Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

Bad headache and some other pain yesterday, made it to doctor anyhow though traffic was a bear. Mondo evil bad pain today -- neck, shoulder, ribs, hip, arms, a few fingers -- and I'm supposed to be in Bowie now to exchange gifts. Except that I haven't finished the things I was making for Mom to give to my cousins, I wasn't able to obtain the thing I thought of that'd be cool to give one of my brothers, traffic is doing the Maryland snow dance, and my body really, really hurts. (I did make it out to the gas station to fill up in case I actually make it to Bowie. I also picked up something I should've gotten a few weeks ago, which will either make the making-stuff go faster or allow me to make errors that set me back a week more easily -- I've already managed to screw up two pieces by being impatient.) This evening would've been a little less stressful if I'd had more notice, but oh well.

Despite all of that, I'm glad it's Christmas Eve. I'm going to try to make it to my mother's house tonight to say hello to my cousins and find out what my brother has that he so wants to see my reaction to; and I'm going to try to make it to my other brother's in-laws tomorrow. And if I fail to make it to one or both of those because I just can't get my body to feel well enough to make the drive, I'm going to try very hard not to feel guilty about it, but that probably won't work.

I am looking forward to doing Christmassy stuff, though it does mean trying to find a second weather-apropriate not-too-femmy top that actually goes well with my one pair of modern pants (I'm not really set up for seeing my mother two days in a row, wardrobe-wise), and dealing with drivers with water-soluble driving skills, and the stress of not having gifts all finished. I almost never see these cousins, I like my brother's in-laws, and it's good to do Christmas things with family (even without the ex-girlfriend I can no longer mention by name there to buffer the family dynamic by being a loving ally well liked by everyone else).

I've got gas in the car in case I make it out to Bowie and/or Gaithersburg, and I've got a bit of food in the house in case I don't, so I guess I'm as prepared as I'm going to be either way. Now I just have to find out whether my body is going to cooperate. And manage not to get small bits of brass in my eye in the next few days (yes, yes, safety goggles ... I need a pair with built-in magnifiers).

A merry Christmas to all reading this who celebrate it; safe driving to all who have to drive in the white and wet while the roads are crowded; and I hope y'all are stressing less than I am about the whole thing (though really I'm stressing less than it sounds like).

I am just realizing how dangerous I could be with a computer-controlled drill press. Even one of the ancient paper-tape driven ones (I have an ASR-33 Teletype; I can punch paper tape). Especially if it worked as a router (uh, if I say "router" and I'm thinking metal, does that make it a milling machine, or is it still a router?).

I don't suppose such things ever show up really cheaply at hamfests, do they?