stargazercmc

I know it's been forever since I stopped in, but OMG y'all - yesterday was so awesome. (Until the end, that is, which just made me roll my eyes.) I'm trying to figure out who it is that started bringing some warmth back into the show. Even Sonny is being held accountable for his years of abusive behavior.

Anyway, the kidlet is doing well. Just about completely off the O2 now and just about ready to crawl. Also saying "dada" and "hey" now and just keeps growing like a weed.

I miss you guys. Hoping things will be a bit less hectic in the near future so I can stop by more often.

Hey guys! I'm posting this in the middle of the night because, predictably, my days and nights are now mixed up (and I have to go back to work in a week! Eeek!). Colin, on the other hand, has absolutely no problems going immediately back to sleep after his bottle feeds but Mommy's having trouble (once I'm up, I'm up).

Anyway, I bear Jane Elliot news, although it's not exactly of the flattering variety. There was an interview with someone named Stacy McQueen who apparently worked on GH for like 10 minutes back in the early 90s (in that 2nd GM phase before Wendy Riche rescued the show) who says that JE was "mean on and off camera." I watched during those days and cannot remember her character at all, so I'm all kinda like "Whatever," but I thought people may want to read the interview and fume with me.

http://dougsploitation.blogspot.com/2010/02/douglas-michael-show-with-stacy-mcqueen.html

Also, I have pics of Colin.

Just for comparison, here's where he was when he was 3 days old. That's my hand in the photo for perspective. At this point, his eyes were fused shut because they didn't open until he was about 2 weeks old. The second one is when he was about 3 weeks old. He's holding my pinky.

He's still on some oxygen, so that's why you see the cannula and the little stickers on his cheeks. He also just under 10 pounds now, so he's at least 9 times his original body weight. They think he may outgrow the oxygen by springtime - the area in his lungs damaged by the ventilators that kept him breathing will stay the same size as his lungs continue to grow, so we're starting to wean it a couple of hours here and there starting tomorrow just to see how he does. And now, here are some pictures taken yesterday.

Anyway, I've been enjoying some of the stuff on GH very much lately. I like Dante quite a bit and I'm glad to see people pounding away at Sonny's morality (or lack thereof). I'm also loving the scenes between TG and JJ - I liked Greg Vaughn fine, but TG and JJ just have this amazing chemistry that's awesome to watch onscreen.

Miss you guys!

Hey guys. Hope everyone is doing well.

I've been terrifically busy this week because after 7 months and 3 weeks, Colin is finally home. He's still on oxygen but we hope to have him off it by springtime as his lungs get bigger and are able to "set aside" the area with scarring from the ventilators. We may also have some other challenges ahead, but seeing as how he was born 4 days later gestationally than the earliest born baby ever to survive, I'll take it. (Incidentally, our NICU is currently host to the smallest ever surviving baby born weighing 8.6 ozs. She was the smallest in a set of 24-week triplets and was right beside Colin before he was discharged.)

Colin is a true miracle in so many ways. And just think - you guys were there from the start!!

Anyway, just wanted to pop in and say hey between bottle feeds.

Hey y'all.

Looks like it's been kind of slow around here recently. I tried to catch the SOAPnet marathon last week but managed to miss any scenes with Tracy except the one where she asks Ethan the scoop on RacoonBecca. Should I bother catching up? I figure the good stuff isn't coming until TG gets back. I think I figured out one of the frustrating things about GH. TPTB don't understand the difference between character chemistry and actor chemistry. Nikolas and Emily had chemistry. Nikolas and Rebecca do not. The Quartermaines have chemistry. Sonny and Claudia do not. And while MB and CB may have had chemistry at one time, I'm just not seeing it with these characters, ya know? I will say that I like Dante. He has chemistry with pretty much everyone. Much more so than Ethan, methinks.

Remos, decision is a good thing. Things may be in upheaval now, but being out of a bad situation can only be positive. Hang in there, k?

Colin is a tough lil' dude. He has a complication from his PDA ligation surgery called a chylothorax and it's causing massive amounts of fluid to accumulate in his chest cavity, which, of course, affects his ability to breathe better. They've been tapping it regularly to help him out, but yesterday they put in a chest tube to constantly drain it off and it's like he's a different baby this morning. Hopefully the medication they're giving him to treat the condition will kick in soon. If not, we're headed back to surgery next week to correct it.

You know, you guys have been here since the beginning with Colin. I think I was actually at a chat that night after getting my IUI done telling some of you about it. Kind of weird, huh?

Hey, everybody. It's been forever since I've stopped in but I thought I'd swing by and say hello.

Colin is doing well. Growing a bit at a time. As of this evening, he's 1 lb. 14.6 oz. They tell me that he'll start loading on the weight once he hits 2 lbs., so that's our next milestone. We did find out today that he has a complication from his PDA ligation surgery (something called chylothorax, basically a pleural effusion) that causes breathing issues if he's lying on his right side but it's treatable with medication. We won't know if it's completely cleared up for about 6 weeks. I see that Remos posted links to my YT vids of him. There is at least one other one on the page as well, so by all means, check out how adorable my baby boy is.

Haven't kept up much with GH except through my RSS feed of Serial Drama. Looks like I haven't missed much on the Tracy front, and frankly, I could go my entire life without watching more Sonny melodrama. I think the last thing I watched on GH was Michael waking up and the Qs trying to talk Michael into moving in with them so I figure I'm way behind. I flipped on the SoapNet repeat one night while at my computer and there was karaoke going on and that told me enough. So, GH hiatus for me for now with no intention of going back until I'm on maternity leave (I went back to work after a month off and will take the rest of it once Colin is home).

I miss you all and I promise I'll try and stop by more often.

ETA: Oh, and what does everyone think about Lynn Herring and Stuart Damon being on ATWT? I've never watched that show, but it's enough to make me want to check it out.

Hey everybody. Just stopping in for a quick hello before crashing - I'm back at work so I have to be up early tomorrow.

Colin is doing well. I am constantly amazed at how resilient my son is. He will be 5 weeks old in the morning and he's already off his ventilator and is holding steady on a CPAP. Considering that he was born at 22 wks 1 day, the nurses and doctors are stunned he's been able to maintain it. Apparently, my son is destined to be an overachiever. He's up to 1 lb. 4 oz. now and will likely grow even more once we're able to get him back on normal feeds instead of TPN (his bowel perforation, which is healing, has slowed that down a bit). We also did some heart surgery to fix the open flap that was kicking blood into his lungs and his breathing has been much easier since then.

You cannot imagine how tiny he is. Even pictures just do not do it justice. Take a ruler and lop off a half-inch and that's his length. What the doctors and nurses at our hospital have been able to do constantly impresses me. We're very lucky to have such a great level III NICU so close to home.

Anyway, we're sliding into more of a routine now. I'm back at work and will be working until Colin is able to come home, when I'll take at least another two months off (I'm hoping to be financially able to do three).

I'm about a week behind on GH but plan to catch up some when I have time to stop and breathe. I may just cherry pick on envious' channel since I couldn't care less about Sonny and Claudia and all that claptrap. I must say that I've been awfully amused by the flirting of Alexis and Rayner - what a waste of Mark Pinter's talents to leave him on the shelf so often (and that goes about triple for NLG).

How is everyone else? I hope you're all well.

Hey, everybody.

Just a quick update. My son had emergency surgery to put drains in to help out a bowel perforation last Sunday night and he's been recovering nicely. Luckily, they were able to do a less-invasive procedure than they thought they would have to do at first. He also has a pda that causes his breathing some stress even on the vent, but it can't be addressed until his bowel perforation has healed.

I have pictures up on the CaringBridge blog I'm keeping about his recovery in the NICU, if you're interested:

https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/colinchandler

Please keep sending good thoughts about my lil' guy - he's quite the fighter for someone so teeny tiny.

Hey, everyone. I've had an interesting week.

Last Sunday morning, I went into labor (we think a kidney infection I got sent me into preterm labor and my cervix dilated past the point where we could stop it). My son was born on Monday morning at 9:05 a.m.

You're probably thinking, "Wow, that's a bit early." And it was. I was 22 weeks 1 day when I went into labor. As a result, my lil' guy is in one of the best NICUs in the southeast. He weighed in at 1 lb. 1 oz. and he seems to be doing remarkably well for his age so far. They don't give us any guarantees and everything is one day at a time at this point, but the facility's rate of survival for infants his age is 70-80 percent and he is doing really, really well so far. No major setbacks and no challenges they didn't anticipate.

Please keep him in your thoughts. He's a tough little guy and his daddy and I love him so much already.

'lo everybody. It's been a long while so I just wanted to check in. If it makes you guys feel any better, I've been neglecting almost all of my online spots. Work has been crazy and it's adding an extra layer of exhaustion on top of the pregnancy.

I'm having a little boy. I can feel him kicking now (although hubby can't yet) and it's got to be the weirdest feeling ever. And apparently, he wants me to eat every other hour because my stomach is grumbling more often these days. I've been trying to snack on healthy things to keep from gaining excess weight. My next doc's visit is the glucose test - fun, fun, fun, right?

Anyway, I've been skipping GH during the week and catching up on the weekends. Last I saw looked like it was building up to some good Tracy/Luke stuff with Ethan, so we'll see how that pans out. I've also been watching some old Days clips of Jack and Jennifer - I forgot how much I miss the slow build for couples. We just don't see that on soaps anymore, and it's most of the reason why I think there are no more supercouples on soaps.

Anyway, hope everyone is doing well.

Hey y'all. Never could resist a good summons.

I've been nesting bigtime, really. This Friday, we found out if we're having a boy or a girl. I'm at the phase now where I want to eat anything not nailed down.

Anyway, I'm alive.

*waves at everyone*

Anyone see the drop in the Daytime Dish Insider's Lounge about the firings "from the top down?" Here, I'll lift it:

QUOTE (BUBINSIDER @ Mar 17 2009, 01:58 PM)

Dear friends at BUB,

Yesterday was a very dark day at Prospect Studios. Production meeting was very difficult to participate in. They announced cuts in all areas of production and those being let go would be notified later this week.

I got my notification today. My last day at Prospect is next Friday and I am very upset that I will no longer be a part of the "General Hospital" family. I was told that the lay offs were being done simply based on financial constraints and not performance. To add salt to my wounds, I was told that if any of the remaining people in the department decide to leave I am more than welcome to submit my resume and it would be considered.

For my last post as BUBINSIDER, I want to leave you with hope. Higher ups finally realized "GH" is a sinking ship and changes will be made in order to save the show. "AMC" beating "GH" in the ratings was the wake up call they needed and expect firings from the top down. Also, expect an announcement about HD soon.

Thank you for allowing me to inform you and God bless.

BUBINSIDER

I hate that this insider lost his/her job, but man oh man, I can't say I wouldn't be happy about there being a bloodbath in the writing staff, starting with Bob Guza. The show is near intolerable to watch these days.

SO BORING. I keep finding myself wondering what's going on over at Guiding Light.

Hey did I tell you guys i got my first offical "paycheck" for writing!

Congrats, hooked! Book, article? Tell us more!

*waves at everyone*

I know I've been kind of quiet lately, but that's because I've been nesting quite a bit. I'm 14 weeks pregnant. Some of you already knew, but now that I'm past my first trimester, I'm letting the cat out of the bag to everyone in general. This is our first child so I'm really excited but still taking things one day at a time.

I'm also missing Tracy and Luke quite a bit - can someone wake me up when they're done with this Winifred/Spinelli nonsense?

ETA: Elizabeth Herbst, not pretty? For serious?? Ye Gods, that man is an idiot.

I thought today was... spectacularly bad. Could they have bought a better wig for KS to wear? (And PLEASE don't tell me it was supposed to symbolize some physical resemblance to Bobbie since they weren't, ya know, biologically related. The writers at least remember that much, right?)

I like Maxie (quite a bit, actually), but it all came off to me as propping her at the expense of one of the best soap storylines ever written. I would have rather seen flashbacks and a recounting of the actual storyline than a running commentary about people who have nothing to do with Maxie and BJ's relationship being so different. (Seriously, Patrick? Spinelli? Lulu, who wasn't even born when the heart transplant was done? Johnny? Even Carly was a stretch. Robin, Bobbie, Monica and Mac definitely earned their spots.) And somehow, they managed to go the entire episode without once mentioning Frisco or Felicia.

I was just very disappointed at the wasted potential because this could have been SO GOOD.

Hello, all! Had some outpatient surgery this week so I'm just now getting around to catching up with everyone.

Can someone just box up Winifred now before she takes up even more time on our screen? The thing that works with Spinelli is when he's with people that balance his craziness out (especially Maxie and Sam). I do NOT relish the idea of seeing a freakin' romance built around the idea of Spinelli dating himself. Ye Gods. That chick annoys me to no end. I've started FFing her scenes, even if it's with characters I like.

Count me in the club of people that don't mind Tracy not being rescued by Luke. For one, it gave us that fabulous interaction between Tracy and Lulu, and secondly, we got to see some pretty amazing scenes with Edward and Tracy, too. And besides, our gal isn't the damsel in distress that HAS to be rescued all the time - that would be Luke's ex-wife. I prefer to see more independent women, thankyouverymuch.

The writers totally have no clue on being subtle, do they? Was I the only one laughing at the very idea of two Italian people who pride themselves in their cooking abilities making dinner using canned spaghetti sauce? The proper way to do these product placements would be to plan something outright. The Tracy/Luke stuff was heavy-handed last year, but I didn't mind the Go Red campaign rally held at Kelly's because IT FIT INTO THE STORYLINE. Epiphany had suffered a heart attack, and here was GH sponsoring an event for healthy heart awareness for women that included the (at the time) Chief Cardiologist and the club's youngest member, someone who was a heart transplant patient herself. THAT was a decent way to present things. And IIRC, it was scabs writing that. These scenes with Max and Milo lecturing to Diane and Maxie making Spinelli choke down V8 Fusion? Enough, already.

How about instead of us seeing a half-baked idea of a hospital crisis (which started out great, IMO, but ended poorly), maybe they could have given us sweeps at the big event Maxie and Johnny are attending? Then again, they WERE using rehashed material with all this. Remember, this was Guza's big November sweeps stunt that got pushed to the back burner. I'm guessing that's why it seems so inconsistent writing-wise. They're dipping into an old inkwell even though changes are obviously already being made to bring back love in the afternoon and some actual screentime with the vets.

OK, so I guess I had a lot to say my first post back.

Just stopping in for a quick hello.

Send me a PM if you need the password for the new BR. We created it because there were people who liked to lurk outside the old room and snoop on chat without participating (*waves at people with nothing better to do than spy*).

How is everybody doing? I'm hoping to grab more time around here again - it seems like all I do is sleep these days when I get home from work.

Can't stay to chat tonight (I have to pack for a trip) but I just tested the new chatroom and it was working fine. Maybe Chatzy was having maintenance or something? (Don't forget, you have to enter the password.) Let me know if everyone is still having problems and I'll try and reset it.

Hey Star--how are you doing?

I'm doing OK. Been sick quite a bit lately, which is why I haven't been around as much. Sleep helps with that.

Someone refuted that list as being fake--so who knows.

I think nadine is going to be not be committed becuase really--how can all that happen by Feb. 8th when this crisis is going on. That is supposedly her last airdate--but maybe it means her last tape date.

I figure it won't be long before they shove Nadine out of the picture (Nik going on and on to anyone that will listen that he's not in love with Nadine is gonna catch up to him eventually), but I really hope that list is fake because how uncreative is that route? But you're right - that doesn't really make sense with everything else going on.

Also just finished reading a drop that Ethan

is Frisco's long lost son and Maxie's half-brother.

I'm curious to see if that plays out as fact.

Nadine is committed

Oh, fer cryin' out loud. WHY would they go this route with Nadine? Granted, she's not my favorite character, but just because her sister is nuts doesn't mean that she is, too. ICK.

I like the whole Ethan thing. I'm gunning for him being a Scorpio of some sort. Maybe Mac's long lost and unknown kid? It'd help bring Mac back on the canvas since his brother has had almost more screentime than he has this year.

Hey guys,

Sorry for the double-post, but I wanted to keep this separate. I noticed that the lunacy icons LJ community was deleted a while back. I was thinking about creating a community on LJ for lunacy icons, banners, wallpapers, screen caps, etc.

Would you guys have any interest in this? I have a fic journal separate from my RL LJ where I currently post graphics, too, but I figured I'd see if anyone was interested in having an LJ community again for our lunacy creations.

Thanks for the spoilers, hooked! Lukey better rescue Tracy!! How is your son doing? I hope he's okay!

Has anyone found the clips on youtube?

brownstonegirl, you can always find daily GH clips at CaziGirl's YouTube channel. This is the clip (segment 5) from Friday's ep with the Qs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ymIbfXga2M

This is the only segment they were in, so you only need this one unless you want to see the whole episode.

ETA: I'm in the new BR for a bit if anyone wants to chat.

Hey guys,

Claire Coffee (Nadine) has reported on her message board that she's been bumped to recurring. Looks like she's part of the budget slashes. While I'm not a huge fan of her character, I hope they don't write her off in some insane way like the rumors have been suggesting.

http://z15.invisionfree.com/Claire_Coffee_...p?showtopic=480

Edited to include the link.

Here is the preview...it looks good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlWtmsSg-II

I JUST finished watching this over at SOAPnet.com (and actually posted a link to it from the LJ GH comm). I'm getting really hyped about this storyline now. It looks GOOD.

Welcome, Erica. Pull up a chair and hang with us for a bit! I'm relatively new here myself, but I can tell you these guys are awesome.

New Genie interview--seems like TG is not the only one glad to be moving on from LnL in the press--

http://www.trentonian.com/articles/2009 ... 437576.txt

Um, WOW. There are some SERIOUS entitlement issues in the comments there.

*shakes head*

Anyone wanna chat? I'm in the room for a bit...

I'm OK with Paul as long as we get 1) a smackdown scene(s) where Tracy schools him, and 2) no Jenny Eckert.

Would they be that creative? You know, Larry and Paul's hands weren't very clean.....

As much as I would prefer to see Larry Ashton back, they could do some SERIOUSLY RICH stuff with Paul back on the show. And given his involvement with the Cartel, it's feasible that he would have passed through the same mob circles as Luke when LnL were on the run.

Hmmm.... now THERE's a plot bunny for ya.