Updates on Mail. Updates on Me.

First off: I am having significant e-mail issues at the moment. I'm in the process of transitioning off of my current server onto a new one, with a new version of the mail processing software. This should take care of things. In the meantime, please be patient and don't hate me.

So. It's been a while since you got any depth on me, the me who is behind these random bits of text and webcomic linking. And that's sad, and pissing some people off. After all, I had this surgery some time ago, and I've never really addressed life after it. And I've been pretty close-mouthed about how I'm doing, personally, professionally or the rest of it.

Well, let me correct some of that.

I'm doing well.

Well.

Not okay. Not "coping." I'm doing well. I'm generally pretty damn happy. I'm generally unstressed.

And I've lost 105 lbs.

Now, getting to 105 lbs down was something of an experience. The official recovery from the surgery was about a month's transition into soft foods, followed by a slow transition into other foods. Officially. Unofficially, there are ways I'm still recovering and adapting. For a couple of months, I threw up a lot. I mean, a lot. They call it frothing, because it comes from a buildup of mucus, which makes for interesting vomit. I still throw up maybe every other week, but it's better.

Food is a challenge, which itself isn't a bad thing. Bread is right out – it swells up too easily and doesn't break up enough in chewing. Hamburger is difficult but okay. I'm off fish right now because of some traumatic fish experiences. Soup is my friend. Crackers are my sandwich substitute medium of choice. And I am officially a cheap date – I can usually happily fill myself going out to dinner for less than five bucks.

My "eating out" meal of choice? Chili, if it's mild. Spicy chili badly irritates the still-sensitive G-I tract, but mild chili is smooth and tasty. Absent that, I look for soup. Absent soup (or absent any choice of soup other than New England Clam Chowder, which is ubiquitous in this region but I never liked), I look for something moderately soft, since that's the easiest. Absent that, I go for salad and leave most of it on the plate. Absent that, I find steak tips works out, if I leave most of those on the plate and chew thoroughly.

By the by? You haven't lived until you've thrown up in a Friendly's parking lot. Or thrown up while driving 65 MPH on a major highway without swerving or slowing down. Or taking your eyes off the road. I've become an expert at vomit.

Health wise, I'm doing fantastically. Absent the odd gout attack, I'm vastly more energetic. I fit in places I didn't five months ago. I fit in clothes I didn't five months ago. I keep up with my friends when they walk. I don't wheeze. And I'm starting to look human, instead of "Oh My God He's Coming At Us." Another fifty pounds and I'll look hefty but normal. Fifty pounds after that and I'll look good, clothed. And probably need skin reduction surgery before I begin to look good unclothed, but quite honestly I don't see anyone wanting to see me unclothed within that timeframe anyhow. I did have a great weekend a few weeks back with friends from out of town – girls, all, and smart and fun and funny and I showed them around Maine and New Hampshire and then showed them how Vermont tries to kill me whenever I go to Vermont. I successfully exercised flirtation muscles I haven't used since... well, since an ex girlfriend managed to gun them down in cold blood, because she was a bad girlfriend. Bad girlfriend. But that goes back maybe ten years, just before my Seattle life.

Needless to say, the flirting was fun, if innocent. And the heavy weight loss helped it out. I didn't feel ridiculous flirting, even if I didn't expect it would go anywhere.

Besides those folks, I've had a veritable parade of visitors over the summer. More than I've had in years and years and years, with more to do midweek and on the weekends than I can remember. When I saw two friends from my childhood (Audrey and Jessie -- two of my sister's best friends and a big part of my formative years), one of them (Jessie, I think, but I could be wrong) said I was coming out into the world again. I had emerged from Cardiomyopathy and obesity and seclusion and was beginning to reach into the world, and discovering there was a lot of world out there to reach into.

And I think they were right. And that too feels really, really good.

Day-job wise, things are much, much better. I have left the management position, trading it for the systems administrator's position (the former sysadmin took that), and found myself much, much happier. Now, I just shovel the dumbass politics onto her desk, and just keep the computers running. I go home on time at night, and if the network isn't failing, I don't give a damn what the problem is. And that makes a huge difference.

Professionally, things are going extraordinarily well. I've completed and sent off a professional RPG assignment I'm not at liberty to divulge details about. I have another commitment ready to go as soon as the assignments are divvied. I've got "Automotive Care" circulating, and I've been adapting some short stories I did for the A.I. Game/Beast (including one called "Dominic" I just put on the writing site yesterday, which subscribers to annotatechapbk already know about. I'm also writing poetry, and it seems to be poetry that doesn't suck. I love writing poetry that doesn't suck. And, of course, there's the novel. There's always the novel.

And my spare time? Completely consumed by City of Heroes. Utterly, totally consumed. I don't seem to be 'getting over it.' And I'm discovering that what seems like repetition in the early levels turns into depth and interesting experiences in the post 20 levels. It's just, I did so many alt heroes that I ended up not getting any of them into the interesting bits of depth. However, discovering that your gravity controller can suddenly temporarily throw blasts of fire because of an artifact you rescued from evil undead is very comic bookish and not at all dull.

So. I'm well. I'm honestly well.

Except for my mail, of course. But hey, if I didn't have something to bitch about....