Hamsters, hamsters, everywhere!

The Dragon*Con staff meeting was Saturday, whereupon I bolstered my Daily Dragon staff, bringing myself up to fully loaded (I think), and dire_epiphany asked me to adopt a hamster. Or rather, a third of a hamster. bevlovesbooks and sara1221 have already agreed to co-adopt the other two-thirds. Of course I agreed to be responsible for the care and juggling of my hamster segment ’cause I can deny dire_epiphany nothing . . . or almost nothing.

Also got a note from a computer gamer person in Poland who writes fan-variety gaming modules. Seems he’s working on a diary for a female character on the project he’s currently working on, and is using my blog (tone, I gather, rather than content, although that part is a bit fuzzy) to imbue it with realism. He asked if I’d be interested in reading and providing feedback on it. While I continue to be up to my ankles in wayward hamsters, I have to admit I was both flattered and intrigued, so I agreed to be a consultant. I’ve never worked on a computer gaming project before. I think it’ll be fun.

And lastly, I’m battling a lupus/MCTD flare-up. My own fault, this one. I haven’t had a flare-up in a couple years, due in large part to the daily dose of Imuran I’m taking. But while in Illinois, with my comfy routine thrown off, I forgot to take a dose. Of course I took it as soon as I remembered, but I began feeling kind of blah within 24-hours. I could have probably staved a flare-up off by keeping on a rigorous Imuran-taking schedule. But when we got back home, I forgot again–daily routine still in uproar–and last night, I fell asleep early, at around 6PM and slept for twelve hours straight (another indication of an impending flare-up), and fosteronfilm didn’t realize he needed to wake me up to take my Imuran. As a result of three missed/late doses in as many weeks, I’m tottering on the edge of a full-blown flare-up. I keep flashing hot and cold, on the brink of fever, my body is all stiff and achy, and my throat’s sore. Not good. I simply do not have the time to get sick now. Crappity crappity crap. It’s probably some hamster-mutated plague . . .

And just now, I started coughing, and I heard Hobkin suddently start making these rasping, coughing sounds too. The cuteness of him coughing at the same time as me is way overshadowed by my anxiety. I hope I didn’t get the little guy sick!

Writing Stuff

New Words/Editing:
– 600 on my “Writing for Young Readers” column article for Writing-World.com, a bunch of editing passes, a squint or two, and it’s off. Big, grown-up columnist, me.

Received:
– 209-day personal “Although we discussed it exhaustively, I regret . . .” from Cricket. Waaah!! *sobs*

To make matters worse, the next market I want to send this story to is closed to submissions until Mid-August. Snartleblast! Also, that again drops my submissions to the bug ‘zines down to one. Urg. Must send them something else soon.