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

[anandangel.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad to hear you're feeling better. Yay for you! (And Horatio too!)

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I went to ikea and bought Horatio a cat bed that's shaped like a flower with foam petals, but he's not into it. It's so cute though!

[likeawoman.livejournal.com]

glad to hear you're doing well and are happy and have a healthy kitty and everything!

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm in that "life is great" phase. :)

[applekid.livejournal.com]

AWESOME.

i've been wondering when you'd be ready to update! it's so amazing to hear you so cheerful.

i am jealous of your raspberry cheesecake, and i really hope mr. blossom finds a job up by you. i can't imagine you not living in canada! D:

[anemonerose.livejournal.com]

Yay, glad to hear things are going well! Good luck on the job search for Mr. Blossom!

[boniblithe.livejournal.com]

When is he moving? I want to check my calendar, see when I can plan a trip. I have vacation to use and what better way than to spend 2-3 days in Toronto!

[pieslut.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on everything! I am so glad things are going better for you again. I've been reading your LJ for several years now (your HP stuff got me hooked) and it is really nice to see someone's life going well. Especially after such a traumatic year.
Also, I hear you on the tenure thing. I will hopefully get mine next year, and I don't know if I could give that up, even though I don't really like living in SoCal.
I have one very nosy question that I've been dying to ask you, and so I'm just going to do it. It concerns your marriage. See, I was under the impression that you were gay. As in "Michael Rosenbaum stole my gay." Or do I just have you totally confused with someone else?

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

It's great to be cheerful again too! And yeah, I don't know what we're going to do about his job situation. The one he has now is pretty good, but it's just a contract and he still needs to finish his damn dissertation. Once that's done I think he'll probably be able to pick and choose where he wants to go, so then it opens up a whole new thing: where in the world do you want to live? New Zealand? Scotland? Canada is good for me personally and professionally (librarians make a lot more here than in the US), but there are just so many more schools in the US for him to apply to. :/ I guess we'll see. He really loves Virginia Tech, though. We'll see.

At least in Virginia we could get the house of my dreams. :)

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

He leaves July 26th. You're welcome at any time! I'm signed up to take a day off every week all summer. Oh but I'm going to Virginia August 14-18.

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

No, you're right. I can't really explain it. I've known this guy for years online as a friend, and when we met in real life...I just knew. It was him or nobody. Not because he's male, certainly not, just because he's him. I guess partly I was getting a bit tired of the whole gay thing (well, I mean, the politics and the identity issues and all that) and the whole dating/relationship thing. I decided to stay single, so I wondered how best to identify myself. And I started thinking that I've never really been attracted to anyone's gender, and I'm not very visual, it has always been just about people. But I think I held myself back a bit as part of my identity, not acknowledging any feelings for the "wrong" people (though I can't really definitively state that I had any, it's just a suspicion). So I thought, okay, let it go, just don't pin yourself on any identities and see what happens. I was cool being single, I bought a condo, I was doing really well, so I didn't need anyone. And then I met up with Mr. Blossom, and it all just made sense.

But I don't think very much about me has actually changed, but this works. What can I say. :)

[applekid.livejournal.com]

it's true, virginia has a super low cost of living. it's attracting young professionals these days too, as far as i can tell - a few people i've worked with have moved out there.

[cindysilver.livejournal.com]

If you like online roleplaying games, I recommend World of Warcraft :) I am glad to hear you're doing better, I look forward to reading your blog once more!

[silveraspen]

Good to hear from you, and especially to hear that things are going well!

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

I've never lived farther south than Boston, but if Mr. Blossom likes it there, there's got to be something to recommend it, I figure.

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

Haha! I'm not much good as a role player, sadly. I'm more of a builder of things. But I'm not un-tempted to check it out.

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

I'm in that "wow the world is great" kind of headspace. I hear that's typical once treatment is over, so maybe I can just chalk it up to that. :)

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

Yay! I knew most of that, but yay for updates! I am a little tempted by SL but probably do not have time for anything new.

So what's new with you?

Have student visa, plane ticket, and residence deposit paid, so I'm moving to Wales in September. :)

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

Ooo nice! Cardiff?

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

Aberystwyth. :)

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

Wow, what degree and what are you studying?

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

M.A. in Medieval Welsh Literature. (http://www.aber.ac.uk/cymraeg-welsh/ma_medieval_welsh.htm) Very excited! :)

[max-ambiguity.livejournal.com]

Yay, tenure! I'm just slowly drowning in work over here.

[pieslut.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much for answering my totally impertinent question. For a while I honestly thought I had you confused with someone else.
I wish you the best of luck with your new marriage. I personally can't think of a better reason to marry than the feeling of "This One. This is the One." I know that's why I married, and up to that moment I didn't think I would ever get married to anyone.
Also, congrats on the condo. That is a thing I do not know if I could have done on my own.