Happy Who Day!

Happy 50th Anniversary, Doctor Who! Time to party like a Time Lord!



(Don't ask me who created that image. I got it from someone who got it from... somewhere.)

I'd be really tickled and thrilled by the fact that the 50th anniversary special is being broadcast on BBC America simultaneously with its premiere in the UK, except that I'm on night shift tonight and will probably still be asleep when it starts. Oh, well, that's what DVRs are for. I'm just gonna think of it as, you know, not being bound by typical temporal parameters!

The Sorry State Of Me

Well, while I'm still coughing off and on, my lungs do seem to be improving. At least, I can take a deep breath without feeling that weird, creepy sensation of air being forced with straining, wheezy reluctance into nearly closed-off bronchial tubes.

On the other hand, horrible, horrible things are now happening inside my sinuses.

I hate the human body. I hate everything about it.

Well, This Is All Very Epic!

OK, you might not want to watch these if you haven't seen the end of the last season yet. But with that out of the way... Here's a trailer for the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary episode:



And a mini-episode prequel, which fills in a pretty major gap in the Doctor Who canon:



I was certainly not expecting that!

Wheeze, Gurgle... Click?!

I am generally feeling rather better now, but, holy crap, my lungs are making noises that should just never, ever come out of any part of a human body.

Wally And Me

Well, the cold seems to be getting somewhat better, except for the chest congestion and coughing, which, as usual, were the last things to develop and will probably be the last things to go. I'm just really, really hoping this isn't one of the times when that'll linger for weeks and weeks, because if I have to put off this surgery again, I am going to cry.

I am, by the way, still reading Failure Is Not an Option and have just been told all about how when Wally Schirra had a head cold in space, he got really, really grumpy. Somehow, that makes me feel slightly better about all the whining I've been doing. Although perhaps less so when I think about about the fact that that dude managed to fly an entire Apollo mission with a cold, and I couldn't even make the drive up to Albuquerque. Oh, well. I never claimed to have the right stuff, anyway.

Day Four

Yup, I still have the nasty cold. I am daring to think it might actually be improving slightly now, but that may well just be because I've filled myself full of decongestants and cough syrup. In any case, a trip up to Albuquerque today was definitely a no-go. No library sale for me. Sigh. I'm just going to sit in my living room and contemplate all the books I already have, instead.

Time For This Again

Current clothes: Nothing but a towel at the moment. I just got out of the shower. Although, unlike yesterday when I spent all day in my pajamas, I am going to have to go put some clothes on today. I have to run out to the pharmacy and stuff.

Current mood: Mildly miserable, as my minor cold has gone and turned into a major cold. On the upside, I think I feel a little less low-energy today than I did yesterday. On the downside, I may be developing a cough.

Current music: More random-shuffle stuff on the iPod. I think the last thing was something by Jonathan Coulton.

Current annoyance: ALL VIRUSES MUST DIE!

Current thing: Repeated, unwilling viewings of "Betty Can't Catch A Break Theater."

Current desktop picture: Still the secret Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal wallpaper. I should change it sometime.

Current book: Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control From Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond by Gene Kranz, whom you might remember as the guy played by Ed Harris in Apollo 13.

Current song in head: Something by Gordon Lightfoot that also randomly came up on the iPod recently. I don't know what it's called. Hang on, I'll look up the lyrics... OK, apparently it's "Endless Wire." There you go.

Current refreshment: Nothing. But I need more fluids. I need all the fluids.

Current DVD in player: Most recently, Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing. Which was extremely impressive considering it was basically Whedon and a bunch of his buddies filming in his house. But then, the guy has talented buddies, and a pretty awesome house.

Current worry: I probably have a million things to worry about, but right now I just don't even have the energy. Which I guess is one good thing about being sick.

Current thought: I really, really hope I am feeling well enough tomorrow to go up to Albuquerque. I want to go to the book sale! Those always make me feel better.

Everything That Can Go Wrong Does.

The latest installment in "Betty Can't Catch a Break Theater": I had an appointment scheduled for Tuesday for a procedure -- a bit of minor outpatient surgery -- to help make my annoying ladyparts issues less annoying. So, I arranged to take off work, and had a pre-op appointment and a bunch of blood tests and found somebody to give me a ride back from the hospital, and was all set to go... And then I went and caught a goddamn head cold, and they won't do it. Now I'm going to have to go through all of this again in a month's time, and I'm willing to bet the timing with my work schedule and my menstrual cycle won't be nearly as good this time. Worse, that's going to take me dangerously close to the end of the year, when my insurance suddenly goes to shit, meaning that if for any reason I'm going to need extra follow-up, it's going to cost me badly. Urgh.

I believe the moral of this story may be, never go to a doctor named Murphy. Really, I was probably just asking for trouble.

Another Succinct Movie Review

I'm in the middle of watching Dark Shadows with Johnny Depp. And whatever the hell they're trying to do with this movie, they're not pulling it off.

Booooooks!

Yesterday, while other people were putting on costumes and bobbing for apples, or whatever it is they do on Halloween, I was doing this:



This would be the infamous (and understatedly named) To-Read Pile. Or most of it, anyway. I previously had most of these books sitting on shelves attached to the wall in my utility room, but said shelves were really never designed to hold that much weight, and since it was starting to pull the shelves away from the ceiling, and possibly deforming my house, it seemed like a very good idea to move it all elsewhere. So, a little while back, I ordered some cheap but functional bookshelves. When they arrived yesterday, I quickly abandoned whatever plans I had -- I think they mostly involved watching a lot of The Twilight Zone -- and instead spent the entire day moving furniture, assembling bookcases, and hauling probably about 800 books around. Today, my body is pretty much one giant ache. But it was worth it! Not only those shelves attached to the wall now highly unlikely to detach themselves and collapse, but I also have a living room full of books! (And part of the kitchen. And, um, a bit of the hallway you can't see in this picture. Yes, I know I have too many books. Shut up.)

Now, I think I'm going to spend most of today reading.