Wow Susan, we should chat at some point about raising the gender queer/non-conformist teen

And sorry about the burnout, I guess, but I am excited about you writing fantasy!

Yeah, as part of working through the burnout, I asked myself why I wasn't writing fantasy when a good fantasy novel is my favorite thing to READ, and I decided it was time for a genre switch.

And running, yay running! I'm super surprised how much I like it, myself.

I said for years I'd never run, but I enjoy it so much, I think because it's such a perfect introvert exercise. And also because "I will never do X" seems to guarantee that eventually I'll come around to it. Though so far, "I will never win the lottery" hasn't worked its reverse magic for me.

Wow Susan, we should chat at some point about raising the gender queer/non-conformist teen

I'd be glad to. It's definitely a learning curve while playing by ear thing so far for me.

::waves at Erin:: PDX? We're near-neighbors, then, though it's been a few years since I last made it down to Oregon.

Susan, despite all the trips I've made up to Seattle I've never managed to see you! Terrible.

esse, erin, Susan - so good to hear from you.

Erin-o, I met D on OKC! And it sounds like your guy and he could be mental twins. Also, if you have any questions about the hysterectomy, feel free to ask; I had mine lo these 8 years past, and it was straight up one of the best things I've done.

It's so nice to hear from everyone!

Susan, it's really nice to see you! I think fantasy sounds like a great move for you, too.

esse, (I had no idea that's how you would pronounce -- I have zero Latin) it's lovely to see you here, too!

does a happy delurky dance

So good to see you Susan and Erin. I celebrate your successes, sending ~ma and hugs where desired.

My hope is that we see more of the infrequent posters, and may some superlurkers show their pixels too!

Hi again, prodigals! And holy cow people have been going through a lot. The total amount of bravery and dealing-with-it on this board is the awesomest.

Surgical super-glue is neat; I'd done some writing about the new tech in that area for warfighters (I still hate that word), so I was not expecting to discover that I am radically, virulently allergic to it. I had about a half pound of blood vessels taken out of my arm a couple years ago (long story, error in my DNA) and the surgeon used that glue to seal the several incisions and my arm turned into a freak show straight from any body horror movie. It looked like I'd been chewed on by a bobcat AND was deliquescing.

Now I am ruefully amused at the fact that "surgical glue" is not in any medical database of allergens.

Oh, holy carp, Raq, that's horrible! Both the excess blood vessel growth and the glue allergy.

That's good info for me to have, though, given that I'm allergic to most adhesives, if I ever need surgery again, I'll tell them to avoid using surgical glue! Yikes. Allergies are like little internal ninjas, hiding and just waiting to attack you when you least expect it.

It really ought to be, since it is most likely to be used while the patient is unconscious and unable to self advocate....

:waves at Susan: I'll be flying over you later tonight! It's rather appalling how self isolated I've been....heck, I just flew across the country and deliberately didn't tell anything beyond immediate family for fear of hurting feelings that I didn't make any time for socializing outside of family :/ not that feelings won't be hurt in retrospect, but by then it's a fait accompli so somehow I feel slightly less guilty about not making plans and seeing people? My logic is very flawed, I realize putting it in writing :(