Is that a nodule on your thyroid, or are you just happy to see me?

So remember back when I told y'all about my whole "rocks in my head" episode, and mentioned that they'd found a "nodule" in/on my thyroid? (Note: "Nodule" is now one of my most unfavorite words. Right up there with "moist", "nipple" and "bulbous".) Well the ultrasound showed that I had not one, but four n-words in my thyroid, and one of them is "dense" and rather large (about an inch). So next week, I'll have a biopsy on the biggest of the n-words and see if it's malignant and needs to be yanked out (along with its smaller n-word buddies), or if it's benign and can sort of hang out and be monitored for growth. Maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll end up with a world class goiter on my neck. How sexxxy would THAT be?

In other non-nodular news, I'm very excited because I sent my application and writing portfolio in to a writing conference that, should I be accepted, would take place in the middle of Tennessee over, get this, THIRTEEN DAYS this summer. Holy SHIT, y'all. THIRTEEN DAYS of being able to focus on my creative brain and write while residing on a college campus. Seriously?! I would rather do that than spend a week on a beach in Hawaii. Yes, I'm serious. Would it be expensive and ridiculous to juggle logistically? YES. Do I fucking deserve it and need it? Oh HELL to the yes.

So cross your fingers and think good thoughts, because this is going to happen.

Something else I'm kind of proud of? I'd been noticing that there was/is a shameful dearth of support for mentoring and moving women into upper leadership positions within my company. So instead of just stewing about it, I reached out to a woman with a long tenure, who is in a highly respected leadership position and sat down and said, "What do we do about this?" And she encouraged me to establish a women-in-leadership group to meet regularly and share ideas, challenges, and network. Well, I did it, and the first meeting is scheduled for the end of this month. We're starting small, and hoping that it'll grow. I hope something good comes out of it. However, whenever women get together behind closed doors to talk about anything, men tend to get nervous. I'm convinced that's one of the reasons that the Salem witch trials happened at all: Men were freaked out because there were women meeting and talking without them, so you know, of course they must be witches. It's a theory...

Alright, I'm off to watch the sexiest silver fox Canada has ever produced: Mantracker. More soon.