About an hour after I posted last night’s blog entry, I received a call from my sister in Montreal. “I allergic to penicillin too,”she informed me, “and so was dad.” “Did you have a similar reaction?”I asked. “Yeah,”she fondly recalled. “It got me out of my mid-term.”
Well, there you go. It runs in the family. I’m allergic to penicillin and some other antibiotic I can’t recall, which shouldn’t be a big deal provided I don’t get sick anytime between now and whenever researchers discover a cure for old age (I hear they’re very close!). Nevertheless, I’m not worried. After all, in the unlikely event I do find myself in need of emergency medical care, there are still several treatment options open to me including: cupping, bloodletting, scarification, goji juice, and, when all else fails, exorcism.
Recovering and relatively rashless, I headed back into the office today and was treated to a double-barreled blast of budgetly goodness. Toss in a dash of interviews, a twist of visual effects approvals, and just a hint of scheduling-induced panic and before I knew it, my day was done and I was headed out the door, my recently-arrived shipment from Amazon.com in tow. Some interesting titles in the mix, among them Pat Frank’s Alas, Babylon, a book recommended by scifi-savvy Claire from, coincidentally enough, Sci-Fi (although, really, the book was a recommendation from her father, a.k.a. Mr. Claire) which looks promising enough and will enter the running as one of December’s SciFi Book of the Month Club nominees.
I arrived home a little after 6:00 p.m., determined to stay in and enjoy a simple meal. Unfortunately, the crucial ingredient to my planned dinner, the avocado that I’d forgotten to eat at work and, thus, brought back with me, was nowhere to be found when I unpacked my things. I double-checked the area, then retraced my steps, down the back porch, along the walk and scoping the lawn in the vain hope that it had rolled free onto the grass and well clear of the innumerable pockets of dog crap I really should be cleaning up before Fondy gets back, into the garage where I checked the trunk of my car three times and then, finally, down on my hands and knees, desperately searching and coming up empty. I headed back inside, crushed, my dinner plans thwarted. But I wasn’t about to just give up. Hell, no! Instead, I triple-checked the area, headed right back outside and retraced my steps, checking the lawn, the trunk of my car, and the floor of the garage. Then I gave up.
So I decided to wing it instead. Dinner tonight: penne al dente with an alio e oglio marscapone and sweet ricotta cream sauce, cipollini onions, green onions, and buttered carrots. Meh.
Today’s pics: My book shipment, Jelly misses Fondy so much she’s taken to snuggling up with her shoe, the dogs snoozing after a long day at daycare.
Today’s mailbag:
JMQ writes: “When you wrote Camelot’s cliff-hanger ending, did you know whether it was the Korolev or the Odyssey which had been destroyed, or was that decision left for season 10?”
Answer: At the time, we were undecided. It wasn’t until we were back planning season 10 (and all of the actors had signed on) that we made the call.
Ray Finkle writes: “Pardon my curiosity Joe but i’m wondering how a Canadian has gotten into Glasgow’s finest recent export – The Fratellis?”
Answer: I was at HMV last weekend looking for Fondy and they were playing The Fratellis DVD. It took me a while to finally track her down, long enough to hear three or four songs that I liked enough to buy the CD.
Cathie writes: “Joe, do you think you will ever do a stargate con in Australia?”
Answer: Unlikely as it looks like I’ll be busy for the next year at least.
Cathie also writes: “Have you heard or been to The Max Bennett Chocolate Bar?”
Answer: Heard of but have yet to sample.
Morgia a ecrit: “Est-ce que tu retournes à Montréal pour le temps des fêtes ? Mallozi, c’est pas Italien ça ?”
Answer: Oui, c’est Italien. Et l’année dernière, je suis allé à Montréal pour Noël mais cette année ma famille vient à Vancouver.
Maggie writes: “He thinks I should be wearing a medical alert bracelet. Do you plan on getting an alert bracelet/necklace?”
Answer: I’m not really into jewelry. Do they make medical alert ties or walking sticks with hidden swords?
Rebecca writes: “Re Dr. Keller, considering how many times Carson Beckett reacted with fear over the first two and a half years, do you agree that Dr. Keller is being judged according to a double standard?”
Answer: Yep.
Alipeeps writes: “Have you just finished your course of tablets, by any chance? The one time a particularly brainless medical “professional” gave me penicillin anyway, the rash/reaction flared up straight after I finished taking taking the tablets.”
Answer: Yes! I didn’t think it could be the penicillin because common sense dictates I would have had the reaction when I started treatment or during treatment, not the day after I finished treatment!
SetMaat writes: “In this new season we haven’t seen any wraith yet… Why? Where are they?”
Answer: Well, we did see them in Reunion. And you won’t have to wait long to see them again.
Amy writes: “I’m just curious about your career… how you started out, what you were doing while you were still in school, etc.”
Answer: I completed a Masters in English Literature, ultimately decided I wanted to write screenplays, got my foot in the door by writing for animation, and ultimately worked my way up to live-action productions.
Sagacious writes: “How do you deal with production issues when one of the actors gets really ill?”
Answer: In the event an actor is too ill to work, we will try to write around them or reschedule their scenes. If there is no way to work around them, then we would have to shut down production. In the biz, this is referred to as a “force majeure”. This has only happened once in my many years working on Stargate.
Boo writes: “i thought all the team had the sub-q transmitters?”
Answer: They do. They work in conjunction with the Asgard beaming technology. If the Daedalus had been in orbit, they would have been able to scan the surface of the planet, pinpoint their location, and beam them up.
Steve writes: “Um, you do realise that SG-1 isn’t ‘real’ right? It’s all fantasy, and make believe? I hope you realise that at least.”
Answer: Uh, to clarify, you’re accusing her of overreacting when all she is doing is responding to your far more strident opinion. That’s like Britney Spears criticizing Hannah Montana for dressing too trashy.