I'm still here, still intending to post, but it's been a rough couple of weeks. Insomnia, job stress, financial worries, worries about my morning-sickness-suffering missus, annoyances, aggravations and even some self-induced grief I could have easily avoided had I not been a dumbass. Etc. And so forth.

I'll get back here. Hopefully tomorrow afternoon. Right now I'm not up for much besides just existing.

Not feeling appreciably better tonight. Post delayed. Sorry.

Feeling like crap today. I hope to post an update later tonight, we'll see how I feel.

I'm toying around with another new LiveJournal Theme, Starry Night. A lot more customizable than the previous one. Let me know what you think!

Okay: so as to satisfy millabell's curiosity, announcements forthwith:

1) My wife, the inestimably talented, beautiful, and intelligent Stephanie, AKA touchstone_7, has finished her thesis, received her grade, and is now a full-fledged Senior Children's Librarian in the New York Public Library system. You may cheer and throw confetti now.

2) About 3 weeks into the new year, Stef and I adopted a pair of kittens. This is what they looked like when we first got them:





And this is them a few weeks ago:



The black one is named Gabriel, the black-and-white one is named Samwise.

3) My most recent physical was a mixed bag: my health is generally good, but I am overweight, my triglycerides are way too high, and my HDL cholesterol is way too low. So I have been on a diet-exercise program lately, junk food went bye-bye, healthy foods making more of an appearance in my diet. I go back for another checkup next week. Stef says I look like I've lost weight, so that's a good sign. Hopefully the blood chem will be better too. Keep your fingers crossed.

4) I turn 38 on Tuesday. Given that i never thought I would live past 30, I consider this quite an accomplishment.

5) Three weeks ago today, this happened: I went out with some of my friends from Fark.com, stayed out very late, came home with a few of them, and stayed up later. (This is standard procedure here, as Stef would rather have me up all night boozing at home than being up all night boozing on the streets of Manhattan.) I went to bed about 5:30, one of your friends crashed out on the futon. Stef had gone to bed a few hours before.

Two hours after I go to bed, I feel her hand shaking my shoulder: "Hon? Hon!"

"Mrrzle?" I mrrzle. "Mrazzle-frazzit?"

"Wr'rr frvghhrgh."

I look up and open my eyes. "Huh?"

My wife is smiling. Hugely.

"We're pregnant."

Blink. Bll-lllllink.

(Please remember I have had two hours of sleep at this point and am still somewhat drunk.)

I nod. "Oh. You should see a doctor about that."

I roll over and go back to sleep.

Five seconds later: "WHAAAAAAT?"

I'm still absorbing this, still getting used to it. But it is awesome and amazing and wonderful and a little scary--mostly because our lives have changed completely now, and it's going to take a lot of getting used to. But I am very thrilled, and very, very happy.

Coming soon: How Harlan Ellison stole my money at I-Con, and what the fuck am I doing with my writing?

I still exist. I shall return.

Watch for major announcementy-type stuff. Soon like.

1. Chad Allen
2. Rick Ankiel
3. David Bell
4. Mike Bell
5. Marvin Benard
6. Gary Bennett, Jr.
7. Larry Bigbie
8. Barry Bonds
9. Kevin Brown
10. Paul Byrd
11. Jose Canseco
12. Mark Carreon
13. Jason Christiansen
14. Howie Clark
15. Roger Clemens
16. Jack Cust
17. Brendan Donnelly
18. Chris Donnels
19. Lenny Dykstra
20. Bobby Estalella
21. Matt Franco
22. Ryan Franklin
23. Eric Gagné
24. Jason Giambi
25. Jeremy Giambi
26. Jay Gibbons
27. Troy Glaus
28. Jason Grimsley
29. Jose Guillen
30. Jerry Hairston, Jr.
31. Matt Herges
32. Phil Hiatt
33. Glenallen Hill
34. Darren Holmes
35. Todd Hundley
36. Mike Judd
37. David Justice
38. Matt Karchner
39. Chuck Knoblauch
40. Tim Laker
41. Mike Lansing
42. Paul Lo Duca
43. Exavier "Nook" Logan
44. Josias Manzanillo
45. Gary Matthews, Jr.
46. Cody McKay
47. Kent Mercker
48. Bart Miadich
49. Hal Morris
50. Daniel Naulty
51. Denny Neagle
52. Rafael Palmeiro
53. Jim Parque
54. Andy Pettitte
55. Adam Piatt
56. Todd Pratt
57. Stephen Randolph
58. Adam Riggs
59. Brian Roberts
60. John Rocker
61. F.P. Santangelo
62. Benito Santiago
63. Scott Schoeneweis
64. David Segui
65. Gary Sheffield
66. Mike Stanton
67. Ricky Stone
68. Miguel Tejada
69. Ismael Valdez
70. Mo Vaughn
71. Randy Velarde
72. Ron Villone
73. Fernando Viña
74. Rondell White
75. Jeff Williams
76. Matt Williams
77. Todd Williams
78. Steve Woodard
79. Kevin Young
80. Gregg Zaun

You bastards. You took the most beautiful sport even invented and shot what little was left of its integrity full of needle holes. You stole my childhood.

You bastards. I hope you fucking rot.

And it isn't in my words, but a friend's. I'll get to that in a second, but first some background:

I was going to post something about 9/11 here, but everything I wrote felt either phony or hypocritical. I wasn't in NYC yet when it happened. I didn't lose loved ones as some did. And while it was a shock, all I did was watch it on TV and have a drink the next night in honor of the fallen. Really not much of a basis on which to write any kind of memorial.

Then I happened on this email from a friend of mine, who was here and watched the towers collapse, unintentionally crystallized my thoughts above much better than I seem to be able to do:

Eh...I get the same way when people do the "we know what it was like, we went through it with you" thing. Unless you were in NYC at the time, you don't know what it was like. You know what it felt like, for you. While sitting in front of your fucking TV in your living room. You weren't wandering the streets for a full day trying to get home. You weren't smelling burning metal and people for 3 weeks. You weren't out wandering around hearing jets flying overhead, with police randomly screaming at you to run because there might be another attack coming right where you are.

Sitting in front of the TV watching it happen while safely in your home/office is NOT the same fucking thing as living through it.

Today is a melancholy day here. I will take that as my cue and keep mostly silent out of respect.

Been gone from here for a couple of weeks; sorry about that. Usually though that's an indication I don't have much that's new to say. Pretty much routine around here; working, reading, getting back to writing, enjoying married life, getting together with friends, etc.

I have been writing again; I was blocked for most of the last month. More on that in the Thorn Tree workjournal here: jbwhelan. I should have a new update (for real this time) tomorrow night. I plan on making sure of this.

In other news, I apparently have a Facebook account I forgot I set up months ago. If you know my name you can search for me there. If you don't, let me know and I'll tell you my name.

Ah, hell with it. My name's Aloysius. ;p

***

(ETA: New work journal entry is up. New Thorn Tree post coming tomorrow!)

Stitches are out, I'm healing nicely. Currently trying to get going on some Thorn Tree work and reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in preparation for book 7. I'll keep you updated on the former; will hopefully finally have an update this week.