Farpoint 2010

The Farpoint 2010 Science Fiction media convention was this past weekend.

This is the first convention when I was actually had official things to do - I was the Public Relations committee chair. Prior to the convention I tried to let as much of the fan world know about the convention coming up. Writing up press releases, visiting websites and contacting bloggers about promoting Farpoint. Once there I worked with the press on arranging interviews with our guest stars.

Oh the guest stars! We had Felicia Day from "Dr. Horrible's sing-along blog" and if you have no idea what that is - google it and then try to watch a copy. It is a wonderful movie/video/? that Joss Whedon wrote and produced and directed while there was a writer's strike in Hollywood. Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Finnan are also in it.

We also had Lee Arenberg from Pirates of the Caribbean and man was he a hoot!! That is a man that is great to listen to with his stories of growing up beside the 80's rat pack and working with Johnny Depp. He was a wonderful guest.

Best of all for me, was Mira Furlan. She played Danielle Roussou in my favorite tv show LOST. Her character was nicknamed Crazy French woman. Anyway, in person she was a wonderfully elegant woman with an incredibly sexy voice. And I got to sit in the same room with her. At the end of the session I asked the interviewer to take a pic with the two of us.

The whole convention went well even though I was in the throes of a cold (see previous blog entry) and blowing my nose a lot. The hotel was great to all of us and put up with Klingons at the bar, robots in the lobby, debates on who is geekier Sheldon or Leonard and general fun and pandamonium that ensues at a con.

And yes. I missed having a partner to enjoy the moments of the con with. I had fun, but it still is more fun to share. For someone else to see you jump up and down and squeal privately in your hotel room after actually meeting a LOST character. This is one more of the reasons I blog. To share.

Addiction

This has been the week of the cold. Not the cold weather but my cold - runny or stuffy nose kind of cold.

Not bad, but sometimes coughing, always blowing my nose and with my voice sounding a bit funny. I never went to see the doctor and just when I feel I am past it, like yesterday, it flares back up. I keep telling myself this is not me. I don't usually get sick. I mean, when it first started I went to my medicine cabinet and pulled out some dayquill. The expiration date on the side of the box was 3/2008 - that tells you 1) how long it has been since I checked in there and 2)how much even longer it has been since I needed it.

How much mucus can a human body create? I have gone thru a couple boxes of tissues. THANK YOU Mr. Kleenex for this invention. Or maybe it was Ms. Puff's. History is not quite sure about that.

Anyway, most of the fight with the cold has been nasal. Now many years ago I had something like this and my doctor suggested Nasal Spray before coming in to see him. That was back in the days when doctors talked to you without charging you. So I used the Nasal Spray and was able to breathe. I liked this. Then I stopped using it and my sinuses sort got stuffy again. I used it again. This was a repeat for many weeks. I realized at some point I was addicted to the spray and I weaned myself off of it. I am sure it has something to do with my nasal passages not being very well made and getting enough oxygation which has always been my main excuse for my mental incapacity. So, now, many years later I find myself in this loop again. I want to breathe. I use the spray and yesterday I realized that I had to use more to get it to work. Oh my. My need is becoming stronger. The addiction is back. Last night, I decided, that's it. I was going to wean myself off of it again, even if it meant blowing half my body fluid out my nose and losing the skin around my nostrils from chaffing.

I am going to fight this thing. I can do it.

Valentine's Day

Thought of you with love today, but that is nothing new.
I thought about you yesterday, and days before that too.
I think of you in silence, I often speak your name .
All I have are memories and a picture in a frame.
Your memory is a keepsake, with which i'll never part.
God has you now in Heaven, I have you in my heart.

Jim, I miss you. I am moving forward but still waiting to see you walk around the corner, home from a long day at work and yet, a smile on your face as the dogs greet you and the cat wraps himself around you and I give you a hug.

Grey's Anatomy

My mom watched Dr. Kildare and Medical Center. She started me on General Hospital, but E.R. was my medical show of choice.

My niece shared her love of Grey's Anatomy with me. I have watched a few episodes and was skimming thru TV.com and this caught my eye.

Surviving a Crisis - from Grey's Anatomy -

This quote came from Grey's Anatomy Season 5's Episode 19. It made me stop and think and it is about surviving a crisis.

The quote is part of what Derek tells Meredith when giving her reasons why he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

If there is a crisis, you don't freeze, you move forward.
You get the rest of us to move forward, because you've seen worse.
You've survived worse and you know--we'll survive too.

This quote really hit home for me as it would for anyone who has survived a major loss. It is a beautiful testament to survivors. "You get the rest of us to move forward, because you've seen worse."

I can't help but think how many times in the past this would have inspired me to keep moving forward.

It happened in 2003. And again in 2009. And now once more in 2010.

Snow. Lots and lots of snow! We got hit with 28". Starting on Friday around noon and snowing non stop thru till sometime late Saturday afternoon. It felt like a week in just 24 hours. The change in our neighborhood was amazing. There was not just the snow that had fallen but also strong winds causing incredible drifts and Saturday morning around 3 am we heard thunder snowstorm. An anomaly that only occurs in very serious storms. I would have slept through it but Tigger gratiously woke me up by barking at each roll of thunder.

The city was pretty much shut down on Saturday. Planes, trains and buses were not moving, city plows were just barely out and they issued warnings to stay inside. I didn't go out but did watch it's progression on TV and shared photos and news with friends on the internet. Sometime late Saturday I looked out to see the what the snow accumulation was and saw instead blue sky.

Tigger loves the snow and wants to be out in it as much as possible. She will face the cold paws for the fun of dancing in the snow!

Friday night around 9 pm - it looks so peaceful. Just a few inches.

Saturday morning.

My backyard.

Our street had no city plow come thu and we were the only hope of getting cars out for Monday or Tuesday. The neighbors got together on Sunday and we all worked on digging out. We got a good portion of the street done but not all the cars were able to get out. We tried to be systematic and ask who absolutely needed to go out and who could stay for a day or so. The neigbhors were all cheerful, helpful and worked together. It was a nice afternoon even with all the digging!