I'M SLOWLY GETTING BETTER!

Wow! I got some great convalescence presents! John gave me Leslie Carbaga's new Hot Stuff collection, and a neat anthology of "Tales of Suspense." Comics are the perfect thing to read when you're all doped up and drooling on yourself like I was. The problem is that stories like "Goom" made me laugh so much that I thought my staples would pop out. Mike gave me one of the very best Al Capp ads from the old Life magazine and some Smoking Loon Cabernet. I'll have to defer drinking that til I can take alcohol, but cabernet's my favorite wine, and the label is a stunner.

But that's not all! Check out this great video get well card (above) that Jim Arnold sent me. He made it just for me; I feel so flattered! It's the perfect gift for one filmmaker to give another...the gift of film.

By the way, I'm getting better and better, though I'm still flat on my back and experiencing problems most of the day. I may get the staples out on Friday. Today I actually had real creative thoughts, just like real people have. I was deliriously happy to have my mind working again. The house is a mess and there'll be a lot to clean up when this is over.

If I'm up to it, I may bring a sketchbook to the hospital with me and do caricatures of some of the patients on the floor where I used to be. I want to draw adults rather than kids, even though kids are a better audience. Kids are always getting clowns and movie stars and presents when they're in the hospital. They don't need me as much as the poor, neglected adults who just have to lie there and languish in daytime TV hell.

I have a much more benign view of the hospital nursing staff than I did when I wrote my blog about the hospital. Now that I can think again I can see the reasons for some of the procedures that seemed senseless to me before. I'd like to thank the staff who did such a good job for me. And my family...this would be the perfect place to thank them, if only they didn't insist that I keep silent about them on the blog.

Talking about thanks: THANKS TO ALL MY BLOG FRIENDS WHO WROTE IN TO WISH ME WELL! It was much, much appreciated!!!!!!!

P.S.: I just got this super-hilarious bebop dance from Steve Worth:

http:/www.latenightcoffeeshops.blogspot.com

Thanks, man!