A Pain in the Neck

I think this may be a "recover from the weekend" Monday. Friday's weather was so amazing (it was cool! In Texas! In August!) that we had to go out to the lake to watch fireworks again. Getting to this time's chosen viewing spot required minor rock climbing. And then it turned out that there was a trail that was much easier. It just wasn't really obvious. Saturday, there was a FenCon meeting and then some hard work/insanity for a side project that should turn out to have a fun result, if we can pull it all off to create a finished product. Then Sunday I woke up with an epic crick in my neck. I could barely move my head and it was pretty sore, so I spent much of Sunday after I got home from church and grocery shopping lying on the sofa with a heating pad wrapped around my neck. It's starting to loosen up a bit, but it's going to take some time, I'm afraid. Last night, I resorted to the strange "side sleeper" pillow my mom gave me last year. It's sort of shaped like a candy cane. The "hook" part goes over the shoulder, with the short end in front and the long end down your back, so that you lie slotted into it (it feels like those packing cases for fragile items where the foam is cut out to the shape of the item). It forces your head, neck and shoulders to align and supports the neck. Under most circumstances, it's not that comfortable, mostly because it doesn't accommodate people who toss and turn a lot, and I've mostly used it for napping on the sofa or as a neck pillow during last summer's bus trip (the reason my mom gave it to me). But last night, it seems to have helped keep the neck from getting worse and may even have helped matters. Taking Tylenol PM took care of the tossing and turning because I just conked out and stayed in one position all night.

So, today I think I'm staying home and doing stuff around the house, mostly because I reek of Ben-Gay. I'll start the errand part of WorldCon prep tomorrow.

Incidentally, I have my final WorldCon schedule, which I'll post later in the week. I ended up with an autograph session instead of a reading, which normally I wouldn't be crazy about because I prefer readings to sitting behind a table, feeling pathetic, but I had a real dilemma about what to read. It's hard to read anything from the last couple of Enchanted, Inc. books without spoiling the previous book or books, and I've had people who hadn't read the new books in audiences. The next new book is more than a year away, and I've been reading excerpts from it for the past few years. Jo Walton is one of the other authors in my autograph session, so I may end up just entertaining the people in line for her and listening to her lovely accent.

And now, since I can't think of anything else to say other than "ow, my neck hurts," I leave you with a handy guide to my personality, otherwise known as 23 Signs You Might Be Hermione Granger. Actually, it's mostly the first 11 that hit uncomfortably close to home. Supposedly, J.K. Rowling largely based Hermione on herself, so the odds are pretty good that if we ever met, we'd either become best friends or loathe each other, since we seem to be essentially the same person (though she's a lot more successful and has a lot more money).