I'm massively fortunate to have...

...so many deeply thoughtful, extraordinarily intelligent, boundlessly talented and ridiculously super-cute friends and family members.

That said, my dear friend and colleague, Jade, just gave me an autographed first-edition Joan Didion, so unless someone wants to gift-wrap Bono and/or Jon Hamm, I think this is the gift-getting pinnacle.

I'm going to skip year-end reflections...

...because much of them would incorporate you-know-who and I long ago opted to withhold from the grief-mongers whatever it is they think they'll find here. (Seriously, when certain individuals do searches on his name here several times a week, it's not a question of loose screws so much as the degree of looseness.)

Instead, I'll offer a holiday piece I filmed for the Seattle Channel three years ago. (He and I watched it together on my living room couch when it first aired. There--I'll throw you a grief scrap.)

Re the piece itself, about the Christmas torment my brother unleashed on my high school boyfriend, what good are the holidays if you can't needle your younger sibling and remind him that even on the cusp of fatherhood, he remains your baby bro? Ah, payback, a quarter century later. I start at a minute and 17 seconds:

Seattle Channel Video can be played in Flash Player 9 and up

My new interview with John Vanderslice for Paste Magazine is here:

The lauded singer-songwriter and all-around swell guy on philanthropy, Three Imaginary Girls, Teen Feed and playing Santa:

http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/giving_back/2010/12/john-vanderslice-dresses-as-santa-for-three-imaginary-girls-fundraiser.html

I've had a spate of interviews lately I've really enjoyed and this ranks high among them. My editor made an error, though, and one of JV's answers makes a lot less sense without the question preceding it. So here's the full exchange:

PASTE: The Three Imaginary Girls told me how thrilled they were you stepped up with little notice to play Santa at their holiday concert benefiting Teen Feed, the non-profit that provides meals for homeless youth, and that you'll perform at the event, as well. The night before Three Imaginary Girls' soiree, you're joining your frequent compadres, the Mountain Goats, to play a live show accompanying a silent film in the Castro. So you're playing an intricately involved affair in your home city, San Francisco, then immediately hopping a plane to Seattle to help hungry teens. Few artists of your stature would put themselves through the rigors of performing the shows sequentially. What compelled you to say, "Yes"?

JOHN VANDERSLICE: Well, when Three Imaginary Girls calls, you best answer, “Yes.” I'm there for Three Imaginary Girls and Teen Feed! I'll fly in that night and don my suit in the mini-van (Town car? Limo? Ha!) on the way to the show. Teen Feed is a tremendous charity doing necessary work so helping them has to be a good thing. John Darnielle [of the Mountain Goats] asked me a few days after I had accepted the invitation to come to Seattle. I would have done both shows either way. I feel lucky to have such good people who want to do things with me!

The Vanderslicer! Three Imaginary Girls! Teen Feed!

My new Seattle Weekly piece on Three Imaginary Girls' holiday benefit for Teen Feed, featuring the endlessly swell John Vanderslice, is online and on stands now:

http://www.seattleweekly.com/events/three-imaginary-girls-holiday-party-1168315/

If you need a respite from holiday-induced madness, loved ones and/or deadlines:

The deeply talented and industrious Diane Mapes has a new feature on MSNBC.com in which I'm among those interviewed. Bemused that a number of my friends recalled the person in question right away:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40281993/ns/health-pain_center/

And Thomas was featured on Capitol Hill Blog a few months ago, but I had a bunch of deadlines and neglected to post it:

http://capitolhillseattle.com/2010/09/28/hillcats-2010

Hooray, puppydog!

The countdown to January 2nd resumes.

It was his birthday on Wednesday...

...but I'm not writing about it here.

You can stop doing word searches on his name.

Well, yeah, that makes sense:

The American Red Cross is now forbidding people with CFIDS from donating blood:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/03/AR2010120305888.html

England and Canada implemented the same measure earlier this year. I've never donated blood in the 19 years I've had CFIDS, even in the early years when my doctors said I could (they've informally advised against it for awhile now), because I figured whatever was making me this ill didn't belong in the blood supply.

Glad the Red Cross is taking this step and I hope the Centers for Disease Control and NIH follow suit.

It's almost too easy to deem birther Texas State Representative Leo Berman (R) a racist, clinically paranoid...

...and skull-dented withered old man, but it's accurate on all counts, so what are you going to do?

Anderson Cooper dismantles Berman's inaccuracies in an exemplary televised interview that should inspire more journalists how to remain calm while shredding totally fabricated crap:

http://www.nerve.com/news/politics/watch-anderson-cooper-mops-the-floor-with-republican-birther

I'm pretty damned fortunate nearly everyone in my life...

...understands at least the basics of CFIDS, including its severity and unpredictability.

Which is hugely appreciated, as I was too ill to attend Thanksgiving (marking the first time I've been so incapacitated I skipped a major holiday) or my friends' dinner party Saturday night. Except to walk the puppy, I've been unable to leave the house for days. Still on track with my upcoming deadlines, but I'm in so much pain it hurts to lift my head.

If you know me, you know this isn't a bid for sympathy. Far from it. I remain open about CFIDS because there are so many misconceptions surrounding it; the only way this changes is if those of us with the illness are honest about how we live. And it's as pointless to dwell on it as it is to hide it.

Really touched that my dad brought by holiday leftovers and that several friends volunteered to do the same. I'd gone grocery shopping before the worst of it hit, so I'm well-stocked, but still: I'm super-lucky in a lot of ways and this is one of them.

Laura Hillenbrand, lauded author of Seabiscuit and "A Sudden Illness", her essay detailing her life with CFIDS, has a new novel, Unbroken, receiving wide acclaim. (You can read a fine excerpt in this month's print version of Vanity Fair.) In yesterday's Washington Post, Hillenbrand discusses the intersection of CFIDS and writing:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/28/AR2010112803533.html

And in the new Newsweek, the XMRV retrovirus and its possible causative or correlative role with CFIDS is examined:

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/11/28/could-a-virus-cause-chronic-fatigue-syndrome.html

I'm reminded of Chris Rock's line, that the last time science cured anything, "I Love Lucy" was still on the air, but like most of us, I'd be mighty thrilled with an even somewhat reliable treatment.

Good thing I can do my job lying down.

It speaks to how bad Seattle's snow situation is right now...

...that a man killed a stranger with an axe Monday morning a half-mile from my home in full view of school children and it has barely made the news.

In a strange and awful coincidence, the murderer lived on my street and was treating at the mental health facility on Olive; both were true of the 2007 knife-wielding New Year's Eve murderer.

Like everyone, I feel for the victims' families and wish no one had to suffer such horror.

And not to point fingers, but the mental health facility on Olive might want to step up its standard of care.

Particularly the drunk guys riding their bikes in the snow:

Don't get pieces like this because so much of the dogs vs. cats debate comes down to the genetics and environment of the individual animal:

http://jezebel.com/5697229/science-says-dogs-are-smarter-than-cats

That said, Thomas, of course, is smarter than most two-legged creatures roaming the planet.

Sleep well!

Several inches of snow have fallen since this afternoon, which is fine for those of us who work from home. Thanksgiving is probably canceled for a large chunk of the city, though, as most of it is a series of hills. Local news is reporting two buses just spun out on I-5 and are blocking three lanes then they showed my neighborhood, which is too snowed over for cars at all. Not that this has stopped a cabal of drunken sledders from commandeering the nearby hills as they did two years ago. I'm bemused, but the puppy is calling total bullshit on these antics and for now, at least, I've kept him distracted.

Much more importantly, a friend of mine just posted Wall Street Journal reports that North Korea and South Korea have exchanged fire and it's utterly horrifying:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703904804575631763523837910.html?mod=wsj_share_twitter

So this is all really useful because slumber tonight was looking too peaceful.

And vegans will like pizza, too:

There will be peace in the Middle East before non-writers understand how we write and why.

(With a few notable exceptions, of course.)

Belated good news re The Nervous Breakdown:

Fellow TNB colleague and pal Aaron Dietz reads from his new and well-received novel, Super, tonight at The Hideout. Details:

http://www.aarondietz.us/?page_id=423

Hope to see you there!

Also, this appeared in my Google alerts yesterday a month and a half after the fact, but in addition to rave previews from The Stranger and from KOMO4.com, it turns out The Nervous Breakdown Literary Experience Seattle Edition also received a swell write-up from City Arts Magazine:

http://www.cityartsmagazine.com/blog/2010/09/catch-nervous-breakdown-literary-series

Retroactive high fives to all.

Two reasons John Edwards remains useful:

1) Aaron Sorkin is writing a screenplay based on the Edwards biography, The Politician. The odds it will be less than brilliant and wildly entertaining are roughly the same John Boehner will forgo bronzer.

2) New York Magazine is reporting via the National Enquirer (yeah, I know, but the Enquirer has been dead accurate throughout Edwards' protracted imbroglios) that Rielle Hunter is now fucking around on him:

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2010/11/enquirer_claims_rielle_hunter.html

Still bummed those two opted to procreate. Nearly seven billion humans roaming the earth; we were fine without their contributing to the gene pool. (Not that it's their kid's fault, of course. I'm sure she's lovely.)

In seven short hours! Woo hoo!

I'm telling a story tonight as part of Annex Theatre Company's "60 Seconds Max", 11:00 p.m., 1100 E. Pike St., $10 at the door. Forty-six performers and readers and a panoply of great and good things. Also, ample booze on the premises.

Netflix can wait 'til tomorrow night!

[Saturday morning postscript: crackling and compelling show! Really enjoyed being part of it. More on Annex Theatre, one of Seattle's best and longest running:

http://www.annextheatre.org/]

Onward!

We knew this was coming.

The best strategy? Take a deep breath and begin the fight for 2012.

And please forgo infantile "I'm moving to..." wailing. It accomplishes nothing, reinforces the perception we're crybabies and insults all who have fought real oppression.

My dad has Nazi shrapnel in his leg. I think I can begin and end my days with John Boehner as House Speaker. And history will vindicate Nancy Pelosi and her arduous work on behalf of health care reform.

Learn and move forward.

Then sniffing a bunch of glue:

The one thing we know for certain is that in 75 years, everyone reading this will be dead.

Some will die from accident, homicide, suicide, "act of God" (hurricane, et al), but the overwhelming majority of us will die from illness. And most of those illnesses will be protracted and probably grisly.

But yeah, President Obama's health care legislation backed by the Democrats was a "pet issue".

The electorate is gargling bongwater.

With two days left until the election...

...Patty Murray and Dino Rossi, Washington State's senatorial candidates whose positions overlap not at all, are tied in polls at 47% to 47%. (It's axiomatic that King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties tilt heavily toward Murray but, of course, there's that pesky rest of the state.) The Tea Party, which I loathe, includes women to a greater degree than do Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, whose work I love and admire.

The person closest to me and I got drunk Election Night '08 and I think I might drink on Tuesday, but for entirely different reasons.

The Rally to Restore Sanity:

Jon Stewart's closing remarks were incredibly salient and could have stood alone.

In three hours, though, three women performed, one briefly, none solo.

"Sanity" apparently has a ball sack.