TITTWIS Fall '06: If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.

Is "TITTWIS" and acronym? Or are you trying to say something titillating about the Dairy State?

I think pickled would be nice. despite going out a couple of times this week the worst I got was tired. which is like a hangover with out the fun. And I can't get intrested in work to save my life.

what's good on TV right now? trashy women on flavor of love are starting to get on my nerves.

Hi Julia! watching movies sounds great. It was rainy here all morning - perfect movie weather - but now that damned sun is out.

Hi Michael! are you at work? sometimes I rest my heads in my hand in a frustrated pose while quickly nod out.

Hi Huk! where are you living now?

I'm trying to do the last bits of clean up on this system I built for one of my departments to go live tomorrow. and i just can't be bothered. I'm so sick of looking at it. why is my motivation so bad?! I have done in anything productive in ages. also, been eating too much.

The only reason I make it to work is my boyfriend inevitably pushes me out of bed.

For some reason, I think TITTWIS stands for "Tiny Irate Terrible Two-ers Wearing Icky Socks." But it could be something else.

my dullness and non-motivation is definitely depression related. I've been out of pills for a couple of weeks now but am seeing my dr next week. maybe it will pick up.

I am at work and I just couldn't keep my eyes open for a second.

Don't let your spirits get too down, Sam.

Best of luck househunting, Huck.

Hey y'all!

I've been here and there and everywhere. I'm perplexed by some things as always, but the number of those "some things" is going down finally. I'm finding therapy and release through poetry, most of which is too terrible in quality to share. Though if you'll go onto the "blog" on my MySpace profile, you can find a couple of the better ones.

I want to say more but more is not forthcoming. So hello once again.

I was dreading three meetings today although one was just cancelled so that's slightly better I guess. I think I'm going to have to start going to sleep at nine b/c I'm just too damn tired in the morning.

My cat's had an infected eye for a couple of weeks now. the ointment the vet gave us has done nothing. he's always rubbing it, maybe he should wear a collar too.

I'm hoping you all can help talk some sense into me by listing reasons why NOT to quit one's (not too awful) job before having another job lined up. I need the strength of reason in moments of weakness. So there are the obvious:

1. OH NOES NO INCOME
2. Loss of health insurance (although I think I could get onto husband's if I find myself unemployed, right?)
3. Not such a good for prospective employers to learn I just up and bailed one day (after 4+ years)

But other horror stories of unemployment/burned bridges/etc. would probably set my head straight.

Please just convince me not to do this. My bank account (and spouse) thank you.

For some reason, this is the week most of my coworkers decided to take their vacations, so it's wonderfully quiet and easy going. I'm sneaking in paragraphs of Metropolis whenever I get a chance.

wow, hmmm. I'm the wrong person to ask. I've done this quite a few times and never really regretted it. But that's usually been b/c the job was so incredibly awful and stressful my health was in danger. If it's not so bad, tough it out and get something else going before you quit. Being unemployed is also stressful and awful. . .

happy bday sarah! "birthday season" you're like my boyfriend who wants pre- and post-birthday treats. pbbt.

I somehow hope this will change as I grow older b/c I like the freedom that self-employment seems to imply. Right now I'm not discplined enough for it. (hell I'm barely discplined enough for a normal job.)

sara, how old is your child?

quincie, what's bumming you out about your job?

Random story about one of my kids: Julia woke me up this morning by shaking me and saying, "Snap out of it!" I asked her where she had heard that phrase and she told me her preschool teacher told her to say that when she was trying to wake her Mommy up.

Hi guys. Things are pretty good with me, I get a little anxious sometimes for no good reason but lately things have been fine. The kid is a lot of fun. I'm hoping I don't go batty when the weather keeps us cooped up.

so much nursing going on. . .my mom is thinking of nursing school when she gets better. good for her to look forward to something.

sara, your kid's teacher sounds k-rude.

random story - i fell asleep at my desk once and I could hear my kids saying "shh! let her sleep!" haha

Sam, I don't think Julia's teacher really told her to say that; I think it was just Julia repeating something she heard somewhere else and being silly about it.

I like the story about the desk - I wish my kids would let me sleep! (How many does everyone else have, and what are their ages?)

Sam the small employee-owned company for which I worked was recently bought out by Large Monstrous Defense Company. LM is happy to keep me and other health/medical types around because our contracts are profitable, but I hate the new corporate culture (not to mention the company itself) and am also not happy with the new middle-management job to which I have been "promoted."

many xposts

This depends on where you go next. Still leaving beofre you have something lined up is likely to be more stressful than staying on and looking.

I don't have a boring job anymore! The day job I do is very exciting and challenging and EVEN REWARDING (both emotionally and $$$ally). I'm going to have to invent new problems for myself or I run the risk of being happy with my life. Can't have that.

yes be careful Huk. Being happy with life is scary.

I started knitting a baby afghan for a friend and completely screwed it up. So badly that I am mailing it to my mother-in-law for help!

Said something in a work meeting yesterday that simultaneously outed me as a total cynic and not happy with my job... and my boss and co. VP were there. oops.

One of the parrot's nails are so sharp that my hands resemble a kitten owner's. I tried to teach her to wave last night, but she got frustrated with the hand signal and me saying "hi!" so she growled "hello" and glared at me.

I found out anything pickled might cause stomach cancer, including pickles!

what?! my nieces eat tons of pickles. perhaps I should warn my brother.

K, I would love to read that novel.

I've started a pair of socks on size 1 needles - def. toothpicks! I think I'm going to ditch that pattern though and try something from the new Knitty. I just can't feel socks.

I would love to read any novel that pulls me in and won't let me go. That just doesn't seem to happen much anymore to me. I can't figure out if that is age (I'm only 34!) or what.

And now I'm desperately glad to not be a pickle addict. (If there is a similar study about chocolate, don't tell me about it - I think I'd rather die of ignorance in that case.)

I love pickles and anything vinegary!

Yes! Cornichons, dills, hearts of palm, pickled jalapeno, Texas style pickled okra, Arab style pickled turnip, pepperoncini, Tom olives, rice wine vinegar, tarragon vinegar, red wine vinegar... I love them all.

Little tidbits from me: Males are confusing and/or assholes, my ankles (which have always been weak) have started bothering me more ever since my May surgery, I'm starting the process of moving, and I've still got a megacrush on Seona Dancing-era Ricky Gervais. And a whole bunch of other stuff.

Yes, this sadly often the case, isn't it?

Good morning all. It's actually cool here! I'm craving sickly sweet muffins or scones from the cafeteria down the block. but I ate breakfast before I left home, hmm.

I'm not that adventurous when it comes to food, though I am a big advocate of putting fruit on/in anything.

Good luck with the job interview, quincie!

(sam, you're right about phoenix)

for breakfast, i have organic pop tart-kinda-things that my roommate bought. it seems a bit odd for such a thing to be organic, but they do taste better than the chemically junk.

I'm sure knew this but had forgotten.

A Texas thing maybe?

i've known very few texans, but my experience has been similar to m. white's.

i eat crap.

I wish I ate better. Breakfast is usually a bowl of fiber-filled cereal with skim milk, but the rest of the day is dedicated to figuring ways to sneak in a bit of dark chocolate.

breakfast this morning: egg, cheese and potato taco, but I forgot the salsa :(. also diet dp. yum.

I went to lecture and lab last night, which was kind of fun, but I can see that histology is going to be my undoing. A lot of the different kinds of tissues look the same to me (pink!).

Because my class is at night and I have to drive an hour to get there, I can't eat dinner beforehand, so I ate at 9:40 pm. I wound up getting a vegetarian burrito at Chipotle. Good, but it is going to get old fast.

the diet dp part part of my breakfast was esp. hearty. I need to drink more water, ugh.

I didn't become a water drinker until I was nursing my first baby. Suddenly I understood the appeal of ice water. Wow, I was thirsty.

I've been out of wellbutrin for nearly a mth now and have stopped taking my strattera as well as I don't like one without the other. I think this is to blame. but I see my pysch next week and am going to ask for a new and/or additional AD. *cue horrid Huey Newton song*

(best of luck, Sam)

And I'm trying to write department-wide web documentation this week. ugh.

i had apple cake for breakfast!

julia, have you talked to your dr about tapering off?

i'm scared of lexapro because my body couldn't seem to manage to process celexa properly, and it left me bedridden, which is less than fun.

but i like that it's the enantiomer and so i can pretend i remember a bit from organic chemistry.

explain pls.

I took lexapro with my wellbutrin for awhile before but don't remember it doing much. I'm hoping they've invtented something new recently.

It does seem like they are constantl coming out with new drugs for mental wellness, Sam. Hopefully you can find the perfect fit for what you need.

(Also, I'm in love with the notion of "whore's breakfast!")

Basically, the same chemical comes in two different spacial conformations (think of it like your hands: same things, same parts, but two different spacial formations). Only one of the conformations is biologically active. Lexapro is the active conformation of celexa (which is a mixture of both conformations), so you get all active drug and no inactive drug.

Basically a great way for pharma companies to get more patent protection. But also theoretically lower risk of side effects.

But wait! Here is my organic chem book from a decade ago! One moment please. . .

(Now I'm jealous that you have yours... sigh.)

There was a great article in The New Yorker some time back about sugar's apparently unmatchable superiority to any other sweetners including the L-sugar thing.

Now you have to join us in our room; by reading that article you, too, have become a Science Dork!

What's interesting is how finely tuned the taste buds are to resist being fooled even by stuff that's so similar.

her cat chewed up one of my brains though.

i am so proud that i got tittwis talking about orgo. yay.

i am refraining from any snarky comment about the combo of anatomy and tasting.

(er, that they are preserved; I just assumed they were real... and probably not human...)

real brains would be problematic, seeing that i'm a klutz and the cats are always knocking things over.

I hauled my tired ass out of bed extra early this morning b/c I thought I had a mtg at 8am. Well the mtg's on Wed when I can't go anyway b/c of a dr.'s appt. also my boss and co-worker are out today. I could have slept in!!

I'm so leaving early.

This weekend we went to the movies and tried to re-route plumbing from the washer connection in the kitchen to the garage. k-fun.

I spent most of the weekend studying for Wednesday night's anatomy test. Also walked on my treadmill and took two naps.

I recently had bloodwork done through my main dr. and I'm trying to get a copy of the results to my pysch for my visit this week. First, my doctor wouldn't fax a copy to me, nor to my pysch. They need to fax us a request for them, I was told. Call pysch's office and they won't even fax a request until I come sign an authorization. DON'T YOU ALREADY HAVE ONE ON FUCKING FILE??

They can suck it. and if they think I'm going to have another blood test they can suck it from both ends.

stupid fucking doctors' offices. hate them all.

I thought you were still talking about the plumbing :O

they think I'm going to have another blood test they can suck it from both ends

Death by hickey!

WTF? I don't know Texas law but wouldn't a faxed authorization be just as valid? For mental healthcare providers they sure seem unclear on one way to improve their patients' health: stop being fatuous dickwads.

On the list of things to discuss with my pysch is my increasingly crippling social anxiety including,(especially), using the telephone. I'll point out to him that it's hard enough to call and make an appt but his staff just makes things that much harder for me. grr. actually maybe I should leave him a private voice mail telling him everything so he can get the bloodwork. I don't want that to delay the possiblity of me getting new meds. grr, early, long lunchtime.

Some totally off his rocker man came up to me at the bus stop this morning talking crazy nonsense to me (which at first seemed slightly senscial so I was stupidly drawn into a "conversation" with him). Then he touched me. He just put his hand on my shoulder (but in a gross way if that makes sense) and it freaked me the fuck out. I should have called the cops b/c after I turned my back to him and put my headphones on he began yelling harrassing things at a couple of middle school girls (they were walking on the other side of the street though).

It was stupid but I'm just mad at myself for letting a weirdo freak me out so much and for not at least telling him to leave those girls alone.

I can't get a print-only stylesheet to work in explorer and frankly I just don't care anymore.

is it time for lunch yet?

I should be studying for my test tomorrow night. Instead, I am distracted by three things: my roof is being replaced (which is loud), my 4 year old daughter (who is persistent), and the falling-apart-more-every-second marriage of a couple of close friends.

I will look on the bright side: at least I'm not bored...

huk, adopt a hat for the time being.

That man sounds certifiable and you had every right to feel as creepy as you did. Maybe saying something would've caused more trouble. Maybe what you ended up doing was the right thing.

Sarah (QSS), that happened with me and my old gynecologist -- well, she'd gone by the time I requested a records transfer, so I requested it from the office, and they took a year to get the records to my new gynecologist.

he put me on a low dose of prozac (only 10mg!) along with my lithium, no wellbutrin, no strattera and wants to see how that works. I'm not thrilled about going on another SSRI but it's such a miniscule amount I figure I'll give it a shot. He's hoping it will help with my anxiety. it would be nice to not have to take as much medicine.

I hope the new drug combo works well for you... hang in there, from what I can understand it is difficult to find a good balance.

My big test is tonight, plus a lab quiz, plus lab. I could use some anti-anxiety meds myself right now. But at least I know that by 9 pm it will all be over.

I've been on so many drug cocktails I'm sick of playing. I'm happy with Lithium though. It's the best and kindest of all the different meds I've used so I'm glad it's my cocktail foundation.

good luck on your test!

I'm glad you've found a good base that works well for you; I don't blame you for being sick of "playing" with pharmaceuticals. When it is how you feel from day to day that is at stake, I think you'd be sick of playing from day 1!

Thanks for good wishes on the test; I haven't taken a test in a long time so I think I'm suffering a bit of nerves. Afterward I'll probably wonder what I was so worried about. (I hope so anyway!)

haha, that's more like therapy. although I suppose there are people who see a pyschitraist for talk therapy it seems a poor use of money/resources. I think most pyschs just do treatment mgmt for mental illnesses.

sara, what class is this test in?

My test is in human anatomy. So it's covering some basic cytology, histology, integumentary system, and the beginning of our section on bones. It is the number of different kinds of epithelial and connective tissues and where they are found that is going to trip me up... the good thing is that I only have one class this term. I won't be so lucky over the winter!

I need to change my username. I managed to stick with MissMisery for over a year but then I forgot my logon. now I should be one of those clever types who change it often but to what?

Sara how was the test?

Changing username: I can offer no help here as I uncreatively use my actual name.

Thank you so much for asking about the test! It went well, I think. (I'll see tonight when the prof has posted our scores online). I did get one wrong out of 6 questions on the lab quiz. The lab afterward was what got me - finding all the bones, condyles, fossa, foramen (etc...) on the skull. I was exhausted afterward. I grabbed some food, came home, collapsed into bed... and couldn't sleep. Insomnia is back... but at least the first test is over.

ROFFLEZ (Though I do sympathise, Sam.)

Sara R-C, that sounds like an intense exam.

The exam itself wasn't that bad, it was having that combined with an intense lab that tired me out. I never thought looking at a skull would be tiring, but after two hours of finding the landmarks, I was shot. (I am still astounded at how complicated our skulls are!)

i called in to work and said i probably wouldn't be in until later although I'm not sure I should bother at all. should try to take my cat into the vet, ugh.

I'm trying to write since I can't do dishes or laundry or anything useful but the interweb is too distracting. I think I need caffiene.

Vets! Uggggh! In the almost eleven years that I've been with my girlfriend, we have been to at least five vets since they always seem to find a way to piss us off so much we vow never to go back.

Sara (-h), I hope your test went well. It sounded fairly daunting.

I called in sick to work today. Sometime during the night I developed a cold, but what convinced me not to go in was when I found out I was running a temperature. I'm not staying "home" home, though. I need to pick up a few things for the house I'm moving into, then I need to pick up someone who'll be helping out with the packing and with bringing even more stuff to the Future Home. So.

okay so it isn't his eye, he has a tooth abcess. Poor Qtip, I feel so bad! I never thought to look in his mouth b/c he's been acting normal/fine other than the swelling under his eye. but the vet opened his mouth up and it was horrible--swollen gums, nasty rotted tooth. :( Next week they're going to pull the tooth and clean the rest. he gets antibiotic drops till then. Last summer they gave me an estimate for tooth cleaning and it was $330. I can only imagine what it will be with the extraction on top, ugh. I'm not begrudging my cat good health you know, just the cost of it.

Sara, what are you in school for again?

I got home and asked state of plumbing was told all systems were go, including hot water. we turn around and see new leak in pipes above water heater. fantastic.

Shouldn't you be taking your girlfriend to the doctor rather than the vet?

alright now I feel sick. . .

;-)

As for the kitties - ouch on the abcessed teeth AND the cost to fix. Sam, is your cat named QTip? That was my nickname through most of high school (well, shortened to "Q").

Thanks to all for good wishes on the test - I think it helped, since I got a very high score. I am going to school for nursing.

Phoenix, I hope you are feeling better soon - moving sucks.

As for converting to Catholicism, I am now bitter since I was raised Catholic and never got a present or a free drink on any day other than ones everyone else did (birthday, Christmas). Although I guess I've never heard of Saramas...

As I was not aware of losing any weight (and was in fact putting bbq on my plate), I felt horribly confused.

August 19. Big with the Roma.

Mark's saint's day = April 25
luna's = February 20
Sam's = December 19
I don't know if Dee is a nickname or variant on a Xtian name or not and I don't know patita's real name and Huck is so obviously a hellbound free thinking name.

My practice, patita, is, when in doubt take it as a compliment.

Congrats to you friend, luna.

Patita, I agree with Michael; take it as a compliment (and enjoy what you are eating!).

That's what I thought. My mother has decided to go to nursing school when she gets her health back some. Four years ago I would've been overjoyed now I'm not sure.

thanks Micheal but as Samantha is but a mere interweb mentalist pseudonym I don't think I could claim that saint's day. I was supposed to be born on 12/13 though and would've been called Guadalupe. party on.

Yes my kitty's name is Q-Tip. I've had a running theme of naming pets after rappers but it appears this newest dog has broken the streak. He came as Bandit and we've been lazy about renaming him "Big Poppa"

how far are you in nursing school, sara?

My b-day's 12/15. ¡Hola!, fellow sag.

Juulia, looks like July 21, or, if we're talking about Corsica's patron saint, May 22. I love how with a few notable exceptions, mine for example, most of these saints were early Christian zealots who were martyred, sometimes in gruesomely creative ways.

If my mother said she was going to go back to school for anything - but especially nursing - I'd be shocked beyond belief!

my mom's in nursing education so i hear lots about it. she's mentioned wanting to go into law as her next profession...she's fascinated by it since she started getting gigs as an expert medical witness. she's the sort of overachiever that i can almost imagine her doing it, though she's over 60.

my real name is of turkish/old norse origin so not very saintly!

My mom has been working on her BA for several years now--she decided to go back after I got mine, and is going for art/art history. She's taking a break now, but had been cruising along at a class a semester. Fiber arts are her specialty, and there are now two looms set up with projects. Supposedly I'm getting a rug for xmas.

Aw, poor babe. Poor little Qtip. Hopefully he'll start to feel better soon.

Dee is short for Deanna, which is a form of the name Diana. There exists a beatified Diana who was born in 1210 in Italy whose feast day is June 9. But, like Julia, I was raised Catholic and yet didn't get a single thing on my own feast day, not even while my (very devoutly religious) father was still with us.

I have a cousin who's currently studying nursing, though she's going in for an LVN. She too is taking anatomy at this point. She's downstairs doing the bulk of the box moving, with our old dolly. I'm going back down to help her.

Qtip went in this morning, I'm scared. :( He was crying all night and morning since we couldn't feed him. poor little tub.

Last night I had a dream that he stole a car and I was chasing after him b/c I was afraid he would crash. He did and by the time I pulled off onto the shoulder and ran back to him he had gotten out and was run over. He was still alive but bleeding and with tire tracks on him and I was carrying him, trying to find the vet office. :(

Best of luck to your kitty, Sam.

thanks for the well wishes. I'm sure qtip will be fine and my anxiety for naught. Many years ago (12?) a professor I knew lost his kitty when it died while being put under for teeth cleaning. this has put the ph34r in me ever since but I have to remind myself that was more than a decade ago and surely doesn't happen much anymore.

Wasn't an abcess that was causing the swelling. he has massive cancerous tumor in the soft tissue of his face. vet says nothing to do now but take him home and keep him comfortable until he becomes in too much pain and must be put down.

GODDAMIMT arrrrghhh.

adding insult to injury while I was on hold with the vet "Lump" was playing. assholes.

I took pictures of his little swollen cheek this morning b/c I thought it would be gone later. I'll have to post them when I get home.

and try to work now. . .

I cannot sleep. this is what I need to revive my blog for.. .

G. picked me up early from work and we went to the vet to get Q-Man. The vet showed us the xrays and outlined the tumor for us (the xrays are on line but I can't get them to show right now.) She is sending the crytology slides off for review at Texas A&M (the vet experts in these parts) but is pretty positive it is Squameous Cell Carcinoma of the cheek. Normally that's a skin cancer but his is in the soft tissue of his cheek/jaw and his is too big to be treatable at this point.

She says when he begins to get uncomfortable she would like to give him anti-inflammatories but until then we should just keep him comfortable and "spoil him". I asked her what the prognosis was for this type of cancer and she said "not good." I pressed, "six months?" and she just said she never gave numbers like that. Nothing I've read online for this type of cancer has a kitty surviving more than 4 mths. She said when the test results come back from A&M next week we can talk more definite end of life issues. Tonight we tried to feed him b/c he was starving but he kind of freaked out. All the teeth on the upper left side of his jaw are gone b/c the tumor has eaten away the bone. I had to go get him some wet food even though he normally doesn't get it b/c it gives him direahha. It doesn't matter now. They didn't even clean his teeth which is one of the reasons he went in today b/c again, it doesn't really matter now. Still the bill was $483.. That's more than my half of the mortgage. ouch.

So I probably have a couple of more months with him now and I know for that I should be grateful. His sister died on New Year's Eve 2004 after G. and I came home and found she had had a paralyizing stroke and was blind. Post-mortem exams showed she had a between her heart and lungs but nothing we could have known about. I had about a day and half with her in her paralyzed state before she was gone. She died in her sleep, next to me, I didn't have to put her down.

Less than a year later my grandmother died two weeks after she was diagnosed with stage 4 esphogeal cancer. the anniversary of her death is next Saturday. Some people might think it's callus for me to place her death in with my cats but they are all close. I've had Bengal (RIP) and Q-Tip for almost half my life. Bengal and Grandmother were both taken from me before I had time to process. Hard in different ways but still hard. Grief is hard, period.

After each of those I walked away telling myself that if nothing else loss would be easier now. So I look towards my friend of the past 14 years, Q-Tip, and say, "I know I'm lucky, because I'm aware of the short time we have together and I'm going to make it worthwhile." I just dread the thought of having to put him down. I avoided it with Begal and it pains me to know I might have to make that choice with him. Why must loving pets hurt so much?

I remember the day I got Q-Tip. My ex-husband and I already had Bengal, a Manx, and had put more time in to planning an additional cat than most of our peers did children (which is scary). But one day his sister called and said she met a farmer at the flea market who had a litter of white manx kittens and she got one for us. We went out to visit her (an hour south of Austin) and discovered she and her husband had decided to keep our kitten. Irritated, I went out with her to the farm to pick out another one. The gap-toothed farmer plucked Q-Tip from behind a screen door and said he called this one "Pitiful" b/c he always looked so sad. Indeed, Q-Man's often been a sad kitty but I hope these next few months are good. I'm going to take regular pics of him as well as scanning in old ones on my Flickr. Here he is this morning with his lil' Godfather cheek:
http://static.flickr.com/79/261798405_7e20836af2.jpg

*sigh* I hope I can get to sleep now.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v483/Hereward/2843.jpg

to sleep, that she'd been through numerous cats and it never gets any easier when they pass. I genuinely sympathise and it reminds me to be sweet with our Benchley, 17 years old with surely not many more left.

Q-Tip looks big. How much does he weigh? Oh, and does he always shine those hypnotizing beams at you?

I feel better today mostly b/c Q-Tip seems blissfully unaware of his predicment. He's thrilled to be getting stinky wet food (although I think I might try to giving him homecooked food) and was purring happily this morning. I'm just going to try not to dread what's to come and enjoy the present with him. And take many (better) pictures.

He weighs about 16lbs now but he used to weigh 20 and has been losing steadily. (I guess that makes sense.) He is a big boy.

I did sleep eventually (and a bit over) but feel draggy this morning. stupid wine. stupid me. work is a drag today.

I'm just going to try not to dread what's to come and enjoy the present with him. You may not always succed at this but try, for your sake as much as his. You don't want to look back after he's gone and realize that you spent his last days being glum when you could have been enjoying his company.

16 pounds is still pretty big. Try making him chicken livers. I used to saute them for Margot and hash them up. The kitchen smell ain't great but he might really like them and they're cheap.

I am doubly thrilled to be going to see Mark Morris and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra's King Arthur tonight. I have always been a sucker for Purcell and I'm excited to see Morris.

michael, is that dance or opera or both?

he likes to roll around in the dirt in the backyard which isn't great for the white fur.

Margot once got into the air intake for the furnace in an apartment building I lived in and got so dirty that I had to scrub her feet with shampoo and a nail brush. She was flagrantly ungrateful.

Homemade food sounds like a good idea.

Now that I''ve seen him, that dream makes more sense.

luna, tell me about it. Never a compliment. Never a pat on the back. Never a tip or year-end bonus.

All that being said, I don't really trust any computer equipment. That's why I usually buy an actual compact disc if I want an entire album.

argh work be sucking.

My office is so cold that I have a work sweater. It's like Mr. Rogers without the tennis shoes or Trolley... or any of the kind feelings.

now I'm up here in my (alright it's thin but still long sleeved) sweater and my nipples are hurting I'm so cold. Yet I know when I go home this afternoon I'll be at the busstop sweating and cursing the damnable TX weather.

someone tell an interesting ancetdote or start a good thread or something.

also, I am ready for a nap.

on the exciting/random/weird side, it occured to me that I'd have the perfect holiday gift for a couple of friends if I could knit them a penis. googling for a pattern, if it exists, is not something I should do while at work.

Sam, we'll team up to make naughty bits of all kinds available to knitters the world over. You might have to avoid working on it on the bus, however.

I have not forgotten your sock predicament--if we can't meet up over the weekend I can at least drop my booklet thing off at your place.

http://www.microscope-microscope.org/applications/pond-critters/protozoans/ciliphora/paramecium-types.jpg

yay ilx is back!

vancity=vancouver?

what is this new job?

I told someone I'd have something done by noon ( a bit of the old php/mysql stuff) and it's harder than I thought it'd be. my brain doesn't want to do it. esp. since this person spaced on the project and signed off on it months ago even though it wasn't what she needed. Now I have to fix immediately. arrrggghhh!

Yes my project was finished despite my thick mindness. Low-grade depression is a bitch for work productivity.

How's classes Sara?

Sam - I'm glad you got your project finished! Low grade depression is a bitch for just about everything in my experience.

Thanks for asking about my classes - they are pretty interesting, which is good. Tonight at lab I think we are going to dissect sheep brains. Perfect activity for the week before Halloween!

I've never been to Vancouver, but have wanted to visit since the X Files was filmed there for so long. Of course this makes no sense.

poxyfule ate my last post. :(

Glad you're back P, sorry you're sick though.

Vancouver rocks, or at least it did when I was there in 1994. There was a chili parlour with Johnny Cash on the jukebox.

Sheep's brain! Sounds wonderful. I've only had it grilled before!

My original plan was to make a living as an extra, but it doesn't really pay as well as I thought it would.

(try online poker for EZ-moneymakin', Huk)

ah it's shit! long hours, boring. I wanna go to Vancouver. :(

K, so sorry you're sick and still traveling! No worries about knit night. I've been feeling low this week so next will be better anyway.

When I worked in film locations, we used to refer to the extras (whose holding areas we had to find and rent) as 'locusts' due to their bored proclivity for grazing all day long at craft services and leaving behind a frightful mess.

We only looked at the sheep's brain, didn't even dissect it, much less eat it. I don't think formalin makes a good marinade anyway, though. The trouble with learning brain anatomy is that it is not as discrete and separate as, say, muscles. There's all these "areas."

I'm envying your knit night!

Sorry. With the constant stream of political commercials on the air, I've had that song stuck in my head. I tried breaking away from this forum community but just couldn't. Maybe if I just narrow myself to a few posts a week or a month things will be okay.

Been waking up an hour earlier because I have to go in to work earlier. I've been promoted and am earning a little more money so I can save up some. The move hasn't happened yet and probably won't until the beginning of next month at least. And, um, that's it.

Hi to my Sarahs and Honorary Sarahs.

(I don't get the "you're being illegal" comment - it's a song, you say?)

As Chingo Bling says: They can't deport us all.

could be a lot of things though.

My daughter has stomach flu today. I must get her better because my husband and I have Pet Shop Boys tickets for tomorrow night!

Knitting next week will be grand, Sam. I've got a request to make a hat in a brioche stitch, since that makes it 2 color reversable.

Sara, they should take you to a nice Italian restaurant and let you cut up the brain! Silly people thinking that looking and pointing will do the trick :)

I'm on the mend, too! Antibiotics really do help you feel better when you have an infection (news flash).