I spent most of this afternoon sitting alone on the couch crying into about half a box of kleenex. I am full up and had to empty somehow.

(I got away with this because S was gone to work and the kids were playing some online game - probably Neopets - and were so engrossed that the only thing that they might have noticed was possibly an earthquake or some other catastrophe)

Here is a fantastic blog that made me laugh and laugh.

http://sbtbqotd.blogspot.com/

Woke up this morning positively freezing - had left window open last night to pump fresh air into my poor addled lungs and this morning was *frosty*. Brrr. Am wearing favorite cardigan and wooly socks. Wishing I had some biscotti because I really want some right now for some reason. Some biscotti and a warm fresh pot of coffee. I am also craving a cigarette, something I haven't felt in a long while - I've been a non-smoker for years now and I'm not about to break that streak. I quit cold turkey and I refuse to return to that deliciously deadly habit. But it doesn't mean that I don't still occasionally want one.

K lost a tooth last night! He was so stoked to leave it for the tooth fairy. Our tooth fairy doesn't just give money - there's usually a present of some sort (stickers, gum etc) that comes with the loonie or toonie. So last night I couldn't find my sticker stash, and I was out of gum. I had stashed away some cherry m&m's to bribe him with helping me weed the garden, so that would have to do. Put that + a toonie in his little tooth fairy pillow that hangs on his door, thankfully remembered to remove his tooth. He checked on it at 1 am (woke up for bio, and saw pillow full) but only saw the chocolate. Told me this morning in a concerned voice "Is the tooth fairy going broke on me? She only left me these?" and I told him to dig deeper. He found the toonie and was delighted again. "How does she know I love the cherry m&m's? Is she a spy? Is she watching me *gasp* right now!?!" (I hugged my boy like the dickens today. I can't tell you how much my kids have helped me these past few months). C told him that she was pretty sure that mom had a direct line to the tooth fairy like she does with santa & the easter bunny.

C is getting to a tricksy age - she *wants* to believe but she hears so many conflicting arguments. Last Christmas her faith in Santa was renewed when she and K each got a DS - neither knowing we'd saved for a couple months to get them - because "there's no way you and Dad could afford to get us each one plus all the presents plus everything else Mom. There's TOTALLY a Santa and I am going to punch A in the arm when I see him next for telling me there wasn't! I think Santa just gave up on him because he doesn't believe anymore and maybe that's worth TWO punches!" and then she got all concerned and said "Do you think Santa would consider that naughty? I mean I *am* defending his honor and everything - I bet he would forgive me for it!" And I said of course he'd be ok with it but also said to be careful because in grade 4, punching a boy in the arm is the universal code for "I like you" and she said that was ok because she was pretty sure A wouldn't think that of her because "we're just friends, mom, seriously" (insert eyeroll here).

S and I have been of the philosophy that we will let the kids figure it out little by little. My Dad always said the trick was to make it so that you never really remember or pinpoint the age when it happens - it happens so slowly that you just sort of emerge on the other side of the magic unscathed. You're okay with the truth by the time you learn it, because it came upon you in stages, and it grew with you as you grew up. And I think that's ok by me. The world has so little magic left in it and so little innocence, and kids are exposed to so much and practically forced to outgrow these things, that I am fighting it tooth and nail. Every year we manage to pull something miraculous off that reaffirms their wavering belief. I realize our grip on this is tenuous at best, and that they probably realize things more than they let on, but fuck it, this is one lie I am willing to live for a little while longer.

That was a totally left of center thought process. On to other stuff.

This past weekend I went and saw Caesar & Cleopatra, and let me tell you - totally worth the 2 days of pain afterward. Christopher Plummer is fantastic! It was a thrill to see him, and we got really really good seats. Set design was also fantastic, but then I've never really been disappointed with anything I've seen at the festival, and being a local, I've seen plenty.

Also got a crapton of yarn from a nearby yarn store that had Needlecrafts yarn on for 40% off - she was making room for more Noro stuff. Because I'm on her mailing list she sent info on it before the sale so a friend got there early for it and got some on my behalf. Italian silk and chenille for 40% off? Yes please. There's a knitting fair in September, which I am already gearing up for.

Medically speaking, there's a lot more testing going on, but it's nothing I really feel up to talking about - I'm tired of being a pincushion/guinea pig and I don't really like complaining every day about what's wrong with me. So while it would appear to the untrained eye that I am doing fine now, the truth is far from this, but also something I don't feel up to unraveling any more than it already has.

Coffee's ready. Time to have some and see if it will keep me awake. Will have to settle for some toast, as the biscotti fairy refuses to magically make some appear for me.

In the land of "things you want/need to do even though you are exhausted and have zero energy and are still sick but suck it up buttercup, drop and give me 20!", the list is King.

Crafts:

(which can be done during most of these other activities, come to think of it)

- finish knitting the shrug (see entry here for details)
- start on sweater for K
- start on wrist warmers for myself
- start on socks for C
- start on baby surprise knit for *somebody* on this list who is eggers preggers.
- knitting fair on Sept 13! Must go!

Games:

- get that damn heart container from the arrow minigame in Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (zomg that game has me wanting to throw the damn DS I swear to God)
- practice that stupid clock game in Brain Age 2 (I CAN CONQUER THIS! I MUST!)


Television:

- Mad Men (I am behind myself - missed last night's episode so I'm watching it tonight - love the lovely On Demand channel. Am considering proposing.)
- Seasons 1 & 2 of Dexter (to get jazzed for season 3).

Books:

- Finishing up "eat pray love", next are "Night" and some other trash novel that I picked up at random but I'm too tired to go get it and write it down here. I'm sure it will be vapid and full of fluff, but sometimes you just *want* to read that sort of thing.

Also, I just finished reading the Secret Garden again. It is a guilty pleasure of mine to re-read some beloved children's books now and again, just because I can. What is really interesting about this is that my cousin also confessed to reading this one recently herself - it is funny how our lives parallel like that sometimes. Always has.

Movies:

(note: I've seen all these before. I am recycling viewing).
- The Graduate, Pretty In Pink, Superman III, The Princess Bride, Labyrinth, Mirrormask, The Dark Crystal, Coffee and Cigarettes, You Kill Me, Perfume, Fight Club, Kung Fu Hustle, Basic, Stand By Me, Pan's Labyrinth, Two Mules for Sister Sara (which I now have to watch on principle because of a friend's poll on Western Movies)

Miscellany:

- bloodwork to get tested for a myriad of things that haven't already been tested, as well as re-testing for some other stuff
- cleaning out the fridge in preparation for the back to school snack stuffage of said fridge
- laundry (oh my word I HATE LAUNDRY)
- reconsider the idea of meditating to try and focus mind on other things to detract from pain
- talk to oc
- get together care package for mom & dad in mexico
- DO NOT FORGET TO CALL DAD ON HIS BIRTHDAY
- sleep! that's where i'm a viking!

The movies and television are at least doable, as I can be lying down when I'm totally drained and half-watching it. Ditto reading. The rest is a write-off at those points though.

There's this thing going around the blogosphere about things you should eat before you die. Here goes:

The Omnivore’s Hundred is a list of foods the gastronomic Andrew Wheeler thinks everyone should try at least once in their lives.

The rules of the thing: bold those you have tried, strikethrough those you wouldn’t eat on a bet.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Alligator
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects <- I was tricked into this one - told the candied ants weren't really ants.
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk in cheese form
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more <- thank you grandpa
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin <- chances are many of us have consumed this in small doses without knowing it.
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa <- fantastic on grilled tuna
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta <- bleh, I hate this stuff, my grandma used to force me to eat it every Easter
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake


Huh. I've eaten more on this list than I thought I would have. Interesting.

He goes and has some fun on Sesame Street!

The word “lethologica” describes the state of not being able to remember the word you want.

I feel like this ALL. THE. TIME.

Turns out I wasn't scheduled to work today after all. Stumbling about.


Pac-Man sugar cookies!

Some Kitchen Myths debunked

Soy you want to know the "truth" about soy

Meals for 4 under $15

The Accidental Scientist - Science of Cooking

How to cook like your Grandmother

An excellent baking blog - pictures are mouthwatering



I guess that's enough for now.

The Top 100 Classical tunes is actually a pretty neat site, when you consider most kids out there aren't really exposed to classical music in the traditional sense and probably don't realize just how many songs they hear in adverts and cartoons etc are decades and decades old.

It also makes me realize how nerdy I am because I could identify most of these without the help of this site, heheh.

Watching the Jeffersons now, and it reminds me (as does Sanford & Son) just how much the comedies of the past got away with.

Ok time to clean up some before heading to work. Ugh. Work has been a real challenge in some ways, but in others it's a different experience in that I just really don't care when people call to push my buttons because theirs have been pushed and it rolls downhill. I just sort of remain this blank slate that doesn't really give two shits that your client is ramming it down your throat - in the grand scheme of things there are much more important things to worry about. Interestingly, this blank calm seems to work on the caller and they tend to slow down and breathe (especially when I say "Hey. Slow down and breathe. Ok, now tell me what is wrong").

As far as medical insanity is concerned - there's too much to talk about and I am not really in the mood. The synopsis is: I remain a mystery of science, and they just keep feeding me different meds to attempt to calm down the symptoms until they can figure out the root cause.

Now I'm going to go listen to Bizet and get myself pumped for another day.

Ciao.

Reading a CNN article stating that "Men are buying more clothes than women", I found it interesting that they felt the only reason for the disparity between men and women purchasing more/less clothing is that "Women's wear has painted themselves in a corner. By offering too many options and with everything a trend, it is very easy not to buy anything," and did not perhaps consider the fact that:

1) Hello fashion trends of the past? Please for the love of God take your unflattering clothing back. The current trend of potato sack dresses and giant shoulder pads and fantastically ugly colors and everything else is just depressing as it only really flatters a very small minority of people, who I am convinced may be some sort of hybrid alien

and

2) Excuse me, stores that sell clothing to us plebians? There's a reason why you are stuck with six million size 2 dresses that you end up having to sell at 25% the normal price, and your size 12 and up sell almost the minute you put them on the rack. When the rest of us normal people go to shop, there is nothing left for us to buy that would actually fit us.

and of course

3) Men do like to look good, believe it or not. Kudos to the fact that the current trend seems to come to realize this and is apparently appealing - so no wonder men are actually buying things for themselves. One of the reasons I think the whole "metrosexual" thing took off is because the media finally gave men permission to look good without feeling weird about it.

Of course, I also have to remind myself that this article was published by CNN, not exactly the most reliable news source to begin with, but the article just made me sort of snort out a laugh and wonder if perhaps the producers of Mad Men paid CNN to plug them in an inadvertent way. (PS I have not seen last Sunday's episode so please do not say anything about it until later - I am watching it on demand tonight.)

Ok, insipid rant about things I have no expertise on done.

“It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.” - Neil Armstrong

World travel never looked so fun.

Today is my mother's *mumblemumble*th birthday! She doesn't look a day over 30, good gravy I hope I inherit that! The kids and I called and sang Happy Birthday to her over the phone, which made her cry of course. It doesn't help that Dad is in Canada (!!!) right now getting their paperwork in order so they can FINALLY get their stuff moved down there to Mexico with them. Getting a call from Dad saying he would be over in a few minutes with chicken & buns from the Portuguese restaurant in London was like getting a Christmas present early.

I was so happy and I am so thankful I got to see him. Dad travels a lot, which is funny because he used to complain about how his Dad used to travel lots. I don't begrudge him for it - his kids are grown, the nest is empty, and the only thing to stop him from doing it is himself. But what this means to me is, all those hours and hours that most people take for granted when they get to see their fathers, are boiled down to precious minutes for me. He gave me a huge hug when he saw me and I breathed in his cologne and I was five all over again. He is the most important man in my life aside from my husband, and I cherish whatever time I get with him.

Last night I got to talk to my friend V via Skype. It was so fantastic - we both have webcams so we got to see each other while talking - for FREE. This may not seem like a big deal, but when you consider the fact that I would have paid a kazillion dollars for a 51 minute phone call to the UK, this is a HUGE deal. And you don't have to have a webcam to use it - just a microphone and speakers, or a headset. That's it. Calling from skype to skype is free, calling from skype to a phone is chargeable. But whatever. I'm not a paid advertisement for Skype, I am just happy I got to talk to her, on the internet's dime. That's two really important people in my life that I got to be in contact with in two days. My own little blue heaven.

That may not seem like much, but to me, the way things have been lately, it is everything. Which isn't to say I am not thankful for the people I have daily access to - they are every bit as important to me. All I am really saying here is, I miss the ones who are close to my heart but impossibly far by geographical standards.

Other items on the agenda: You might notice to the right there is a bunch of "Tweets" - that would be my gratuitous use of Twitter which really feeds the lazy in me - when all I want to say is one or two things without doing a whole dang journal entry.

Ok, that's probably enough for now. The pneumonia sucks and woke up this morning with a migraine for extra fun. If it weren't for all the happy I'd be pretty darn sad right now.

Every once in a while I ask myself why I bother to keep reading Scary Go Round, and then John Allison does something that makes me fall in love with it all over again.

I've loved his comics since Bobbins (which is totally worth reading over again, by the way. Who doesn't love spunky little Shelley?). Scary Go Round is really hit and miss with me, but it's worth sticking to in the long run.

What I really like is that Allison tends to reinvent himself; what I mean by this is, bit by bit he changes up how he produces the comic, so that visually the eye candy just gets sweeter. He isn't afraid to push himself, which I find is the mark of a good artist. The storyline sometimes falls flat, but you can hardly fault him for it - this is something he does in his spare time after all.

Look at Penny Arcade for an excellent example of artistic evolution - the Penny Arcade of yesteryear certainly doesn't look like the current version. However, even as the art changes up, they consistently remain funny, and very tuned in to the current pulse of gaming. I could go on for pages about how truly fantastic they are - Child's Play, anyone? - but it's all been done before, and in a much more eloquent than I could produce, I'm sure.

Jeph Jacques' Questionable Content is another example of reinvention, artistically speaking. The original characters look nothing like the current version. His plotlines have gone from random to a bit more cohesive, and he managed to shake the Tony-Angela (in his case Martin/Faye) sharkjump successfully, by not even going there.

One comic I've really grown to love as well is Wapsi Square by Paul Taylor. Initially, his comics were haphazard and without an actual plot, but over time he has told a pretty intriguing story, and I find I can't wait to see where he takes his characters next.

It is really interesting to me to see these artists emerge and find their groove. I am glad that once they find their mojo they stick to what works - this is a process that thanks to the internet we as an audience are privy to. In the world of print, we wouldn't necessarily see these changes - by the time a comic artist gets into syndication, they have already refined their characters et al.

However, if you look at Diesel Sweeties, you can see what artistic consistency looks like as well. R Stevens is fantastic, hits just the right tone, and has maintained the same aesthetic for his characters since day one. He did actually make it into syndication as well, breaking barriers between online and print comics without self-publication (what I mean by this is, he has been syndicated in actual newspapers, rather than for sale in printed anthologies sold by the artist).

I used to love PVP, and I can still tolerate it to a certain degree if I put my horse-blinders on to Scott Kurtz's insipid commentary and overall sense of self-righteous bullshit. On more than one occasion I have seen him rant about something that most human beings would think was a waste of breath, and then recant after getting called on it, ad nauseum, stating that "oh no I meant it this other way that is more acceptable to the masses". I'd offer up some examples but it would pain me to have to go through his archived news; also I'm pretty sure he's erased evidence of most of those kinds of posts anyway. One example that comes to mind was when he ranted about how horrible it was that dude who does Ctrl-Alt-Del was going to be charging his viewers for the cartoon version of his comic. And then a while later, Kurtz attempts the same damned thing! Now I'm not about to go and defend Tim Buckley tooth and nail, because from anything I've read the guy is a bit of a prat too, but really, Kurtz shouldn't be calling the kettle black here. I realize that he is a human being, like the rest of us, prone to mistakes and change his mind like the rest of us, but he still just sets my teeth on edge. There is nothing he can do to fix that, and I am not about to demand he fix it.

Beware: Here there be a million links!

That being said: I would be remiss if I didn't mention Homestar Runner, even though technically it isn't an online comic, it is still a site I visit that consistently brings on the funny, as well as reinvents itself over time. They actually poke fun at online webcomics in a Strong Bad Email. What I love is that while most people who watch and love it are addicted to Strong Bad & Co, I find the quiet perseverance of Homestar's hilarity is what draws me back time and again.

Strong Bad's emails are arguably the most popular feature of the site, most especially the one featuring Trogdor. (Even Strong Bad reinvents the way he answers email by continually "upgrading" his machines to similar older model computers and laptops and "newer" printers.)

The Burninator aside, I find that the funniest StrongBad Emails are the ones featuring Homestar Runner. I am also tickled by the sbemail spinoff, Teen Girl Squad. The origins of that would be found here.

Ok that's enough for now I think.