I dunno, Life, I guess

I'm headed off to the doctor's in a bit. I have health insurance these days (go, gay marriage!), so I decided I should probably get all the tests and such again. After years of going completely cold turkey, I've since learned that black coffee is an acceptable liquid pre-cholesterol test. To which all I can really say is: THANK GOD.

Last night, I Skyped into a classroom in Hong Kong to talk short stories and science fiction/fantasy. My Tuesday night was their Wednesday morning. I traveled into the future to talk about science fiction, which is wicked awesome when you think about it.

I got the gig because a high school friend of mine is teaching in an English emersion high school there. Previously, she was doing something similar in Seoul. In the past, I Skyped with her class there, too. I guess I can say that I've visited classes in Korea and China now. Neat.

We're getting ready to head down to LaCrosse for Memorial Day weekend (and, as it happens my father's birthday, which is actually tomorrow, but we'll do a "birthday observed.") I'm a little worried that our gerbil Templeton is going to pass away while we're gone. He's an extremely old mouse (we call him mouse even though he's a gerbil) especially when you consider mouses's life expectancy. Shawn has noticed he's slowing down. He doesn't leap to chew up his tubes like he used to. He was a very busy mouse. Now he naps more. He can't last forever, but Templeton has been such a good gerbil. There will be a lot of gross sobbing when he leaves this mortal coil.

I'm currently reading (slowly, for some reason) Michel Faber's THE BOOK OF STRANGE NEW THINGS. I'm not even a hundred pages in yet, but really enjoying it. There's space travel!

Tonight is my last class at the Loft. I'm going to miss that group. They've been amazing.

I'm ramblely. That must mean that it's time to sign off!