(no subject)

Last night, I came home from work, ate dinner, watched Nova - this week's episode was about the shift in our magnetic fields, and was in bed around 9 p.m.

Maybe it was the bite guard - or just knowing that I had the thing - but I managed to sleep through the night, and while I did still have headaches yesterday, they weren't as bad as before. :) I'll probably still be lisp-y for a couple of days, but I've been reading aloud to myself at home, so I can get some practice speaking with the guard in place.


Now, I just feel like curling up and taking a nap - even though I did get a good night's sleep.

Kicking cancer's ass

My stepdad is still cancer-free, thank G*d and Everyone Else. Yet, he is still considered to have cancer, and this will be the case for the next 3 - 5 years. It is so strange and weird for me to say that - and to write it. Yet, it is the reality. While he is in remission, he is being observed by the doctors on a monthly basis, to ensure that he will continue to stay in remission.

I haven't told anyone at work, outside of my department. Why? I'd rather not have them feeling sorry for me, or treating me differently, because my stepdad has cancer. Also, because one of the muckety-mucks in the office lost a family member to the same form of cancer that my stepdad is kicking the ass of ... my concern would be that it could really strike a nerve or something in that particular person.


My stepdad's doing alright - he has his days, as anyone does, when they're living with a chronic/terminal illness. The dialysis does seem to help him a lot, but the other day, they'd taken off too much fluid, and he experienced hypotension (low blood pressure) - almost ended up back in the hospital because of it. Hopefully they'll get everything adjusted, because the dialysis seems to help a lot, and I'd hate to see him back in the hospital again.

He's been gaining back some of the weight he'd lost, and when I went to see my family a few weeks ago, while he did still tire pretty easily, he was looking much better. :)

So huzzah to my stepdad for kicking cancer's ass! Here's hoping that he'll continue to do so as long as it takes!

Yay - I got a good one!

Borrowed from the absolutely lovely (and loved) Miss Jenne ...

( hipsters unite )

(no subject)

While reading the daily e-mail newsletter from Rolling Stone, I found out that conductor Michael Kamen had died, due to complications from Multiple Sclerosis (MS). He had worked on the X-Men soundtrack, and I personally knew of him as the man that conducted the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra with Metallica for their S & M CD.

This morning, I was listening to the first disc of S & M, only because I'd left it in my computer the night before, not realizing the news about Kamen until this afternoon. All I can say is that I loved what he did, considering how controversial it was - not just to Metallica fans, but to the SF Symphony fans, also. He brought two wildly divergent genres together, and made it work in such a way that songs that were already haunting ("One", especially), became so much more so with the addition of the strings and timpani. He also brought two completely opposite audiences together - heavy metal and classical - for one night.

Thank you, Mr. Kamen, for all that you have done in your time. You will surely be missed.