Weeks of production: 94
46/61 characters created — 75% complete
20/40 constructions modeled — 50% complete
46/217 pages — 21% complete
35% done
Estimated completion date: 2013
Weeks of production: 94
46/61 characters created — 75% complete
20/40 constructions modeled — 50% complete
46/217 pages — 21% complete
35% done
Estimated completion date: 2013
Having completed four back-to-back spinal taps on the previous four Fridays, last Friday we just had a clinic appointment. I prepared for it the same as I did the previous clinic appointments by putting “magic cream” on Lissa’s port, so that she wouldn’t feel the poke when they accessed it. Only they didn’t access her port. They told me (after I got there) that they won’t go through the port when she doesn’t have any medication she’s supposed to get that week. If they are just doing blood tests, she’s to go to the lab (before arriving at the appointment, please!) where they poke her with a needle in the usual way.
Lissa doesn’t like getting poked with needles. Lissa really doesn’t like getting poked with needles. She tells herself over and over on the way there “but it won’t matter, because the cream makes it so I can’t feel it, so it will be okay.” You can probably imagine her reaction to being told that she was going to be poked somewhere else, where there was no cream.
I was a bit irritated to have all this sprung on us after we got there, (not to mention being told to go to “the lab” and when I saw no signs directing me to “the lab” going back and asking what signs I was supposed to be following, and they repeated “the lab, it’s right there” and nary a mention of “outpatient services” which is what the signs actually said) so I just let her scream and cry and freak while I sat there like a lump until the poor person who was supposed to be drawing her blood finally asked me for assistance — at which point I stepped in and was firm and no-nonsense, and in a very short time had Lissa sitting still and getting her blood drawn — but I just was feeling very ornery about it all: they were the ones who didn’t warn us in advance, so it seemed only fair that they should have to deal with the inevitable hysterics. (Only, of course, they couldn’t, and I could, and it needed to be done.)
And that’s all that happened. After the blood counts came back from the lab I was told “counts are good, come back next week.” The doctor didn’t even look at her. I stopped at Walmart on the way home, and bought her some hats, because I was feeling at that point like we had gone through a whole lot of bother and had essentially nothing to show for it.
Weeks of production: 93
45/61 characters created — 74% complete
19/40 constructions modeled — 48% complete
45/217 pages — 20% complete
34% done
Estimated completion date: 2013
[amazonify]0688155464:right[/amazonify]
I recently read The Pinhoe Egg, by Diana Wynne Jones, so true to my usual pattern that means I’m going to natter about Charmed Life, which IMHO is the best starting place for her Chrestomanci series, or at any rate, it comes directly before (internal timeline-wise) The Pinhoe Egg.
When my sister first brought Charmed Life home, she read it about six or seven times herself before letting me read it, and then when I was done she practically snatched it out of my hands so that she could read it another three times or so. (I used to let my sister provide most of my reading material. This anecdote shows why perhaps I shouldn’t have, but I guess I never did learn my lesson. More recently, I have been letting my husband provide most of my reading material, but he’s gotten so picky about what he’ll bring home thats not working out for me either.)
Diana Wynne Jones is one of my very favorite authors, and this particular book, although perhaps not my favorite of all time, is a wonderful example of why. In most of her stories (maybe all?) everything is not quite as it seems, which is one of the things I like best about them, but it makes me reluctant to try describe them — I’m never sure how much, or what, to say. But I can say that Charmed Life is the Chrestomanci book with the most, and best appearances of Chrestomanci himself, vague manner and elegant dressing gowns and all, and that is worth the price of admission in and of itself.
Weeks of production: 93
45/61 characters created — 74% complete
19/40 constructions modeled — 48% complete
44/217 pages — 20% complete
34% done
Estimated completion date: 2013
Weeks of production: 93
43/61 characters created — 70% complete
18/40 constructions modeled — 45% complete
43/217 pages — 20% complete
33% done
Estimated completion date: 2013
Weeks of production: 93
43/61 characters created — 70% complete
18/40 constructions modeled — 45% complete
42/217 pages — 19% complete
32% done
Estimated completion date: 2013
Weeks of production: 92
43/61 characters created — 70% complete
18/40 constructions modeled — 45% complete
41/217 pages — 19% complete
32% done
Estimated completion date: 2013
Weeks of production: 92
43/61 characters created — 70% complete
18/40 constructions modeled — 45% complete
40/217 pages — 18% complete
32% done
Estimated completion date: 2013
Weeks of production: 92
43/61 characters created — 70% complete
18/40 constructions modeled — 45% complete
39/217 pages — 18% complete
31% done
Estimated completion date: 2013