I feel happy! I feel happy!

In all seriousness, I’m recovering at exactly the right pace, according to people who keep score on this sort of thing.

Warning: this is about to get gross.

I’m off all the meds, except for some stupid steroid for swelling that makes me really fucking irritable and regular Tylenol for this very minor headache that I guess is also pretty normal, once you’ve had a bunch of stuff the size of a Weighted Companion Cube yanked out of your head, and a "major septoplasty". Oh! and the most awesome thing? The stuff that looks like chicken liver that comes out of my nose about four times a day.

My doctor says I have some kind of post-surgical hypertension, which is why I can’t do a damn thing other than sit here and watch movies for another three or four days, so I’m starting to get <i>really</i> bored and antsy. And irritable. Goddamn am I irritable. So don’t fuck with me, or I’ll shoot chicken liver at you from my nose gun.

Oh! You know what I learned a whole bunch about on TV yesterday? Trains during wartime and secret underground Cold War tunnels. Exactly WTF I’m going to do with this knowledge, I don’t know, so I’m looking forward to removing it from my brain with Guinness once I allowed to drink alcohol again . . . in three goddamn miserable weeks, because alcohol makes me bleed, which remains bad.

Did I mention that I’m bored and irritable? Because boy, howdy.

However, I can smell things again. I can taste things again. I can sleep through the night without snoring, and I don’t regret having this surgery for a single moment. Sincerely, I don’t. And my doctor is some kind of superhero, who I think came from space and the future to carve a 4x5cm chunk of polyp-covered Horta from just one of my sinus cavities. There’s more, but I think I’ve been gross enough for one day.

Thank you, everyone, for all your get well wishes, here and at Fark. That was really, really, cool. I totally broke the "just sit here and continue to do a bunch of fucking nothing" rule during breakfast this morning so I could check up on e-mails and stuff.

I better go back to the couch. My couch groove is starting to lose its shape. Have a nice weekend, everyone.

. . . yep. But my doctor says that talking on the phone, sending e-mails, posting in my blog, and spending too any time doing much more than watching TV (I’m still too drugged up to fucos — I’m not changing the spelling on that because it’s so goddamn funny — on reading this big stack of graphic novels I bought for the recovery) raises my blood pressure dangerously high, making me bleed a lot. I guess bleeding a lot is something I’m supposed to avoid for the next few days, so it’s me, the couch, and the TV.

I’m trying to get Anne to guest post while I’m drooling on the couch and watching Modern Marvels, so maybe there will be something worth reading here in the near future.

Thanks for all the get well wishes you’ve all left in comments and sent via e-mail. That’s very kind of you all.

I spent the last four days in Bat Country, while recovering from major sinus surgery. I’ll spare the gory (and oh my god are they gory) details, but when all this packing comes out of my sinuses on Tuesday, I can look forward to not snoring all night and waking up with a skull crushing sinus headache for the first time in about ten years. I’m planning a party, all by myself with some toast and a cup of coffee.

I don’t think I’ll be posting much until I’m back to normal, but I didn’t want anyone to think I’ll fallen down a well next to little Timmy Turner.O’Toole. (My bad. I’m so full of painkillers and meds that all I can do ism,nsdnsakazza,mmp.)

Unless Sting wants to write a song about it, in which case, please send your love down the well.

Over at Joystiq, Griffin McElroy wrote about Keith David’s growing celebrity in video games. He’s probably best known for playing the Arbiter in Halo 2 and Halo 3, but he’s also in Mass Effect and a bunch of other extremely popular games.

McElroy takes this condescending, dismissive tone toward Keith David’s career, calling him a "B-List" actor, and implying that, because he hadn’t worked that often on camera recently, he resorted to voices in video games, where — hey, backhanded compliment — he’s doing surprisingly well for himself!

"These kinds of jobs are quickly gaining popularity in Hollywood, says
Reuters, as voice work provides a much steadier paycheck than that of
on-screen roles. We see it as a win-win situation — down on their luck
actors with distinct voices can find a nice amount of celebrity in the
gaming realm…"

Wow. This is so profoundly misinformed, and based on such confirmation bias, it’s too stupid to be offensive. I’ve been fortunate enough to spend a lot of time doing voice work, both for video games and for animation, and it is not easy. "Down on their luck actors" don’t get to just walk into a studio and
wave around their list of long-forgotten on-camera achievements in
exchange for a job. You can only get cast in these jobs — and keep
them — if you have the skills and talent to earn them. It’s an incredibly closed community where the gates are jealously guarded by people who work very, very hard to get inside, and once you’re there, you have to constantly work your ass off to stay there, because there are so many people working just as hard to take your place.

Here’s a shocking truth: a lot of so-called "A-list" celebrities don’t have what it takes to succeed in voice acting, because it’s an entirely different set of skills, and an entirely different work ethic. It’s hard, and it’s competitive, and it’s not someplace "down on their luck actors with distinct voices" go when they can’t go anywhere else. To imply otherwise is an insult to the actors whose voices bring these characters to life. I find that truly offensive.