Yes, I did go gallivanting about Las Vegas with Marty—and learned how to play Blackjack. I didn’t play, though. I watched Marty win. Our companions were generous with their blackjack know-how and I think Marty was up $200 at some point, before he lost $60 of it. (Then he stopped. We’re smart!)

And yes, I did come home and get sick with a lovely flu bug (swine flu, anyone?) and a 103 degree fever and become a captive in my own apartment for the last—oy, the last week or so. I’m teetering towards healthy, and I’m still feeling a bit like crap. Ugh.

But yes, I do seem to have survived, albeit by a very slim margin.

Providence!

I also hurt my knee (though strangely, not at CrossFit), breezed through six more Spenser novels, crashed a hard drive, learned to fear data loss (again), and upgraded my office (mmmm, new and/or refurbished Apple hardware). I also discovered how bizarre it is to not want food for a whole week… and mostly not eat it, either. That last one is just crazy, and I’m still coming to terms with it. In fact, I’m still getting used to eating again.

I lost my voice, too, but it’s coming back (slowly). By later next week, I expect I’ll be mostly back to normal. As normal as I’m going to get, having met Las Vegas. Yow!

All this is beside the fact that I talked to BBC Radio Wales on Monday, on the air. You’re laughing, because on Monday I was shivering under three blankets and two hot water bottles, and wouldn’t have been very good company. But Roy Noble, clever soul, pre-recorded us the week before. Not bad, hey?

You can listen to the archived stream here (I’m at 1:04.17) for another 12 hours or so before they take it down. Or, you can listen to my fairly crappy bootleg’d mp3 right here:

Roy Noble Interview, BBC Radio Wales (MP3, October 19 2009)

The lovely folks at BBC Radio Wales promised me a nice CD, and once I get that I’ll put up a more permanent recording for your listening pleasure. It’s just a little fifteen minutes, but it’s my fifteen minutes. ;}

And what else is on the docket? I’d like to get better. Can I be healthy, please? Do you know how sick I am of being a prisoner of my bed, or the couch? Lying down is exhaustingly boring. Blech! Potions? Cordials? Magic powders? Somebody fix me!

Well. Not like THAT.