Category: 1

Including a stop at San Diego.

I figured I would do another installment of ASK THE WIFE AND DAUGHTERS

So you can ask us questions but, like last time, I am limited the topic to conventions and Disney theme parks.

So ask away.

Kathleen typing for Peter who is off on a business trip

This morning Peter got an e-mail that seemed to come from Susan Ellison telling a tale of woe about being mugged in London.

It’s a fake all the way. This e-mail had shown up on a doll group I am part of about 6 months ago and was outed as a scam from …wait for it….Nigeria. Yep, Nigeria.

So if you get an e-mail from Susan or anyone talking about being mugged in London and a tale of woe, it’s a scam all the way.

So pass the word. Susan is safely at home with her husband Harlan.

Thanks-
Kath

That’s how long Doctor Faust (you have to love that name) says it’s going to be before I have all my strength back. I saw him today to have the stitches removed, which only hurt moderately since my skin was trying to bond with it. I also got back my MRIs and am wondering if there’s any market for them on ebay or at the CBLDF auction at San Diego. I mean, they’re of no use to me since they’re out of date.

But man, six months. It really underscores for me how absurd it is when you see characters injured and/or hospitalized on TV or in movies and they’re back up and around in no time. Consider when Josh was shot on “West Wing.” Although there was much exploration of his psychological trauma, he was basically up and around and back at work in a couple of weeks, even within their own continuity. Chances are in real life he wouldn’t have been back to work for several months. Then again, it’s nothing new: Didn’t someone once do a study that said Nancy Drew would have been a dribbling idiot if she’d really been knocked unconscious as many times as she was in her books? It’s just that when you actually experience surgical intrusion or trauma, it gives you a new appreciation for the gulf between reality and fiction.

PAD

Updated; Yeah, okay, I checked. I didn’t realize “The Midterms,” the third episode of that season,actually took place over a period of twelve weeks, which would be enough time for Josh to recuperate. Although I still think he would have been working restricted hours even after returning to work.

We’re back from Shore Leave, which was my first lengthy outing since the surgery. My stamina isn’t up to par yet; when Kath tried to wake me from a nap Saturday afternoon to tell me I had a panel in ten minutes, I just growled at her and went back to sleep. So apologies to those who missed my presence at the “Magic, Myth and Merlin” panel.

Fans were particularly solicitous and overall we had a good time, as we always do at Shore Leave. Both the Mike Friedman roast and Mystery Trekkie Theater went reasonably well, I thought. It was great seeing any number of you folks there, and now it’s just a matter of resting up from the Shore Leave sprint for the San Diego marathon. Watch Kathleen’s website as, in the next day or so, she’ll be putting up pictures of Caroline and Ariel in their prize-winning costumes from the masquerade.

The one downside of the weekend was on the drive home as we learned that Harvey Pekar had passed away. We had the opportunity to spend a little time with Harvey and Joyce some years back, and it remains a highlight of my convention memories. There is a little less splendor in America tonight.

PAD

Don’t waste your time rooting around on ebay for Harlan Ellison stuff. Download the brochure below to make Harlan himself your one-stop shopping destination for Ellison collectibles. Check out some of the material Harlan is selling that spans the entirety of a remarkable career. Feel free to spread the word as much as possible.

Downloadable Brochure here

Also, here’s the man himself to discuss the scope of the endeavor, reprinted from his website with permission. Ladies and gentleman, attend Mr. Ellison:

Twice, in the past 25 years, my wife has gone through the vast, extensive vaults, spaces, nooks, storage bins, drawers, cubbies and subterranean chambers here at Ellison Wonderland; and she has offered up for sale or auction, books and assorted memorabilia of my career. PURGE III is apparently underway. It will be the last, if I have anything to say about it.

Continue Reading “Harlan Ellison Supersale!” →

First of all, thanks to all of you for the kind words and well-wishing you’ve extended thus far. I have continued to improve exponentially; I feel so much better one day than I did the day before that it’s amazing to chart the progress. At this point I’m reduced to feeling some mild discomfort from the incision whenever I stand or sit, and that’s the extent of it. The pain in my hips is completely gone. Beginning tomorrow I’m going to see if the discomfort is tolerable while cutting back on the Percoset. The last thing I need is to turn into Rush Limbaugh and get addicted to this stuff (although I think it would take a bit more than that to turn me into Rush Limbaugh.)

I also appreciate all the folks who have written me privately about their own medical conditions and history of fighting difficulties. I have to say, with everything that can go wrong with the human body, it seems a miracle that anyone is ever in good health at any time

And last of all, thanks to my good friend, Mel Gibson, who took the time to call me and scream profanities and blame my people for being the cause of all wars.

PAD

Nearly three weeks ago, for no discernible reason, I started developing pain in my right hip. I was fine once I started walking or if I was sitting or lying down; but the transition from sitting to standing was agonizing. (And if that doesn’t seem a problem, then keep track of the number of times you go from sitting to standing and vice versa in the course of a day). They took X-rays and found nothing relevant to hip pain. So they put me on some heavy-duty pain killers and recommended, just as a precaution, that I see an orthopedist.

By the time I saw the orthopedist, it had gotten worse. Walking no longer kick started my hip; now I couldn’t walk without a cane (although to assuage my new found sense of vulnerability, I was using my sword cane.) The orthopedist believed that it could be a pinched nerve and put me on a prescription of pregnazone, but also slated me for an MRI. And I was on the clock, because this was happening on Wednesday and I was slated to get on an airplane the following Monday for a business trip.

The MRI was barely 24 hours later. By that point, it had spread to both my hips and my thighs down to my knees (although not into them, thankfully). I couldn’t believe how fast I was degenerating. I was now in pain 24/7. There was no comfortable position for me; at most, I could become so exhausted that I would pass out for an hour here or there before the pain awoke me. That was my equivalent of sleep.

They got back the MRI results and that’s when it pretty much went right off the rails.

Continue Reading “So to make a short story long” →