 1×12…oh yes, there is also a photo.

behind the cut

A very happy birthday to synecdochic, she of the lovely writing, and a happy 40th to Joe Flanigan, he of the…well, just lovely. ::g::

::chickwriter debuts new icon in honor of the occasion::

Go here for more Joe.*

In other news: TGIF! – which is a really good thing, because the last couple of nights have been plagued with insomnia. Wednesday night was all about work stress. Last night, this a.m. – jeebus! The muse struck with a vengeance. Nothing to do with my book-in-progress, but a wee snippet of a thing that will be unveiled tomorrow in celebration of another set of twin birthdays. (yes, you know who you are)

Now that I’ve been up for 2.5 hours already, it’s 8:00 a.m. and nearly time to go to work. OMG, COFFEE!

* ganked from seperis