So this week I went to the ER on Tuesday because my back was out. The medications I could take were severely limited because of my upcoming endoscopy on Friday. In fact, I had to go off all pain medication on Thursday because of the 2 day fast that was supposedly required (pain medication + empty stomach = nausea). On Thursday night, I started my “cleanse,” which required me to visit the bathroom very often, even though it hurt to walk there.

Soon after being taken in by the nurse Friday, I noted something seemed wrong. She asked when I’d last eaten and drank. When I told her I hadn’t had anything to drink since the night before, she declared me “hard core.”

Now, of course I am hard core, but following medical instructions isn’t usually what gets me labeled so.

When the nurses were then putting all the fun bruising apparati on me (including the blood pressure cuff, which left lines of red scratches on my arm from monitoring me during the procedure), I made a joke about the cleansing fluid.

Nurse: Why did you drink that?
Me: It was at the pharmacy for me. With instructions. Someone ordered it for me.

One of the nurses disappeared. A few minutes later, the doctor appeared, apologizing profusely for my having done the cleanse. “No one should have to do that when they don’t have to.” They all promised to find out who had ordered the vile solution by mistake.

Then they put me to sleep. They found some “spots” to biopsy. I would have asked what that meant, but I was still pretty drugged up in the post-op talk.

More news to follow, presumably.

When I last left off my London diary, I was just getting to the fireworks. I was there for my first Bonfire Night! Bonfire Night originally started as a celebration of the capture of Guy Fawkes and the King’s surviving an assassination plot. In later years, it became an anti-Catholic holiday. Now, it’s a night for revelry and drinking.

The fireworks in the park were the best I’ve ever seen. They were set to music, beautifully choreographed, and very long. There were some types I’d never seen before, including ones that looked like giant gold fans of light coming up from the ground. We drank our mulled wine and soaked in the colors.

Then we headed back to Courtney and Liam’s friends’ house, where there was drinking and dancing and glowsticks. It was like I was seeing a part of the 90s that I missed somehow. A frenchman in the garden charred the outside of some meat and kept sticking it into my mouth before I could protest. A englishman arranged my glowsticks so they were illuminating my cleavage, popping at intervals out of my bra like the Statue of Liberty’s crown spokes.

When we got back to C and L’s, I was covered in smoke from the smokers in the garden, but we fell asleep anyway and slept late.

I made my way back to Chaz and Carmen’s later that day. We feasted at a Chinese/Indian fusion place close to their house. Wonderful duck, amazing fish with Indian mint sauce. For once, we got to bed at a decent hour, and then Carmen and I were up to museum. We hit the British museum to see treasures old and new. We came across an exhibit I’d seen before–the pills an average Westerner will take in his/her life.

Check out the exhibit here: http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/aoa/c/cradle_to_grave.aspx

Afterwards, we headed to Nando’s (Carmen was wonderful to indulge my obsession). Then she took me to the geek store–Forbidden Planet, where we got lost for several hours. After coffee, we split up so I could go meet Courtney.

We were off to have dinner with some friends of hers. There was an amazing pumpkin soup, mushroom risotto, jacket potato, and juniper chicken. I wish I could have finished it all, but I filled up on the richness too quickly. C and I had to leave before dessert. I got home in time to see Poirot solve a mystery and then went to bed.

TBC

I have a favorite tree on campus–an autumn gold. I walk past it almost every day; there’s only one time of year it’s this beautiful. The other morning I snapped these pics:

After the Dr Who Experience, Courtney and I needed lunch.  Unfortunately, we came out of a tube stop from the wrong exit and had to walk around a couple of miles before we came to a pub. I had some traditional fish and chips while C had some amazing lamb. Then Liam met us and we headed to the Victoria and Albert. We tracked down a gigantic musical instrument I saw on a postcard: Tipu’s Tiger.  It’s a tiger attacking a British colonialist–life sized. It is also an organ. The colonialist’s arm moves to simulate trying to push the tiger off.

Then we went to an exhibit on The Power of Making–a large room full of things made from materials you wouldn’t expect–an amazing “glass” sculpture  that’s actually made of sugar, a dress made from needles called the “widow,” but the best thing was a giant silver gorilla made from clothes hangers. It was vibrant and alive and perfect.

After all that culture, we needed libations, so we headed to the Worship Whistle Shop–a place that makes its liquor the victorian way. We had these gin fizzes with sage on top. The atmosphere was very good & so were the drinks. Then we headed to a bar with a cool name that I can’t remember–I had a white linen (though it wasn’t called that). Liam had the guys there make him a a Michelada–it took a while, as it seems that particular drink hasn’t spread that far.

Then we headed back to Liam & Courtney’s, where Liam made chicken wings and we watched what happened to be on TV–Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion. I headed back home afterwards & ended up staying up talking to Carmen until late. Didn’t rise until after 1 in the afternoon.

Carmen made some fantastic pancakes, but then I was off to meet Courtney and Liam again. We met at a tapas bar (named Carmen), and then to a friend’s place that was close to the the Bonfire Night festivities  . . .

After staying up way to late with Chaz and Carmen, I woke up so I could meet Courtney to go to the Dr Who Experience! Courtney was hoping there would be some little kids to watch, and there were. We entered a gallery and then moved to the experience–we got to stand in a moving tardis, we got to walk through a valley of Stone Angels, we got to be attacked by giant Daleks, and we got to be called “shoppers” by Matt Smith. As one of the young boys said, it was “sick!” Then there was the museum, with costumes, etc. There was a creepy wax Matt Smith, models of villains so you could see how they’d changed over the decades, etc. Need to get the rest of the pictures from Courtney, but here are the best ones from my camera (more on FB soon). Hit the gift shop, spent too much, even though they didn’t have postcards (is that because it’s impossible to send mail from a Tardis?).

Drove myself nearly mad trying to get ready for the London/Spain conferences. Those of you aware of my work load this term know that the week before I left was the busiest, not even counting the packing and the prepping for other lovely people to take my courses when I was away.

It was with some relief, then, that I found myself boarding the plane to London. I read Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett to get myself in the mood. Found myself behind two Brits in line–the man was complaining about some salty cheese–and I knew I was going home.

The flight was delayed, so we got in later than expected. I then had to make my way through customs (what is your conference on? Vampires?! Is this some kind of literature thing?) & to Chaz and Carmen’s. Carmen was kind enough to make me a cup of tea. I was able to instantly agree with Chaz’s assessment that I would love her. We share a lot of the same interests and she’s extremely intelligent, articulate, and beautiful. (My ex has excellent taste in women!)

Then I was off to a fancy champagne bar to meet Courtney and Liam. We had a rose and some very nice tapas while catching up. Then we headed to Soho for more wine and pizza. I made it home relatively early, but stayed up with C and C until midnight–we had to catch up too. I was also able to have my first mince pie with cream–I have to say that I I’m sold.

The next morning, I was off to the conference. Most of the papers were on Trueblood and Twilight. One other paper was on Fledgling, but it was the day before, so I didn’t get to see it. The arm of the University of London where the conference was was in my old neighborhood–Bloomsbury. Thus, I knew precisely where the Nando’s was & headed there for lunch. (Ah, peri peri chicken.) Then I had my paper, which I think could have been stronger, but a woman came up after and asked another presenter and I to submit papers for a collection she’s putting together, so it couldn’t have sucked too badly.

I then ran into the British Museum to say hello to old friends (statues mainly). Hit the gift shop for some presents for the boy, then off to meet Afzal for dinner. I had a decent venison ravioli (deer is in season there), and then we headed off to the theatre. Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones in Driving Miss Daisy. They are both brilliant performers. Redgrave’s Southern accent only slipped on a couple of words. The staging was beautiful–simple, but effective. I really wasn’t expecting to moved by the play–I know the movie well and wrote a paper on the play a long time ago when I was an undergraduate. Still, I teared up at two moments (even though I could recite the lines).

We hit a Snog Yogurt (snog means kiss) in Soho and then I headed home. I beat Chaz there, so Carmen and I opened some wine and talked. We had to open another bottle when Chaz came home and ended up talking until three in the morning. A heavy rain reminded me I was in London as it hit the sloped windows of my attic room.

More to come . . .

The other day, I apparently felt my first earthquake.

I was reading in bed, when I noticed that my dresser was shaking. I thought the neighbor couple on the other side of the wall must be enjoying themselves. When my bed seemed to move for a micro-second, I chalked the sensation up to my exhaustion.

When my friends then asked a few days later if I felt the earthquake, I put it all together.

However, the earthquake was just one sign of many of the coming end-times. The second sign was when I became possessed by Zuul. Then I met the keymaster:

P.S. Don’t forget to check out what Zuul and I have been writing lately at www.matchflick.com & http://www.examiner.com/scifi-in-sacramento/karma-waltonen

The other day, I was thinking about the boy’s many hobbies. Like many young people, he enjoys the glories of the internet, video games, and other forms of media. Unlike many young people, he is widely read. However, he also writes sketch comedy, builds musical instruments, and works on robots.

Then I started thinking about my own hobbies and the hobbies of my friends, noting that although we all read, we have a wide-range of things we create. We are writers, chefs, bakers, knitters, visual artists, musicians, etc. Part of the ties of friendship is the admiration we have for each other’s talents.

Many of my students have great hobbies as well. When they write about the things they create, the things they’re passionate about, their writing comes alive. I find myself caring about subjects I’ve never had an interest in and activities I’ve never actually wanted to do.

Sadly, many of my students don’t seem to make anything. Some students actually say they have no interests when I poll them. This never bodes well for their writing or their conversation. A sizable number report being interested in listening to music or watching sports, but their engagement is completely passive.

It occurs to me that my informal observations of my students has illustrated the need for a person to be a creator to be interesting. The availability of an immense amount of media we can passively take in can hinder our own creative impulses. How much easier, after a long day, to turn on the tv or to fire up youtube than to summon the energy for creation.

However, those of us with creative passions know that we need to create. We might not indulge every day, but if we go too long without our creative outlet–without writing, without trying out a new recipe, etc–we don’t feel right. Creation is hard & usually messy, but we can’t find peace, can’t find ourselves, without it.

I’m not saying that passive enjoyments are worthless. I happen to watch an unhealthy amount of tv, after all. But how much more  rewarding it has become when I end up giving a paper on Buffy (as I will next month) after all those hours? Or when I wrote that book on The Simpsons and I got to meet so many wonderful people who work there?

I’m so thankful that the boy has so many things he enjoys. I wish I could get more of my students to have creativity in their lives. I have the feeling they’d be better students & better fellow citizens of this wonderous world. I didn’t consciously set out to instill the creative spirit in the boy, so I’m not sure exactly how to plant that seed in passive, boring adults. Is it too late for them?

Courses taught: 4 (which equals a full year’s load for a professor)
Thank yous from former students for talking them down from suicide: 1
Sons sent off to college: 1
Peking duck meals consumed (Alexander has been craving it): 0, unfortunately
2000 Ford Tauruses bought to replace “the shopping cart”: 1
Amazing plays viewed in Ashland: 4
Famous television/film actors recognized in plays in Ashland: 3
Trips to LA to visit The Simpsons and associated friends: 1 (visit described at matchflick)
Obscene puppet improv theatre with Brian Hensen: 1
Books I’d planned to read for “fun” (i.e. not for classes, campus book project, book group): over 20
Books I read for fun: 2
Tim Burton exhibits in LA: 1
Gordon cups: 2
Cats gone crazy: 1
Facebook requests from people who seem to think that Facebook is myspace (i.e. from people who do not know me and who have pictures of themselves taken in the mirror with a phone camera): 2
Facebook requests denied: 2
Weeks without a working oven: 2+
Computers replaced: 2
DVD players replaced: 1
Afternoons I ran away to go wine tasting: 1
Papers graded: who was counting?
Movies seen in the theatre: 2 or 3 (not enough!)
Weird medications I went on with awful side effects to try to stop headaches: 1
Weird medications I know have to wean off of (because you can’t just stop it) because they don’t stop headaches: 1
Black bras purchased in search of one that was actually comfortable: 3
Simpsons-themed cakes made for me: 1
Days off: 0