Things that have been going on

[fpb]

I am not well and rather low in energy. I have an obstinately infected scratch in a leg that simply will not heal, and I have been prescribed some antibiotics that don't seem to be doing a whole lot of good - the swelling and stiffness are there still - but are, on the other hand, cutting down my energy and vigour. In the middle of winter that is hardly desirable.

On the other hand, it's curious how one's research affects other features of one's intellect. I have lately been doing a lot of reading for my planned books on 1918-1923 and on Italian history, and the result has been distinctly odd. I have found old ideas coming back to me, older by far than Ricky Attanasio, ideas and characters I had originally thought of when I was creating superhero comics: a few diverse and messy Italian superheroes, and a couple of ghosts inspired by an old Italian folk song about a young woman who disguises herself as a man to follow her lover to war. The way the story is turning out in my mind is that the couple both end up as ghosts, the girl on the last few days of WWI, the lad - who remained faithful to her memory and never married - in the worst days of WWII. If done properly, this could carry a lot of the sense of grief and loss and wrong that attaches to both wars.

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[fpb.livejournal.com]

I spoke with them, and the course of antibiotics was the result - but it does not seem to have worked. It's an infuriating situation, but let's count our blessings: although the wound is infected, it's not growing or even very painful, and the only way I really feel it is by stiffness in my lower leg - which I barely notice when I walk. All the same, it has to go, and I will ask for another appointment to discuss the matter further.