The Countdown Has Begun

Your raconteur got a phone call from Chuck Boyd, the guy who is in charge of my imminent chemotherapy regimen. It was a good call, dude was nice, got lots of operational info…

I’ve decided to spare y’all the details here, but clicking on Hyper CVAD or Rituximab will take you to more detailed info on my planned treatment.

My PICC line will be placed next Wednesday, so I’ll be hot-tubbing frequently right up until that appointment! I’ll be admitted the following day (or a week later) to begin the first of eight five-day admissions (2-3 weeks apart) for each “run” of chemo.

Then I get my stem cell transplant.

*sigh*

 

This promises to suck SO very fucking hard… Chuck didn’t sugar coat his briefing.

I can hang tho. I’ve been through worse, I think.

Our new digs are wonderful! (Pics are HERE, with more to follow.)

Internet and TV are thoroughly sorted. I got a TV card plugged into a Sat-TV DVR so I can watch whatever i can imagine in a window while I do stuff like this. I’m gonna need the distraction (and maybe a sling box rig… No, they got cable at the hospital. I could sideload from here if I get a rig built… Oops! I got lost there for a minute. Needless to say, the room is just about completely set up to a very high standard of geeky utility and slacker comfort. I haven’t had a chance to think x-10 yet eith… OK, I’ll stop now.

I’ll enjoy the home-cooked meals as long as my appetite lasts. (I’ve been selecting the menus! :) )

I’ve been getting a steady stream of concerned folks being all kind and stuff, which is real good for my morale, so keep that coming!

I’m also writing a post, about why I chose to go all “Public” about my cancer, for a good friend of mine in the Bay Area for Love & Trash in the next couple of days. I believe it’ll be going up next week, but I’ll let y’all know, of course!

I hear my hot tub calling…

Yesterday in the Westerpark

It was a freaking glorious day in Amsterdam yesterday, Campers!

Amsterdam’s Song of the Day!

It’s positively luscious in Amsterdam today, Campers!

72F (21C), not a cloud in the sky, yummy girls in short skirts on bikes… YAY!

Your raconteur should be sleeping, but it’s just TOO freaking gorgeous!

I went out for a nice long walk and whole city is out lovin’ this weather too!

Everybody seems to be wearing a big, silly grin and I can almost hear the Goddess giggling at our collective joy!

It’s THAT wonderful!

So, the perfect song for the first TRULY spectacular day of the year is: U2: Beautiful Day

What you don’t have, you don’t need it now…

I hope your day is at least a little bit beautiful too!

Girls Love DJ’s at Hotel Arena (Tonight!)

Your raconteur returns to his second favourite party tonight!

There were LOTS of choices for quality party in Amsterdam this evening, but it was particularly easy for me to decide where to go out to play! (Hotel Arena is really local for me too!)

Last time I was planning to go see these guys, a heroic dose of mushrooms and an extremely bereft kitten torpedoed those plans… (No complaints, she needed the attention! BTW: She’s doing GREAT these days!)

Then I was in Ruigoord shooting F*ck Minimal the last time they played near me…

So it’s been WAY too damn long! I’m rather psyched, actually! (Thanks to Tommy C. for the +1!)

The weather has been luscious in teh magickal kingdom of late! I’ve been out and about all day today taking care of all those mundane domestic-type things that gotta be dealt with from time to time.

My monitor is still circling the drain, so while I’ll be shooting tonight, I’m not exactly sure how soon the pics will be up… Won’t be too long, because it’s making me CRAZY! (OK, crazier!)

Stay tuned for further deets, Campers!

A Yummy Leidseplein Afternoon…

Your raconteur got up rather late after watching last night’s Pennsylvania primary results on CNN…

(Let’s not talk about THAT right now, it kinda kills my buzz!)

The sun was shining bright and the temperature was climbing into the mid-60s(F), my roommates were heading out and the prospect of sitting here at my HQ just wasn’t too appealing…

So I escaped to the Leidseplein to people watch in the sun.

THIS time I brought my gear!

(Click below to see the short set I shot today)

The set was so short because the weather didn’t hold, I made it home just before it started to rain!

A wandering kind of day!

Your raconteur has been out and about all over the centrum on this BEAUTIFUL day in teh magickal kingdom!

I helped an old friend buy a Mac Book Pro (with ALL the trimmings!) by the Westerkerk this AM, after that we walked to the Grey Area coffeeshop to see our buddy, John. (he’s the proprietor)

Then we hiked to the Leidseplein (via Overtoom) to sit outside, drink a Guinness and look at all the pretty girls that passed by…

There were LOTS!   I even knew a few of them, (and said hello!) which always impresses tourists…

Prinses Eva called while we were chillin, she’s about to go to Nepal with her dad and they leave early tomorrow. She’ll be back just in time for Queensday! (Yay!)

I’m off to see Marcus’ exhibition tonight (with Eline) at the Muziekgebouw after we stop by his place to watch the piece that local public TV shot on Tuesday about the show… (Link to video follows)

It’s called Hong Kong Visions and I’ve already heard that it is GREAT!

I’ll follow up with in depth coverage and stuff…

Update: A small set of pics from our visit to the show is HERE

Schizoid Weather (and Partyshot stuff!)

The local weather madness continues… It’s kinda chilly (34F) as I write this, but randomly shuffling through snow, sleet, and brilliant sunshine like a deck of cards in a poker game that nobody’s actually winning.

I walked around in it for awhile, had my favourite lunch of Turkish pizza (w/chicken! nom, Nom, NOM!), talked to Prinses Eva about her ‘Hyves‘ book sales and a couple of web interviews/call in shows for social networking geeks in the states we’re setting up. (I did an video interview for Austincast.com last night at about 0200, I’ll link it up after I see it. ) Eva also gets to keep her VERY cute apartment in the jordaan for at least another year! (Lucky girl!)

Bought some flowers to take to Mina’s house for a dinner that her grandma’s cooking tonight. Bulgarian home cooking! Mmmmmm… I can’t wait! I don’t know if they’ve got any rakia though…

I got all of Sunday night’s WickedJazzSounds pics up yesterday, then I had to delete them cos they were TOO big. (I was wiping out the Flickr viewer on the WJS site) I re-upped (and re-tagged) 200+ pics in two sets for your tasty WJS partyshot pleasure!

It took HOURS, but it was SO worth it!

I think you’ll agree…

It was an extraordinarily hawt night at SugarFactory!

Ginormous crowd, LOTS of beautiful girls, spectacular music, and… broken air conditioning! (They just put in a brand-new system, my sources say that it should be back up by now!)

It was snowing outside but tropical rain forest hot inside the club. Your raconteur was in SERIOUS need of a shower by the end of the night!

The heat certainly didn’t kill anybody’s buzz though!

Then we all came outside into THIS!

Speaking of showers… I’m off to get cleaned up for my dinner at Mina’s!

Enjoy the pics!

—————-
Listening to: Dave Grusin – St. Elsewhere
via FoxyTunes

Snowy and COLD… WTF? Happy Easter?!?

Nobody lives in teh magic kingdom for the weather, Campers!

(For those of you that celebrate it! Pic from Far East Cynic.)

I stocked up BIG yesterday: 2 trips to the grocery store, did laundry, drugstore, coffeeshop, tobacco shop, liquor store, etc… I even got a toaster!

Easter Sunday here is DEAD and most stuff is closed tomorrow, so ya gotta plan ahead.

Woke up early (0600 local) and called my kitty Clarolyn (in Oregon) to give her some love via Skype. The temp here was 23F and it was snowing. We chatted awhile then I crashed back out to take some more advantage of the excellent sleeping weather!

I finally re-awoke at 1100 and started working up the sidebar to your right. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Pretty cool, huh?!? I’m lovin’ the map. The blogroll took FOREVER, with twitter distractions and such, but it’s a good start.

Thought I’d write this post, do some Flickr stuff, cook up a very nice dinner, watch some TV, and head out to tonight’s holiday edition of WickedJazzSounds at SugarFactory!

 

Gonna be LOTS of gorgeous kittens in attendance, on top of a HUGE crowd, so get there early! If you can try to join us, that is… (A Severe Line Warning has been issued!)

I’ll take pics, of course, for those of you that aren’t actually here.