Random Thoughts Before Chemo Tomorrow

These are books from the Locus list that I currently own or am waiting for publication/availability in the U.S. Embarrassingly I have read none of these yet, partly because I've begun some series and haven't caught up with the newer entries in the series yet. I'm pretty excited about most of these.
* Polity Agent, Neal Asher
* The Armies of Memory, John Barnes
* Idolon, Mark Budz
* Eifelheim, Michael Flynn
* Keeping It Real, Justina Robson
* Mathematicians in Love, Rudy Rucker
* Glasshouse, Charles Stross
* Matriarch, Karen Traviss
* Rainbows End, Vernor Vinge
* Blindsight, Peter Watts
* The Brief History of the Dead, Kevin Brockmeier
* Solstice Wood, Patricia A. McKillip
* The Virtu, Sarah Monette
* The Last Witchfinder, James Morrow
* The Tourmaline, Paul Park
* The Jennifer Morgue, Charles Stross
* The Demon and the City, Liz Williams
* The Patron Saint of Plagues, Barth Anderson
* The Stolen Child, Keith Donohue
* The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch
* Spirits That Walk in Shadow, Nina Kiriki Hoffman

True Confession #2: I seem to be developing Sweetie-itis. You know that annoying affliction that store clerks and manicurists have, where they have to refer to total strangers or even friends as Sweetie. I blame it on chemo. I love having a catch-all to blame everything on, btw.

I think there's a reason why I'm doing this recently. True Confession #3: I am a hermit. I live in front of a book or computer for more hours a day than most people go to work. I'm too shy to go out socially alone very often, and when I do I act too excited and embarrass myself. The people I do know from my UU church are such wonderful and inspiring people that I haven't felt like I belong in their esteemed company. This is not their doing, it's mine. Anyway, ever since I got cancer, people are engaging me in conversation, sending me cards, wishing me well, offering their help, and it's drawing me out of my shell because they are taking the first social step, which is something hard for me to do. This leaves me in a state of perpetual and expansive well-being, and when I'm out going to appointments and doing errands, I feel such goodwill toward everyone that every so often, when someone's words or actions touch my heart, the Sweetie thing pops out of my mouth, such as Thank you Sweetie, or Bye Sweetie. I use Sweetie with my kids and only my kids. ::sigh:: I blame it on the chemo.

Edit: Sweetie-itis is gone. It seems that writing this post cured me of it instantly. Whew!

I fell in love with my first real-world Treo today in church. It's a good thing I'm going to feel like crap for the next few days, because it will keep me from acting upon my technogeek urges.

I'm interested in getting a book by George Lacoff, Don't Think of an Elephant. George Lakoff studies language and underlying value systems. "Lakoff’s years of research and work with environmental and political leaders have been distilled into this essential guide, which shows progressives how to think in terms of values instead of programs, and why people vote their values and identities, often against their best interests."

Our UU minister has the most wonderful way of phrasing things. Today she lit a candle for all of us who are working through health problems, "reconciling the frailty of our bodies with the vitality of our souls." That's how I feel: not particularly frail , but very, very vital and that's hard to reconcile with being 51, not to mention cancer.

I'm reading the first book in the fantasy Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb, Assassin's Apprentice. On sffworld it's a huge favorite of many (although some don't like the main character's "whining" and so they dislike the books). Still, these are the kind of books that are reread many times by ones who love them, and those people envy us, who are reading them for the first time. Hobb wrote 3 trilogies, the others being Liveship Traders and Tawny Man, set in the same world, and interconnected by characters. I'm only a couple hundred pages into the first book, but the style of writing has me hooked from the beginning. She allows me to see, smell, and even get the overall feel of her settings, and her characters are flawed and very human. It's told in first-person, my favorite viewpoint, and so feels very intimate. I can tell that this will be a series that will deeply touch my heart. I'm so glad I chose this for this time in my life.