status report

[truepenny]

Have a little more sleep credited to my account this morning (although my dreams were bad), so I may actually be able to make a reasonable facsimile of sense.

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Minicon 40

I had a very lovely time. I was on three panels ("Turtles All the Way Down: Creation Myths in Fantasy and SF," "Did Tolkien Harm Fantasy?", "Revenge: Why it's a Motivation and Why it's Cool") all of which were interesting and fun; panelists and audiences were both excellent. Otherwise, I did not make it to a single lick of programming--which I'm finding these days is more and more the reason to volunteer to be on panels, because otherwise I'd probably go the whole con without ever getting out of the dealers' room. Ergo, I spent most of the con with elisem and dragonsden, and a splendid thing it was, too. Met many LJ people. Had meals with 1crowdedhour, ckd, mrissa. Was happy to get a chance to talk to lydy, pegkerr, pameladean, jenett, sstaten (not all at once, and some not for nearly long enough). Gorgeous prints from dd_b to whom mille remerciements.

I returned home with two books (When Fox is a Thousand by Larissa Lai and Fat White Vampire Blues by Andrew Fox), one CD (Play Each Morning, Wild Queen by the Flash Girls), a set of hairsticks, a pair of cool earrings, presents for various people, and a Folkmanis mole puppet which fills me with delight. (matociquala, the ad copy includes a spy joke! "Here's one mole you won't mind infiltrating your covert operation.")

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And when I got home, my new Kinesis keyboard awaited me. Which is a great and glorious thing, since my beloved Kyboar has ceased to be workable. (There are many quirks I can put up with, but nonfunctional "c," "d," and "e" keys are simply not among them.) It goes back to Kinesis to see if they can repair it; if they can't Mirrorthaw says we'll get me a refurbished one, so that I'll have a spare. And since the road-test last week proved that it takes about two hours on a standard keyboard before things start to go seriously haywire in my wrists and forearms, a spare Kinesis is actually a lot closer to a necessity than a luxury.

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Managed to finish novella revisions whilst I was gone (trains are really handy that way), so now I need to do the revisions on the article for Reflection's Edge, do the revisions on A Companion to Wolves so that matociquala doesn't have to chew her own leg off in order to escape, and (::deep breath::) start the revisions on Kekropia, since my lovely and talented first-readers have given me their feedback.

And probably 5,006 other things, but those are the big ones.

Comments

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I'm curious about what you'll think about When Fox Is A Thousand, which I found disappointing. Great opening, though.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Well, I got to the point where Artemis blows off Mercy to go commit petty crime with Diane and I wanted to smack her so much that I had to put the book down. So we'll see.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Please feel free to comment on the Fussell book when you're done with it... [ahem]

[libskrat]

I'm going to keep saying this until you listen to me. FIND A COMPETENT MASSAGE THERAPIST for your arms.

Used to be I couldn't go more than an hour on a regular keyboard either. I can do four to six now without a twinge, and eight with only minor pain. Eight hours on a Kinesis doesn't even hurt.

The muscular anatomy of your arm is a mess. It can, however, be fixed.

[ckd]

Any recs in the Boston area for such much appreciated. Thx.

[libskrat]

Wish I could help; I only know mine, and I'm in Madison!

Suggestions, though... mine was a combined MOMT and physical therapist, and she rocked my socks. If you can find that combination, jump on it with both feet.

Otherwise, look for somebody doing neuromuscular therapy, and do an initial consultation before you commit. There's a good (though incomplete) description of tests for RSI in Dr. Emil Pascarelli's Complete Guide to Repetitive Strain Injury (which is a book anybody with RSI should read, take to heart, and love); if that's not the kind of thing the therapist is doing, find somebody else.

[ckd]

I do have a PT who is doing ultrasound/massage combo work which has helped much. I may try to get approval for more frequent visits.

[sstaten.livejournal.com]

Awww, you didn't once mention comitting heresy in the creation myths pannel!

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

If I mention it, I have to explain it, and I think explaining it would need an entire post.

[sstaten.livejournal.com]

True, Very true