Day in the Life of an Idiot

Yesterday was a day of errands for me. Mostly I schlepped my family around, actually. Shawn kicked the day off with an appointment she wanted me to sit in on, in order to be a second pair of ears. She recently discovered that her right knee has degraded to the point where she's going to need knee replacement surgery sooner rather than later.

I know what you're all thinking. How do you DISCOVER this all of a sudden? Shouldn't you have felt your knee slowly getting worse?

This is precisely what happened with Shawn's gall bladder. It was zero to IT NEEDS TO COME OUT RIGHT NOW. I think this happens because she suffers nearly constant migraines my beloved wife just doesn't notice the rest of her body falling apart. So, she had some swelling in her knee and then got an x-ray where the doctors were like, "Mrs. Rounds, you have not had cartilage in this knee for what seems to be years.... how are you even walking?" And Shawn will be like, ?? because she's on day 26 in a row of the kind of cluster headache that is colloquially dubbed "suicide migraines" because they are that bad.

So, at any rate, she is looking at knee surgery in October and this is going to be an ORDEAL, but on the other hand, one of Shawn's great stress relievers is going for walks and not being able to do that has not exactly helped the migraine situation either. So, knee surgery it is!

Then, we had to text Mason from the clinic to make sure he was ready to be picked-up for his hair appointment, which we had accidentally scheduled perilously close to the end of this consult. But, he was up and ready and so we whisked him off to a salon that specializes in long, wavy hair. Mason inherited SOME of his mother's curls, but you wouldn't know it because his hair is long enough to be kind of heavy and it weights down a lot of the natural curl. He's had some split ends happening for awhile now too, so any way, even though it was not on par with surgery consultation, it was still fairly important to get done.

Then, as the driver of the family, I hung out near the salon (no hardship as it was close to Nina's Coffeeshop.) I brought Mason and I home and had about an hour to catch my breath when, speaking of migraines, I got back in the car to take Shawn off to the suburbs to her neurologist. The exciting news on that front is that migraine medicine continues to evolve and Shawn is now going to be the recipient of a new med that has some promise. FINGERS CROSSED. I told her that one of my sincere wishes for her is to have a day--just even one, single day--that is 100% pain free. I'm not sure she's had that in her adult life. (I mean a lot of chronic pain sufferers don't, but this is also my wish for all of you/them.)

It was a lot of driving around for me, but I got a LOT of Duolingo done. I have started this new habit, which I think is actually working for me, wherein I spend my first several minutes of every session just going over the new section they have called "words." You get almost no points for doing this, but I don't care. It's what I need, if I want to have any hope of actually remembering Japanese. It's basically vocab review? I've been missing this in my life since I had to drop Drops (an app that is solely devoted to vocabulary).

Plus, I am fond of listening to the actual radio.

Do people even do this any more? Like, I'm not talking about streaming music or a podcast, I mean that stuff that is in the air on radio waves. Like, where you tune your radio device to a frequency. Very old school. But, it's one of the few ways I'm introduced to new music. My weird habit of listening to the actual radio is the only reason I can sing along to Taylor Swift at my age.

You may have also noticed that I missed "What Are You Reading Wednesday?" this week, despite the fact that I've been starting to be more consistent now that I'm reading and consuming things for my new cyberpunk podcast. This is because (spoiler!) our next episode is going to be about the anime sensation Ghost in the Shell, and so all I would be doing would be listing Ghost in the Shell in all of it's half-a-zillion iterations.,, and I figured that might be a bit boring for you. Because, seriously. ALL I am doing right now (and will do until we record next Tuesday) is reading and watching the movies, the anime, and the manga.

Because there is A LOT.

So far, I have AVOIDED the live action, but I might just break down and watch it because I'm sure my co-host will want to complain about it a little.

I am behind on the rest of my life as a consequence, but I'm starting to get my feet up under me. the_siobhan and magenta I am finally hoping to sit down and write a reply volley in our various snail mail games. I actually have been saving your letters to read and reply to, so my apologies, but this is me savoring the experience. But the goal is to have things in the mail to you both before the week is officially done. 

I don't have much else to report, I don't think? How are you all!?

Hey, you groovy cats, I'm going to be one of the guests on this week's "Write On! Radio" show! So, if you want to tune in, here's the info: Tuesday, March 6, from 7:00 - 8:00 pm Central on KFAI (90.3 FM Minneapolis/106.7 FM St. Paul). It is also streaming live (or in archive) at: http://www.kfai.org/writeonradio.

KFAI has been delightfully loyal to my career all these years, and I'd love for y'all to tune in, particularly if you've never listened before. Steve McEllistrem (one of the hosts) is a somewhat-closeted-science fiction fan, so he's always willing to read my books, which is great. Plus, I'll be live, in-studio, which is just COOL. I get to wear the giant headphones and talk into a hanging microphone. It makes me feel like I'm Dr. Johnny Fever from WKRP in Cincinnati.

Also, I heard from my guest liason/all-around-god-of-Fandom yesterday and I will be on two panels at this year's Anime Detour. The first one on Saturday, March 31 on "Fullmetal Alchemist" at 10:00 am which means I should probably take the time to finish watching the series and get "Brotherhood" under my belt before then. Shouldn't be too hard. Once I got over my shock of "Cry of the Chimera" it's been easy to get back into it. Alas, Netflix only has dubbed streaming. The voices are OKAY, though I think I'd understand Mustang better if I knew what kind of voice he was really supposed to have. Perhaps I'll luck out and "Brotherhood" will be subbed.

The second one is about an Anime I know nothing about, but I sensed they needed a warm body to make the panel viable so I will be "the panelist with the (hopefully) insightful questions."

I'm still waiting to hear about this weekend's panels for MarsCON. But I'm expecting to be there Saturday (mostly), and possibly a bit of Sunday. If I'm scheduled for anything on Sunday, I'll have Mason in tow, since Shawn actually has to put in some weekend hours that Sunday. Hopefully, I'll see some of you there.

My guest liason also hinted that I will be on a "metric ton" of panels for CONvergence, which actually made me happy. As long as someone fetches me food (and probably more importantly caffeine) when I need it, I can pretty much talk all day. In this way, I am a true extrovert, particularly as defined by the Meyers-Briggs. I get my energy from interacting with other people. I leave the party late, with increased energy.

Speaking of weekend hours, Shawn had work on Saturday, so she's off today. Our big plans are to go fabric shopping, and possibly hit GoodWill (my pants, ehm, are too big. I need a size smaller. HOW AWESOME IS THAT???!!) I'm behind on taking care of the animals too, so the only other thing I NEED to do is change the fish tanks.

Such a glamorous life I lead!

I apologize to my friends and family who use this blog to make sure I'm still alive and breathing. I am. I've just been, you know, busy.

Yesterday, I had to scurry home to wait by the phone like a love-lorn teen, waiting for Mary Ann Grossman from the Pioneer Press to call. The Pioneer Press still employs actual reporters who, like, do research and stuff. I've been interviewed by Mary Ann before, but she never fails to impress me (though I think I managed to insult her twice. Once, by trying to bring up events that involved her direct competator _and_, at another point, completely confusing staff of the Press for those over at the Star Tribune.) But, unlike me, she was both prepared and charming. It was clear she'd read BOTH Honeymoon and Almost, and, you might thing that would be required for someone doing an interview, I can tell you for a fact it is NOT. Anyway, despite my couple of gaffs, we had a lovely half hour conversation about St. Paul, vampires, and the writer's life. All the while I could tell she had her phone on speaker, because I could hear her fingers clacking on her keyboard. The sound of which sort of freaked me out. It was like being able to HEAR someone taking notes. Anyway, if all goes according to plan, you should look for the interview in the Press on Sunday, August 1.

Then I took off for Uncles to meet up with my potter friend Frank Gosar and his wife Denise. They were in town visiting relatives over the weekend, and I happened to get their email in enough time to meet up for bookshopping and lunch. Both of which are marvelous. Frank was the first bit of fandom I ever experienced, because he ran a science fiction book club I attended in LaCrosse. Now he's a professional potter and a volunteer radio show host. I've actually mentioned Frank by name in one of my novels. It's in one of the first Garnet books (maybe even _Tall, Dark & Dead_, though I may be mistaken.) Garnet laments having lost a hand thrown goblet made by her friend Frank in Oregon.

That chewed up most of my day, though one of the things I bought at Uncles was "Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog," which I watched last night for the first time. Now I really want to get into the Evil League of Evil. I have to say that one of the things I'm re-appreciating about Joss Whedon, having finally seen this, is how much he trusts me as a viewer. In this case, he probably didn't care if a massively popluar audience got how funny-yet-accurate the Evil League of Evil sounds to a long-time comic book reader. I mean, I grew up thinking nothing of the fact that Magneto must have said to himself, "I know, I think I'll call my organization, The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants."

Today, I've been getting ready for my radio show tonight. Don't forget! If you happen to be near a computer at 7:00 PM tonight (or are local and can get in either 90.3 FM in Minneapolis or 106.7 FM in St. Paul), tune in to KFAI's "Write On! Radio" show (the live streaming button is on the sidebar at www.kfai.org/writeonradio. I heard from my host, who informed me that I will be on in the second half hour. So, if you can't be there exactly at 7:00, you haven't missed me!

I'm going to be reading from both ALMOST and HONEYMOON and hopefully be my usual bubbly, goofy personality.

Anyway, I have much more to tell you all, but it's going to have to wait. I have to go pick up Mason from school.

First of all, for those of you who missed my fabulous appearance on KFAI's "Write On Radio," you can listen to an audiofile in their archives at: 4/24/08 - Write On Radio Show. Don't be thrown by the fact that there's a long musical lead, no show identification or the fact that a woman with a British accent (Marie Phillips) starts reading about the goddess Artemis and trees and blow-jobs. I'm on during the second half of the show, and they were waiting for Marie to call in from London.

What's funny is that I just wrote a scene in DEAD IF I DO with another Greek goddess, Athena, and had I known that the author of GODS BEHAVING BADLY was going to be sharing the show with me, I'd have brought that scene.

Being on KFAI was a blast. I've been really fortunate enough to have been on KFAI several times in the past (I have a bunch of .mp3 files on the FAQ section of my web page, if you're at all curious.) The station itself is on the top floor of a thin, funky building on University of Minnesota's West Bank. The West Bank, if you're not familiar with it, has some of of the last vestiges of Minneapolis' hippy culture. There's May Day Books still there, as well as the home of a few cooperatives. There used to be the New Riverside Cafe (which is featured in Emma Bull's WAR FOR THE OAKS), as well as the folk music collective: The Coffeehouse Extemporie. The West Bank is also adjactent to the sort of low-rent theatre district of Minneapolis -- the Theatre in the Round, Southern Theatre, and Theatre du Juene Lune are all there. Somali immigrants have also moved into the West Bank which adds an East African flavor to the whole mix.

KFAI is very much part of the remaining hippy culutre that's clinging to the neighborhood, so it's not like being on a radio show on one of the big, commerical stations. I've done that once, where I called into a station in Wisconsin, and that was a lot more nerve wracking.

At KFAI they have several studios, which look not unlike regular meeting rooms, except there are big microphones over each spot at the table, and, of course, a fancy looking electronic board on the other side of a short divider. You get to wear headphones, which adds to the whole, "I'm on the radio!" feeling, but there's a window and posters on the wall. I was nervous until I got into the studio. You do have to be silent the moment the "On Air" light goes on, but thanks to the relaxing atmosphere of the place, it's not as big a deal as you might think.

I have to say that the thing that amused me was how much Ian Leask gestured to everyone silently while Marie talked. There was a lot of frantic pointing and obtuse sign language that made Cin (the woman who read the calendar of events) very nervous. I guess they also had a back up tape ready to roll in case there were technical problems getting Marie on the air.

My favorite moment came when I completely blanked on what DEAD SEXY was about. I couldn't remember for several hours, actually. The problem is, of course, that that book was so long ago in some ways. I'm in the middle of writing book four, and three even seems like a dim memory for me, you know?

I always feel like I'm blathtering away, and I know I went off on vaguely unrelated tangents. In the past when my friend J. Otis Powell! was the host of the show, he actually gave me a list of the questions he was going to ask ahead of time, so I'd have a moment to prepare. Steve didn't, so everything was very spontaneous. I noticed that I used my stall-while-I-form-an-answer phrase a couple of times, the whole "That's a great question...."

Even so, it was a great time. I can only hope I get the opportunity to do it again sometime.