Have you read it?

What did you think?

The angiogram actually went normally. No new blockages. Nothing untoward.

That *should* be the last obstacle to my getting on the transplant list.

Phew.

(BTW, my editors at DC are dubious about Killhead.)

(YOU won’t be!)

( … )

(…most of you.)

All of Wednesday was consumed with a computer crisis. Solved, finally, I hope.

Now it’s nap time, soon to be followed by the ever-popular wake-up-shave-shower-get-dressed-stagger-to-car-drive-to-
hospital-get-catheter-shoved-up-groin-time.

With luck, everything will go normally (yeah, right) and I’ll be released immediately after the procedure. Just in time for my therapy group.

[NOTE: This concludes the “It’s All About Wallowing in Me” arc of blog posts you’ve endured for the past few days.]

Boo to you, and happy anniversary to my ex.

Think I’ll go fuck a ghost in celebration.

(Nah, not on the eve of an angiogram. No candy corn, either. Gotta stay in training.)

Starting weight: 215.

Current weight: 210.

For some reason, I’m getting curious about techie stuff again. I’ve been using WordPress, the software that runs this blog, at barely more than novice level, and I’m starting to wonder what else it’s capable of and how much of it I could understand and utilize. I’d like to add a polling system and a real discussion board, for example.

Talking with Mark Evanier in Los Angeles a few weeks ago also re-piqued my interest in the comic book script template I wrote many years ago for Microsoft Word. I released a much earlier version of it publicly, but I’ve kept the current one under wraps because there are just too many rough edges. *I* know how to cope with or circumvent its quirks, but I wouldn’t inflict them on some innocent writer who actually expects software to *work*.

Anyway, I consider this renewed interest in matters geeky a very positive development. At this point in my existence, I consider curiosity about *anything* a positive development.

The excellent (and hilarious) “New Rules” segment from this week’s “Real Time with Bill Maher”:

VIDEO DELETED

Yesterday, I officially started a diet.

I’ve decided to combine two plans: the Carbo-Calorie diet, which fellow comics writer Gerry Conway recommended to me circa 1975 and on which I lost about 70 pounds back then, and the Shangri-La diet, of which I’m highly skeptical but willing to keep an open mind.

The Shangri-La diet, described here in detail, is basically a very weird method of appetite control.

The Carbo-Calorie diet, formulated in the 1970s by an engineer named Donald S. Mart, is a method of counting caloric and carbohydrate intake *at the same time*, using only one unit of measure, the so-called “carbo-calorie”, which doesn’t exist in nature but is a purely mathematical construct. The diet assures that if you eat 100 “carbo-calories” a day, it’s impossible to exceed *both* 1200 calories and 60 grams of carbohydrate — although, on any given day, you could, theoretically, exceed one *or* the other. Over a period of days, weeks, and months, it all evens out.

The weakness of the Carbo-Calorie diet is that it doesn’t take into account the glycemic index, which didn’t exist thirty years ago. The weakness of the Shangri-La diet is that it may be hooey, although its many adherents don’t seem to think so. (The fact that it isn’t a franchise, isn’t associated with a product line, and doesn’t lend itself easily to the creation of one are, to my way of thinking, all factors in its favor. The same is true of the Carbo-Calorie diet, by the way.)

I’ll post more details on the Carbo-Calorie Diet if anyone’s interested. The original book is long out of print, and it’s difficult to find information about the diet on the net.

For me, the biggest obstacle to losing weight will be the inability to exercise. Even the simple act of bending over and straightening back up now leaves me panting for breath, so I won’t be hitting the gym or taking any long walks for awhile. (I cannot describe how infuriating this is.)

Anyway, my starting weight is about 215. I’d like to be at 180 or less before I go under the bone saw. Wednesday will be my weekly weigh-in day. We’ll see what happens.

For those of you who were completely bored by all of the above, let me just add that Killhead can be an extremely violent entity.

Robert Goulet goes to the hospital with the same damn thing I’ve got.

Apparently, his condition is considerably more advanced.

The doctors, though, seem upbeat about the prognosis.

Hang in there, Lancelot.  I need all the role models I can get.

…and I’ve been up all night working, so this will have to be short.

A few tidbits:

• Killhead also appears in COUNTDOWN TO MYSTERY #5, after something terrible happens to Inza.
• I see the cardiologist this afternoon to firm up plans for the angiogram that UCLA requested. Tentative date for that procedure is November 1st.
• I need to lose thirty or so pounds. Fast. Expect to hear much whining and complaining over the next few months as I try to accomplish this. It’s my little holiday gift to you.
• The weather is changing, and my moods are getting weird again. They always do at this time of year. I’ll try to make productive use of them.
• I look better with black hair.

That’s it. When I think of something more interesting to say, I’ll be back.