As the headline says, by my current standards, this has been a phenomenally busy week. I've had visitors — specficrider dropped in while passing through on a trip from her home in Germany; likewise beth_bernobich and Mr. Beth graciously took the time to visit whilst in Portland on a family errand. Yesterday I managed to get out to lunch with J.A. Pitts, which also constituted the sum total of my appearance at OryCon for the year. (As an aside, the_child will be at OryCon most of today and tomorrow, hanging with the Pitts family, so if you're a friend or fan of hers, say hello.)

Today is the November babies birthday party in my family. Lisa Costello and I will be off to Benihana with Mother of the Child, tillyjane (a/k/a my Mom), lillypond (a/k/a my sister), the Niece, Dad and (step)Mom to celebrate birthdays for the Niece, (step)Mom, as well as my brother back east. The venue was chosen by the Niece, and represents rather an excursion for me in my current state. Afterwards, we'll come back to Nuevo Rancho Lake for cake and presents.

Tomorrow morning, Lisa Costello and I are having early brunch with Jersey Girl in Portland and her visiting family members. After that, I'm hoping to catch the first matinee of Cloud Atlas [ imdb ], but looking at the movie's run time (172 minutes), I'm not sure that's a smart move for me. I hate to miss it in the theaters, though.

Anyway, that represents an exhaustingly overscheduled week for me by current standards. As Lisa Costello observed yesterday after my lunch with John, I really am an extrovert. I was physically wrung out but mentally and emotionally energized by being out in the world.

This chemo-induced introversion is for the birds.