Under the Knife

Monday morning will be the last time I'll get to see my knee scar-free and with all its original pieces in all their original places. Same goes for my ankle. I'm having crazy reconstructive surgery to try and repair all the dumbass damage I've incurred over the years. My plan to wait it out and get a robo-knee instead didn't quite pan out. My next charitable donation will be to Cyborgs International so they can get moving a little faster on that.

It's been a long time coming, with almost a year to get used to the idea, and yet I can't help being a bit nervous. I know this kind of surgery is pretty routine and lots of people have something like it over the course of their lives, but the idea of them mucking around beneath my skin, drilling holes, tearing stuff out and then re-attaching it...yeah, not diggin' it too much. Gah. Hope none of you are eating right now.

I have one last weekend ahead of me to make the most of my ability to drink and dance and...uh....walk without pain. And then the long healing process begins. But hey, pain killers! Whee!

So try to cross your fingers for me Monday morning, would ya? I'll try to get back as soon as I can to let you all know how it went.

Evil Eye

Got my pics developed, so I thought I'd share what I ended up with for a pumpkin this year. The evil eye, as seen at night....


And in the light...


I'm generally happy with how it came out, but it wasn't quite as ambitious as what I had set out to do. It turned out to be a lot harder than I thought it would be, partly because I didn't have the right tools for it. But it was great practice for next year, I'm going to do the same relief-sculpture style -- with something a little less geometric.

Big thanks to everyone who pitched a pumpkin idea....even though I ran out of time to do any of them justice, there were some great ideas there and I'll be sure to put them to good use next year.