Nightscrawlers

And if so, how was it? Get there and back safely? People nice? Hotel...erm... better than the last one you dealt with?

I swear, being there only in spirit still means I miss out on a lot.

Was it cool? Was it fun? Was it Nightcrawlish?:bamf

HeroCon was great. Everybody was friendly, Shelton Drum and all his staff were hepful. We had a great time. We'll certainly be back next year!

Yeah... we always have a good time at HeroesCon. shelton puts us up at the Weston... a top of the line hotel located right next to the convention center, so it is just a short hop across the street to get there.

dave and I were mobbed with fans wanting autographs and sketches... wishful thinking cuz Dave was so busy both days with long lines getting his autograph that he barely had time to do sketches. He managed three...LOL But a fall earlier in the week took it's toll on his energies, having bruised all his back muscles. He gamely struggled on, though and signed every single book thrust at him!!!

shelton is an old friend, having shipped Dave to Heroes Con decades ago when we lived in NY. When he found out we were in the area, he told us"Consider this your HOME convention!!!" and has extended us every courtesy to make our coming there a delightful experience. We bgoth look forward to HeroesCon every year! Apparently this year it was bigger than ever...with over three hundred guests. All I know is that Saturday was a madhouse!!! LOL... and Friday this year was a full day affair, too... sunday was quieter but the autograph hounds only gave us a small break now and again. Dave had to take off an hour on Saturday to be on a panel but otherwise it was non stop fans!

Pirate Kurt showed up to our great delight and I hope he had fun there. People said "hi" for other friends that weren't able to come and we had a visit from an old friend from our plastic modeling days in NY...Joe turner of the Brooklyn chapter of IPMS... that's the International Plastic Modlers Society...LOL

All in all a very tiring but enjoyable weekend.

Paty

Tiring, enjoyable, Cockrums... and Pirate Kurt?!

I am glad to hear it went well. But for future reference, try not to pick fights with the floor again. It has a nasty tendency to hurt.

(A skateboarder friend of mine explained his road rash after an accident thusly: "I had fought the road, and the road won.")

[Edited on 5/7/06 by Angelique]

Yeah, well, I fought the kitchen floor and the kitchen floor won. I've been sleeping in a sitting position for nearly two weeks now, because it's excruciating to lay down. My doctor has X-rayed my back and feels that it's muscle trauma, but she also wants a bone scan to make sure.

Oh yeah--I'm also going in Monday for cataract surgery on my left eye. Ain't gettin' old fun?:rolleyes

Gah! Muscle trauma can sometimes take longer to heal. Just about every time I do something stupid like step off a curb wrong, I hear from the doctors, "It's just sprained, but you might as well have just gone ahead and broken it."

Good luck with your cataract surgery. I'm sure it will be well worth it when you recover. As for getting old, I'm only 30-mumble, and have already thrown the following snit-fit at the doctor's office: "Osteoarthritis in my knee? This can't be happening! I'm a dance teacher for crying out loud! I want a second opinion!"

Osteoarthritis in the knee, and you're a dance teacher? Gaaahh! It seems likd nature sets out to give us the ailments most inconvenience for our life styles. As Larry Niven would say, 'TANJ!' (There ain't no justice!'

Well, it doesn't seem to be affecting me in any way, shape, or form, which is why I think that doctor read the x-ray wrong. But I keep a bottle of glucosamine and the name of a good orthopedist on hand just in case now. And remind myself that my first teacher, who's in her late 60's also has osteoarthritis, but she's still dancing, teaching, and after I think three knee surgeries, still doing a dang good job of it, too.

OK... looks like he hasn't checked in on this yet.
eye surgery went well and he is already seeing much clearer. Total clarity will take a while, but he already has positive results which means he may get back to drawing again...

Blindness is about the worst thing that can happen to an artist...trust me... I know. but you either work with it or youdon't... if you don't you just give up and veg and are miserable for the rest of your life...
At least when you push the envelope, you have a chance agt getting better...and returning to drawing... which, by the way, I am beginning to do, too...
Heh!
Paty


[Edited on 15-7-2006 by Paty]

Excellent on both fronts! Will we see anything new in the gallery?

LOL... give him a bit of time for the healing process to complete itself... then we shall see... no pun intended...LOL

I am sure if he posts new stuff to the gallery, he will let the board know with a thread here at CC!
LOL
paty

Originally posted by Paty

OK... looks like he hasn't checked in on this yet.
eye surgery went well and he is already seeing much clearer. Total clarity will take a while, but he already has positive results which means he may get back to drawing again...

GREAT

(...)At least when you push the envelope, you have a chance agt getting better...and returning to drawing... which, by the way, I am beginning to do, too...
Heh!
Paty


[Edited on 15-7-2006 by Paty]

congrats

Hey Dave,
I'm thrilled that the eye surgery went well! I pray that your vision will clear and your other infirmities will heal. I read about your stiffness in your hands and have to say that we all are privileged that you share your art and talent. When we did cartoon wars, I always envied your ability to lay down an elaborate drawing which was correctly proportioned seemingly without any preliminary sketching. I always had to and still do require a lot of preliminary sketches. I think you could draw any of us under the table even with your hand problems. Get well, guy.
God Bless to you and Paty.

PS This attachment is Julie and I when we rode to central California coast.

[Edited on 15/7/06 by GalacticAgent]

Holy shit, Jerry, you look just like you did in the old days! ...except your hair got white. Nice bike. I never felt comfortable on them myself. Never felt comfortable on a horse, either.

Thanks for the compliments on my old 'cartoon wars' art--but I remember being envious of your ability to draw realistic machines and render metal. I remember you used to tell me my machines looked like monuments. I've worked on it since then.

Re the hand stiffness--fortunately, the right hand isn't as bad--but holding a pencil is still a bit clumsy. The left hand is almost useless. Paty and Barb are badgering me into doing range-of-motion exercises with both hands.

I actually managed to do three sketches at HeroCon, but I did so many autographs, it really loosened up the right hand.

What hair? That's the sun's reflection. LISTEN TO PATY AND BARB, be a good boy and do your exercises! Take the experience at HeroCon and learn from it. Movement and activity keeps the joints lubed. We need you to take care of yourself. Us fans need more art!

No kidding about the range of motion. That's exactly why I'm back in fencing- and trying again to play piano.

Yeah, dammit.. WHAT JERRY SAID!

Dave never listens to me... I'm just a nagging wife... Maybe Jerry can yell some sense into him...

sigh

Paty

She's NOT 'just a nagging wife', dammit...I value Paty's advice and opimiom a ;ot more than she'll admit to. But she's made a big deal over the years about 'her being dumb enough to marry me makes her too dumb to listen to' and I think now she believes it.

And I'm doing the exercises, and riding an exercise bike, too, to try and regain my ability to walk. So there.

Ummmmm Hmmmmm....
and did we ride the bikey wikey TODAY? HMMMM?

LOL
Paty

OMG! Dave, are you feeling well? Does kidney failure cause all these issues you're having? Did the eye doctors use the lasik procedure to your eye?

To some degree, kidneys fail because of all these other problems--but also, some of these othger problems develop because my kidneys are failing. It's a catch-22 situation. Mostly, my diabetes kicked off the kidney failure. One of my kidneys does'n't work at all; the other one works a little. This is why I have to undergo dialysis--to filter out the poisons I'm not getting rid of.




[Edited on 27-7-2006 by Dark Bamf]

Yeah.. but diabetes causes a lot of other problems than just the kidney failure. It attacks the nervous system, destroying or severely impairing nerves in , first, the extremities...then, later, other venues. Dave's feet went numb over a decade ago which is why he ended up with ulcers on his feet that only recently got closed up...which is what put him in a wheelchair to begin with. It has started attacking the nerves in his hands and has been the source of his eye problems for close to a decade now... necessitating the two recent eye surgeries.

diabetes is a degenerative disease for which there is no cure. It can be controlled and slowed, but never gotton rid of. diet, proper exercise, use of insulin, all these can keep diabetes at bay ... for a while... but, short of a pancreas/kidney transplant, you cannot cure it. Even with the transplant, damage already done either is very slow to heal or cannot be corrected... mostly the latter.
diabetes also runs in families...so anyone out there who has diagetes in the family should take notice and sart taking care of yourself, eating healthy foods and exercising regularly, with periodic checkups to check glucose levels. Nipping diabetes in the bud is paramount to controlling it's bad effects. Dave's immediate family didn't have diabetes showing up, but some of his uncles and Aunts had it... so it's not just a question of your immediate family exhibiting it.... you gotta check peripheral relations, too... on all sides of the family, if possible. Having his father become a ful blown diabetic, Dave's son, Ivan, is certainly at risk...and Ivan knows this and is fanatic about eating healthy foods and regular exercise. The latter... regular exercise.. is a biggie. A sedentary lifestyle goes a long way to allowing diabetes to do a number on you. Of course, when your job in life is to sit at a drawing board all day or night, it doesn't help!
So take note, people... it can happen to anyone. Sometimes the ability to process sugars shows up in diabetes.. sometimes it shows up as alcoholism... which has a similar problem on the sugar processing level, if not similar debilitations and symptoms. If you have alcoholism in the family, you may be at risk for either alcolholism or diabetes or both. Also vice versa. ..if you have diabetes in the family, you and/or your siblings and/or children are at risk for either alcoholism or diabetes or both... although, I believe, usually if you have one, you don't have the other... but don't quote me on that. LOL
Dave has actually done better since going on dialysis...now he just needs to get back on that bike and exercise a bit and he will feel better...not right away, of course, the muscles are gonna scream for a while...but eventually he should start feeling more fit and maybe crawl out of that wheelchair!

OK kid! On the bike! paty cracks whip...

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAA
Paty

Hey Paty,
I am so happy to hear about Dave's foot ulcers.
You go girl! Crack that whip, swing that 2x4, get along little doggie, raaaaawhiiiiiiiiiide!
EYAHHHH!!!

We are on a roll...we got him on the bike daily... today we took him into the pool for a little hydrotherapy and he did well and enjoyed it thoroughly.
with this impetus, we willhave him riding in rodeos before you know it...
YEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Paty cracks whip even faster!
LOL
Paty