"I'll be right back with your typhoid."

Ha ha. That's what the doctor at the traveler's clinic said to us yesterday. "I'll be right back with your typhoid." It made me imagine a menu of diseases. "I'll take the typhoid with a side of hepatitis, please. Thank you!"

My arms are sore right now from vaccinations. Ouchy. In preparation for Chiapas, we've had shots for hepatitis A, tetanus (along with diptheria and whooping cough), and typhoid. My body is cooking up antibodies like crazy. Just now, in the time it took me to type this, I made a dozen more antibodies! Okay, I really have no idea how fast I'm making antibodies, but aren't antibodies cool? Definitely one of Earth's greatest hits.

I don't know how much we really needed these, but hep A and typhoid are both waterborne diseases, and it doesn't hurt (except that it hurts) to get the shots. We also have prescriptions for malaria pills, plus superstrong insect repellant, and anti-Montezuma's revenge medication just in case. How exciting to be going somewhere we need vaccines. Really, though! I haven't gone somewhere that required vaccines for 12 years. (That was Vietnam. Awesome.) Also, my new passport came in the mail, so I'm all set. It was fun writing "pink" for hair color on my passport application! I was looking forward to seeing my passport actually say Hair color: pink, but it doesn't. And I guess I'm glad. If it did, it would probably have to say my weight too. Ha ha.

So, yesterday was fun. Our friends Tony and Gia were in town from Georgia -- friends who used to live here but moved back home to the South 5 long years ago -- and we met up with them for a Swedish breakfast. I tried aebleskiver, just to compare with my own. The restaurant's version was cakier, and they were really good with a combo of maple syrup and lemon curd. Yum! There was also, of course, the requisite lingonberry jam. After, we putzed around the Pearl District a little, then met up with some other Georgia friends of theirs at Henry's Brewery next door to Powell's. One of those friends is a drummer with the Cirque du Soleil show that is currently in town. How cool is that? Of course, I asked him a trezillion questions about working for Cirque, and was sad to learn the amazing Russian acrobats make a sad weeny little wage -- less that the price of an admission ticket per nite!!!! How much does that suck? Also, that it takes 72 big Mac trucks to haul that tent from place to place. 72!!! I could have asked him a lot more questions, but I think I was pesky enough.

After that, it was typhoid shots for us, then home for a nap before going over to our friend Chary's house for pizza and asparagus and cake and to watch Raiders of the Lost Arc on a big projector screen. You know what? That movie still rocks. Next week we'll watch Temple of Doom. The projector is going to be fun this summer, for outdoor movies projected on a sheet. Chary's brother Ben just found a deal on a real movie-theater popcorn machine, so we'll be all set.

Today I've been sitting at my desk in my writing room for the first time in a few weeks. Now that all the house-cleaning is done, I'm back to work. I've been working on my workshop presentation on Writing Fantasy for the SCBWI conference for next month, and thinking a lot about writing. I did not, today, actually work on either of my two new books, but I thought about them. Really plunging into starting a book can be so hard, but I am excited about it. Ready to jump feet-first. Maybe not dive. Not feeling quite as brave as all that. Plus, you know, my arms are sore from my shots, and it hurts to lift them, which I'd have to do to dive. So I have an excuse.