The Night Sky

ZOMG!

sylvan — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 11:16:49 GMT

I was just about to reire. my ambian is in full swing. I went to pull my sleep machine out of it's bag and it's covered in ants. Like thousands; I've done my best to clean it, but want to take a look at it with a coo head. For now I will be needlessly drugged and completely squicked out. I wonder if this is how the Tweedle Bees got their start.

Disability

sylvan — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 19:48:25 GMT

Just got off the phone with my health advocate and provided her with all my information. I will be hearing back from the attorney by Friday with what we need to do to move forward, but she warned me that I will likely actually have to have a hearing to my disability. You would think it would be easy- your doctor says you can't work, you can't work. You have fucking CHF,PTSD,Depression, and Anxiety... seems pretty clear to me. Anyways, I will try to keep people more in the loop.

Thank you to everyone who has been keeping me in their thoughts and prayers. It does help.

As it has been asked for, here is my x-mas wish list

sylvan — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 06:30:51 GMT

Prismacolor Premier Double Ended Art Markers 24 Count
Bathrobe 5XLT
Jacket 5XLT or 6X
Gift Card for Century at Tanforan
Gift Card for Casual MaleXL
Wii w/ active games or Kinect Sensor with Kinect Adventures
Renfaire/fantasy shirts and pants
ipod
Campaign Cartographer
Current Paint Shop Pro
Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab - Calico Jack, Follow Me Boy, Wilde, The Coil, Loupe Garou, Madrid, Antony,Bayou,Iago, and St. Germain.

Please contact Dan to make sure nothing is being doubled up, thank you.

My Health

sylvan — Fri, 21 May 2010 18:02:09 GMT

I apologize for not informing each of you more personally, however each time I have this conversation it is very difficult for me and my heart, both physically and emotionally. It isn't because I don't care for you deeply, but I just cannot handle having this conversation multiple times.

As you likely know I've been hospitalized twice in the last three months and during this second trip they were able to identify what is going on with me. It is a serious, but not necessarily fatal heart condition. I have dilated cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure. This means my heart is enlarged and weak and has a very hard time getting the oxygen to the parts of my body that need it. My ejection fraction (Ef), which is the fraction of blood pumped out of ventricles with each heart beat, is at 15%. I am told that a healthy heart has an Ef between 50% and 65%. My condition can result in serious fluid retention. In the three weeks before going to the hospital this last time I put on 30 pounds. During the hospital stay I lost 40 and have lost just about another 10 since being discharged Tuesday night.

It is going to be a lot of work for me to fix this and even at the end of the day if I do everything right, I will never be 100% fixed. I must lose weight, which we have all known for years. I am very frightened and very committed at this point in time. I have to slowly ramp up to exercise; currently I measure my exercise in circuits around the kitchen. I have to cut sodium way down in my diet, a daunting task. The average person should have 2000 mg (which is a teaspoon, by the way) and I should be under that and I aim for under 1500 mg. I also have to keep a low cholesterol diet as well as a low caloric diet. Sarah has been very helpful with this, both preparing my meals and calculating the relevant numbers. She is also making sure I am taking the many medicines I now have to take and making sure I take them on time. She has been driving me to appointments, bringing paperwork to and fro for me, bringing me things in the hospital, and getting my meds from the pharmacy. In fact, she's pretty much been an angel throughout this whole ordeal, so If you are happy I am around still, you should thank her and do nice things for her.

Another side effect of both the condition and one of the meds is fatigue; that combined with the limited mobility I currently have, I need to make adjustments to my life. Right now I need to step away from the BAM LARP, as it is too much walking at this point, but I will (knock on wood) eventually return. It would be nice to maybe do a social event on a non-game night so I can still visit and stay in touch with my friends there. I will continue to write for Alliance San Francisco, but will be a medical page for many months, perhaps even years, to come. Expect any NPCs I may play to sit in the tavern. I hope to attend BayCon, but much of it may be you having to come visit me in my room or at the bar. I think I should be able to still attend and speak at my panels as none of them are back to back. I would love visitors at home, but please call first as some days are better than others.

Some people have asked about gastric bypass or lap-band, but with my heart the way it is, I'm told no anesthesiologist would put me under. So, the old fashioned way will be my path.

Many of you have asked what you can do. Gift cards for Lucky or Safeway are always good because sadly eating healthy can be very expensive and with my current budget I cannot by toiletries or things like mouth moisturizers (I am on two diuretics; I have very pervasive dry mouth and I have to restrict my fluid intake). I am laying around most of the day right now, so I would not say no to back/shoulder/leg/etc rubs to help with circulation. However, what can help most in my mind is prayers/good thoughts/positive energy/lighting candles/etc - whatever is your thing; I will need strength, willpower, and support to get through this challenge.

Thank you all for you continued love, support, and concern.

Jim "Sylvan" Sullivan

Out of the Hospital

sylvan — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 19:03:31 GMT

So, I am out of the hospital. The official diagnosis is viral pneumonia and reactive airway disease. I'm going to be on inhalers for a bit to help my lungs heal. This also means I will need to be taking things easy for a bit. I do have some follow up work that will be done, but from here I should be doing okay. Also, as a bonus, I have lost weight. From the time I was living at the Clark Zoo until now I've lost over 45 pounds.

I want to thank everyone for their support and good thoughts. I want to thank J9 for being there so much for me and thank Sarah for playing taxi and convincing me to go to the ER in the first place.

Health Update

sylvan — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:39:32 GMT

I'm going to try to keep this brief, because Kimmi is transcribing this for me, and if I talk too long, it tires me out.

On Monday, I went to the ER because I couldn't breathe due to being sick with a bronchitis virus. I spent several hours in the ER, and they couldn't get my blood oxygen to acceptable levels, and so they admitted me to the hospital.

Since then I have had several tests run, and been stabbed more times than I can count. What we know right now is that I have an RSV virus (google it, it's not that scary), which may have given me viral pneumonia. There are some other possible complications that are still being explored, but I don't want anybody to worry; I am feeling much better than I did when I first came in.

It looks like I will be here until at least Monday. Visitors are fine, I also wouldn't say no to cards or flowers in lieu of visits.

I also want to update you all about my father- I want to thank you for thinking of him in his time of need, but as it turns out, my situation a little more immediately dire than his. Yes, his body is rejecting the transplanted kidneys, and that is scary. A normal transplant is expected to last 7-10 years; he's had his for 17. This is near record-breaking. He will most likely have to go on dialysis when his kidneys fail, but his options are good, and he is back in contact with all of his original support team from the transplant, and they are monitoring him. So yes- he's going to have a rough road ahead, but for the moment, he is okay.

As for me, my fever has been gone for several days, and I am finally coughing the bad stuff out of my system. I want to thank everyone for your love, support, good thoughts, prayers, healing energy, lit candles, and I know that I have a wonderful support system. I love you all very much.

I am at the South SF Kaiser, room 76. I can get calls on my cell phone, the number is the same as when I was in Seattle. Please call if you plan to visit.

(transcribed over the phone from Sylvan by Kimmi)

Worksafe-ish

sylvan — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:51:53 GMT

Stick Morton's Fork in Me, I'm Done!

sylvan — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 04:13:06 GMT

Today I resigned from my position as Programming Event Manager of BayCon 2010. It was a very difficult decision for me. I have been attending BayCon for over 20 years and this would have been my 14th year working it. I was not the only one who left.

Erik Bigglestone delivered and read the following letter at the BayCon Staff Meeting on January 10th, 2010. While I did not write this letter, I endorse Mr. Bigglestone's message.

Jim "Sylvan" Sullivan

* * * * * * * * * *

What I am about to read is a statement of certain facts. I am not opening a conversation or debate, and I will not here and now offer an opportunity for questions to be asked of me.

As of today, I, Erik Bigglestone, am resigning my position as Administrative Division Manager. The following individuals have joined me in this decision:

Erik Bigglestone - Administration Division Head
Meredith Branstad - Publications Division Head
Stephen Nelson - Publications Division Second
Ole "Tycho" Petersen - Hotel Division Head
Kimberly Allbee - Programming Division Head
Daniel Van Den Broeke - Programming Division Second
Matthew Branstad - Operations Division Second
Jim "Sylvan" Sullivan - Programming Event Manager
Megan "Megs" O'Neil - Programming Operations Department Head
Kelly Gallagher - Programming Operations Staff
Alicia Terra - Programming Operations Staff
Cindi Somebody Cabal - Registration Department Head
Kirsten Berry - Registration Department Second
Christine Doyle - Registration Staff
Donna Leaf - Registration Staff
Karl Thiessen - Registration IT Department Head
Terrance Seddon - Registration IT Department Staff
Steve Libbey - Newsletter Department Head
Tim Bowman - Decorations Department Head
Sandy Benson - Family Friendly Department Head

None of us has arrived at this moment without extensive soul-searching, stressful reflection and lengthy discussions about the ramifications of our decision. We all consider the BayCon community -- staff, attendees and guests -- to be our extended family, and are well aware that our decision to end our involvement in making the convention happen will make the process more difficult on those of you who remain. Our action will likely negate the possibility for a future relationship with BayCon, and may cause the loss of friendships that -- in my case, at least -- have existed literally my entire life.

I say all these things because it is important that you understand how difficult a decision it was, and how serious our reasons for resignation are. I will not go into extensive detail here, but there are two key points:

First, there are serious problems at the corporate level of this organization, with continued failures to correct or adequately address these problems by the board of directors of Artistic Solutions -- the corporation that owns the convention. These problems include a lack of financial oversight over several years, which has resulted in multiple years' worth of taxes not having been paid on time. This tax situation has caused a suspension of the corporation's legal right to do business in the state of California. This suspension began prior to BayCon 2008 and has not yet been resolved. Additionally, several bills are now in arrears, in one case for as long as 180 days.

Second, we have lost all confidence in both the leadership ability and business ethics of Michael Siladi. He has proven himself time and again to be untrustworthy and unreliable when handling or providing information regarding the convention's finances, and unconcerned for the consequences to others of his actions. In many situations regarding the quiet ejections or resignations of former staff members, he has publicly spun facts about such situations to his own benefit. Repeated promises and commitments that he has made to resolve issues -- or at the very least to update us on the status of his attempts to do so -- have been unceremoniously broken with no credible explanations offered. For the good of the convention, we believe Michael should make good on the multiple promises he has made in the past to resign from the corporation's board of directors.

I want to make it absolutely clear that our resignation is in no way a response to the choice of Robert Toland as chairman of BayCon 2010. He is the unfortunate victim of issues completely beyond his control, and we fully support him personally and the work he has done as chairman. Neither do we place any blame on the remaining executive staff or any of the rest of you. Because we have no desire to require any of you to start from scratch, we will make ourselves available until the evening of Sunday, January 24th for the purpose of providing information and resources to whomever takes over our responsibilities. As mentioned earlier, we are fully aware that our resignations may mark the end of any future involvement with BayCon and Artistic Solutions. We all support BayCon as an entity and an event, however, and -- if welcome -- many of us will be glad to return once the aforementioned issues are resolved to our satisfaction.

We're not happy about this, so we're leaving now and will not likely be available for the rest of the day. If anyone has any questions they'd like answered, requires additional details, or just wants to hang out at some point, you almost certainly know how to contact us, but please understand that we may take a bit of time to respond. As there are always at least two sides to any disagreement we strongly encourage you to stay and listen to whatever Michael, Robert or the remaining executive staff has to say. Thank you for your attention, and good luck.

Erik Bigglestone

*********************

As an additional note: In early November I met with Michael Siladi with Robert Toland to discuss that there were concerns about the taxes, the suspended business license, and the state of the board of directors of ASI and informed him that there would be staff members who would resign if the taxes and suspended business license were not resolved by the end of the year. Michael did acquiesce to the idea of more transparency with the finances by providing me access to bank statements and allowing me to review other financial and tax paperwork, however the deadline was not met and I did not feel that appreciable progress had been made.

I truly wish that there can be a positive resolution to these problems and sincerely hope that I may be able to return to BayCon.

Jim "Sylvan" Sullivan

The results of my visit to the ER (evening of the 26th)

sylvan — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 09:17:04 GMT

Good news: I don’t have bronchitis.

Bad news: I have a very bad case of pneumonia. My lungs are apparently over half full of fluid (see, I’m an optimist). They also did some blood work and I have to wait 2 days for the results to be sure there is no infection in the blood. They put in an IV and gave me a bag of antibiotics and have prescribed some more to be taken orally and cough syrup with codeine. My blood pressure was very high when I went in, but it did stabilize to it’s normal “a little higher than we’d like”. My pulseox was not great at the beginning, but was good enough to let me go and not keep me overnight, which there was some discussion of. The doctor is very glad I came in when I did. She told me I was lucky I was so young.

More good news: My sugars were good, so yay me! Still no worries about diabetes (some how!). Also, they broke my persistent low-grade fever that I've had for several days now.

Bad news: Apparently I’m fat. I hate it when nurses/doctors/professionals talk to you like you just somehow missed the fact that you are morbidly overweight and now that they have pointed it out the pounds will just shed away.

**Gods and Goddesses bless Kaiser. The whole thing, including the blood work and chest x-ray (and the meds I took there) is only going to cost me 94 dollars. I couldn't believe it.

Happy Birthday!

sylvan — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:46:39 GMT

To urbanwolfie!!!! I hope you have a great day!

Video Card

sylvan — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:47:49 GMT

If anyone has a PCI Express 16 video card laying around that we could use/have that would be fantastic.

Thanks,

Jim aka Sylvan

A question

sylvan — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:16:39 GMT

Does anyone know of a good Chinese buffet in/near San Bruno, but not in San Francisco? How about a Pho place?

Genres questions

sylvan — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:00:39 GMT

What archtypes do you think of when you think steampunk?
What archtypes do you think of when you think cyberpunk?
What archtypes do you think of when you think space opera?

Thanks in advance for sharing.

Skillet white beans, spinach, & tomatoes over Linguine

sylvan — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 08:40:37 GMT

I need to try this. It boasts High calcium and a high yummy factor. Though, I think fresh tomatoes and basil would be better. Less salt at least. :)

INGREDIENTS
2 tsp olive oil
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
2 cans diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano (do not drain)
1 can any white beans (I use Great Northern or Navy usually)
1 package fresh spinach
6 cups cooked linguine
6 Tablespoons Romano or Parmesan cheese (grated)

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet.
2. In a separate pan start boiling water for linguine and get linguine cooked while you continue.
3. Add garlic, saute for a minute or so.
4. Add tomatoes and beans and bring to a boil.
5. Cover with spinach, top with lid, reduce heat to low and simmer about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.
6. Spoon tomato/beans/spinach mixture over linguine and sprinkle with cheese.
This makes 6 servings of 1 cup of pasta, 1 cup of sauce and 1 tablespoon of cheese.

Number of Servings: 6

Annoyed with the Seattle Alliance Game

sylvan — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 05:02:25 GMT

Sure, it's just a game. I know people will say that, but honestly it was more than that. I was a game I worked for a long time one and wrote some pretty awesome and original plot for. I put my heart and soul into it and in the end I got shit on and betrayed by someone I considered a good friend. I'd like to think I'm over that now, but at the time (and for a long time) it really shook me up and created a lot of doubt as to the kind of person I was and doubt in my skills as a storyteller/gm/plot/etc.

It's been something like four years since I've had anything to do with the game and I just found out that one of the major enemies is a race I came up with. I never signed anything realeasing my rights to this stuff and while I certainly wanted a smooth transition with the sale of the chapter, I never expected that after this long so many of my NPCs would still be in place and so much of what I created would still be used. The worst of it is from what I hear it's been run poorly. It's hard to watch something you created go so badly.

It's been four years, guys. Can't you come up with any of your own stuff?

A musical you haven't seen

sylvan — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:45:52 GMT

I just finished watching Colma: The Musical. For those of you can already start to grasp what that could entail, I'll let you sit there for a moment and think about that.

Now add this to your thoughts— it was pretty gosh darn good. For those of you who don't know, Colma is a small town just south of San Francisco and it is the last place you want to be when the zombie apocalypse comes. There are roughly 1.5 million people in Colma and only 1,200 are breathing. Yes, it is town full of cemeteries, but the musical isn't about that particular weirdness (though there is a musical number set in a cemetery). It is instead a fine coming of age story revolving around three recent high school graduates. It has some strong numbers and some very funny lines. I think my personal favorite is "When I was your age, I was 18! And I didn't know sh*t!"

Colma Stays, Could We Get Any Older, Goodbye Stupid, and Crash the Party are all great songs.

Here is the homepage for the film: http://www.colmafilm.com/

And the imdb entry: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0784977/

And the best part (for locals only)? There is talk of another film by these folks titled Serramonte: The Musical.

In CA safe

sylvan — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:23:48 GMT

We and the cats all made it safely to our new home in CA. More later. Also, if later today you feel like swinging by San Bruno and helping to unpack a 24 ft truck, you'd be a rockstar.

Going off line

sylvan — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:44:27 GMT

I will be offline for awhile, probably until wednesday. If you need me, call.

Not so happily ever after-

sylvan — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:38:46 GMT

Fallen Princesses -- http://www.nonsolokawaii.com/?p=2597

King of Clubs

sylvan — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:36:31 GMT

I will be there on the 13th. Please join me if you can.

Mashups (Work Safe but requires audio)

sylvan — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:22:02 GMT

With many thanks to cyranocyrano, I present to you Brat Productions, who do some rockin' Mashups. I also love their take on the Rick Roll (you might, too; It's good if not a little disturbing).

Mollie, you will be missed

sylvan — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:16:28 GMT

And I am unanimous in that.

Mrs. Slocombe is now free. Mollie Sugden dies at 86.

It's been a rough year for celebs I adore.

Meh

sylvan — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:17:42 GMT

It's amazing how fast a slap of depression can come. Discussions of Pride, where I never felt welcome in Seattle (it's really feels odd to me that California is more fat friendly than Seattle. Or at least, that has been my perception), and worries about actually having been tossed over for someone else seems to be responsible this time. It's pretty crap to feel like someone chose (and you lost), even though you didn't ask. Maybe the other person did? I don't know. It's all probably just poor communication, gods know that's been happening in spades. I'm just as guilty as anyone else.

On another note

urbanwolfie is now down in CA shoring things up for the move. Give him a call! His number is one less than mine. If you don't have either, email either of us for contact info. If you've no idea what I'm on about, you likely missed this post.

sylvan — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:30:19 GMT

Funny Videos | Funny Cartoons | More Video Clips

Betty Rocks! Glad she's getting work.

sylvan — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 05:47:53 GMT

Now, back to writing.