1. I spent Veteran’s Day at the Seattle VA Hospital. My 78-year old father had a thoracic aneurism correction last Monday, and has been having trouble recovering enough to go into short-term rehab or back home.  So, things have been worrisome in the Gussoff-Sumption household*.
Anyway, spending Veteran’s Day at a veteran’s hospital surrounded by a lot of ill and/or disabled veterans adds a whole new perspective on the holiday.
Thank you, all soldiers, past/current/future, for having the guts to do what I never could and most days don’t have the stomach to even think about.
1a. Having a 78-year old father in the hospital, especially since my mother and sisters are gone now, is, well, interesting. I’ve caught myself saying sentences I never thought I’d say in any context—like, upon removal of his Foley catheter** today, I said the following sentence to my father as he tried to pee on his own for the first time in a week: “I believe in your prostrate!”
2. NaNoWriMo has been subjugated in the light of the rest of things. I refuse to feel the least bit guilty about it, either. However, I am one scene shy of finishing a story that I have been rewriting since last May, and am almost happy with it. Almost.
3. It’s dark and gloomy here, just how I like it. I just need to make myself some more coffee and it’s a perfect afternoon to finish that last scene.
3a. The best thing about writing SF is that I can consider watching reruns on the sci-fi channel as being “career specific directed activity.”
4. My hair has reached the looking-stupid-while-growing-out stage. Why hasn’t technology tackled this very real problem? I don’t consider “hats” to be a technological solution.
5. I’ve been eating crap, because much of my eating has been on the fly or in the too-tired-to-cook stage. Frozen pizza, fast food burgers. I think the closest to anything green I’ve eaten has been in a green wrapper.  And I wonder why I’ve been fighting off a massive headache all day?  I really wish there was a salad delivery service right now. That also brought pints of ice cream.

*In fact, things have actually been worrisome actively since June, when life has gone: me unemployed-apartment fire-drunk driver totals our car-Chris unemployed-my dad sick-his dad sick-us broke-WTF. Actually, come to think of it, aside from Clarion West this summer, 2008 can just go suck it.
**Google that if you don’t know what it is. Prepare to suck in your breath a little bit.