Sorry to hear it. Do you need anything? I am still willing to indulge unreasonable/ludicrous requests, to the extent that ethereal internet people can perform them.

unlike eerie, i am a real internet person.

hang in there, L. how many more treatments to go?

Four to five months. Twice a month.

will you be able to resume in-country MENA activities or are you chained to your chemo-clinic filled with bluehairs?

Trying come up with reassuring things to say, but I have done far too much reading about chemo.

Anyway, think of something unreasonable. I am in a rare mood.

L:
i suggest setting up an amazon dot com wishlist with material posessions you wish to have but don't wish to buy yourself.

That's a good idea. May trigger some paranoia though :)

i've never tried it myself, but i believe there's a way to make it anonymous via amazon for both parties involved. only amazon would know our dirty little secrets.

It is unclear how long I have to be in exile.

Hopefully not 40 years.

More than a few months and I fuck off. I hate being in this bloody country when I am healthy, let alone while ill.

As for wish lists, you bloody fools should just start posting interesting things for me to read, you lazy good for nothing gits.

L:

as you requested, http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-01-01T220015Z_01_KRA179181_RTRUKOC_0_UK-YEMEN-ITALY-KIDNAPPING.xml&archived=False

i also suggest reading "motoring with mohammed" by eric hansen http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/067973855X/002-0318206-2078442?v=glance&n=283155 for it's slight relevance to the kidnapping story.

my brief commentary on that story: the whole kidnapping bit is nothing new to yemen. the "tribesmen" simply use kidnapped people as bargaining chips with the governments to get things like schools, water supplies, etc etc... they used to do it with oil workers all the time.

perhaps we can setup a PO box somewhere to send books to you L. i've got a few that you might be interested in.

Forgot about this until now, but there is a donation button on 'Aqoul. It's possible that we could set up a convoluted gift-buying procedure using PayPal and email requests.

Of course it's late and I haven't thought it through entirely.

there's a donation button?

hmm... should really visit the site more than just through the RSS links...

how about we throw L a suprise party with all of the bluehairs at the chemo-ward next time he's in.

L, lay out a few extra plates at the dining room table! Aqoul is coming to visit!

Yeah, I almost forgot about it myself. Might be an interesting way to handle gift requests though.

Do you have MSN? I really hate asynchronous conversations.

I've heard how ghastly chemo is.

I'd recommend doing some herbal stuff on the side to keep your strength up. I don't mean weed, I mean things that help counteract the fatigue and side effects. Bear in mind the chemo makes you really fragile, more so as the treatment progresses.

My mother (who doesn't even like honey) used to eat Manuka honey - the v expensive, special stuff from NZ - during her treatment. She certainly did recover well, and things like scars healed very well.

I know you probably have a load of irritatingly well-meaning advice already, but I write this anyway, because men are often more ignorant/skeptical about alternative health things. I figure that even if they only placebo, that's something.

I hate chat. I refuse to use it. It annoys me. Asychronous is really rather more my style.

I know you hate it.

Had a fine chat with drdougfir last night though.

speaking of last night's chat, it made for a rather unappreciated wakeup call this morning.

L is from a different age.