It doesn't negate the other stuff but if you need to read something positive, Natalie Merchant is doing good things. [link]

meara, I'm sorry for your loss. My condolences.

Happy new year, all. Shir, it's especially good to see you're OK.

Meara, I'm so sorry you're going through it.

I don't know people in Venezuela, but for those who do, sending be-OK-ma!

meara, I'm so sorry. Everything you feel is ok to feel, if that helps.

If I hadn't had to walk the dog i think I would have gone back to bed after I saw the news this morning. But I've been sick for a week and I'm bored. So I jog/walked for 3 miles (much more walk than jog), then went out and bought a new sink for the bathroom and a new rug for the kitchen. Doing things, yay.

Happy gray Sunday, all. My tree is still up but not for long.

I hope Laura is feeling better.

I just spent a half hour on Project Gutenberg ganking John R. Neill's illustrations for The Giant Horse of Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson.

This one is notable in that not only does the character Trot (who had her own adventures with Cap'n Bill in Sky Island and the Sea Fairies) have a flapper bob, but so does Dorothy and so does the young Prince Philador.

I read the Oz books avidly as a child, but was affronted that anyone continued it after Baum so I never read the Ruth Plumly Thompson books. But reading it now - it's fine. I ordered a copy.

I did read the last officially published canonical book in the series, Merry-Go-Round of Oz which came out in (I think) 1960 (or thereabouts) and enjoyed it: [link]

Matilda is sleeping in as she had to work yesterday and will work again tomorrow.

I'm so sorry, meara.

Our NYE was very low-key with friends, which is exactly what we needed. Except for the part where after we got home my body decided to betray me with horrible acid reflux, which somehow restarted all of the side effects of my recent COVID vax. Not how I wanted to spend New Year's Day.

Did I mention my team went through a reorg? We did, right before the holidays, and it's actually a very good one. I'm no longer a manager, but have been moved laterally to a content architect -type position, which I'm really excited about. But then on the 2nd, my company laid off 140 people. My job is still safe, but two of the writers on the team were let go. I'm going to update my resume, just in case.

Cereal: Today I go for the first three of five MRIs of my back and hips so there's a whole bunch of information to provide to the back specialist I've got a referral for. When I go see them, I'm going to outline all of the things I've already done for my previous diagnosis of spinal stenosis, no I don't want to try the steroid shots, can we please just move on to the laparoscopic outpatient surgery option?

Cereal: Today I go for the first three of five MRIs of my back and hips so there's a whole bunch of information to provide to the back specialist I've got a referral for. When I go see them, I'm going to outline all of the things I've already done for my previous diagnosis of spinal stenosis, no I don't want to try the steroid shots, can we please just move on to the laparoscopic outpatient surgery option?

I vote for surgical repair, with added cybernetic enhancements.

Today I go for the first three of five MRIs of my back and hips

My hip MRI is tomorrow; MRI solidarity!

We've all known each other long enough that we've gone from posting about corsets to posting about MRIs, and I think that's beautiful.

I find it annoying and very slightly amusing that laying in the MRI tube for 40 minutes made my back spasm. Mmmmmmm, lidocaine patches, my beloved.