| Sick Days |
[Oct. 20th, 2009|03:01 am] |
Jenny's been knocked out with something the past couple of days - we think it's probably the flu, but doubt if it's of the swine variety. She called out sick to work Sunday and Monday, but she is starting to feel better and will probably be going back to work tomorrow. I've been doing my best to take care of her while she recovers, although I've caught myself coughing a little bit and my head's hurt off and on, so there's still a chance I'll get whatever she had as well. Great.
Sunday was our monthly meeting of the Spokane Comicsmiths' Guild, our local artist/writer group. We had a good turnout, and made some headway on a lot of group organizational type stuff. The main thing is that we will definitely have a presence at the Emerald City ComiCon next year in Seattle. We're still ironing out the details, but I'll post up some specifics as soon as I've got any. Should be fun. |
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| Trying to Blog More Often.... |
[Sep. 22nd, 2009|02:01 am] |
Nothing too crazy going on at the moment, although I did apply for a job today (Monday) that I think I've got a decent shot at. I actually applied and interviewed for the same job a few months ago, and was in the running for it, but apparently it's open again so I figured I should go for it. It's part-time at the library, and seems perfect for me, so I've got my fingers crossed. Jenny was feeling sick today, and her throat was really sore, so she called out for both of her jobs to rest up. I stayed up really late last night getting my application ready, and then went to turn it in first thing this morning, so I was pretty exhausted too, so we both spent a good chunk of the day asleep. Exciting, I know. ;) Yesterday was our monthly artist meeting, and this time it was a BBQ hosted by one of the members (Erik Thompson, who doesn't have a website yet, or I'd link to it because he's an awesome artist). The BBQ was a ton of fun with a lot of great food, and we ended up staying there pretty late (hence me not getting started on my application till even later). Our group was also out at the Spokane Main Street Fair last weekend. We've got a couple of photos of us up over at our blog: Spokane Comicsmiths' Guild Blog! The next big event for the Guild is the annual 24 Hour Comic Book Challenge, which is on October 3rd. Last year's challenge was actually what got us all together in the first place and sparked the formation of our group. Hopefully we'll end up with even more members, since we're expecting our biggest turn-out yet this year. Otherwise, things have been going all right. The weather has been pleasant, not too hot and occasionally rainy. Us both being sick off and on is annoying, of course, but we've still been keeping busy with art & crafts stuff. Plus the Fall TV season is starting, so we're getting all of our favorite shows back, plus a couple of potentially good new ones. Maybe I'll use an entry to just run through all the shows we're watching now, which is probably too many. But at least we don't have cable or we'd most likely be glued to the couch... |
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| Local Comics & Games News |
[Aug. 19th, 2009|03:36 am] |
Sunday was our monthly meeting of the Spokane Comicsmiths Guild. It was a good time, and fairly productive, with some brainstorming done regarding the upcoming 24 Hour Comic Book Day event and discussion of various projects. Not sure on the exact date of the next SCG meeting - we're going to try to meet more often, so the next meeting may not be at Merlyns or on a Sunday. The Marvel Birthday event we sketched at did make it into the Coeur d'Alene paper, and one member, my friend Matt Nelson, got his picture and name featured on the front page! That was, of course, incredibly cool, but unfortunately there wasn't any actual mention of the SCG group. Here's the full article: The Coeur d'Alene Press I've been thinking about working on painting miniatures again - I haven't touched any minis or paints in months, but I've been looking through my gaming books and thinking about working on an army again. I'm sure hanging out at Merlyns and being surrounded by games and gamers probably has something to do with it as well. Not sure when I'll get back into it, but I have been looking at gaming websites for the first time in ages, trying to catch up on new releases. In my internet browsing I also discovered that Gamer's Haven, the awesome game store in Idaho that tragically burned to the ground, is going to re-open in October! The store was originally in Coeur d'Alene (I even briefly worked there), and the new location will be in neighboring Post Falls (in the Outlet Mall along I-90). The new shop is scheduled to open October 1st, and I'm sure I'll swing by and check it out. :) In other news, I think I might be coming down with something. My head's hurt pretty much all day (slightly less after some DayQuil and Aspirin), and I've just felt cruddy, like I have no energy. Hopefully I'll shake whatever it is quick, 'cause it's annoying... |
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| Blogging Catch Up |
[May. 23rd, 2009|03:12 pm] |
I haven't blogged (or even Twittered) in a while, so just wanted to start remedying that:
Jenny and I have both been sick off and on the past few days - sinus stuff and head aches, but thankfully no real flu. I also did something to my back last week which I'm still slowly working out. Probably wouldn't have seemed as bad if I hadn't got sick at the same time.
It seems Summer has arrived. It's been blue skies and sunny, and in the 70s the past few days. Still pleasant and not horribly hot yet. Just a matter of time, though...
I might have some temp work lined up at Borders next month. They're apparently doing a big re-organization of the store and will need some people to do overnight work for a while, moving stuff around, which would be perfect. I'd love to get back on with them, if even part-time, but they haven't had any regular hours to spare. I'm friends with the store manager, though, so if something opens up I'm sure I'll hear about it (which is how the temp job came up).
In the meantime, I've been trying to throw myself into art and also starting to write again. I want to get my superhero comic back on track soon, so I can start it up as a web-comic. I'm also working on a second, completely separate, project which I'm hoping to do something similar with.
We're still way behind on TV shows from this season, with the last few episodes of a few of our favorite shows still taped and waiting to be watched. We have been watching a lot more movies than normal, as Jenny's dad has been taking us out to see some of the big summer blockbusters he also wants to see. Besides Wolverine and Star Trek, we saw Angels & Demons last wednesday and are looking forward to the new Terminator movie this week. I wasn't really impressed by The Da Vinci Code, and mainly just wanted to see Angels & Demons for all the art and architecture that's shown, but I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. It was incredibly rediculous, but entertaining.
Also, both of our birthdays are coming up relatively soon, although we don't really have any plans or ideas for what to do. Probably nothing too exciting, due to lack of money, but I'm sure there will be cake involved. :) |
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| Misc. - health, Watchmen, social networking |
[Mar. 7th, 2009|02:27 am] |
I've been cleaning the apartment over the last couple of days, which was dearly needed, although I've been dragging due to still getting over this cold thing, so it's taking longer than planned. But apparently there's some nasty flu going around, so we're just happy we haven't come down with that.
My wisdom teeth have been in bad shape for years, but I've never really been able to afford to do anything about them. But now that Jenny's got health/dental/vision insurance through the library, we're going to try to get me in and see what all they'll cover. One of the teeth is obviously cracked, and needs to get pulled - though I'd really like to have all 4 of them out. I should also go ahead and get a new pair of glasses while I'm at it, as I got my current pair while I was at Borders, so about 4 years ago.
The Watchmen movie came out today, which I do want to see, but don't know if I really want to sit in a theatre for 3 hours. May just wait for the 4 hour DVD version to come out and watch it at home, where I can pause it whenever I want (really, I'm all for getting my money's worth, but I still would like them to bring back intermissions at the cinema for anything over 2 1/2 hours). And I've read the book enough times (and have heard about the changed ending), so it's not like I'm worried about the movie being spoiled if I wait.
Oh, and I also deleted my Facebook account. There were a variety of reasons for this, which I'm not going to bother going into. Anybody I was friends with on there I'm also in contact with through other channels, so no great loss. |
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| Marching On |
[Mar. 2nd, 2009|12:56 am] |
With it being the beginning of the month, I figured now would be as good a time as any to try to start blogging more regularly. Maybe this'll be the time I'll actually keep at it.... Thanks to everyone for the advice and suggestions regarding my digital TV rant. There's a couple of things I can try now to maybe help, and hopefully when we move we'll either have better reception or the money to afford cable. It doesn't look like we'll be making it to the Emerald City Comic-Con this year, which is disappointing but kinda unavoidable. Really just can't afford to make the trip right now, as it's only a month away. The Spokane Con is coming up at the end of May - I'll be sure not to miss that and hopefully we'll be better off next year so we can go to the ECCC. Of course, we'd also really like to make it down to the San Diego Comic-Con one of these days, but that's far less likely.... Jenny's been knocked out sick the last couple of days with a sinus infection, and I've still got a lingering cold that hopefully won't turn into an infection as well. But we're stocked up on soup and juice and taking it easy. Um, I guess that's it for now. Perhaps I can actually keep these entries short-ish and often, instead of occasional and way too long to read.... |
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| Appliances! (update) + Misc. |
[Jan. 31st, 2009|12:39 am] |
We got our shiny new appliances yesterday (the 29th)! New fridge, range, dishwasher and washer & dryer! Everything is quite awesome and we're super-happy to finally get them. It's not enough to keep us from finding a new place to live, but we'll enjoy having them while we're here. We got another note from the apartment people today - apparently they're going to re-key the whole complex, starting next month. We're slightly curious as to the "why"s, but it's not like it really affects us one way or the other... Jenny's finally starting to get over being sick, and now I'm coming down with something, probably the same thing. Stuffy head, general aches and pains, normal stuff. I've been re-reading the excellent Emberverse series from S.M. Stirling, and just started the 4th book after checking it out from the library. I just started it yesterday, and am almost half-way done; afterwards I've still got the newest (5th) book in the series to read. Then I'll probably re-read his Nantucket series, which is (loosely) set in the same universe. Stirling is a (in my opinion) great alternate-history/sci-fi author - highly recommended. |
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| Apartment Stuff, etc. |
[Dec. 17th, 2008|01:33 am] |
So we got a note from the apartment people today, saying that the appliance replacement process will (supposedly) begin this week, and will take place over the next 2 months. That's something to look forward to, atleast (new, working, oven!).
Our lease is also up at the end of the month, so we'll have to sign another one of those. We haven't decided how long to go with, but we're leaning towards the year long one. We've been wanting to move out of here for ages, but have never had enough money set aside to do it easily. Now we don't have enough money to do it at all, and until we've got some more coming in, it's going to be quite a while before it's possible.
They're raising our rent again, but atleast if we sign a year long lease, they hopefully won't be able to raise our rent in six months (it's only been six since our last lease/rent hike). And I suppose if we were somehow able to afford to move (win the lottery, find a big bag of money, etc.), we'd probably be able to afford to break our lease as well. Oh well....
My head's hurting again. I thought it was a tooth ache at first, but now I think it's just more sinus problems. Fun.
It's cold here (like, it seems, most places right now). Cold enough for us, I think. Seems like we might be finally acclimating. If it was 4 years ago, I'd probably be wearing shorts - now I just keep turning the heat up.... :) |
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| Winter Wonderland |
[Nov. 28th, 2008|03:35 pm] |
We just went for a walk around the block in the first snow-fall of the year. It's still coming down pretty hard - big fluffy flakes - and is sticking pretty good. It may still warm up and melt away quickly, but I wouldn't bet on it. I think our first snow last year was also a day or two after Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving day was nice. Nothing too exciting, just stuffed ourselves to the gills, and sat around for the rest of the day chatting and (unfortunately, but not surprisingly) watching the Seahawks lose....
Still sniffly and sneezy. We need to make a run to the store later for more cold medicines, but otherwise it will mostly be a day for resting and recuperating. |
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| All Clear |
[Jul. 14th, 2008|11:48 pm] |
Well, the evacuation order has been lifted, and residents are being allowed to return to their homes, so apparently the fire is all but over. They've even determined the cause - a backyard fire pit that "got away" from the residents due to the high winds. Officials haven't released any names of those responsible, and haven't addressed whether charges are going to be pressed. At this point, fire fighting costs have topped $300,000, and I don't believe that takes into account the damage to homes in the area....
I woke up Sunday morning feeling like I was starting to get sick, so I decided to stay home and rest while Jenny headed over to her folk's place and work on rocks. Her parents and sister have all been sick recently, so it's not really much of a surprise, but still annoying. I felt even worse today and spent most of the day in bed; I'm afraid it might be the flu. Hopefully I can shake it relatively quickly, since I've got plenty of things I should be working on (commissions, job hunting, computer stuff as well as plenty of personal art and writing projects), and this bug certainly isn't helping. :) |
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| Happy (nearly) New Years! |
[Dec. 30th, 2007|04:01 pm] |
It's kinda hard to believe that 2007 is almost over, but here we are again, just about to start a new year. I'm not a big fan of resolutions (mainly since most end up being far too unreachable, and then you're just setting yourself up for disappointment), but I think we do have atleast one achievable goal for 2008:
Get out of this apartment and into an actual house! Our neighbors finally moved out a little while back, and now we have new neighbors who seem to be nice enough, but are just as loud. Seriously, why does everyone in this complex have to slam their door everytime they leave? Why? Our old neighbor had his parties and booming rap music - and after talking to him a few times he slowly learned to keep it under control (I think he realized he should be nicer to us after helping him get his stolen car back, but I can't be certain). The new neighbors apparently have an X-Box or something similar, and love their wargames, since right now it sounds like the building is getting shelled by mortar fire.
We're still not sure where exactly we want to live, but we want to have atleast a little bit of room around the house (like a good size yard, with some trees), and it obviously has to be larger than the apartment we're in now. We'd like to have another bedroom (to be a permanent gaming room for all of our miniature stuff), a bigger kitchen with more pantry/cupboard space and newer appliances, and more storage space in general. Oh, and definately a garage, preferably bigger than the one we have now.
Our lease is up in June, but we need to start looking soon, atleast to figure out what area we want to move to. And whatever job Jenny gets will have an impact on the location as well.
Otherwise, I'm sick again, this time something I picked up from hanging out with Tigger so much before Christmas. Her and Lincoln have both been sick, and it's obvious I've got the same thing. The house is in post-holidays shambles - Jenny started taking down the Christmas decorations today, mainly because the tree is in the way of her studio stuff and her plants (since there really wasn't anywhere else to put it). So now we've got Christmas stuff (presents, decorations, wrapping paper, etc) scattered throughout the house in disarray.
And we got some more wedding pictures from Shane, as well some from Tigger, that we haven't uploaded yet. It'll all get done, eventually, I'm sure...
Thanks to everyone for all the Christmas cards and presents - here's wishing you a Happy and safe New Years! :) |
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| Turkeys, Tattoos and T.V. |
[Nov. 23rd, 2007|05:33 pm] |
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We went over to Jenny's folks' place for dinner, her Uncle David came up from the Tri-Cities to be with us and Aunt Joan came over later, after dinner (she works at Walmart and had to work during the day). The dinner was great, although I've been sick most of the week and was pretty much knocked out all day. I spent the post-dinner part of the day curled up in a blanket, doped up on cold medicine, drifting in and out of sleep. I felt about the same this morning, so I called in sick, just trying to take it easy all day.
Jenny's tattoos came out really cool. I would have pictures to put up, but the digi-cam decided to just stop working all of a sudden for some reason. Lucky got started late and Jenny's piece took longer than planned, so he didn't have time to work on mine. But he got me pencilled in for tomorrow, so hopefully soon I won't have this half finished superhero on my leg anymore. :)
Jamie came over today to watch movies and Most Haunted, since Jenny had the day off from work. Tigger should be coming over soon to watch our normal silly Friday night TV (Ghost Whisperer, Moonlight, Numb3rs). Oh, and tonight's Numb3rs takes place at a comic convention, so that should be entertaining.
Nothing too terribly exciting going on, otherwise. Hope everyone has a great weekend! |
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| I'm So Sick of Being Sick.... |
[Aug. 21st, 2007|08:54 pm] |
Just a cold or something like it, maybe the flu, whatever's been going around, but it was enough to knock me out for the day. Took off from work and slept most of the day away, except when I was in front of the computer or the TV. Yay for productivity... Did watch the recent Zodiac movie on DVD, which was really good - highly recommended. Although there's apparently a special edition with deleted scenes and what-not coming out relatively soon, so folks might want to wait for that.
I started posting up pictures from our Fairbanks trip on My MySpace Page - mostly pics of our friends and family. I attempted to keep them in vaguely chronological order...
Jenny's on the job hunt right now - she's got some prospects, but no real bites yet. There's a job at the museum that she's qualified for and really wants, so we've got our fingers crossed for that one. Otherwise, I'm just plodding away at my job... I decided I was going to wait until she was actually hired somewhere before putting in my notice, so we're not jobless for any stretch of time. |
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| Con-Tagion |
[Mar. 28th, 2007|08:45 pm] |
I've still had a little bit of a cold that won't go away, even with copious amounts of vitamin supplements, but I finally was feeling really good at the end of last week. This, of course, was a now obvious precursor to me getting completely run over by this horrible sinus/stomach flu thing that's knocked me out for the last few days. It couldn't have picked a less desirable time to hit, as we're counting down the days till our weekend mini-vacation in Seattle for the Emerald City Comic-Con.
Jenny was able to get the time off she had requested (which was amazing in it's own right), so we'll be leaving sometime during the day on Friday and coming back on Monday, probably later in the evening. We had done this trip this time last year, but without the extra buffer days for travel, so we didn't leave until Friday evening and most of the journey was in the dark. Atleast we'll be able to drive over during the day this time, actually see where we're going and enjoy the sights, and maybe not while driving directly into the sun the whole way, if we leave early enough.
Our friends Shane and Rita have offered to put us up for the weekend, so we'll get to see them and have all sorts of geeky fun at the convention. Hopefully we'll get some more sketches, meet some cool creators, and find some cheap comics to fill out our collections.
So I guess this was the extra time off I've been wanting, although the last few days have not been what I would consider "vacation" material. It's all been kind of a daze, actually, but I think I should be back in top shape in time for the Con. |
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| Sick and Tired |
[Jan. 24th, 2007|07:47 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | auto, sick | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Doctor Octagon - Trees | ] |
I spent all of yesterday at work with the most intense migraine type headache that made me feel like my head was going to explode, while fighting off bouts of nausea and alternating hot/cold flashes. So today I stayed home and slept for 12 hours. I'm still sick, but I suppose I do feel better - as long as I don't move around too much and stay out of direct sunlight.
The truck was acting all wonky yesterday, losing power gradually so we thought it might be the alternator. But from what we could see, the alternator was working, so then we thought it might be a loose connection somewhere. Turns out it was the alternator - Jenny took it to the local Toyota place this morning and they replaced it and fixed up the leads on the battery (which were all corroded). Didn't cost near as much as we thought it would, and atleast it's fixed (until something else comes up). |
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| 'Tis the Season |
[Nov. 14th, 2006|10:07 pm] |
Well, Sunday was our first day at Borders. I pretty much fell right back into step there, remembering how everything was done. Jenny picked up everything pretty quickly as well, although she hasn't got a chance to run thru register training yet. But we spent an hour on the floor as the only booksellers in the store, and everything went smoothly - it ain't rocket science though. :)
I'm still sick. In fact, I got more sick over the weekend, and I've been burning thru kleenex and Dayquil pretty fast. I called in sick today and yesterday. I'm going to attempt to go into work tomorrow, but they may send me home when I start sniffling and sneezing. We'll see, I suppose....
We did get the Christmas tree up today, along with most of the decorations. We haven't trimmed the tree yet (there's only the angel on top, and a solitary ornament so far), but it'll be soon. We also picked up a couple more Christmas albums and have those on rotation in the CD player. I ordered the Kingston Trio CD on Sunday (it should be in within the week), but apparently there is no Limeliters' Christmas album. I could have sworn I remembered listening to one as a kid, but apparently I was just remembering them performing the song "Go Where I Send Thee" (a Christmas song on one of their albums). Maybe I can find it on iTunes or something.
Oh, and Sunday was also 40% off day, so we picked up a few things: a couple of reference books for Jenny for her novel, a couple of CDs, and some other assorted books, including the Maya 8 Foundations book I've been wanting. It includes a free copy of Sketchbook Pro v. 1.1.1, plus I can download a complete "learning" edition of Maya 8 from the Autodesk website to teach myself how to use it. So many things to learn, and so few hours in the day.... |
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| Movin' On Up, and various other Goings On.... |
[Nov. 10th, 2006|03:44 pm] |
Jenny's been offered (and took) a pseudo-promotion at work, and so she'll be staying with Michaels and actually moving up to (barely) full time. She doesn't want to get over-worked and over-stressed, so she made it clear to her boss that she would take the job, but only work minimal full time hours.
But she will be getting a slight pay raise + benefits, which (apparently) I'll be able to share. This is incredibly good news for the two of us, and the main reason she said yes to the job. That, and the fact that when the person she's replacing leaves, and she moves up to "Head Certified Framer" (something like that), she'll be able to stay in the back of the frame shop doing production most of the time, with new girl up front helping customers. The whole retail/customer service thing is the main part of her job she dislikes, so this is the other main reason she's taking it.
The hope is that with her getting more hours, more pay and benfits for both of us, this will finally give me the option of realistically bailing from my current job - sooner as opposed to later.
( Look behind The Cut for all the other current minutiae )
Gah, that post was long. I'm really going to try to update more frequently so that doesn't happen again. Really. Honest. |
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| Odd Morning |
[Aug. 21st, 2006|10:01 am] |
Well, guess I'm still sick. I tried to go into work this morning, since I hate calling in sick anyway plus Nate starts his vacation today so we're already a man down. But I got there and Marina and Sam sent me home. I decided to take the bus home instead of calling Jenny to pick me up (seemed a waste of gas, and I didn't want her to come all the way into town just to get me).
So when I got off the bus at home there were two bagpipers pacing back and forth in front of the firehouse near by, playing. Not sure what that's all about. Did somebody die? Or retire?
And then as I was walking down the sidewalk to the apartment, a bee fell out of a tree (damn drop-bee!) and onto my neck, under my collar. I'm already kinda delirious from being sick + dayquil, and then I hear this buzzing in my ear, and once I realize what it is I'm spinning around like a lunatic slapping myself. Eventually knocked the bee off, not before it stung me, nearly losing my necklace in the process.
I finally stagger home, take some Benadryl for the bee sting, and change my clothes before plopping back in front of the computer. I've never actually been stung by a bee before, so atleast now I know I'm not allergic...
All in all, I think I should have just stayed in bed. |
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| Sick Day |
[Aug. 18th, 2006|10:35 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | sick | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Hot Chip - Over and Over | ] |
It was good to be able to sleep in for a couple of hours, but without the miracle worker known as NyQuil, I couldn't get back to sleep. And now that I'm up my heads all fuzzy and I really can't focus enough to do anything productive.
I've got a draw off over at Digital Webbing I need to start and finish before tomorrow night, and Tigger's supposed to be coming over tonight after work, so I've got to atleast attempt to stay conscious for most of the day.
I think I've taken more sick days in the 6 months at this job than any other place I've worked. Except maybe McDonalds way back in the day, but most of the time I called in there I was hung over or just had something better to do with my time. |
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| Sick Again |
[Aug. 17th, 2006|07:50 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | sick | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  sick | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Crystal Method - Trip Like I Do | ] |
Damn cold.
I got the runny nose, the stuffed up head, the sneezing, coughing, scratchy throat, the whole nine yards. I feel like a damn NyQuil commercial come to life.
And I'm even sitting here eating toast and chicken soup. Cures what ails you...
I'm seriously contemplating calling in sick tomorrow. Again. We'll see what tomorrow morning feels like, I guess. For now it's off to watch My Name Is Earl and attempt to draw. |
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