Taking a Break

In this case, quite literally.

Last Friday, I was coming down the stairs in our rental condo, and on the last step, my left foot slipped out from under me. I was holding the rail and caught myself with my right foot. Unfortunately, one of my kitties had ruffled up the throw rug so that it was fluffy-side down. I slid, at maximum speed, across the tile, and made contact with the bottom of my right foot with the front door. I still had hold of the rail. If I were shorter, I might have missed it.

I immediately knew that EMTs and firemen would be required because my leg was pointing north and my foot was pointing east. It was very bad.

Of course, my cell phone had no signal, and which I had held onto during the fall. I was about 15 feet away from the land line we just had installed in January (late December? I dunno.). I slid on my belly on the tile until I hit carpet then I walked on my knees to the land line, got the phone, and went back down on my belly.

The 911 people were wonderful, the EMTs were fabulous, and the firemen were gorgeous.

They gave me some (worthless) pain medicine nasally as a spray, then wrapped my leg in a blow-up splint. Ladies, I was wondering which was worse--broken ankle or childbirth. I was hollering and screaming for all I was worth as I grabbed onto the padding of the reclining chair next to me.

They wheeled me out of my place on my office desk chair because the gurney wouldn't make in it here, it's very tight and crammed.


So I rode in the ambulance--cool--no lights or sirens, not life-threatening, and they got me on morphine drip. Aaaaah.

My wonderful boss/friend came over to the ER and held my hand and we told stories as I waited. An orthopedist came by (bone doctor), and without warning re-located my ankle. OW. Then better. Had it x-rayed, broken in three places, surgery to put a plate and some pins in it and overnight in the hospital.

So I'm here at home, a favorite relative flew out from back east to look after me, thank god because there was no aftercare plan prepared for me. And the hospital care was not great.  *ahem*

We're trying to get some home health care for me for when she leaves on Monday. I also see the surgeon on  Monday Thursday.

I am not mobile. I'm in the reclining chair in the living room. I don't have enough strength to hold myself up on crutches, the anesthesia has given me a congested chest, fortunately I'm constipated so that hasn't been a problem, but a bit of a worry. And tonight we're going to be hammered with snow. Thuper!!! Good day to be at home.

So I'll be back when I'm...well, back. Cheers. :-)

Cha-Ching!

So while I made a quick trip out to the grocery for some refried beans in order to make homemade nachos with Trader Joe's Flax Chips (yummers), I left my cell phone at home. And when I got back, there was an email saying, "The check from X is here."

*SNOOPYDANCE*

"The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire. The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire. We don't need no water let the mutherfucker burn..........."

Okay, maybe you needed to live through the 80s to get that.

Regardless, hopefully I can go pick up the check tomorrow. I don't want to wait for the mail. Mama's bills are due.

*exhale*

***

In other news, my non-fiction book is back from the Indexer, who wrote a whole page of editorial errors. Huh. I didn't know indexers also did editing. The client is...hmmm, how to put...rhymes with rich...? Yeah, that's it.

Usually I do one edit, send it to the author for corrections, they send it back and I proofread it. With this client? It went back and forth SIX times. And every time she sent it back, she would change MY corrections. So when I look at this list, I want to see at what point the errors occurred in the process. If I made mistakes, then I'll take responsibility, but if it wasn't me....? Honestly, it never occurred to me that something I researched and checked would be changed back to its original incorrect state. I mean there are some things like style issues that can be changed without being right or wrong, like using contractions instead of spelling out words (in an informal work). But when I check that a word is not capitalized because it is not a proper noun, but you go back in and change them all back to capitals? Why did you hire me?

And one other thing:  Editing is like any other skill. The more you do of it, the better you get. I'm wearing out a few reference books. But it's all good. I hope it makes me better.

Busy but good week

I have four clients right now, and I'm on target with all four:

1. Client 1 wanted me to read their entire book before editing. Done.
2. YA supernatural mystery novel edited and sent to client.
3. Non-fiction book edited, formatted, and sent to indexer (a specialized skill).
4. Cleaned up website for mystery author, and will start e-formatting book for publication tomorrow.

I'm starting to get the hang of this. It will be nice when the money starts rolling in. (And yeah, still waiting on the check from down under. Maybe this week?) I'd like to do some traveling. I'd like to go visit a favorite family member who moved to the midwest/south last year; I'd like to go somewhere entirely new (to me) like Hawaii, or an Alaskan cruise this summer. I've got the travel bug.

Coffee, Tea, or Check?

So we got the billing issues with my overseas author straightened out, and last week he offered to send payment directly to my employer's bank account. She told him to send a check.

I know, right?

Evidently their back account is "in process."  WTF does that mean? They both know I'm waiting for this money. I just....there seem to be some memory problems, particularly with the person who told author to send a check instead of a wire transfer. There is a lot of forgetting there. I thought my memory was bad? Wow. Hopefully the check will be "in the mail" to me next week. I don't know how long it takes to mail something from Down Under?

So, that's it for my "rant of the day."

***

In other "news," my longing to move back to Northern California, one town in particular, is growing. Yesterday I found out that one of my classmates is in grad school at our old university in the same major. And I'm....jealous.  Envious. Wishing it were me. I was a better student than...this person. If they can do it, shouldn't I? Or has my ability to learn in a formal setting evaporated? I don't know.

I tried to talk to my husband about it, but he changed the subject every time, even when I asked him why he was changing the subject? To which he changed the subject.  *sigh* That's where I want to be. As for grad school? I don't know. Maybe. We'll see.

Gettin' Over It

Well, so far my big fuckup has not surfaced and come into the daylight. Hopefully it never will. My boss/friend is very understanding of my learning curve and in fact says she has often made the same mistakes....but standing up a client? (Because I was in an Ambien-induce coma?), not good. Bad enough to let me go. The Author was angry, but accepted my explanation, and has agreed to meet with me when she returns to town in a week or so (Tuesday). *fingerscrossed* I have promised to take her to lunch anywhere she'd like to go. Hopefully, I'll have some money by then. *groan*

In the meantime, I have three new clients, none of whom are in that big of a hurry to get their book finished. Fine by me. I'm wallowing in depression and self-pity and trying desperately to convert my sleeping hours from days to nights without success. Fuck.