Back in Santa Barbara for the conference. It starts Saturday. So far I have managed to have the worst night terror of my life on the red-eye flight from Kauai. I'm glad I didn't scream, and came very close to throwing up about two minutes after I snapped out of it. Awkward on a completely smooth flight. Then on Tuesday I encountered some paprika in ( Read more... )

Cost to transport a body from the hospital in Lihue to the mortuary in Koloa, a distance of 11.4 miles: $595. Refrigeration costs for said body from arrival on Wednesday until cremation on Friday: $495. Cost for cardboard cremation box: $145 ( Read more... )

Because it hasn't appeared on the Conference's website yet, but I am the newest workshop leader of the Santa Barbara Writers' Conference. I'm taking over one of the late-night pirate workshops. Fifteen years as an attendee, and now all those hopes and dreams will be in my hands. Yikes.

Got a letter from the blood bank that I made four gallons with the last donation. One more unit to tie with my mainland donations. Makes up for a very long weekend after accidentally ingesting a tiny amount of tomato. When you have every symptom listed on the Pepto bottle, it's time to take your food intolerance a bit more seriously.

One of the men in my mother's widows and widowers group at Hospice made a pass at her. He led with "I've put my wife's death behind me..." Cheers. She could not get out of there fast enough. The women in the group were already planning to ask the group leader for separate groups for women and men. Too many of the men don't come for therapy; they ( Read more... )

So this is what I've been doing for the last few months:


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The contractors opened my bathroom wall, and where they and I expected to find wood they instead found a kind of blackened crispy material that used to be wood before decades of water and termites got to it. Basically, twenty feet of bathroom and closet wall are being supported by the external stucco. Today I have to empty my closet so they can ( Read more... )

Got home from donating blood (qualified by the proverbial skin of my teeth- resting pulse first 106, then 100 ten minutes later), and found my house to be a major construction site. Repairs are underway. The contractors had removed my skylights, the two electricians had replaced most of my faulty electrical system (my kitchen lights work, I'm no ( Read more... )

My father died six months ago today. When I was flying home in January I had the odd thought that I could now say "my father died last year." As strange as "yesterday, last week, last month." Today's weird thought was that my father died on the other side of the Sun. That the Earth has moved, but also the solar system, the galaxy, that the moment ( Read more... )

So I've got a bit of asthma, and my heart works great but they couldn't see the valves on the left side. Turns out my heart's canted over a bit, like the engine in an old Lancia. It has been said my heart is not in the right place, and it turns out it's literally true.

Important thing is I can start giving blood again on Valentine's Day.