Seven Thoughts for a Tuesday

1) On the grand list of bad narrative decisions that cause me to dislike things I should have loved the decision to have the first half of Veronica Mars, Season 3, to use extreme feminists as one of the key antagonists is right at the top. The first time I watched the series it was a moment of pure WTF and it seriously hasn’t made any more sense on subsequent viewings.

2) Someone has created inhalable coffee as a consumer product. The jet packs and self-driving cars are surely on their way.

3) Part of my beef with the decision mentioned in number one? The writers of Veronica Mars have a seemingly magical ability to create empathy with the antagonists. *Every single arsehole* in the show – from the self-involved Sheriff Lamb to killer Aaron Eckles to frat-boy Dick Casablancas – has a redeeming moment or two in amidst their grating evil. There was depth to them. The “evil feminist” antagonists aren’t ever given this – even when there’s a reason behind there actions, they’re always contrasted against the protagonists actions and they’re left feeling vaguely weak and unsympathetic due to the fact that they’re primary role is to be not-Veronicas rather than developed characters in their own right. In the narrative morality of the show, they are always “wrong”.

4) And really, in reference to the above, fuck that shit for a bad joke.

5) I finish the first round of antibiotics and painkillers today, which means I’ll be heading back to the dentist tomorrow. I’ll either be getting the second stage of my root canal done, or they’ll decide the infection hasn’t been adequately fought off and remove my tooth. With luck, neither of these options will involve going back to my doctor for another round of medication. I like this staying awake thing. It lets me get work done and leads to far fewer panicked phone calls from my parents demanding to know what’s going on.

6) Also, when you nap for five hours at a time, the difference between napping and sleepingis effectively nil. It also results in a vaguely zombified appearance.

7) The spokesbear demands I get work done today. I will obey the spokesbear.

Feelin’ just a little bit sleepy

The short answer to where I’ve been for the last week: sleeping.

The slightly longer answer goes something like this: Last week there was the return of the tooth pain and the right-hand side of my face swelled up like I was using my cheek as a storage pocket for a golf ball. Bugger, says I, that’s not really normal, and so I hie myself off to the dentist in order to do something about it.  The dentist takes one look and agrees with me – definitely not normal. Turned out I had myself an acute dental abscess – which largely translates as cavity infection that has spread into other nerves. His first impulse is to pull the infected tooth out, but since I take moderately good care of my teeth (despite what this post may suggest) the decision is made to try and save it, and so I get my first-ever root canal.

Oddly, this wasn’t the bad part. The root canal was surprisingly painless and I’ve been chewing again within twelve hours. Today I actually chewed steak with the right side of my mouth and that hasn’t been something I could do without pain for seven years now. Of course, that may be the drugs talking.

You see, the bad part about all this is the weird grab-bag of medication and anti-inflamatries I’m on to deal with the infection. Still no pain, but these things encourage me to sleep for eighteen hours a day and spent the six hours I’m awake stumbling around like a drunk. Which is kinda weird, given that two of the three have “For the love of all that’s holy, please don’t drink while taking this medication” on the label.  My routine since last Wednesday has become wake up, eat, take medication, stay awake for an hour pretending I can be a productive human being, then go nap until it’s time to start the process again.

There’s a lesson in this, I suspect. Not take care of your teeth so much as dentists can perscribe you the really good drugs when you need them. Unforutnately the days when I’d regard that as fun are long behind me – right now I’m dreaming of a productive day of writing or an afternoon where I don’t doze off on the couch.

Bleh

February has become the month we do not talk about, so I won’t. Embrace the mystery. What I will point out, somewhat belatedly, is the impressive scale of the recent Australian SF Snapshot which collected 90 or so interviews from members of the Australian Spec Fic scene (my interview would be over yonder).

Now I’m going to go clean the house, answer two weeks of e-mail, and do my best to rejoin the rest of the human race by some point late this evening.