rubyrosered

Sweet Charity

rubyrosered@gmail.com — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:06:16 GMT

Still Alive! No time to talk, really - someday I'll make a catch-up post - but I couldn't let this afternoon pass by without saying something about Sweet Charity:

Yes, indeed, I signed up at the last minute and I am, indeed, a Charity Ho. *g* I'm much better at creating things for deadlines, so I've committed to making two knitted items and you can bid on them if you'd like! For about three more hours...

I know that's not much time, but I was talked into this at the last minute, so I figured I ought to announce it at the last minute too, right? Right.

There are many interesting items up for auction, some fannish and some more generic, and it looks like a number of them still have pretty low asking prices, so if you ever wanted to donate to a good cause and get something in return - here's your chance!

Almost Happy New Year!

rubyrosered@gmail.com — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 04:49:41 GMT

One last post before 2008. I'm not even sure if I managed a dozen in the past year, but I'm still here and still reading. I even remember to comment occasionally!

I had a busy fall and a fairly pleasant holiday season. The year went by way too quickly, but I'm looking forward to a fresh new year and all the possibilities it holds.

Happy New Year to everyone! May the coming year bring you everything you deserve and everything you desire!

Feeling Charitable?

rubyrosered@gmail.com — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 18:24:20 GMT

Apparently this is just a posty sort of week! Don't count on it to continue, but I've been feeling something of an active need to participate in things lately, so I wanted to post about this in particular.

Tuesday I got an email about the National Psoriasis Walk for Awareness in DC on Saturday, October 6. My first reaction was to wonder why I hadn't heard about this sooner, but then I suppose I've been a bit distracted. My second thought was that I might be able to go participate on Saturday morning but it was way too late to do much of anything else about it.

Then I realized, I have a flist! I can do my part for awareness. And I also have paypal, so if anybody's moved to donate a few dollars there's no reason I can't take it with me when I go. My focus is really on the former rather than the latter, though, because most people just don't know.

Why is this important to me? Well, let's see...

I've had psoriasis since I was 5 years old. If you've met me you might have noticed the weird red patches all over my arms and legs. That's what it is - nothing contagious, just my immune system in overdrive, producing an overabundance of skin cells with no real purpose except to be annoying. Over the years I've trained myself to pretty much forget that it's there so for the most part it doesn't actively bother me, but most people aren't so lucky.

Psoriasis can easily become so severe that it's disabling or requires hospitalization. Even a moderate case can have a significant impact on a person's quality of life. The information HERE is a lot more thorough than I could ever be.

There is no cure for psoriasis. It's really not that well understood. There are a wide variety of treatments, but the results are generally hit or miss and the risks of side effects often outweigh the potential for positive results. There's a good chance that some of the health problems I have now are a result of the treatments I had as a child, which makes me even more leery of the new treatments they have these days. Do I really want to take a drug that suppresses my immune system?

That said, I do believe that someday they're going to figure out why and how this disease works and how to treat it effectively. The National Psoriasis Foundation supports these efforts and I don't know of a better way I can contribute than through them. They've been around for a really long time - I can remember their newsletters from when I was a kid - and seem to be having a positive impact. Their website is tremendously informative and they seem to be adding new activities all the time.

Like the whole 'Walk for Awareness' thing. Who knew? Looks like I really am going drag myself awake at the crack of dawn on Saturday to show up and walk. If you'd like to make a donation, or even if you'd like to come and walk with me *g*, just let me know!

Regardless, if you've read this far I hope you feel slightly more aware and I thank you for listening. If you're ever curious, feel free to ask me questions directly. I'm always willing to talk about it, I just try not to go into it unless someone is genuinely interested.

By an odd coincidence, yesterday I got an email about the Solar Decathlon also taking place on the Capitol Mall. Looks pretty interesting, although this weekend is just the construction phase. I may have to go back next weekend to check out the solar powered houses.

Okay, now I've really gone on at length. I apologize if this is way too boring and personal. Next time maybe I'll even manage fannish content!

I survived!

rubyrosered@gmail.com — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 02:16:00 GMT

It's always so weird for me when I get past a big deadline and realize that very little has actually changed. I tend to build them up in my mind a momentous things and yet the day always comes no matter how much I get done (or don't) or how much I stress. Someday I'll figure out how to be truly organized so I can get everything done while avoiding the stress.

But in the meantime, here I am. I survived the end of the year at work and I'm almost caught back up on my sleep already. AND I survived the birthday-of-doom and actually had some fun while I was at it! Here it is another week and time to start all over again with work to be done and time to be wasted and life to be lived.

Big thanks to everyone who helped me celebrate on Sunday! There was lunch and a tour of the Crafty Bastards street fair, followed by the gathering at my house where we had snacks and conversation and never really made it to the dinner part of the evening. But there was cake! And I feel like the day was properly marked as an event that I'll remember. You guys are awesome for helping to make that happen!

Now, somebody tell me what happened to September? I think I missed a few weeks in there somewhere...

More Detailed Information

rubyrosered@gmail.com — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 04:29:29 GMT

Yes, I know, posting again so soon is a bit shocking, but I warned you all that I would!

I just wanted to repeat my invitation with a little more information. To recap: My birthday is a week from today (September 30th). In an effort to distract myself from the part where I'm getting older, I've decided there must be a celebration. A number of people will be gathering at my house around 5:30pm to assist me in this effort. You are all invited to join the fun!

That's really about it. I'm not planning anything particularly fancy. There will be food (probably pizza or chinese). There will be cake. There will be alcohol for those who are interested. There will be conversation (mostly fannish) and possibly television viewing of some sort. No gifts! I'd really just like to have the pleasure of your company for a couple of hours.

The thing is, even though I've been in the area for a while and I know quite a few people, for the most part I don't know you very well. So, if we've only ever had a couple of conversations, or even if we've barely met, or if you live in the DC area and we haven't met at all, this post is still aimed at you. It know it's last minute, but if you have a couple of hours free and you feel like being social next Sunday, you should plan to come!

My gmail is the same as my journal name. If you're interested, or think you might be interested, let me know and we can discuss directions and such!

Meanwhile, I'm going to go back to pretending this is just a celebration and not actually an indication of my increasing age...

Update and an Invitation

rubyrosered@gmail.com — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 04:28:40 GMT

Time for an update! As often happens, I have been shamed into posting - just to prove people wrong. *g* I suppose it's good that I have friends who know me well enough to enjoy my discomfort.

Bullet points seem to be the way to go (with lots of exclamation points for special emphasis). If only I could remember the code to make it all pretty...

- There are, in fact, journals in my name in all those fun new(ish) places. insanejournal, journalfen and greatestjournal. I'm not posting the links here, but I managed to snag rubyrosered for all of them. Feel free to friend me! Even when I hesitate to post I love reading what other people have to say. I've been very inconsistent with my friending habits and my filtering habits but I think I'm still following most people. One of these days I'll get myself truly organized.

- Meanwhile, I find all the crossposting very annoying. That said - I now have friends exclusively using insanejournal and others that don't get all the fuss (yet) and are still only on livejournal so it looks like I'm going to have to join the crowd. I'm just sticking with LJ and IJ for now, so if for some reason you're using a different journal please leave a comment and I'll be sure to add you to my filter.

- Fall is almost here! Okay, technically I suppose it's already here, but despite a few days of perfect weather it had to go and get hot again this weekend. Still, I love autumn so I have high hopes that it'll be coming back again full force very soon.

- I took a tour of the White House this morning! It was really pretty unimpressive, but I'm glad that now I can say I've seen it. It's one of those things I've always wanted to do.

- Today is stwalmnd's birthday (at least in CA it's still the 22nd). Happy Birthday, Amy!

- Fannishness has largely escaped me lately. Life is distracting! I'm still pretty excited about the return of the television season, though. The DVR has been cleared and I'm trying to keep track of what's starting when. It helps that most of it is all happening within the next week. It doesn't help that I don't have time to watch any of it because:

- The end of the year looms. October 1st is the official end of the fiscal year at work which means it's a big deadline day. I'm a horrible procrastinator and therefore it's going to be a long, painful week.

- Also, in just over a week, the day before the big work deadline, it'll be my birthday! I'm trying not to think about this too much as it's one of those big milestone years, but I'm still feeling the urge to mark the occasion with a celebration. Therefore, you're all invited for dinner at my house! Okay, it's not really that simple, of course, but if you live in the DC area and you're free Sept. 30th after 5:30 pm or so I'd love to have you come over. I know I've waited until the last minute so it's a longshot that anyone will be free, but give it some thought! Email me if you're interested! My gmail is rubyrosered just like my journal. I'm planning to make another post specifically about this (really! tomorrow!) but I'd seriously enjoy having any of you visit.

- I'm sure there are many more things I could go on about, but this is more than you've heard from me in a long time.

Happy Fall Everybody!

rubyrosered@gmail.com — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 02:16:57 GMT

Another alternate journal! Someday this will all settle out, right? Meanwhile I'm sort of friending people randomly so feel free to add me and I'll add you back!