… treating your friends like an asshole.

I forgot to mention one of the drugs the doctor gave me for my bronchitis. He gave me a steroid shot. He told me, “This may alter your mood.”

Yeah. I’ll say it did.

Drugs have always had a powerful impact on my body’s chemistry. It’s one of the reasons I stay away from narcotics. I got the shot on Monday. Yesterday, I had a brief conversation with some friends on the phone. I say, “brief” because in the middle of it, I turned into a raging lunatic and started screaming at them.

I had no idea what I was doing. I was literally watching myself scream at my friends. I couldn’t stop myself, couldn’t control myself.

So today, this morning, I go back to the doctor. The office opens at 7:00 AM. I was there at 6:45. I did not have an appointment. I told the nurse what happened and that I was having a bad reaction to the drugs I was on. I saw the doctor immediately.

He looked in my eyes, asked me a few questions. Then, he did what doctors are supposed to do.

He gave me more medication. This time, a sedative.

There are now a grand total of seven foreign substances running through my system. I wonder what’s going to happen next.

____

As for my friends whom I screamed at, I apologize. I’m accountable for my own actions, so I take full responsibility.

I’m very, very sorry.

It’s official. I am doing nothing for Halloween.

I’ve never felt so old.

There’s a book coming out called The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived.

I love this book. It demonstrates so much about American ignorance.

Santa Claus is on the list. (He was a real saint in the 4th Century.)
Dracula is on the list. (He was a real person.)
Robin Hood is on the list. (Also a real person.)
King Arthur is on the list. (This is getting old.)
Hamlet is on the list. (Come on!!!)
Smokey Bear is on the list. (We’re getting real desperate now. Not only was he real, he wasn’t a person!!!)
Godzilla is on the list. (Okaaaaaaaaay….)
Alice (in Wonderland) is on the list. (I’m getting sick now.)
Don Juan is on the list. (Bullshit! Bullshit! Bullshit!)

But do you know what really pisses me off about this book?

Adam and Eve are not on the list.
Neither are Caine and Abel.
Abraham is not on the list. Nor is Jacob.
Nor is Noah.
How about King David?
Or King Solomon?
Or Ruth?
How about that Jesus guy?
Or the “twelve disciples” (the Bible can’t even get all their names right)
Or the Virgin Mary?
Or Mary Magdeline?
Or Paul.

Or how about YHVH?

Yeah, nice book. Demonstrate our ignorance for generations to come.

___

EDIT

Come to think of it, where’s Superman? Batman? Spider-Man?
Where’s Paul Bunyan? Where’s Pecos Bill? Where’s Johnny Appleseed, and Uncle Friggin’ Sam!?!?!

Nonsense.

The World Famous recently played Cat at a SF con. He called it “the best convention gaming experience I’ve ever had.”

Click on the link and hear him say it himself. (And make “Have Games Will Travel” your weekly gaming news stop.)

You rule, Paul.

I am now on three different medications:

Amoxicillin (3x per day)
Pseudoephedrine (4x per day)
Promethazine/Codeine (4x per day)

This will make me feel better.

What’s more, because of health insurance (yay!) the entire trip (including the $4.00 parking charge) cost me under $50.

Here’s to modern medicine!

Matt Forbeck is one of the Three Nicest Guys in the Game Industry. (The other two are and .) Whenever he stops by the Wicked Dead booth, Matt always insists on buying our books and we always insist on giving them to him for free.

There’s usually a cordial compromise.

In the midst of two weeks of miserable bronchitis, I get this e-mail. It’s from Matt. And in it, he tells me some very kind things about my novel, No Loyal Knight. He says he just finished reading it and lost sleep trying to finish it.

With the two hundred kids over at his house, I imagine that’s quite a compromise. And not a cordial one.

Matt Forbeck just made my day. Today, he’s Nice Guy #1.

When I wrote in my journal that I ran out of DVDs to watch from my sickbed, Cowboy Ron drove down from the Valley and dropped off two Ray Harryhousen boxed sets, the first two seasons of Lost, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and Clash of the Titans.

When I wrote in my journal that I could not sleep, Cowboy Ron called me up and told me, “Go to the drug store and get Primatene Mist. I did, and two hours later, my coughing has subsided greatly.

God Save Cowboy Ron.

Oh, and Lord Strange has something to say on the matter, too.

Thanks again, Ron.

I haven’t slept for a week.

I have bronchitis. A persistent, violent cough. During the day, it’s bad. The coughing is so hard, I bend over. I nearly threw up today, standing in line at the bank. My voice is a gravelly whisper.

I’m on a regular diet of chicken soup and orange juice. I haven’t had a Coke in 7 days. 7UP is my new friend.

I can’t stand for too long because I get dizzy. I get hot flashes. Headaches from the persistent coughing. My chest aches and I can feel my diaphram revolting to the constant badgering.

During the day, it’s bad. At night, it’s impossible. I get regular coughing spasms every twenty seconds.

I have three kinds of nocturnal coughs. The first is the straight forward series of six. The first two loosen up the junk in my lungs and the last four bring it up my throat. The second is a kind of slowly spiraling series of small coughs. These don’t let me catch my breath. It takes about twenty seconds to clear the cycle and all the way, I cannot breathe. All I can do is try to slow them down by inhaling between them. If I try too hard, the phlygm goes right back down my airtube and I choke. All I can do is wait it out.

The third kind of cough is the wet, soggy hard cough. Usually in a series of two. This one causes physical pain. I’m usually meeping after it.

I cannot sleep. The Big Fucking Q does not help. Each time I’ve fallen asleep, I’ve awoken without breath, choking. I’m the only one here.

My HMO doctor will not see me until Monday. I called last Monday to make an appointment. I told them it was an emergency. They told me, “Go to the emergency room.” Yeah. Like I have the money for that.

I cannot sleep. I haven’t slept in a week. Not more than four hours.

Can’t sleep; cough will kill me.

____

You know who doesn’t want a National Health Care System? Rich people. Because they have medical insurance and they don’t know what it’s like to be poor and not have medical insurance. Or, at the very least, to not have good medical insurance.