Sheri’s blog

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Submitted by yygall.

I actually just finished it:

MouseAndCatFINAL

Thanks for all of the good thoughts, everyone!  I'll be seeing my neurosurgeon Thursday morning at 10:00.  I think I'm probably the first visit post-China trip!  Scary!

*Disclaimer: May contain disgusting and/or offensive descriptions*

So, the good news is that I'll be six months out from my surgery on Wednesday.  The not-so-good news is that my incision opened up on the side of my head on Saturday.  Yay!  I went to put my sunglasses on as I was heading out to the gym, and there was pain.  Upon closer inspection, there seemed to be an area above my ear that was all open, bloody, and oozy.  I pulled some scab off, put some Neosporin on it, and headed to the gym. 

I was feeling really good up until that point.  I started seeing an acupuncturist the week before last, and that seemed to be helping with the pressure on the side of my head.  However, with this gross, open wound, the pressure is back.  The area seems to be right over where one of the screws in my skull is, so I'm wondering if it's just having a tough time healing with that there.  Anyhow, I went to my GP today, and she was a bit concerned.  It's far too long after surgery to be having this happen, so she took some cultures, (ow) and prescribed me some antibiotics because it looks a bit infected.  She recommended that I call my neurosurgeon, and try to get an appointment ASAP.  I did. He's in China.  Of course he's in China.  I'm not sure which part of China, but I'm really curious.  She didn't mention if he was alright or not, but she said that he's due back Thursday (which makes me think he's probably okay), and to give his nurse practitioner a call first thing tomorrow morning. 

There were two things that she thinks it could be.  One could be what I suggested, that the screw is inhibiting healing.  The other is that white blood cells are accumulating at the area in an attempt to heal the area from infection, thus preventing the area from healing properly.  If that's the case, she mentioned that it would probably need to be burned or coagulated.  She could have said cauterized, but I took her meaning.  She has a pretty thick Russian accent, and I'm pretty sure she grasps for English words sometimes.  I don't think she'll seal it with a cigarette or anything.

Ugh.  So I'm a little bent out of shape about it.  I was really just starting to feel good again.  I don't understand what's going on.  At first, I was freaked out that the screw itself may be causing infection which will lead to horrible infection, then death.  Okay, I'm still freaked out about that a little, but my doctor reassured me that that wasn't the case. 

Of course, she also said, "I wouldn't worry about it" when they found the tumor in my head.  Right.  

What's the best thing about your mom?

The best thing about my mom was everything.  She did all of the basic good mom things and more.  She packed my lunches (which I never appreciated), took me to the doctor when I was sick (or when I was faking it), read bedtime stories to me (even when I was far too old for them), and she didn't try to deter me from pursing art as a major or a career.  She was supportive of almost everything that I did (within reason).  She cooked dinner for my father and me every night after working an eight-hour day.  She would take me to work with her on the rare Sundays where she'd have to go in, which I absolutely loved (she worked for the phone company, so there were all sorts of cool things to look at and play with).

I'm just sorry that she had to go before I was out of the teenage years.  I wasn't that bad, but still.  You know how teenagers think that they know everything.

So, I've finally gotten some pictures back from my Holga.  Here are a couple:

Happy Balloon

Grrrrr

I've posted more on my flickr account, which can be found here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/taichicheetah/

Yay!  I did almost everything that I set out to do this weekend.  I even re-arranged my studio area; I like it much better now.  My back isn't to the door when I sit at my drawing desk.  In fact, my back isn't really to any of the doors (there are four doors in this tiny room; it's insane).  And I didn't have to get rid of anything.  All I really did was flip my desk around so that it's facing the other way and clean out my cabinets.  And I organized the toys on top of my cabinets.  Yes, toys.  I have a lot of toys.

Ooh, and the little TV from the bedroom is now in here so I can watch TV while working.  As soon as the AT&T folks come and activate the cable in this room.

Phuket is very perplexed by all of this moving stuff around.

We went to dim sum Saturday morning at this place that had several vegetarian dishes, so that was pretty awesome.  That's usually not the case.  Afterwards, we headed over to the JPL open house.  It was super crowded and hot, but we got to see all sorts of things, including where they put together rockets and stuff.  And there were rovers everywhere.  Most of the people working the open house were either scientists or project managers, or somehow intimately involved with the projects, and the opportunity to ask them questions was pretty cool.  A lot of the videos had waits of an hour or more, and I really just wasn't willing to wait that long to watch a video.

The Americana at Brand (which is this big outdoor mall-type thing with residences above) was even more crowded than JPL.  There were easily thousands of people there Friday night when we walked over.  We just walked through and left.  We walked over today again, and it was less crowded, but still very very crowded.  We saw Iron Man, which I highly recommend, regardless of if you're into the comic...or any comics, really.

I didn't work on my painting at all this weekend, but I did play Mario Kart for the Wii, which is not at all like painting.  I bought it last night, and it's pretty awesome.  I also got my iPhone working, so that's happy.   And I even went to yoga this morning.  I have no idea how I packed all of this stuff in to be honest.

I should head off to bed now.

What are you most looking forward to this weekend?

Using my new iPhone.  Checking out the brand new Americana at Brand (it's a giant shopping center that opens today which is going to be a cluster-fuck; the only reason I'm going is because I live three blocks away).  Going to JPL.  Re-arranging my studio space.  

The latter probably won't happen because I'm working with a really limited space that is already pretty much maxed out.  I'd like to move my drawing desk so that it's facing the room differently, but I have a feeling that getting rid of a certain bookshelf in order to make that a reality isn't open for discussion, especially right now.  

I can only deal with things being a certain way for about a year, and then I have to change it.  The fact that I can't get to one whole area on my hutch in front of my desk is starting to drive me crazy.  Also, in an attempt to free up some space, I re-listed my PS2 and a bunch of games on craigslist.  I really hope it sells.  I should also list my N64, but for whatever reason, I have a weird, irrational attachment to it.

Show us a picture of the pet you'd most like to have in your life.

This one's easy:

Corgie

My eyes are burning and the sky is yellow because of this:

April Wildfire

It's April and there's an out of control fire burning!  And the high in Glendale today is 92 degrees!  It's a balmy 89 degrees right now at 6:30 pm.  As much as I dislike Internetspeak, wtfbbq?

We manipulate the environment in every other way possible, possibly causing irreversible climate change that will extinctify* our species and almost every other species on the planet, but when it comes to fire, the only manipulative force that works synergistically with the natural environment, we have areas that haven't burned in forty years?

I mean, I get why, but I don't get why.  Chaparral is meant to burn every couple of years.  While it's not surprising that a huge wildfire is burning where brush hasn't been burned or cleared in 10-40 years, it's still depressing.  Lots of people, including some people that I'm very close to, lost their homes in October.  That was only six months ago, and we're already seeing crazy wildfires.
    

Speaking of manipulating the environment,

Colony Collapse Disorder

Really, just a fancy way of saying that all the bees are dying and we're going to be seriously fucked when and if that happens.  Why are the bees dying?   No one really knows, but it is suspected that manipulation of the environment in an environmentally unfriendly (genetically modified crops, use of pesticides) way by humans is at least partly, if not wholly, to blame.
 

*Yes, I just made up that word.

I was tagged by sakura senshi.  Now I have to think of interesting things about myself.  Gah!