Tuesday, July 19, 2011

The Time has Come, the Walrus said, to Talk of Many Things...

Wow - I got a huge outpouring of comments and messages about my last blog post! I can't believe how many people have, or know someone with, gastroparesis. It's intense! Thank you everyone for all of your kindness and concern! I truly appreciate it, and value all of my friends and family :) <3

What else has been going on... hmm. A lot of reading, that's for sure! I finished up A Storm of Swords, then re-read A Feast for Crows, and Amazon messed up and sent me my copy of A Dance with Dragons late - I didn't get it until Thursday! But I inhaled it so quickly that I was done it by Sunday. Whoops!!

There's been a lot going on other than that since my last update - I should probably start with Wednesday the 5th, when I met up with Mike and our friend Mike Castrovinci for some dinner, and then headed to Redcap's for D&D. It was fun! I feel almost like it gets better and better every week. The next day I came home and read after work, and Friday after work I headed to Mikey's and met up with some friends who worked at, or currently work at, our bookstore. Some I hadn't seen in almost a year! So it was really amazing to catch up with them. After that, I headed downtown to a Geekadelphia poetry reading called "Broetry," which was dedicated to poetry about... you guessed it... bros. It was held at National Mechanics, which is one of my favorite places to go. After the broetry was done, Mike showed up, and so did another writer at Geekadelphia and Warp Zoned, Chris Urie. We ended up chilling with him and our friend Jake most of the night, and afterwards Chris came over and we played some games and hung out until like 2 am. Friday was also when the doctor called to tell me about the gastroparesis, so I was a little shocked about that, for sure.

Saturday morning we woke up early, ate some food, and then grabbed a Philly Car Share car, picked up some Jimmy John's sandwiches, and headed to my sister Jenna's for the day to hang out with her, my nephew, and Jenna's family. It was an incredible time! My little nephew is getting sooooo big! He's so sweet and wonderful and affectionate. I had a great time with Jenna and her little sister, Rachael, too - we played some Just Dance, which I'd never played before (and have since bought!). It was nice catching up with her mom and stepdad, too - they are awesome people. They asked us to stay for dinner so we did, and it was delicious! We got home around 8 (after some minor drama with the car!) and hung out, played games, and read all night. Sunday we headed to my mom's to celebrate my stepdad's birthday. I wasn't feeling great, so I mostly just laid around and read some more.

Monday I was preparing for Dance with Dragons to come out, and trying to wrap up Feast for Crows as quickly as possible, but Tuesday came and went with no book! I bitched at Amazon, but they still didn't get it to me until Thursday. So Tuesday we recorded another podcast for Warp Zoned, Wednesday I met with my nutritionist to discuss my diet options, and afterwards I met the Mikes at my local diner and then we went to D&D. I was thrilled to get the book Thursday, and read the whole night at babysitting! And then again most of Friday night, after we went food shopping and picked up lots of food that I can actually eat. I ended up baking some awesome parmesan-encrusted chicken, which turned out amazingly well! I was excited about it.

Saturday I was very social! I started the day out doing some laundry, and then Mike and I went to Jersey to meet our friend Stacy, her boyfriend Ross, and her parents at PJ Whelihan's for lunch. Stacy and I met when we went to Ireland together for a wedding - I went with my friend Mike Cahill, and she went with her friend Carter Posey, and we ended up bonding and becoming instant friends. Our friendship has continued through the last three years! She and Ross are considering moving back up to this area from DC, which would be awesome, because we'd get to spend way more time with them. Afterwards, we went to Mike Castrovinci's and they played some video games while I read and napped, then we went to my mom's for dinner. She ended up dragging us to the mall to exchange her latest Pandora charm (I got her obsessed with Pandora!) and I stopped at H&M to get some new tank tops, then we headed home and read and gamed the rest of the night.

Sunday was the best. We sat around and did very little! Since we'd already gone food shopping, we didn't have to go anywhere. I did some stuff around the house, like some vacuuming, and we did head to GameStop so I could return a game, but other than that, it was just reading, gaming, and eating. It was so nice. I was kind of sad when I got to the end of the book, because I didn't want it to end, and who knows when Winds of Winter will be coming out!!

Yesterday afternoon we received a nasty shock at work - around 4:30, we got a phone call saying one of our faculty members died. It was very sudden. It's been a flurry of activity around the department since then, and many people are very sad. I didn't know the professor all that well, but it saddens me to see so many people hurting.

After work, we recorded our podcast, and then I played some more F.3.A.R., read more of Codependent No More, and did some writing. I've been trying to write as much as I can, but it's been tough. I wrote a preview of Catherine, as well as an article about my impressions of the Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception beta, and I'm working on a review of F.3.A.R., and also started the new BioShock novel, BioShock: Rapture today, and I'll be reviewing that as well. Whew. Busy! I've been doing some other stuff, too, but it's getting late, and I need to go to bed.

OH AND ALSO! My very first paper proposal got accepted at a conference! I found that out today. And, on my way home from work, I walked by a few people standing around a car. I looked over and saw kittens inside the car! I couldn't stop myself - I was drawn to them! I walked over and squeed, and asked how old they were, and she asked if I wanted to hold one! So I got to hold TWO of them! They were so sweet, and only a month old, and they were panting in the heat! One of them was panting right in my face, and his breath smelled like cat food, and I thought of Ralph. They asked if I wanted one, and I said do I ever! But I couldn't help but think of my poor kitties, and how they would freak out if I brought home another critter. It was nice just to cuddle kittens randomly in the middle of the day and talk to nice people. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face!!

Tonight, I washed the dishes, had some dinner, playing some Modern Warfare online with Mike and our friend, Ryan Littlefield, played more F.3.A.R., and read more of BioShock: Rapture. And now I think it's time to cuddle up with my 'tarns and go to bed.

Much turtle love! <3

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