Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
     Martha -- well, I had a direct email from Will (sent within the
last couple of hours), and he seems to think everything's still on,
you'l pardon the expression, track.  (Amtrak is carrying roughly double
normal loads right now, and straining to find equipment.  One wonders
if anybody at FEMA, or even DoT, is going to draw a Conclusion.)  I'm
not sure what airline they were on; Gopher-in-the-Sky wasn't flying at
all today, but that can't last.
     The plan is visit Emma either early tomorrow PM or (more likely)
sometime Saturday.  (She's actually only a few blocks away, but I
didn't want to barge in too early, and, well, stuff has been
happening.)  I will remind her about arriving really early, though
Emma's the sort of person who files those things and can actually call
them up again.
     And of course I will say hello and get well from everybody.

     Oh, and Jinx -- it occurred to me moments after logging off that
the cat comment might have been a joke.  If so, I do apologize. 
Nosocomial infections (those one gets in the hospital) are a hot-button
issue with me.
  

    
Today I'm reading Mike's _The Last Hot Time_ and enjoying it muchly.

I pray that Emma's trip home will not be stressful for any involved.
  

    
"EDS ... is setting up an emergency overflow call center for the
American Red Cross.  EDS is currently manning another emergency center
out of Mechanicsburg, PA, but the volumes are so overwhelming the Red
Cross is asking for more help.  Just yesterday alone, the Red Cross
handled 80,000 calls from people making donations and had to turn away
an additional 256,000 calls."

256K calls unanswered... the mind boggles. They've assigned me the
6-10pm shift tonight, so if you want to call and make an appointment,
maybe you'll talk to me. The advice I've heard thus far is to make your
appointment three to four weeks from now, to keep blood supplies at a
sustained level for longer. As you may know, donated blood is only
usable for 42 days, while the interval between donations is 56 days.
The trick, of course, will be in getting all of these first-time donors
to become regulars.
  

    
Mike, it was a joke and it's alright, really, I've been falling flat
on my humor as of late.
I've be known for hair-brained things but that's overboard for me. :)

Jinx
  

    
Elise, it's definitely the non-contagious variety, happened years
ago.  The Blood Bank informed me at Worldcon, I've just forgotten
the Hep classification system.

Uneven days for me.  My bicycle was stolen the other day (I thought I
could trust Mission Street enough not to lock it up for a few minutes),
but I've located a nice looking new model (straight handlebars instead
of upright).
My guitar has been repegged, and I'm playing it a little bit.

Tara:  I like plants, however I'm not a very good gardener, yet.  I was
thinking about some of the stories in Smoke and Mirrors, the other day,  
The Wedding Present, in particular.
Have you read Neil's Miracle Man? (Issue 21
is a good one).
  

    
Neil: I very much appreciated Prime Minister Blair's address today.

Jinx: Sending heart support for you and your mom.  All those tubes and
machines are so scary-looking and it's so hard when they're so unlike
their normal selves.  Take as good care of yourself as possible: rest,
eat right, and hang in there.  The worst part will be over soon.  We're
thinking of ya!

Just wanted to share some words from Papa Tolkein, who wrote after two
world wars:

"...it is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do
what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set,
uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live
after may have clean earth to till."

_LoTR_
  

    
JaNell - I don't know the attitude of the folks who pissed you off...
I know it's been a struggle for me and most of the people I know to
find some way of coping with the horror of what has happened, while at
the same time looking at the broader, global, historical picture...
it's hard. How do you deal with the immensity of what has happened, the
death and tragedy and mind boggling horror of it all.. while dealing
with comments like "nuke them all" and the reports of hate crimes and
threats and media fueled anti-arab/muslim sentiments... while also
looking at how largely ignorant and innocent people are paying the
price of American foreign involvement with their lives.
My boss put it nicely... being a former principal... after someone has
been bullied for weeks and months, how do you deal with him after he's
 taken a gun and shot the bully. He shouldn't have shot the bully...
but you have to take a long hard look at what lead up that shooting.

Now that I've hit two major hot buttons in one paragraph... I'm going
to go back to being silent on this subject.

Neil - So, it's been proved on Usenet that you didn't write
Stardust... interesting. Imagine what'll happen in three hundred years
as scholars debate your existence at all. 
"All records indicate that there was a person named Neil Gaiman who
was involved in the literary world in some way, but was basically a
pumpkin farmer. To think that this pumpkin farmer could have produced
the sublime genius of American Gods, the subtly shaded fantasy
Stardust, and a book chronicling the exploits of 1980's musical group
Duran Duran is just too much for any serious scholar to accept."

Jinx - because I haven't said this yet... my sympathies go out to you
and your mom... 
  

    
Personally, I've always doubted the existence of Duran Duran...
  

    
Needing a dirversion I went and investigated the "Neil Gaiman did not
wrote Stardust" thing. Our very own JaNell was quoted!!! From here no
less. It was a nice moment of humor in an otherwise yucky week.

Thank you everyone for the best wishes, I've been randomly passing
them on to my mother who is still looking semi-Borg like.

Jinx who wonders why people want others to look at their gory bits
  

    
Neil,
There have been several comments on your blogger that have made
wonder, blink several time, or that I've just wanted to comment on.
However to find out in the same day (so I'm a day or two behind) that
not only are you a superhero who fights aliens, *BUT* responsible for
the WTC bombing as well. Wow,.......I'm actually just left speachless. 
What's next,.....going to singlehandedly (is that supposed to be all
one word?) surf across the ocean, grow mutant pumpkins that cure
cancer, smite Jerry Falwell with thunderbolts?

Jinx who is tired of us pagans getting blamed for everything
  

    

What's the URL of the blogger?
  

    
Jinxie, you said, "Our very own JaNell was quoted!!!"
What? Where?
Oh, no!

Guess what I did this morning, for the first time ever?
Yep, I actually talked Medic into taking my blood... the new way they
test says I'm not anemic. Hah. And it only took about five minutes
after I got in... I've been walking around flaunting my little Snoopy
band-aid all day...
  

    
JaNell-- Congratulations on being a first-time donor. See to it that
you're back in eight weeks. 

As mentally draining as watching all of the coverage on television has
been, working the phones this evening on the Red Cross donation lines
takes it to an entirely different level. I can't even comprehend what
those at "ground zero" are dealing with.
  I spoke with one child, probably no older than 5, who wanted to
donate his teddy bear. I just got off the line with a gentleman whose
nephew was last seen on the second floor of WTC2, having carried an
injured woman down eighty flights of stairs. I have spoken with
doctors, nurses, welders, and heavy-equipment operators, all wanting to
know how they could help. The lady next to me received a call from a
would-be volunteer who, having seen all of the "big, strong
firefighters and rescue workers," figured they might be able to use
him, as a "small statured guy." I have taken donations from $10 to
$600, and every single one of them said they wish they had more to
give.
  The outpouring of support from people from Maine to California
(including one woman I spoke with who lives less than three miles from
me) is absolutely outstanding. A poor place for gods this may be, but
it is chock full of angels.
  

    
You bet. 
I seem to feel fine so far, but being always somewhat anemic, how
would I know the differance?
  

    
So long as you're not passing out or developing arm-sized bruises,
you're probably in good shape. Lots and lots of fluids, just like they
said.
  

    
Well, I did immediately go top up my caffiene and sugar...
  

    
Caffeine+sugar=bad, usually. Especially because most pop (soda,
whatever) contains quite a lot of sodium by volume. Dries ya right out.
Water and juices, ya hear me? :)
  

    
Ya gonna come make me?
(takes big sip of sugary ice tea)

Well, I found the usenet posting... it wasn't a quote from here, but
rather an email I sent... luckily I spell check.
Don't scare me like that, Jinx, and leave that cat alone!
  

    
Um, Linda, the blogger is over at Neilgaiman.com - just click on the
thing that says journal and you'll go right in.

And you lot are a remarkable and supportive bunch of people, you know.
  

    
<hugs>
  

    
Hey, wait a minute...
I remember you calling us a "dirty minded lot" or somesuch...
  

    
Nah. We're remarkable and supportive and barking mad.  Right, Neil?
  

    
Can't I be all of the above?
I'm flexible.
  

    
I wholeheartedly concur JaNell.
No pigeon-holing on these boards, please.  ;)
  

    
E-mail from Kathy Li.  A response to me:

You're probably going to 300 of these, but, it's:

http://www.americangods.com/journal/journal.asp

--Kathy