The Journal of Michael Merriam

careswen and I will be heading up for a long weekend mini-vacation to Stillwater starting tomorrow. We are both looking forward to getting out of town and having a little private time together. We've picked out some things we both want to do, though we will be pleased with any serendipitous finds and discoveries.

Last night, while we ate dinner, I told careswen that I was really looking forward to this trip. I need to get away from the house for a bit. I need to recharge, step away from the internet, news, politics, and yes, from writing. I've been feeling tired and worn and generally off. Not quite depressed, but hovering near it, I think. More like out-of-gas and stretched really thin.

It's kind of an odd situation, because when I don't have a writing project going (which I don't right now) I tend to get antsy and grumpy. But this time I'm so worn out and brain dead from the busy last couple of months, that I don’t want to write, except not having a project going is what? If you guessed "Making me antsy and grumpy" you'd win a prize, except I'm not giving anything away. Sorry.

I'm hoping that this little retreat will give me chance to recharge properly. I intend to play tourist during the day and soak in the whirlpool at night. And read. After we leave tomorrow (late morning, I think), I won't have access to the internet (no email or LJ all weekend), won't turn on a television, and probably won't even turn on a radio. I'll take my pen and notebook, but if they never get opened, I don't really care. I might do some personal journal work.

Just thinking about getting out of town and spending a long weekend relaxing with careswen make me feel better. I'll be back on Monday.

Now that I am over being sick, finished with my deadline projects (at least for the moment), and survived yesterday's migraine plus weird reaction to the Maxalt, I thought I might get back to blogging about the things that really matter.

You know, like the cat.

During my last bout of being ill, she went from mild mannered Reverend Selena to Selena Fuzzygale, Super-Nurse Kitten! Marvel at her exploits!

7:15 am: Large Male Monkey (LMM) is unresponsive to plaintive cries for a snack. Took a tentative bite on LMM's forearm, asking: "Monkey? Are you dead?" in case LMM was dead and I needed to eat him before spoilage. LMM reacted feebly. Drastic measures called for if I want snack and box cleaned.

8:45 am: Attempted "Cold Nose Poke," by inserting nose into LMM's ear. LMM groaned and rolled over.

9:18 am: Used "Whurffle," breathing sharply into LMM"s ear. No response.

11:48 am: Defended LMM from infestation of blanket mice. LMM was unappreciative and kicked me off the bed.

12:06 pm: Slapped LMM on face with paw. No response.

12:08 pm: Took a tentative bite on LMM's forearm, asking: "Monkey? Are you dead?" LMM still alive. Nursing must be working!

1:36 pm: LMM stood, ambled to bathroom, cleaned my box, and returned to bed. Still no snack.

1:42 pm: Walked on LMM chest and purred. No response. Extended one claw and pulled on LMM's lower lip. LMM still alive. Still no snack.

2:27 pm: Defended LMM from second infestation of blanket mice. LMM threw pillow. LMM must be responding to therapy!

2:49 pm: Tired from long day nursing LMM. Took nap on LMM's chest, moved to LMM's head. Awoke next to LMM in pool of drool. LMM must be sicker than thought.

3:16 pm: Still no snack. Attempts drastic "Leap Therapy." Jumps on and off LMM's chest multiple times. LMM rolls over and pulls covers over his head.

3:38 pm: Burrow under covers to determine if LMM is still alive.

4:07 pm: Exhausted. Take nap.

4:58 pm: Awake to find LMM gone! Food and water bowl filled, snack in place on top of food! LMM returns to room and scritches my ears! I am the bestest nurse-kitten evah!

And because tiny_wings asked, here are a couple of pictures of Her Fuzziness, the Reverend Selena Xena Merriam.

More work on the novella done around housework. I think I'm pretty much over my illness.

The D&D game I was running is over (No more DMing for me for awhile). Our next DM is planning to introduce us to D&D 4th Edition, but until he's ready to start, we are filling in the schedule by having board game night this week. So I'm off to enjoy the company of friends, a plethora of board game choices, and a potluck taco bar dinner.

Untitled Weird West Steampunk Novella

Too sick today to make much progress on the story, but I did get the man-eating monster in the jail with them. There will a short, vicious fight where the werewolf is revealed, a couple of characters bite the dust, and the survivors have to look for a more defensible position. On the positive side, the group now has everything they need to kill the creature and call for rescue, if they can figure out how to use everything and not kill each other first.

Medicine and bed now.
Untitled Weird West Steampunk Novella

In an attempt to return to something close to normal after yesterday's plumbing fiasco, I have taken the fans from where they were drying the soffit (though I plan to put them back up after dinner) and placed my tea and coffee service back on the kitchen counter, along with a handful of appliances that typically live there.

Tomorrow I'm running an errand with careswen in the morning, stopping at DreamHaven in the early afternoon, and then over to the Home Owners Association office to decide just who's pipe it was that broke, and hence who is liable for the damages. A call to the insurance folks might follow.

So, now that the busted pipe is repaired, and they fixed a pipe that the previous owners or tenants had patched but not repaired properly, we have to completely replace the soffit over the kitchen counter, cut out and replace a section of drywall near the washer and dryer, replace drywall in one of the upstairs bathrooms, and then reseat the commode in same bathroom.

It could have been a lot worse. The ceiling between levels didn't collapse. No water got into the electrical, shorting out the entire house. The place didn't burn down. We can fix this, and as I pointed out to careswen: It's kind of handy that I'm still working from home right now, since I'll be here to handle it.

Kudos to greykev, who brought us a lunch we could eat on the patio while the plumber and maintenance guy were repairing the damages in my kitchen. That was a big help, and then he and careswen cleaned up the kitchen counters and floors while I took imtrex and fell flat, having given myself a migraine from stressing out. That there was enough left-over lunch to make dinner as well, thereby relieving any of us from cooking in the still disorganized kitchen, was a pleasant bonus.

So now I'm sitting here drinking coffee and trying to be Zen about it all. It helped that we had a lovely time last night at a friend's birthday party, but that is a post all on its own, which I will get to later today or tomorrow.

I dozed earlier and had a weird-ass dream about clown cars, animal crackers come to life, and the ghost of Alfred Bester. I don't really remember much past that, which I suspect is a mercy.

I started feeling not-so-good last night and it has progressed into I-think-something-is-wrong.

Headache, sinus pressure, nausea, dizziness, topped with a smidgen of intermittent disorientation and punctuated by a hundred million mechanical crickets chirping in my ears. Fun times.

I managed to drag my weary self, plus laptop, notebook, and pen, upstairs after finishing the one thing I needed to get done today no matter what.

I'm going to rest and maybe pet The Reverend, who is hovering anxiously around her ill monkey.

I do have things I want to blog about, but until I start to feel better, and maybe regain the ability to concentrate, I'm leaving you with stats and a word meter.

July Stats:
Submissions Made: 3
Sales: 1
Rejections: 0
Other: 2 (Stories accepted by Anthology Builder)
Publications: 0
Crits Given: 0
Approx Word Count: 12876
Stories Circulating: 10

Dark Water Blues

Despite becoming ill and still being that way, the weekend was full of fun.

( Details Behind the Cut )

1. I am still reading the blogs of every person I have friended. That means every one of you is getting read by me. I may not be commenting much right now, but I am reading, and I am interested.

Second: Thank you all for the well wishes yesterday. That was one of the worst migraines I've ever suffered. Today seems to be The Reverend's turn, as she is sick to her stomach and clingy.

C: I may be a little scarce around here for a few days. Between writing on Dark Water Blues, putting the final touches on Shimmers & Shadows before it heads for the printer, working on the Sooper Sekrit publishing project, preparing for 4th Street Fantasy, and getting geared up for the CONvergence Programming Deathmarch of 2008, well, I'm a little swamped. Add in real life and things are kind of hectic right now.

I may not be around LJ much this week, so take care and be good to each other.

In Peace,
Michael

Yesterday I had the worst migraine I've experienced in years. By a little after noon it was full blown. I took my maximum amount of imitrex and slept until nearly 5:00 pm. I woke up, but was still headachey, and dizzy, and feeling over-drugged to boot. careswen brought me toast and tea, and ended up stretching back out on the bed. greykev came and cooked dinner for us, and I managed to come downstairs, eat, and chat quietly for about an hour and a half, then I started feeling tired, dizzy, and still had a moderate headache, so back to bed I returned. I awoke at 4:00am, tired and dopey, but without the headache. I dozed for another hour and half while the Reverend Selena purred and nudged me with her nose to make sure I was not dead, until I finally felt well enough to get up and make coffee.

So yeah, completely lost yesterday, except that the migraine didn't start until after I'd taken out the trash and done other housework, which seems so very unfair.

I did manage to read quite a bit of pameladean's Tam Lin in my more lucid moments. I am near the end of the book and feeling sad that it is almost over.

If something important happened to you yesterday and you posted it on LJ, let me know.