Went back to the doctor today (same practice, different doctor). I've been put on another course of antibiotics (different antibiotic this time) and in a couple weeks I need to go back and have minor surgery to get the edge of the toe removed. The doctor is of the opinion that once this kind of infection/tumor sets in, there's nothing to be done other than the surgery, so that's what I'll have.

I'm told it takes about twenty minutes, and that healing is pretty rapid (although it's painful at first).

So there you go. I have to get a piece of my toenail removed permanently. Wheee.

I mentioned before that I've been doing book covers for a publisher of erotic romance novels, yes? Well, I have been. First cover was actually perfectly G-Rated, although the novel, I'm sure, is NOT.

The second one I've done is rather more racy. It's not x-rated or anything (the books are definitely that, but the covers aren't), but it's definitely not g-rated like the previous cover was.

Both covers are in the gallery at my erotic art site, if you want to have a look. Note that you must register to view the gallery (there's a privacy policy published, of course), and, errr, don't go there if you're likely to be offended by nudity and images dealing with sexuality. It's not hardcore or anything, but it's definitely not for the easily offended or for persons under the legal age of consent. Disclaimer finished.

Well, that granuloma on my toe was getting better and now it's getting worse again. I'm going to have to go back to the doctor. I'll probably have to go back on anti-biotics and I'll probably get a referral to a specialist who will cut out the edge of that toenail to prevent this from happening again.

The weird thing is that it's not like I have constant problems with my toenails or anything. I haven't had an ingrown toenail in years.

I'm pretty sure that this is the toenail I dropped the brick on when I was four or five. Yes, I was playing with a brick (because it was there, okay?) and I dropped it and I lost the toenail entirely. Took months to grow back. I know it was one of my big toes and I'm almost certain it was this one, which may explain why it curves in so deeply on that side.

Anyway. Toe hurts. Tumor thingy is oozing and bleeding again. Gonna call the doctor and see what can be done. This has to be fixed. Ugh.

Jake was dying.

His wife, Becky, was maintaining a candlelight vigil by his side. She held his fragile hand, tears running down her face. Her praying roused him from his slumber; he looked up and his pale lips began to move slightly. "Becky my darling" he whispered.

"Hush my love," she said. "Rest, don't talk."

He was insistent "Becky," he said in his tired voice, "I have something that I must confess."

"There's nothing to confess," replied the weeping Becky, "Everything's all right, go to sleep."

"No, no. I must die in peace, Becky. I ... I slept with your sister, her best friend, your best friend, and your mother!"

"I know, sweetheart," whispered Becky, "let the poison work."

The "links" section of this domain is in terrible condition. Many of the links don't work, the design is really old (like, from 2001 or something), it's just a mess.

What I should probably do is install some sort of link indexing script and use that to organize the links and stuff. Will I do it? Uhm. Probably. Eventually. When I can be bothered.

Lately I've been spending a lot of my spare time doing book covers (have I mentioned that?), and when I devote a lot of my creative energy to something very visual like that, it drains my creative energy in other areas (like, oh, writing or doing web design). The publisher I'm workng with is Loose Id, by the way, but before you click that link, be warned: They publish erotica and erotic romance. If you're likely to be offended by subject matter of that sort, don't read the synopses (most of the book covers are reasonably "clean" although a few do have some imagery that is intended for mature audiences). I wouldn't say it's "not safe for work" but it's certainly not appropriate for those who are sensitive to rather frank depiction of sexuality (some of it pretty racy).

I, of course, am not bothered by that stuff, but we all know I'm a perv (a monogamous perv, but a perv nonetheless).

Oh, and the first book cover I've done for Loose Id is in the gallery at my erotic art site (see, told you I was a perv).

I've been reading Kev's blog. Man after my own heart, I must say. I love the way he writes, and his thoughts on autism are very similar to my own and very well expressed. Oh, and he's a web developer, too.

We've been working on getting Spamassassin working on our server. So far, we're still busy seeding the database, and as a result, I've got a couple of my addresses going to my shell account on the server (so I can save the mail and easily add it to the database, although we now have another means of doing that and I'll probably redirect it back to spamcop.net now).

So anyway, I went just now to find that there was an email waiting for me. Since I use a text-only reader on the server (well, DUH, what else are you going to use in that situation), any HTML or attached images or other junk isn't visible.

Here's the message I just got as it appeared in my mail reader (the address they sent it to has been obscured; the address it's from is obviously fake):

Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2005 01:13:29 -0600
From: Eldon Koch
To: obscured@domain.xyz
Subject: Phamacy Online
Parts/Attachments:
1.1 Shown 2 lines Text
1.2 OK ~41 lines Text
2 2.6 KB Image
----------------------------------------

Get a capable html e-mailer

[ Part 2, Image/JPEG 3.5KB. ]
[ Cannot display this part. Press "V" then "S" to save in a file. ]

Normally, I don't pay any attention to spam, don't even open it, but this time I did because of the spamtrap filter thingy, and I'm sorry I bothered. From here on, that address is going to be redirected to spamcop and filtered there and every message that comes in will be REPORTED.

And NO, I will NOT use an HTML capable mail program just to read SPAM.

Yes, I have a strange kind of fascination with 1964, which, of course, is the year I was born.

Today when I was in the post office I saw CDs with hit songs from specific years, and I grabbed the 1964 one. Shockingly, there are no Beatles songs on it, probably because they couldn't get the rights, but there are some other really good ones (and a few lame ones).

At the moment, I'm just pleased to learn that "I'm Into Something Good" by Herman's Hermits was from '64 (why I didn't know that, I have no idea), and also Manfred Mann's, "Doo Wah Diddy Diddy" (which just happens to be the first song I ever sang to Miranda, because they played the oldies station on the radio in the nursery of the hospital where she was born).

I'm also interested to hear the original versions of two songs I know as Linda Ronstadt cover songs. One ("You're No Good" by Swinging Blue Jeans) makes me prefer the original, but I think I like the Ronstadt version of The Hollies' "Just One Look" a bit better, though the original arrangement is pretty interesting.

And I'll leave you with the words of what I consider to be the most evocative of the James Bond songs....

Goldfinger, he's the man, the man with the Midas touch A spider's touch Such a cold finger beckons you to enter his web of sin But don't go in

Golden words he will pour in your ear
But his lies can't disguise what you fear
For a golden girl knows when he's kissed her
It's the kiss of death from Mister

Goldfinger, pretty girl, beware of this heart of gold
This heart is cold

Good advice, don't you think? You wouldn't want to end up covered with gold latex paint or something.

is my sister hurting
is his brother still in pain
Try this for a change
truce
pain is killing you
Ah, yes, yes, yes,
listen to this

Little magic. Perfect weekends.
You like Them
Feel Energized
Feel good
What do you have to lose?

Well, I've had a sore toe for weeks now. It started as your normal, boring old ingrown toenail, which I don't get often, but every now and then have trouble with. This time, it was caused by letting my toenails get too long, which put unusual pressure on the edges of the toenail, and well, to make a long story short, I ended up with a nasty sore and infection that has led to a benign tumor known as a granuloma.

It's pretty painful, and it's quite gross, because there's this nasty, gooey little red growth on the side of my toenail and it weeps constantly and bleeds periodically. YUCK.

The doctor has given me antibiotics (Keflex) and some treatment information, like how to properly bandage it to keep it from having undue pressure on it, some things that may help (like soaking in warm water with some antibacterial soap in it), etc. With any luck, the antibiotics will knock out the infection and I won't have to have surgery (which is minor and can be done under local anesthetic, but is painful).

My plantar fasciitis has resolved, though (that was on the other foot), thanks to that very effective anti-inflammatory I got last time I had to go to the doctor.

I tell you, if it's not one foot, it's another...

A while back I posted a funny little screencap image of a Google ad that stated that you could buy "New and Used Ground Beef" on eBay (eeeuuuwww).

Well, today I found out that I'm actually for sale on eBay. That's right, folks, just saw this one (in my photo gallery, for what it's worth):

Bonni
Great deals on Bonni Shop on eBay and Save!
www.eBay.com

Eeek!

Lawyers should never ask a witness a question if they aren't prepared for the answer. In a trial in a small southern American town, the prosecuting attorney called his first witness, a grand-motherly, elderly woman to the stand. He approached her and asked, "Mrs. Jones, do you know me?"

She responded, "Why, yes I do know you, Mr. Williams. I've know you since you were a young boy, and frankly, you've been a big disappointment to me. You lie, you cheat on your wife, you manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. You think you're a big shot when you haven't the brains to realize you never will amount to anything more than a two-bit paper pusher. Yes, I know you."

The Lawyer was stunned! Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across the room and as ked, "Mrs. Jones, do you know the defense attorney?" She again replied, "Why yes, I do. I've known Mr. Bradley since he was a youngster too. He's lazy, bigoted, and he has a drinking problem. He can't build a normal relationship with anyone and his law practice is one of the worst in the entire state. Not to mention he cheated on his wife with three different women. One of them was your wife. Yes, I know him."

The defense attorney almost died.

The judge asked both counselors to approach the bench and in a very quiet voice, said, "If either of you asks her if she knows me, I'll jail you for contempt."

Written by a witty person who only got three hours of sleep (and gave permission to share this with anyone and everyone):

The Flash Fortune Lotto Scam - the link will take you to an exact copy of what I got in the email today:

Lottery Scam

There are some pretty interesting scams out there and I usually just ignore and delete. But I got a tickle up my bum today and thought I'd try responding just for fun. Below is what I sent in reply to this particular party. In no way do I mean ANYTHING offensive to anyone here who may read this:

To MR. Edward Bongo and Mr. Anderson Simon,

I am sorry to inform you that I will be unable to accept your generous cash lotto prize of $2,950,000.00. I have a condition called 'chrometophobia', which is the fear of money. I have had this terrible condition for many years and because of this, I have been unable to handle even my own money. I give it away at every chance I get and because of this, I am penniless, but much happier. Were I to accept your prize money, I would begin to experience symptoms of my condition. These symptoms can be quite embarrassing as well as dangerous.

Once in a bank, when I was younger and just starting to get my condition, I saw the $2000.00 cash withdrawal I had just made and began urinating all over the bank floor. Just the sight of the paper bills left me unable to control my bodily functions!

Some years later, in another bank, I smelled the cash I was withdrawing and started ripping and tearing at my clothes until they fell off my body in a heap. Standing there completely naked, I wondered what was wrong with me! People were staring [and some were even smiling], and again, I wet the floor. (My psychiatrist told me this was because I was subconsciously trying to remove the smell of the paper cash from my clothing and that I was lucky that I hadn't tried to rip out my hair too!)

The worst came a few years ago. My phobia had grown so strong that even the mere mention of money would turn me into a mad-woman! A man came up to me to ask for spare change and I began to act like a werewolf and tore off all my clothing and tried to rip and claw at strangers walking by, all the time drooling and foaming at the mouth! I ran into traffic, determined to tear apart the world, when I was hit by a car. My legs had to be amputated as well as one of my arms. I also lost all my fingers on the hand that was thankfully spared from amputation. Lastly, much of intestines were spilled out onto the roadway were they were squished by oncoming cars. The doctors, miracle workers that they are, were able to piece them back together through the modern miracle of medicine and a few left-over cow parts.

As I type this with my thumb, which is all I have left now, I am trembling because of talking about money. Thankfully, I can no longer hurt others or myself as I have no limbs left with which to do any physical harm. Plus, I am strapped in a straight-jacket, except for my one arm, which the facility allows me the use of. The room I spend my days in now has lovely white soft padded walls and a tiny window where I can enjoy listening to the birds outside and see a small fragment of sunshine. The bars do not even inhibit my view at all! The facility has installed a keyboard on my table, which is how I am able to write to you now.

In closing, I just want to thank you for making me a cash-prize winner of your fabulous lottery, but as you can understand, I must turn it down. Please, if you can, could you donate my prize to a worthy charity? My first choice would be the NFCCA, [The National Foundation for Cheek-Chewers Anonymous], but would also be just as happy if you could donate it to TIFOTI, [The International Foundation for One-Thumbed Individuals]. You're help in this would be greatly appreciated as both these charitable causes are near and dear to my heart. Now, I must close so I can call someone on the staff. I'm afraid that I have urinated all over the floor again and need some assistance cleaning it up.

Thank you for you time and kind regards,

Victoria Nogutsatall