Ouch!

If this "cold front" that's moving through the state today is making my legs ache like this, I have a horrible feeling that Spring with all its thunderstorms is going to be hell.

Yay.

English editor is also in my repertoire

In December, I received a request from a professor in Germany for a copy of my review. He is in the final stages of writing a book on stress ecology, and he wanted my review to help him better understand FA. Quite an honor in and of itself. We've exchanged a couple of emails since then discussing various aspects of the paper, and he has provided me with a couple of papers that I hadn't seen as well as giving me a sneak peek at the intro of his book.

So yesterday I got an email from him asking if I could proofread his 400 page book for English grammar (he is not a native English speaker). In return, he will mention me in his foreword, pay me $2500 US, and give me a free copy of the book.

*passes out*

Gone! Gone! Smeagol is FREEEEEEE!

Got home from rehab yesterday. Oh, what a relief it is!

Grand total = 7 months, 7 days. Seems like a lot longer.

Pooped

I am so freaking tired today. Like, down in the bones, my brain hurts, my eyes are filled with sand tired. I have a book on bonobos sitting on the table, begging to be read, but it feels like even that would take too much energy. It's not like I've done anything to warrant being this tired. So, I was in my chair for eleven hours yesterday, but I was even starting to feel this way yesterday. So strange.

Big News!

I'm going home Feb. 2nd.

*happy dance*

Roger Ebert Returns

I just read this brief story about Roger Ebert's new prosthetic face. Ebert has lost his lower jaw and his voice to cancer, and now he will be returning to the TV screen to provide movie critiques with a silicone prosthesis and a voice synthesizer. The above linked article has a picture of him with the prosthetic jaw, and this Esquire article shows him before the prosthesis and talks about his cancer battle.

The young disabled in nursing homes

This article was featured on Yahoo's homepage this morning. The major thing I don't like about the article is that it makes it sound as if PWDs under 65 living in nursing homes is a new phenomenon. What is true, though, is that it is a growing problem thanks to short-sighted, unempathetic, non-disabled politicians cutting funds to home health services in order to keep their ridiculously large paychecks intact. I'd love to challenge these fine individuals (she said sarcastically) to live in a rehabilitation facility -- nee nursing home -- for a month, relying completely on sometimes apathetic workers for every single need, even to give you one of your own cigarettes on a smoking schedule they determine. I don't think they'd make it two weeks.

What Adam Martin says at the end of the article is true: "It makes you feel old. If that's all you're around, that's what you become."