Best laid of plans

So about the only thing keeping me going the past 24 hours has been a steady stream of Tylenol Ultras. Lovely pills. I feel like crap, take two of them and then about 45 minutes later feel something very nearly human. That last about 5-6 hours and then the crappiness starts to set in again. Take more pills. I've also been sucking on lozenges to keep my throat from shutting down completely. I'm really, really hoping this doesn't become and ear and throat thing, or get any worse before Tuesday.

So it hasn't made for a terribly exciting day. I haven't been the most sociable of people and Cathy has opted to give me a bit a of a wide berth. Well, as wide as you can when we live in an apartment this small. She's gone out this evening to play poker for a bit. And, I imagine, to get away from me for a few hours.

So today has been spent playing Civilizations and printing off some of the the things I'll need for New York, such as confirmation of my plane ticket, hotel and Jon Stewart ticket. I've also been jotting down address for places, like Strand Books and FAO Swartz.

I've also been playing with the schedule for the con. Stan Lee will be talking, that will be nice to see. There are writing panels. They're having advanced screenings for Hellboy II, Wall-E and The Spirit. There's signing for Lee, Frank Miller, Peter David and a bunch of other professional. So I'm trying to get it straight in my head where I want to be at specific times. I suspect it's hopeless. And there's no way I can do everything, so I might as well relax and enjoy things, no matter if I happen to miss a panel it won't be the end of the world.

Sadly, I'm going to miss the strangest panel of the con - "Girls who kick ass". Three of the panelists you've probably never heard of unless you're a comic book fan. But they're very talented writers and artists. Louise Simonson, who created one of the best kids comic books of the past 25 years, called Power Pack. Amanda Connor, who is a top notch artist (and someone I hope to get a sketch from that weekend) and Colleen Doran, whose series "A Distant Soil" is quite popular, although I've never been a fan of it. But I certainly respect the quality of her work. She also illustrated Warren Ellis's sci-fi graphic novel "Orbiter" a couple of years ago that I liked.

Also on this panel of esteemed female creators? Jenna Jamieson. Yeah, that Jenna Jamieson. Jamieson "created" a comic book a few months ago called "Shadow Hunters" and because of that she gets to sit on a panel with some of the elite female comic creators in the business. Retarded. The only thing sadder is that more people will go there to see her rather than Simonson, Doran and Connor.

I'd actually go to meet the other three women, but I have a ticket for a Neil Gaiman reading at the same time. Ah well.

I bet you guys wish I would start talking about curling again, don't you?

Last Five
1. Tonight, tonight - Smashing Pumpkins*
2. Universe and U - KT Turnstall
3. Tenth Avenue freeze out - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
4. Don't stop - Fleetwood Mac
5. Neighbourhood #4 - The Arcade Fire