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Jay Lake
Date: 2009-07-02 16:08
Subject: [cancer] And so it goes
Security: Public
Tags:cancer, conventions, family, health, travel

More news today from my oncologist. Unless something crops up to contraindicate, we're committing to chemo. This is based on the MRI results, and her further discussions with my cancer surgeon about my case.

I have some followups in San Francisco the week of 7/20, including further imaging studies of the various sites, and a full chest imaging to evaluate the lung spot and see if there are more lung spots.

I meet with my Portland oncologist on 7/27 to formally prescribe the chemotherapy. On 7/29 I have the chemotherapy orientation class. Sometime thereafter (as yet unscheduled) I will have the port put in — I'll be a Harkonnen! — then commence a six month course, with a break at midpoint for evaluation through further imaging studies.

So sometime in early August I'll be entering the magical land of chemo. This makes WorldCon very iffy, though we'll look at scheduling issues. I'm not going to delay treatment just for the sake of a Con trip, but if it all fits together, that can be my hurrah. I am probably good for all commitments before then. On the plus side, I can probably get the first draft of Endurance wrapped before the killjuice starts melting my brain.

In other news, my mom is in the ER in Portland tonight with a blood clotting issue which is not particularly serious now but needs to be addressed before it becomes serious. I, of course, am in San Francisco, and my sister is at the Washington coast.

Never rains but it pours around here.

Originally published at jlake.com.

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Jay Lake
Date: 2009-06-28 19:52
Subject: [calendula] A grand weekend away
Security: Public
Tags:calendula, california, conventions, northwest, personal, travel, writing

[info]calendula_witch and I spent a four-day weekend at Iron Springs, at the writer's retreat and conference there. We were among old friends and new, including [info]davidlevine, [info]kateyule, [info]jackwilliambell, [info]csinman, [info]criada, [info]kehrli, [info]kaerfel, [info]spencimusprime, Chrissy, [info]thecrimsony, a cast of almost a dozen others whose LJ handles are unknown to me or have slipped my mind, and of course our host, [info]karenjunker. Iron Springs is an ageing (to the point of being nigh post-apocalyptic) resort that is completely off the grid with respect to cell phones and Internet, so it was a very focused weekend.

This is where [info]calendula_witch and I first met last year, and such a long, strange year it's been. At least two of the folks there last year tried to warn her off of me (Hah! Take that!), but everyone this year seemed quite happy that we had eventually worked things out and are quite happy our own selves. Lots of walking, lots of writing, lots of workshopping, some good conversation, a guerrilla underwear signing, and a fair amount of romance.

Came back this afternoon and put [info]calendula_witch on a plane back for San Francisco. I'm exhausted, and so is she. I'll fly down tomorrow to hit my second opinion appointment on Tuesday for the cancer stuff, then spend the rest of the week with her. So indeed a grand weekend away, with a grand week to come.

Originally published at jlake.com.

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Jay Lake
Date: 2009-06-24 20:30
Subject: [calendula] Iron Springs
Security: Public
Tags:calendula, conventions, personal, travel

Tomorrow morning, [info]calendula_witch and I are off to Iron Springs. We first met at this same retreat last year. It took a while for us to figure out what we might mean to each other, and we'll never be done with that process, but making the trip again this year with the love of my life is an intensely wonderful gift from the universe.

Originally published at jlake.com.

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Jay Lake
Date: 2009-06-24 04:54
Subject: [personal] Grids, the falling off thereof
Security: Public
Tags:calendula, cancer, conventions, personal

[info]calendula_witch arrives this evening. At a very stupidly early hour of the morrow we have my MRI to chase this liver mass a little further down the cancer road. Then we're off to Iron Springs until Sunday evening. I expect to be off the grid for almost four days starting tomorrow morning, as I believe there is neither Internet nor cell service where we're going to be.

So no link salad, no other wit and erudition, and slow-to-respond email. Y'all play nice while we're gone. Talk amongst yourselves.

Originally published at jlake.com.

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Jay Lake
Date: 2009-06-20 11:39
Subject: [personal] Time flies when you got nothing to do
Security: Public
Tags:books, calendula, child, conventions, endurance, family, food, personal, writing

It's amazing how time flies by when you get up at 3:40 in the morning. And that was me sleeping in... It's barely past noon and here's what I've accomplished so far today:

  • Exercised

  • Morning blog roll

  • Shower (with hair wash, takes a while)

  • Two and half hours on Endurance

  • Cooked breakfast for self

  • Worked on story critique for two friends

  • Had a sweet phone call with [info]calendula_witch

  • Submitted the final story for The Sky That Wraps

  • Caught up on email

  • Went to grocery store

  • Did laundry

  • Made week's salad and lemonade/limeade

  • Cooked lunch for self, [info]the_child and her friend I—

  • Changed clothes for the Scholes baby shower


Shortly, off to the baby shower with [info]the_child and [info]tillyjane. Dinner with evening with [info]saycestsay, and a possible [info]camillealexa sighting. Tomorrow, more Endurance, a Father's Day Brunch with the usual suspects, some cancer paperwork for my upcoming second opinion appointment, a final pass through Iron Springs critique, draft another Tor.com blog post and read through [info]calendula_witch's Nightcraft Mother dailies to date.

Week to come: Doctor's appointment Monday. [info]calendula_witch arrives Wednesday. MRI Thursday. Then off to Iron Springs!

Originally published at jlake.com.

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Jay Lake
Date: 2009-06-14 19:12
Subject: [travel|cancer] The next few steps
Security: Public
Tags:books, calendula, cancer, child, conventions, endurance, personal, travel, writing

For those playing along with the home game version of "Where's Jay", the next few weeks have slipped into startling complexity. In brief:

6/15-6/19 Omaha, NE
6/19-6/25 Portland, OR
6/25-6/28 Iron Springs, WA (with [info]calendula_witch)
6/28-6/29 Portland, OR
6/29-7/5 San Francisco, CA (with [info]calendula_witch)
7/5-7/12 Ocean Park, WA (with [info]the_child)

And, of course, working two hours every day on Endurance as I go along.

I'm currently scheduled to go to Omaha 7/13-7/17, then back to San Francisco 7/17-7/21, but that's all a bit iffy depending on where medical stuff goes. In that vein, I have cancer-related appointments of various kinds on 6/19, 6/22, 6/25 and 6/30. By early July we'll hopefully have a much better idea of what comes next on the cancer front, which in turn will govern whether I make it to WorldCon and so forth.

Originally published at jlake.com.

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Jay Lake
Date: 2009-06-07 17:17
Subject: [books] Green readings and signings
Security: Public
Tags:california, conventions, green, seattle, travel

Here's the current calendar for readings and appearances around Green Powell's | Amazon ], which will be released on Tuesday, June 9th.

Friday, June 12th, 7:00 pm — Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing [Portland area]

Saturday, July 18th, 3:00 pm — Borderlands Books [San Francisco]

Friday, July 24th, 7:00 pm — University Books [Seattle]

Originally published at jlake.com.

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Jay Lake
Date: 2009-06-01 03:27
Subject: [links] Link salad has a city on its mind
Security: Public
Tags:books, conventions, cool, languages, links, personal, reviews, stories, tech, weird

JayCon is his coming Saturday! Mark your calendars: [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]

A reader reacts to Mainspring Powell's | Amazon thb | Audible ] — Not so much with the liking, this one.

A reader reacts to The New Weird

A reader reacts to Paper Cities

The museum of unworkable devices

How many spoken languages? How many computer languages?

?otD: Is your karma manual or automatic?



6/1/2009
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
This morning's weigh-in: 217.2
Currently reading: The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold; A Long Line of Cells by Lewis Thomas


Originally published at jlake.com.

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Jay Lake
Date: 2009-05-28 04:16
Subject: [links] Link salad discovers Thursday under the carpet
Security: Public
Tags:conventions, cool, funny, links, personal, photos, politics, publishing, reviews, science, stories

JayCon is next week! Mark your calendars: [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]

Dept of Things Man Was Meant To Wot Not Of: [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ] — What I look like in a corset. Luckily, you can also see [info]calendula_witch in the photo, which takes away some of the pain.

A reader reacts to METAtropolis — Well, ok, a listener.

Crime fiction to science fiction

Maps of an alien EarthCentauri Dreams with some cool exoplanetary science.

Green-glowing monkeys have green-glowing babies — (Thanks to [info]lillypond.)

Aircraft factories! — (Snurched from Dark Roasted Blend.)

How gliders are like nuclear deterrenceFreakonomics with a squib on risk analysis.

It Sticks in My CrawThe National Review on pronouncing Sotomayor's name. Always a class act, those conservatives.

Sotomayor and 2010. And 2012.The Edge of the American West with an interesting piece on the Sotomayor pick. I think he's right — the GOP just can't stop themselves.

?otD: Arugula? WTF is arugula?



5/28/2009
Body movement: 60 minute staionary bike ride
This morning's weigh-in: 219.2
Currently reading: The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold; A Long Line of Cells by Lewis Thomas


Originally published at jlake.com.

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Jay Lake
Date: 2009-05-27 17:39
Subject: [photos] Corsets, foiled again!
Security: Public
Tags:calendula, conventions, funny, personal, photos

Puzzling Evidence

Corset Queens

Photo by A. Friend

Originally published at jlake.com.

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Jay Lake
Date: 2009-05-26 04:57
Subject: [repost] JayCon IX
Security: Public
Tags:books, conventions, green, personal, portland

Mark your calendars now. In celebration of my natal anniversary, JayCon IX, my 9th annual 37th birthday party, will be Saturday, June 6th (oddly, my actual birthday), here in Portland from 1 to 5 pm at the Flying Pie in SE Portland. Come help me celebrate both my birthday and the release of Green Powell's | Amazon ], which will be out that month.

Flying Pie Pizzeria
7804 SE Stark Street
Portland, 97215
(503) 254-2016
http://www.flying-pie.com/
[ Google Maps ]

As is traditional for JayCon, Paul Carpentier is specifically not invited.


Originally published at jlake.com.

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Jay Lake
Date: 2009-05-25 11:16
Subject: [cancer] Slow dancing with the Fear
Security: Public
Tags:calendula, cancer, conventions, personal, publishing, writing

Not much has changed in this year's New Adventures in Cancer since my last update. A bit more information, courtesy of my conversation with [info]calendula_witch's professional associate, and some more time to think. I've been turning over how this will affect everything from my summer plans to my lifestyle choices. Writing and publishing schedules have also been much in mind.

The Fear came back last night. Luckily I was right next to [info]calendula_witch when it happened — usually the Fear catches me alone. She was beyond generous in letting me ride it out and helping me re-center afterwards. As is generally the case for me with the Fear, it came on suddenly and passed just as suddenly. Like a blackline squall in my soul.

I am tired of being afraid, tired of hearing myself talk about this, tired of focusing on it. On the plus side, I went two days at BayCon without needing to do much focusing other than catching friends up on the details.

And this year's bout is a lot less terrifying than last year's. Maybe familiarity breeds contempt. Or perhaps I just have a better handle on what it is and where it's going. The big struggle continues to be my sense of the long-term changes in my time horizons and possible life choices. I'm simply higher-risk. That hasn't been formally quantified yet, but it's true on the face of things.

Also like last year's bout of cancer, this one is already giving me gifts. I'm not too foolish to see them, but I am still very much resenting the process as well as what it does and will do to me.

I keep on keeping on.

Originally published at jlake.com.

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Jay Lake
Date: 2009-05-25 09:15
Subject: [funny] Overheard in the bar at BayCon
Security: Public
Tags:conventions, funny

"But we're both bottoms. If we went on a date, we'd just sit there and grin at each other for three hours."

Originally published at jlake.com.

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Jay Lake
Date: 2009-05-24 09:13
Subject: [conventions] BayCon Day 2
Security: Public
Tags:calendula, california, conventions, travel

[info]calendula_witch and I spent yesterday having a relaxacon day at BayCon. Passed the day at Barcon, plus a swing through the dealer's room where we hung out with Amelia and [info]jlassen. Did a little shopping, too. Dinner last night with a slightly larger cast, including [info]dinogrl, [info]dave_gallaher, [info]lilliancsernica, Pat McEwen and Dave C. of Cargo Cult Books & Notions. Party circuit, then some quiet drinking.

Short day here today, then home to the Witch Nest.

Originally published at jlake.com.

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Jay Lake
Date: 2009-05-23 06:17
Subject: [conventions] BayCon day 1
Security: Public
Tags:calendula, conventions, personal

[info]calendula_witch and I made BayCon right on schedule, about 7:30 last night. Met up with Amelia, [info]radconbob and [info]ramblin_phyl for dinner in the bar. Had passing conversations with a number of folks. Retired to hang out quietly for a few hours. Finally, after being up for 21 hours, I slept.

But I'm awake now!

Today's plan, mostly BarCon, with dealer room excursions and whatnot. We shouldn't be hard to find. Probably leaving early tomorrow, rather than staying til Monday. Expect continued light blogging with scattered Twittershowers.

Originally published at jlake.com.

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Jay Lake
Date: 2009-05-21 10:15
Subject: [travel] Baltimore or less
Security: Public
Tags:calendula, california, conventions, travel, work

In Baltimore now. My colleague and I were in the wrong city in Delaware, which took 75 minutes to correct this morning. All went well, now hanging in Hilton BWI Airport. Dinner at 7 if any of you Balticonners are in early, or local fen/writers want to come by and nosh with me.

And yes, I do know that Balticon is here tomorrow, but [info]calendula_witch will be going to BayCon tomorrow. While I love you all here on the East Coast, she's there, you know?

Originally published at jlake.com.

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Jay Lake
Date: 2009-05-16 10:30
Subject: [personal] Saturday unfolds
Security: Public
Tags:calendula, california, cancer, cheese, child, conventions, family, omaha, personal, portland, travel

[info]calendula_witch, [info]the_child and I are off to do Saturday things. Some shopping, some hanging around, a cheese expedition.

We're winding up at my parents' about 5 for a cancer party with Mom and Dad, [info]tillyjane (my other mother), [info]lillypond, The Niece, The Niece's dad and his sweetie, [info]kenscholes, [info]jens_fire (and onboard twins!), and the delightful K—.

[info]calendula_witch is back to San Francisco tomorrow morning. I'm off to Omaha on Monday, then Delaware on Wednesday (anyone down for dinner in Dover Wednesday night?), then San Francisco next Friday so [info]calendula_witch and I can hit BayCon. Cancer news when I have it; still waiting on the PET scan results as well as the biopsy on the polyp.

Originally published at jlake.com.

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Jay Lake
Date: 2009-05-09 05:39
Subject: [links] Link salad heads West because it's good for the soul
Security: Public
Tags:contests, conventions, cool, culture, health, language, links, personal, politics

Don't forget to enter the new caption contest [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ] — Time permitting, I'll take this to a poll tomorrow.

The Open Question Thread is still active [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]

I am Toastmaster for World Fantasy Convention 2009 — See some, all or none of you in San Jose.

What's in an American name? — An interesting graphic from Strange Maps.

Criggo on swine flu — Hahahahah.

Are Americans driving less?

An heir and a spareFreakonomics with some lateral thinking on SCOTUS nominees.

?otD: Who took a face from the ancient gallery?



5/9/2009
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
This morning's weigh-in: 216.0
Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville, Engine Summer by John Crowley



Originally published at jlake.com.

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Jay Lake
Date: 2009-05-06 14:00
Subject: [repost] JayCon IX
Security: Public
Tags:books, conventions, green, personal, portland

Mark your calendars now. In celebration of my natal anniversary, JayCon IX, my 9th annual 37th birthday party, will be Saturday, June 6th (oddly, my actual birthday), here in Portland from 1 to 5 pm at the Flying Pie in SE Portland. Come help me celebrate both my birthday and the release of Green Powell's | Amazon ], which will be out that month.

Flying Pie Pizzeria
7804 SE Stark Street
Portland, 97215
(503) 254-2016
http://www.flying-pie.com/
[ Google Maps ]

As is traditional for JayCon, Paul Carpentier is specifically not invited.

Originally published at jlake.com.

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Jay Lake
Date: 2009-03-23 12:14
Subject: [photos] Twisting by the pool at ICFA
Security: Public
Tags:conventions, florida, photos

A few photos from the ICFA poolside Dead Dog on Sunday, March 22nd. )

As usual, more at the Flickr set.

Originally published at jlake.com.

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