By way of explanation where that photo of 3-year-old Mel came from: I was feeling all whiny and unproductive earlier this week, but did some conversational jujitsu and somehow got me from WHINE WHINE WHINE to going "d'aww!" over pictures of chipmunks, baby foxes, baby hedgehogs, and small children. Several minutes later I was happy again and all launched back into Productive Mode. Friends are cool.

Asheesh's microblog/facebook setup might actually entice me to do the same, meaning I may actually have functional Facebook status messages and dents/tweets at some point. Now, that doesn't mean I'm going to read stuff coming in - I'm distractable enough as it stands, so I currently only look for tweets/dents/facebook-things when I am pointed at a specific piece of content, or looking for the same. I got to hang out with him and Kat Walsh late Monday night earlier this week - it was nice to finally meet Asheesh in person.

Today's triumph: the discovery that my musculoskeletal system is much less messed up than it was a year ago. A year ago, my RSI was rapidly approaching the point where I couldn't type for more than a few minutes at a time and more than an hour or two total for the whole day before the combination of pain and common sense overcame my masochism (it just always hurt). I went to see Abi (the massage therapist who's been working with me on my RSI for many months now) today for the first time since fall, expecting to find that I'd completely relapsed.

Instead, we found just a bit of residual tightness in my shoulders and neck and spine. The scar tissue on my neck (tracheotomy) and ribcage (chest tubes) is actually soft and pliable. My shoulders are more open; I stand taller. Aaaaand I still have really tight forearm and hand (yes, hand - I have knots in the middle of my palm) muscles. Well... it's getting there. My right forearm is currently a mass of soreness, and I'm turning in early for the night to let my hands rest from that. No keyboard for 7 hours.