Hello, Dolly!

[ivyblossom]

So, just to recap: I got cancer, I had the surgery and the radiation treatment. It was a little rough for a while there, I learned a lot about being, as my doctor says, "in a compromised body", but I'm doing really well now. And while my first test (a whole body scan) came back showing more remaining tissue than anticipated (they did the test while I was still processing the radiation), my blood test shows that there's none left anymore, which as good as someone actually doing what I'd been wishing someone would do: look me in the face and say, "Ivy, you don't have cancer anymore." I'm doing pretty well these days, and I'm trying to get back to a normal life.

I've been playing around in Second Life a lot, ever since I got my attention span back. I've gotten pretty addicted to building things in there. If you have an SL av, let me know, it would be cool to hang out.

I got married in March; Mr. Blossom is living with me at present, though he's moving to Virginia in a few weeks for a job. (He's an itinerant professor at the moment.) We still need to sort out where we're going to live in the end. Just kind of taking it as it comes for the moment. He's currently in the kitchen making a raspberry cheesecake. He's an excellent chef. I wash the dishes, that's the trade off.

While the vet suspected it, I recently learned that my dearly-beloved 11 year old orange tabby cat (Horatio) does not have FIV. Yay!

I got permanent status (tenure) while I was off recovering. Each year I have this job the harder it is to think about leaving it. Let's hope Mr. Blossom can find a job in the area.

I'm waiting with baited breath to hear more about the Lexicon trial; did I miss something? Any news?

I did some clean up on the flist, and I'm trying to add a whackload of people, but LJ won't let me. Something about trying to add too many people at once. So more during the week, I expect. I'd like to get my friendslist balanced and add back everyone who's added me.

So what's new with you?

Comments

[saffronlie.livejournal.com]

Yay! It's great to hear that you're doing better, mentally and physically. Congrats on tenure and all. :D

[perpetua54.livejournal.com]

Happy to see you back!

[lapin-agile.livejournal.com]

It's good to read that Important Life Things are going well for you -- especially since they have not always been easy. Best wishes for married life -- and sympathies for the geographic challenges of academic marriage. (I'm the sometimes trailing, sometimes absent academic in my marriage, and it's not easy. At all.)

I'm among those who have recently friended because I've finally given up on ever really returning to my original journal (conversant, where I've had you on the flist for years). At one time it seemed important to keep the two flists from transparently overlapping... now not so much. (At one time I thought I'd flit back and forth between two journals, keeping fannishness separate from references to real life... now I realize that I'm just not that much of a blogger.)

I'm hoping that someone comments on an update on the Lexicon trial. I've lost track of its progress, too, and am too lazy to poke around for the most recent reports.

*returns to lurking*

[laurenmitchell.livejournal.com]

Yay Ivy! I'm so glad things are going so well for you and Mr. Blossom and Horatio!

New with me: I'm starting a new job in just over three hours. I will get up and get dressed eventually, I promise.

[sinisteral.livejournal.com]

I'm happy to hear that your health is better as well as everything else. I'd kill for a husband who could cook a meal for me and cook it well :)!

[boniblithe.livejournal.com]

My mother's name is Virginia! :D

[boniblithe.livejournal.com]

Oooooooooh excellent. I mean, not excellent that he's leaving, but you know.

I shall send you an email from work tomorrow :D

[stungunbilly.livejournal.com]

Congratulations, on all of those wonderful things; new marriage, tenure, freedom from the health dangers!
That is all wonderful news.

[aldiara.livejournal.com]

Yaaay, glad to hear you're doing well. I may have just awwwed a lot at the "Mr Blossom" moniker. Heh.

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

Sounds good. Tomorrow at work I'm planning to watch the last x-men movie on one of my two monitors and write project management docs on the other.

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

It's just like...I am a very solitary person (though not at all shy). I like my me time. And his probably the first person I feel like I can be "alone" with, you know? Like, we can be together and I feel as regenerated as I do when I'm completely alone.

Also, he makes me breakfast, packs my lunch, and has dinner ready for me when I get home. For now, anyway, while he's still here. :)

We also share a lot of interests, so we have some very weighty conversations about social networks and interactive software and online communities and whatnot.

Strange, but sometimes you just have to go with the flow. :)

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

And birds!

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

Why thank you, it's good to be back!

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

It's still not letting me add anyone. So annoying, I have no idea how long it will make me wait. Maybe 24 hours? I hope not longer.

And I know what you mean about the overlap problem. I have a blog in my real name that I've had for longer than I've had this one, and since so much real life have flitered into this one, I'm sure it's not too hard to put two and two together anymore. But the tenure thing makes me much more at peace about letting them merge a bit more.

Actually my experiences in fandom have been invaluable to my real life work, and I'm thinking about writing a paper in my real name about some dynamics of fandom. Funny how we relax about that sort of thing after a while.

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

Ooo new job! Do tell! I hope you got lots of sleep. First days are really tiring. Go to bed early tonight!

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

Haha yes, but he's not a very neat cook. I have my work cut out for me after most of these fantastic meals. ;)

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

I guess all lives have their ups and downs. It's definitely nice being up the upswing again. :)

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

I might need to start calling him that in real life.

[aldiara.livejournal.com]

Go for it!

[pyoor_excuse]

That is *excellent* news, congratulations on both fronts. I'm really glad to hear that you're clear, and that things are going well with your chap. :)

[daegaer.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you're doing so well and that Horatio is FIV negative!

[moia.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're doing better! I hope you and MR. Blossom manage to solve your geographical problems and find somewhere where you can be happy together. :)

[so-lily-briscoe.livejournal.com]

Congrats on wellness!

You are the zillionth person I know to receive tenure from a sickbed. Weird. Congrats on that, too!

And congrats on the you-cook-I-clean arrangment - one I have working nicely for myself at the moment, too. Don't you love that? You get raspberry cheesecake (or, in my case, any number of pies) for eff's sake, and all you have to do is get a little soapy? Brilliant.

Glad all's as well as can be with you.

[maruchina.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you're doing better! And yay for Horatio! I hope Mr. Blossom finds a job in your area soon. I can't imagine it'll be easy living so far apart?

What's new with me? I've finally gotten my life back together, am working on my BA thesis and hopefully graduating in September, so I can start my MA in American Studies in September as well. :) I've finally gotten rid of my ex of doom and have been ignoring his attempts to contact me. Will be re-doing my living room completely this month, including a complete set of new furniture. So yes, these are all things that make me happy.

Maybe there's just something positive in the water. :)