Tonight I have a date with the greatest girl on the face of the earth.

Happy birthday, Xopher! I'd have gotten you a jar of honey and a blue balloon, but they wouldn't have survived the trip.

Today I saw a man with no arms swim the 200 medley, butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle and come in far ahead of his competitors.

And he is a hottie.

Today my son turns 11. He is inordinately thrilled to be turning 11 on the 11th. He's even more excited then when he became "double digits also known as a whole decade old".

The world did not end yesterday.

[delurk]

Four years ago today, I met the most wonderful girl in the world. I fell in love within the first 30 seconds, and I'm still falling. It took her a whole week to feel the same way. We were married four months later.

#1: She invited you too? Well, this is going to be awkward. Potentially we may have to duel.

Happy birthday, Xopher! Also to Doyle and Macdonald's twins Pip and Alex, if I recall correctly.

Was there some other big-deal anniversary today? I'm too busy to keep track.

It's my in-laws' anniversary too - 43 years for them. (Y'know, I laugh at my daughter when she asks why she wasn't invited to our wedding, but my first thought typing that was, "wow, they've been married longer than I've been alive!")

Today's the birthday of my youngest children, twins.

Was there some other big-deal anniversary today? I'm too busy to keep track.

Of course there was. I am very upset that you could dismiss the importance of the Battle of Stirling Bridge.

Wallace and Moray FTW!

A! Fredome is a noble thing
Fredome mays man to haiff liking.
Fredome all solace to man giffis,
He levys at es that frely levys.
A noble hart may haiff nane es
Na ellys nocht that may him ples
Gyff fredome failyhe, for fre liking
Is yharnyt our all other thing.
Na he that ay has levyt fre
May nocht knaw weill the propyrte
The angyr na the wrechyt dome
That is couplyt to foule thyrldome,
Bot gyff he had assayit it.
Than all perquer he suld it wyt,
And suld think fredome mar to prys
Than all the gold in warld that is.

Today is the 24th anniversary of Elise Matthesen and John Ladwig getting together.

Amit (6), that's a lovely thing. Congratulations!

I give a post of normalcy-

Today, I get new carpet in my house. While they're here doing that, I'm going to be stripping the wallpaper in the bathroom. While neither of these is particularly *fun*, they will make my house more salable/rentable/attractive.

Also, I get to figure out what to do with some of these weird vegetables from my CSA. I know I'm pickling beets and cucumbers and canning tomatoes. It's the ones I don't know that I need to identify and find uses for. It's an adventure!

#7: I'll bring my rapier.

#6: Awesome. Ain't love grand?

Today is also the birthday of SF writer Sharon Lee, and of singer Harry Connick, Jr., cosmonaut Gherman Titov, writers O.Henry and D.H. Lawrence.

ajay #11 -- Less upsetting than the guys who made the movie dismissing not only the bridge but the water, too.

Today is our employee appreciation day (and my boss is getting his 20-yr recognition). We will all depart from our offices, drive to the park, applaud all the awards and recognitions, eat heartily of hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken and corn; consume soda/punch, and desserts -- all paid for by the institute -- and then play horseshoes, volleyball, basketball, mini-golf, or talk with each other and meet people we work with and don't really get to know except upon these occasions. It will be partly sunny, with a high in the mid-20s C (lower 70s F).

Then I will go home, play some Wii Fit games to work off all the calories I consumed, help my son with his homework, walk the dogs, pet the cats, pick at my dinner, wash the dishes, and make our tea. There might be a new episode of "The First 48", my favorite detective show (with real homicide detectives on the Job).

I will observe the moment of silence, and then I will carry on with my life.

Jim, aren't the twins twenty today? Give them my best wishes of the day.

Happy Birthday Xopher!

My aunt also has a birthday celebration today, and I hope her luxury chocolates are delivered in time.

Today, our house is on a Realtor Tour. More abnormally normal than that you cannot get.

My dog, Lucy, is 7 today. She is the first dog my wife ever owned, and watching her fall in love with this puppy was a blast.

When my son was 2, he was in one of those contraptions that let him speed around the house. We turned our heads for a minute and when we looked up, he was inches from going out of the door and onto the porch - not a good thing as he would have gone ass over feet in this big plastic contraption.

Luckily, Lucy saw what was going to happen and had gone over and placed herself between my son and the door. She waited patiently until we removed him.

She was looking at us like, "What is this? Rookie Parent Night?"

She has endured pulled ears and tails and gives kisses whenever asked. My youngest son of eight months loves to rub her fur, and watching her close her eyes with pleasure as he does that is a very awesome thing.

Happy birthday Lucy Girl! (the wife wanted to name her Liberty because of 9/11, but I said that would be slightly tacky.)

Today is, of course, el onze de septembre, the Diada de Catalunya, the national day of Catalonia.

Catalunya triomfant,
tornarà a ser rica i plena.
Endarrera aquesta gent
tan ufana i tan superba.

Bon cop de falç,
Bon cop de falç,
Defensors de la terra!
Bon cop de falç!

Ara és hora, segadors.
Ara és hora d'estar alerta.
Per quan vingui un altre juny
esmolem ben bé les eines.

Bon cop de falç,
Bon cop de falç,
Defensors de la terra!
Bon cop de falç!

Que tremoli l'enemic
en veient la nostra ensenya.
Com fem caure espigues d'or,
quan convé seguem cadenes.

Bon cop de falç,
Bon cop de falç,
Defensors de la terra!
Bon cop de falç!

(Triumphant Catalonia
Shall once more be rich and boutiful
And drive back those people
Who are so greedy and arrogant.

A good stroke of the sickle,
A good stroke of the sickle,
Defenders of the homeland,
A good stroke of the sickle!

Now is the hour, o reapers,
Now is the hour to stand alert,
So that when another June comes
Sharpen your tools well.

A good stroke of the sickle &c.

Let the enemy tremble
On beholding our banner;
Just as fall the golden grains,
So in time shall we reap chains.

A good stroke of the sickle &c.)

An odd sort of good thing, but today is also the anniversary of the Battle of Plattsburgh, the largest historical event to happen in my neck of the woods. Local reenactors really knock themselves out, with boat battles on Lake Champlain, fully garbed docents at every historical site in town, and so on, teaching the public about the event. It's education in action, and it's very popular, and kids really love it.

I will be going on my first ever blind date today. (Double points for being a 27-year-old Muslim spinster!)

Today is the 35th birthday of my friend Pete, whose mother was told he wouldn't live long past 12 years of age when he was 5. Every year on this day, I am grateful.

Also, happy birthday Xopher! :)

Sajia, take heart, I met my wife on a blind date -two weeks after telling my father that "marriage probably wasn't for me".

My (adoptive) father died in 1972 when I was ten years old, and it somehow took until last summer for me to look up some records and find that he was born on September 11, 1898. Happy 110th, Papa.

My cousin's twin boys turn 10 today!

Also, I really liked this perfume ad by David Lynch, which makes great use of Blondie's "Heart of Glass".

24: Sajia, I don't think you count as a spinster until you pass what a very Irish friend of mine described as the Aunt Barrier: the point at which aunts stop coming up to you at every family gathering and saying "So, Catherine; you're not married yet?" and start coming up to you at every family gathering and saying "So, Catherine; you never married."

Later today, I will have my first-ever parent-teacher conference (a "hi, how are things going, how can I help?" conference, not a "child is misbehaving" conference). My daughter started kindergarten a few weeks ago, and we like her teacher immensely, so this will be a pleasurable thing.

Also, there will be grocery shopping.

#21--JJ, clearly Lucy is a strong contender for Best Dog In The World, and has almost certainly secured the regional title already.

Luckily, I'm typing this at work where Simon (Best Dog In The World, East Nashville Region), cannot see and become disconsolate over the threat of such a strong contender for the national title.

ajay @ 29: So according to the "Aunt Barrier" model, one could never become a spinster unless one was named Catherine and/or had several rather confused aunts?

Happy birthday, Xopher!

I'm going to post some things I've sold on eBay, take a walk around town, try to get some more money out of my bank, probably spend it on videogames, and then play some D&D in the evening. All the while trying to contain my excitement about the Large Hadron Collider.

Sajia @ 24... One is a spinster at 27? Kids say the darnedest things.

Happy birthday indeed, Xopher!

There's going to be a nice sunrise in a quarter-hour or so, followed by a nice sunny day that might even not be too hot for me. And my favorite season is coming up.
Thanks for the Catalonian song.

Happy Birthday Xopher, and everyone else.

I dropped my 3 year old off for his second day of preschool today, and he was completely nonchalant about my leaving. Last time (Tuesday), I didn't even get a wave; this time, I got an absent wave and a microsecond of attention, before he turned himself back to the pressing matter of playing with the toys and other kids.

With my older son, the first couple weeks or so of this were filled with heart-rending drama, crying, clinging, and shreiking at me not to go. So this was a very welcome development.

Happy Birthday, Xopher!

And also my niece, who is 4 today!

And it's a beautiful day here in NYC and despite it being 9/11 and blue-skied, I didn't have a single flashback.

Marcia and I have been married for 28 years today.

An extremely rare frog has been spotted for the first time in 20 years in Costa Rica. Even better, it's a female with eggs.

See excited scientists via the BBC.

Happy Birthday, Xopher and Pip and Alex! (Also Harry Connick Jr., and Brian de Palma.)

I have now learned how to make and decorate sugar cubes, a skill so genteel and Edwardian that the very having of it makes me happy.

This is the 12th anniversary of my beloved virtual nephew's birth.

Fozz @21, my niece's name is Liberty, but she's in her twenties.

Here's a new web page some folks here might like -- two great tastes that go great together: legacy comic strips and Middle English. Japes for Owre Tymes, the brainstorm of one of my fellow Comics Curmudgeon denizens (call me Muffaroo), now in its second big day.

I'm still pleased (feeling old, but mightily pleased) to be Daddy. Much of the day, the Vaio on my left functions as a dedicated photo server, and moments in Sarah's life keep flashing before my eyes. She continues to take as much strength as I have, but she's in first grade now, and such a sweetie.

Thanks, China. I can never repay you, even if I shop at Wal-Mart every day for the rest of my life.

Thanks, I think I needed this.

It's not particularly happy, but very normal ... I'm trying to mark papers that are largely not very good, prep for classes, and work on a book. Guess which one I likely won't get to?

Also, despite the cull that took place this summer, there are lots of ducks and a large gaggle of geese enjoying the ponds beneath my office window. And it is not even 80 degrees today.

Happy Birthday, Xopher! (and to anyone else eligible today.)

I shall go to the market, and to the fabric store to buy the fabrics for my daughter's Senior Night dress (we ordered senior pictures yesterday -- when did she grow up?).

It is sunny and warm today, but not hot, and it will be a nice day to work in the garden and listen to the frogs and the birds. There are tadpoles in the garden pond; the hummingbirds will probably buzz me while I'm trimming back the marigolds (they did yesterday while I was working on the roses).

It's my birthday too!

My partner bought me a cake at the very fancy bakery, friends are coming over, my parents are bringing pizza for dinner (no cooking! No dishes!), and, best of all, tomorrow they're going to kidnap my son and keep him (they allege) until Sunday morning.

Now if elves will come and make this heap of apples into apple butter, my life will be perfect.

Fidelio - mum's the word and please give my best to Simon. tell him i aked, "who's a good boy?"

It's our 24th and one month wedding anniversary. Our present this year was to start ripping up the disgusting carpet in the living room (whoever chose off-white deep-pile carpet for a house in the country in Oklahoma mustn't have had dogs) and put down vinyl tile. So the furniture is up against the walls, half the library is in boxes, and I am just delighted that soon I will be Scooba'ing rather than vacuuming. Just in time, too, as the remnants of Gustave leave and Ike arrives, and the dogs track mud through the house. (And the kittens have learned to hunt birds, so I hope the Scooba can handle the odd feather.) Nothing is more defiantly normal than a spot of home improvement!

And another happy birthday to Xopher!

Thank you, Abi!

We had this day first, before the bad guys got it. So we have better title. Happy anniversary to everyone who got married on September 11!

Happy birthday, Xopher, Alex, and Pip!

Today I am at work, being industrious and virtuous; after work, if all goes well, I will go to hang out with a dear friend I met online a few years ago, and then come home to Scraps. And my boss has threatened to chase me out of the office promptly today, using my six-foot-long pencil. (I have a deal with her husband to do the same to her on Fridays.)

Does anyone remember:
There was a guy who was a relative of someone who died in the 9/11 hijackings whose reaction was, as he put it, "someone's pimping my tragedy, man!" According to an article he wrote, he was interviewed on a radio station and thrown out on the air for saying stuff like that and more. He had a website which I remember the URL being something like "anotherworldispossible dot com" but that address turned up nothing last time I tried.

I believe I read the article in What's Up, a newsprint magazine that someone gets homeless people to sell as a way of job-training them, but I'm not sure.

Anyone recall that guy's name or know where to find that article?

Happy Birthday Xopher (and others)!

Thanks to everyone who has wished or will wish me Happy Birthday in this thread. Happy Birthday to all the others whose birthday is today (especially Pip and Alex), and happy anniversary and all like that.

Today is also the birthday of my friend Stuart Stinson, a fan whom some of you may know, and of my spiritual twin Jeff Magnus McBride, whom I met in a drum circle at Rites of Spring and who was born just eight hours before me; you may have seen him as Joran Dax in the Deep Space Nine episode "Equilibrium."

http://bitchphd.blogspot.com/2008/09/bouncing.html

Happy birthday Xopher!

Today I'm going to bake a galette for the departmental picnic tomorrow. My former boss gave me a bag of Cox's Orange Pippins from her tree. I tried some a few weeks ago and they were tasty but very hard. Since then I've learned they're meant to be stored and they get oranger and softer. They should be right just about now.

Happy Birthday, Xopher! Happy Birthday, Rose!

It is another beautiful day in paradise. Today I shall take hedgeclippers to the deer paths in the salal. Their paths are never wide enough for me, and I like a nice walk too.

Happy Birthday to my youngest nephew Toby who is 5 today.

Happy Birthday, Xopher!

I'm going to go home now, and feed the cats, and build Magic decks with the assistance of industrial strength coffee. Then I'm going to talk to people online and relax. Tiny miracles.

It's 24 hours early, but -- Happy Aniversary, Bandit!

Bandit is my Japanese Chin. He was abandoned in the park near our house on September 12, 1998. At that time, he weighed 6 pounds and was about a year old.

Thanks to the folks at JC Care for helping with the initial vet bill, and thanks to everyone who helps with rescue no matter the breed or the species!

This morning, I opened up an email to find a picture of my grinning great-nephew, captioned: "I am three months old today!" Actually, it was two days ago, but he seemed to be extremely happy about it.

I am, too.

My beautiful and talented friend Rebecca celebrates the anniversary of her birth today by donning new snorkeling gear over her dress uniform at the Mass Maritime Academy. What could be better?

Happy Birthday to those for whom this day is theirs, and Happy Anniversary to those couples for whom this is their day too. These markers are so important, which is why we (meaning this time my husband and self) make big deals of them.

But this day isn't an ordinary day. I woke up just as I did in 2001, and for a moment thought I was feeling that 'whomp' that vibrated under us when the first plane hit. The sky is overcast, the temps are almost chilly. My spouse is on another continent, friends in Texas are in a high state of anxiety. All this on top of a couple of weeks of friends in Haiti, Cuba and New Orleans getting clobbered again. Soooooooo.

I take consolation in history, reading the presidencies leading up to the Civil War, learning that we're no better now than they all were then. Argh.

Play it one more time.

My Sweet Tangerine tomatoes are ripening now, and they are fabulous. I owe my tomato crop this year (four plants) to my next-door neighbor who offered me some of her extra seedlings (which she grew from seed). Yay for friendly neighbors!

Here's my normalcy: it took me a minute to realise why all the news was about the War on Terror this morning. Today, I go for dinner with friends, followed by gaming with them and further friends.

This is good; I must however congratulate the several of you who have considerably more awesom planned for the day!

In about an hour I'll go to my 90-year old mother's house, check that she took her morning pills, walk for an hour with my best friend Cherokee, fix Ma's lunch, read my paper, work the Jumble and daily crossword, watch two hours of Law and Order on TNT, bring in the mail, give Ma a snack, take care of the recyclables, knit, give Ma her evening pills, go home when my brother gets home from work, and watch Countdown at 5:00 pm. Knit some more.

Life is good! With any kind of luck we'll be doing this Monday through Friday for another 15 or 20 years.

This afternoon I will have choir rehearsal, and then go see a movie... fairly typical thursday

We've got some dorky company meeting/team building picnic today. Which I suppose is better than sitting in my cube all day.

Later tonight I will have rehearsal with the parish choir I sing in, and we might go through the Haydn Mass in which I get to sing the alto solo parts. Go me!

Also, it's payday; Groceries can be had!

I already said happy birthday to Xopher on the open thread, but I'll say it again: Happy birthday! Same goes to everyone else to whom that applies. And Sajia: good luck and have fun.

I went for an interview with a temp agency today, which made me feel a bit bad about myself because it's admitting that I can't find work otherwise, but then after I took all the tests (math, spelling, grammar, various computer programs, data entry, etc.) and completely blew my interviewer away with all of them, I felt a little bit better. Apparently I did at least twice as well on all of them as the norm.

And it was after midnight last night, so technically today: I found a karaoke place that has "I Eat Cannibals" by Toto Coelo, and I sang the living daylights out of it.

My brother turns 45 today. Happy birthday to him and all the others whose celebrations are being dimmed by what I'm coming to think of as America's Tisha B'Av

This morning I was reminded of the immense sense of contentment that comes from waking up chilly and having one's partner roll over wrap you in his arms because you were shivering, despite his not actually being awake enough to process any of it.

I picked up a library book on a whim because it was near the one I had come to get, and it's pointed me in an entirely new and exciting direction for the paper I've been working on. (Okay, that happened a couple of days ago, but I'm still feeling the smartypants high.)

My son will shortly be turning pi.

I'll be leaving work a little early to take daughter the elder, age 16, out to ride the horse we're leasing for her this year. She was supposed to ride last Sunday, but decided that she needed to spend the time finishing an essay for AP English instead. She's a good student but not an overachiever by anyone's standards - much more likely to be up late writing fanfic than doing school assignments - so the sign of responsibility was much appreciated.

She's trying to decide where to go to college and what to major in, and she's interested in government, criminal justice, and/or international relations. May there continue to be a place in our country's government, protective services, and international affairs for people of her intelligence, character, and compassion. She and her friends give me hope for the future.

Happy birthday to Xopher.

Happy birthday also to one of my livejournal friends who dislikes her birthday for many reasons. I personally am glad she was born.

Happy anniversary yesterday to my parents.

I'm going to a workshop about Moving Beyond the Imposter Syndrome in a few minutes here. It should be positive.

And Merlin Mann, my boyfriend and I all simultaneously came to the same conclusion about "productivity," creativity, and the internet yesterday. It had been brewing for a while. I read 43 Folders yesterday and it all crystallized. Things are changing for the better.

(I originally had the Oxford comma in there, but it looked like I was claiming Merlin Mann was my boyfriend. He is not. Quite the opposite problem to "My parents, God and Ayn Rand.")

Thank you for the birthday wishes and Happy Birthday to you others as well!

And now I go to class. Normal.

I am in London for the first time in my life. I live in the Detroit area, so this is a wonderful adventure for me. Last night I got to look at Van Gogh's Sunflowers at the National Gallery, and tonight we go to the British Museum.

It's a work trip, so it's not all fun and games, but getting to see so many things - getting to see a play at the Globe! - makes me happy this week. Next week, I will be happy to see my daughter.

Happy Birthday, Xopher. And happy birthday also to my dear friend Lonnie Harvel, who also made the world a brighter place when he arrived here.

After work today I'll be dropping my youngest daughter at her rehearsal for "Meanwhile, Back at the Superlair" and proceeding to the meeting of our hippotherapy/therapeutic riding facility, where we will allocate the very nice chunk of change raised by our very successful inaugural 5K race. We'll be able to help a lot more kids now who otherwise couldn't afford to come.

Happy birthday to all, and to all a good night!

That tree frog video is marvelous! For me, a low-key day. I'll probably go off and spend time communing with my storage locker. But yesterday, I replaced my lost cell-phone! Small victories.

SteelyKid is five weeks old today. Last night she stared admiringly and at some length at two of the three cross-stitched dragons I made for her nursery. Today we got in some quality smiling-adoringly-at-each-other time, and I'm cuddling her now as she dozes off and as I type one-handed. My father-in-law is painting the house, my mother-in-law is doing heroic baby-calming, cooking, and laundry duties, and I just talked to Chad on the phone and he'll be home tomorrow, hooray.

A quiet domestic day, here.

Song for Judith (by Judy Collins)

Open the door and come on in
I'm so glad to see you, my friend
You're like a rainbow comin' around the bend
And when I see you happy
Well, it sets my heart free
I'd like to be as good a friend to you
as you are to me

Congratulations to everyone who deserves congratulating! I think I might have commented here once before, but I'm basically a longtime lurker who appreciates the place very much.

I figured this was a better place than most to jump in, because 10 years ago today I met the man who finally became my husband 40 days ago. And tomorrow we leave for a weekend press trip that doubles as a short paid honeymoon. I'm more thrilled than I thought I would be that my marriage counts as normal now.

Brightest blessings, Jeff!

Happy birthday to Xopher et al. And happy new year: today is Meskerem 1, the first day of the year 2001 in the Ethiopian calendar. መልካም አዲስ አመት.

Happy Birthday Xopher!

It's a beautiful day here in the Pacific Northwest, and I was able to see Mt. Rainier in the distance as I rode the bus to work today. That in itself is special.

In every way, today is a normal day - which is how it should be. Have a good one, everybody.

Today I got up in a warm house, and made coffee. In a couple of minutes I will go to work at a job I love. Later today I will eat more of the wild blueberry crisp I made yesterday. I might drop in on my parents to wish them a happy 38 years and two weeks anniversary. Tonight I might work on the thing that seems to be turning into a novel (having just started writing again after higher education related burnout caused me to stop for five years),

There are probably better lives, but this one is pretty good and I like it.

Mom @49:
Yay you guys!

And thanks, everyone, for this thread. The weather here was lovely today, and despite my headache all day, most of it has been good.

The bad, I will deal with elsewhere.

To add to the list, today is my friend Stan's birthday. And happy birthday everyone else.

LizT @76 ...tonight we go to the British Museum.

I can't remember my first visit, but I still feel excited every time I go. Have fun!

Today was a typical Thursday -- grocery shopping, cooking lunch, going to work. But! I also got to go to a yarn shop and pick out pretty stuff for a swap partner. And it was a really hot, summery day, an unexpected gift after some dreary fall weather. And the rose plants I bought on a whim at the grocery store a few weeks ago are thriving.

Happy Birthday, Xopher!

I have just finished tweaking a website I'm working on a bit, there's fresh coffee, and I need to go down the new office of the NDP candidate in my riding and finish making and running cables so we will have internet.

Argh, crimping network cable. I hate it and I'm slow and awkward at it. But there will probably be Timmy's

Happy birthday, Xopher.

Today is my former supervisor's wedding anniversary. I haven't seen her in a couple of years but I wish her all the best.

As for the rest: sorry, but grief is normal for me today. I'm not scared or angry so much, but one further happy thing is that I've come to accept it's okay to hurt. And it still does, and I still do.

Sorry to be a downer. Didn't mean to.

Really I stopped by because Making Light's thread that day was my lifeline (oddly, it won't show in the archives), and so I wanted to say thank you to all of you. What gave me comfort was that you were still here.

[delurks also]

Today I'll spend my time sewing a nightgown for a dear friend who is getting married at the end of the month. After that I will finish packing for vacation--our very first as a married couple.

[delurking]

Happy birthday, Xopher!

Today, after work, I'll make my 10th solo drive* home from the BART station, refill the feeder that the HooverBirds have emptied, prowl the tomato jungle for ripe specimens, and settle into bed with a book and four of my favorite critters (one hominid and three feline).

* -- finally got a driver's license -- only 29 years "late". Hey, 45 is the new 16, right?

LizT, #76: Whereabouts in the Detroit area? I grew up in Grosse Pointe. I'm also planning to be in the Dearborn area for a business trip next month. However, I've never been to London, so I'm mildly envious of you for that.

Jeff, #81: Congratulations to both of you!

Our day isn't being exactly "normal", courtesy of Ike -- but that just means we have different things to worry about. We've had a moratorium on TV/radio on this date for about 5 years now.

Congratulations, Jeff @81! Happy anniversary-of-meeting, and happy 40 day-iversary! I hope your honeymoon is wonderful!

Just finished the ever-loving request and justification for reimbursment of the arboretum trees destroyed by the tornado in June of this year. Word is the 10 page narrative summary and the 4 inch binder full of appendices submitted last week was well received by the people who hand out the money. Along the way I learned a lot about the different types of public gardens, how the campus functions as a giant outdoor classroom, exactly why the trees qualify as "laboratory equipment" and FEMA. The administrative costs of this little report were the last thing to hand over.

My interns and I are going to celebrate by having a hot pot at our favorite chinese restaurant. Now I get to go back to more of my regularly scheduled work. (not all, but more)

Life is approaching normal.

Victoria

A celebration, anyway.

From the AP, on the occasion of the LA Angels winning their baseball division title yesterday:

Torii Hunter put on goggles, got on the clubhouse floor and began doing the butterfly and backstroke in a puddle of beer and champagne.

Hunter and the Los Angeles Angels had plenty to celebrate yesterday.

They became the first team in the majors to clinch a playoff spot this season by winning their fourth AL West title in five years.

"I love it. I'm Michael Phelps," Hunter bellowed, invoking the Olympic swimmer who won eight gold medals in Beijing. "This is what it's all about."

Hunter's about 30 and has won division titles before in Minnesota, I think. Joy never gets old.

Quiet day. Tax work (it's one of the things I do to make a living), phone calls, feed the dog, feed the cats, don't listen to the radio. Curried rice and veg for lunch. Later today: more tax work, dog to the dog park, teach this evening (martial arts, another thing I do). Drop by the local library, they've got a book on hold for me that's ready to go. Blue sky, not too hot.

W. H. Auden said it very well indeed.

Happy birthday Xopher and the twins and Uncle Tom Cobleigh an' all; happy anniversary to those who are celebrating. Lord, thank you for this day. Shalom. May all sentient beings find peace.

Happy happy Xopher-Day!

On Xopherday it's traditional for folks to give chocolates. But they have to be really good chocolates.

http://www.mutopiaproject.org/ftp/BeethovenLv/ode/ode.mid

Jeff, all the best. Hope you two have a long and happy relationship together.

I engaged in a very, very ancient human tradition today: I taught someone how to spin yarn using a spindle. She's not yet at the stage where she can make the yarn while the spindle hangs in midair, but that will come, and soon.

This is my first morning in Alaska, ever. I'm here until Monday -- this is going to be a very exciting weekend. :)

And happy birthday to all to whom that sentiment applies!

Happy Birthday to Xopher, and also to sara_k's son, to Pip and Alex, Stan, Rosa and anybody else who I missed upthread.

And also congratulations to Kate Nepveu (I had no idea!) and to all the other parents and recent parents, to the recently and the anciently married, and to everyone who's carrying on with life.

And finally, thanks to all the delurkers. What a good occasion for it!

Happy birthday, to Xopher and others.

Today I'm working on drafting and writing papers, and then tonight I'm going to an art opening, out for dinner with friends, and then dancing at a club downtown.

What I am not doing is teaching - I was up for a sabbatical, and I decided I wanted to live in Seattle for a year, so I moved here in August. I'm still amazed that everything worked out, and that I am getting paid to do research for a year in such a lovely city. As Sarah E said (#85): There are probably better lives, but this one is pretty good and I like it.

And I still smile every time I see Mount Rainier looming on the horizon.

Happy birthday to Rosa, Xopher, and everyone else who celebrates their natal day today, including my coven brother Robin Grimm. Happy anniversary to all who celebrate it today. And a special congratulations to Jeff @81 and his partner.

Bruce @71, yes, that's a very good way to put it. It's been long enough that very few people remember what Memorial Day was in memory of (Originally, it was the Civil War. Then, the first World War. Now it's just the beginning of summer.) We need times to mourn as a community well as to celebrate.

Thank you to all the people celebrating milestones of any sort today. You give us a lifeline to the normal life we need to keep going.

Today I'm doing the usual things at work: fighting with Linux installations, trying to get code to do what I want it to, not what I tell it, etc. When I go home tonight it will be to give one of our new dogs, Jemma (nee Jompa), some extra affection to help her over the bladder stone removal operation she had yesterday, and the ear infection she's been fighting. I'd forgotten, in the years when we didn't have a dog, just how much they take you out of your own life and troubles and make you part of theirs.

[delurk]

This morning I got to do preschool storytime at the library where I work. The kids seemed to have fun. This afternoon we're traveling to visit family, by plane.

Happy birthdays, and happy romances, whether beginning or enduring. And strength to all who mourn.

They're not very popular here, I know, but I'm excited because I just made plans to have a Starship Troopers marathon tonight--watching all three movies, back to back!

Well, my plans for today may have changed a bit. The people who were lending me their apartment for my birthday party Saturday were forced to cancel due to circumstances beyond their control. (REALLY beyond their control; their apartment can't be used at the moment, and it is NOT THEIR FAULT.) They were very sad to have to tell me, because they know what this means to me.

So I'm scrambling for another venue. I suppose I could rent a hotel room, but then how do I get all the food there? And I was kind of planning on cooking some things to order during the party, so that doesn't work so well in a hotel. Maybe I just won't do that. Much as I love cooking things and having other people eat them, it may not have been such a great idea to plan on spending the entire party in the kitchen anyway!

I'm. Not. Giving. Up.

So my plans for today now have to include venue-hunting, and my plans for Saturday may have changed drastically. End report.

ethan @ 109... My tradition for this day is to pop in my DVD of On The Town, but I may have to skip as TCM showed it early in August so of course I had to watch it then.

Got up late because the sproglet didn't get to sleep until 2 am, had a quiet afternoon with a cup of tea, and am currently rocking in my office chair trying to convince him that yes he does want to go to sleep, against his nature. The sproglet, obviously, not the cup of tea. Will probably watch a movie tonight.

Recent Sproglet pic

Normal day for me. Well... a bit abnormal - I had a dentist appointment. Getting some work done, and then later tonight I'll be cleaning up the house in preparation for Saturday's party.

Normal day. About the only difference is the fact that I'm not paying any attention to politics today.

One good thing out of today -- in cleaning out the back of my car, I found an OysterBand album I'd forgotten I had -- Northern Light, a live concert from Sept 1998.

I smile when I listen to good music.

"Could have brought you whiskey, could have brought you wine;
The only thing I can't bring is time, time, time."

And at this point, I'd pretty much invert those phrases (Hi, T!).

Hope to bring you all a lot of time.

Margene had her LAST CHEMO today. (short form: small breast tumor, a few cells in the lymph nodes, lumectomy with lymph node removal, prophylactic chemo and radiation put the 'it will not come back in five years to 93%.)

The clinic had a stuffed toy singing owl with glasses and mortarboard hat humming pomp and circumstance.

We're happy!

My terrific old stallion's 27th birthday is today. Photos at the top, here.

(One horse to human age calculator I found suggests this is equivalent to a human age of 60; I'd lean more towards 70, but in any case it's pretty good.)

Chris Willrich, #108: Happy birthdays, and happy romances, whether beginning or enduring. And strength to all who mourn.

Beautifully phrased - please stay delurked!

Paula Helm Murray @ 115... I'm happy for you too!

For Xopher.
Look for Serviced Apartments not hotels.
Similar price include cooking facilities.

Thank you Emi! But I've realized that I'm sick enough that handling other people's food is a bad idea, so I'm just going to have dinner out with friends...which is still WAY more than I've done to celebrate my birthday since 2001.

Maybe I'll have a big party next year in Jerusalem.

Happy birthday Xopher, and congratulations Jeff!

Pleasant normalcy: I treated myself to sushi rolls for lunch today (just because I wanted to get away from my desk for a bit, not bring a sandwich or salad back as I often do). Yesterday morning Andy and I decided to go look at birds on our way to work (this is only a slight detour from the shortest route) and spent a pleasant few minutes watching egrets and sandpipers. I like my neighborhood.

Dave @ 1:

Give her my love, and have a wonderful time.

Happy birthdays and anniversaries to all who are celebrating today.

Thank you for this thread. It doesn't dismiss what happened, but I think the biggest tragedy that day was that "normal life" came to a violent halt, and a thread like this proves that life still goes no, and is good.

Happy and normal...My niece and oldest nephew have started school, and I had a breakthrough on a story that had been stuck.

I bought a flat of berries at the farmer's market yesterday - blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries. Today at work we went mad with berries, angel food cake, and ice cream. I claimed it was to celebrate the maintenance release that we deployed today, but it was really just because the berries were beautiful and you need to seize that last flavor of summer.

Today, I realized that I have an inordinate fascination with bacon.

Happy anniversary, yesterday, to my nephew and his wife - their 9th.

And good wishes for Xopher's next year, too!

Happy Birthday to Xopher, to Sharon Lee, and all the others born today. Happy Anniversary to Abi's parents and to Jeff and his husband. Yeah, Margene!

Today is payday and my last day of work this week. No alarm clock tomorrow morning!

It was overcast as I drove home this afternoon and I realized just how much autumn clematis there is around town. The blooms are sweet-smelling and almost glow in the dusk. The difference between autumn clematis and all sorts of other annoying, vining things is that when I sprayed Roundup on the huge mound of stuff growing on my fence, the clematis was the only thing that grew back.

Happy Birthday, Xopher, and all others born on this uniquely gifted day.

I'm two weeks short of 26 years married, myself. Last Saturday a small fragment of Mom's side of the family reunited: one of my two surviving uncles, the only aunt-by-marriage, a mere eight cousins and some of our spouses and children and grandchildren, a couple of friends of my brother-in-law come to help deal with the barbecued whole pig, a paultry thirty or so people (most of whom went home with pork). Sort of a last minute deal, it was. We were out at Puget at a private park, the same one where my wedding reception was held all those years ago. The sun was out, and so was The Mountain, reflected in Nisqually Reach at slack tide. Pretty damned excellant.

Today is the birthday of Tommy Shaw, born in 1953.

Tommy has been a member of Styx since the mid-1970s. He wrote or co-wrote, sang, and played lead guitar on a number of their hits, from "Crystal Ball" to "Too Much Time on My Hands."

These days, I don't spend all day, every day, listening to the latest Styx album over and over and over, but when I was in school, Styx was the world to me, and Tommy was one of those imagined friendships that make everything okay.

Joy to everyone celebrating birthdays & anniversaries today!

I also had a trip to the dentist today (bleah), and I'm preparing for my part in a little exhibition tomorrow (my second one - maybe someone will buy a painting!)

Today I sent and received email with my son's birth parents. Had they relinquished him in their native China, they would never know his fate, and he would never know his history. Because his birth and placement happened here in the US, we are able to have an open adoption across nations and cultures.

Just one reason why America is still The Beautiful to me, despite everything.

Tuesday morning I gave the eulogy at a funeral for a friend. This evening we held a party at my dojo to celebrate the departure of one of my students to college. We ate pizza and salad and chocolate cake and drank beer and laughed and had a good time. Life is lived between these two poles, grief and joy, mourning and celebration, south and north, alpha and omega.

Happy September 12th.

Oh wonderful, Paula! Fingers crossed for you and Margene. I did my radiation and have been clean for almost 10 years now.

So many wonderful days! I woke up this morning without pain, so I stayed in bed for a while.

I have new carpet, and am packing to start a new life again. I return to old stomping grounds years later, in a different house, on my own (with cats).

I hate moving. But it will be good to once again be home.

I'll tell you what is wonderful for me: a breakthrough on a school issue with my daughter.

Her 8th grade English teacher is having them write daily journal entries from prompts, in a specific paragraph format. As I have been around the block a few times, I know that the teacher is just using a strategy that she thinks will get actual writing out of the students, in order for them to practice the format, and she doesn't care about the content nearly as much as the form.

But my daughter was finding the prompts problematic -- either too personal, or too complex for her to be able to answer yes or no in six sentences. What do you want to be when you grow up? ("I don't know" was not an acceptable answer, even though these are eighth graders.) Do you believe in karma? Describe a time when you took out your anger on someone who didn't deserve it.

So she was refusing to write the entries. And risking failing English. Even though she reads on a college level and her writing's progressing.

Since I'm a roleplayer and sometime fanfic writer, I suggested that she write the entries in character for someone fictional, and just not TELL the teacher it wasn't her. Richard St. Vier. River Tam. Someone from the anime and manga she loves that I haven't delved into.

SHE AGREED IT WAS A GOOD IDEA AND WILL WRITE THE DAMNED ENTRIES!

Hallelujah.

Happy birthday, Xopher, and may your birthday party go swimmingly!

The Pheonix rises not up from the ashes,
it was always there before the fire burned.
Lives not lost are held in thrall and turned
away from life by echoes of the crashes.
We try not to see the images of smashes.
We who live soon feel that we are spurned:
what was it on that day that they had earned?
And can we answer that in other clashes?
Often in the course of normal dashes
from daily task to task, we stop, concerned.
Have we forgot those lost because we yearned
for nothing more than liner, blush, and lashes?
The Phoenix is still here as ever was;
life cannot be lived in black alone.
Put red on lips and warmth in voice again.
And when someone asks why just say "Because
the monument we build is not of stone,
but lives that can hold joy as well as pain."

Happy birthday, Xopher! Happy birthday to my sister-in-law Lindsay, married to my most excellent younger brother for four and a half years now. Congratulations to Jeff & hubby! And congratulations to Rikibeth and her daughter--that sounds like a really cool solution.

Today I worked on some training for a job that, I hope, will help me pull myself a bit out of debt and a bit closer to my goal of moving cross-country next spring. Tomorrow (well, later today, the 12th), I will be done that part of the training; it's also payday. Hurrah!

Today I ate an incredibly yummy tomato-and-cucumber salad for supper, and had a McRib sandwich for the first time for lunch (yes, they really are as messy as the TV ads claim). I hung a pair of jeans on the clothesline (feeling virtuous!) and convinced the dryer to dry the smaller items. I talked to a pretty girl. I listened to my littlest brother show off his latest Fimo sculptures. I drove home from work with the windows rolled down, and drank green tea tea while reading blogs.

Thank you all for talking about these things: I have a little smile on my face now, and will sleep better tonight.

I made clafouti for breakfast (with the plums I had in the icebox, which I was saving for breakfast, no less ;) ), and had enough left over for this morning, too -- and despite being not a morning person (At All!), waking up to two of my cats responding to my morning groans with their morning purring makes it hard to be a grouch :)

Yesterday was sucky for a combination of reasons, but I went to bed early, and I woke up feeling really good!

Happy Birthday for yesterday, Xopher and the others who joined us on that day, as well as Happy Anniversaries to the others who were joined! (Also Snap! to Jeff Magnus McBride (#53). I'm working thru DS9 DVD sets on loan, and saw that episode only this week.)

Special wishes to Jeff (#81) & his husband. Really, really, special wishes and a Yay! to Margene (#115). There's a lot of us have been through that stuff; it's different for everyone, but still so much the same.

And cheerful hellos to all the delurkers. It's good to meet you.

My day was fruitful and peaceful: did my radiotherapy (Man in the Iron Mask style); managed to have a good meal, having recovered from gastroenteritis; also managed to do and hang out laundry; make and receive a few calls about important stuff, like my job; do food shopping; meet a couple of friends and do some planning for the future. On Wednesday I met a bunch of relatives I hadn't seen for many years who were in town. My close relatives are dead, and others live a ways away, so seeing family is unusual. It made me feel connected in a way that's different to my friends.

Paraphrasing Sarah E (#85): There are probably better lives, but this one is what I have. It has its joys and quiet contentment; just being free from major pain, sickness and disablement(?) for now is something I'll occasionally revel in.
<pedantry> Wouldn't 'normality' be preferable to 'normalcy', which seems to be a fairly new coinage? </pedantry>

A belated Happy Birthday (and Anniversary) to all who celebrated yesterday, including my friend John and cousin Adam. I was busy celebrating my husband's birthday, among other things. I took him to see Spamalot.

Abi-

Thanks for poking me into remembering the importance of the day. As it happens, September 11th is the day my father would tell you commemorates his wedding anniversary to my beautiful mother. Unfortunately, his wedding anniversary falls on September 5th of every year. He became legend in our family for missing his wedding anniversary 48 times in a row. I wish he was here to miss it again and so do we all.

Lee @93: Just south of Detroit, in a little town called Melvindale. Often referred to as Smellvindale, even though it really doesn't, anymore.

It is a wonderful place to live, between 75 and 94 and the Southfield Freeway - we drive to Ann Arbor to work and friends, though, and want to move there.

The 9th is my eldest son's birthday, the 10th my mum's, and the 11th my deceased paternal grandfather's, and this year I was in NYC on all three of those days. In fact, I was out on the harbour for a twilight cruise with my girlfriend. It was her first time in NYC.

@ 146: In fact, I was out on the harbour for a twilight cruise with my girlfriend.

I meant to add that this happened on the 10th. They had the night sky lit up with the memorial lights, too. Got lots of photos.

We stayed in Jersey City, at the motel opposite the Holland Tunnel, across the street from the Home Depot. If the guests weren't German, then they were Brazilian, except us, a BritAm (me) and a Portuguese. My girlfriend tells me that there's a large Portuguese population in Newark.

I want to go back to NYC again sometime soon, and I don't want to take as long between visits as I did the last time (my last visit was in '83, or thereabouts).

Ambar @116: He's beautiful and I envy you all the years of his acquaintance! (But then, I've always wanted an Arabian.)

May he and you have many more years together, Insh'Allah!

Rikibeth @136: That's brilliant.

G D Townshende at 147,

One Easter, I went to a Portuguese Mass with my family in Newark. My dad described it as, "Italian, spoken with a German accent."

Happy belated birthday to Xopher and the twins; and to the rest that I don't know as well.

I wish yesterday had been defiantly normal. But I found a bug that I had to work around to finish my assignment, then The Client's issue went into Panic Mode, then I went to the first choir practise of the year (having missed dinner because of Panic Mode), then I went home to a full bucket of water next to my sink, and a two-foot-diameter hole in the drywall from the leak that they told me they were going to look at the last time it happened.

Today, They're Going To Look At It.

By the time the leak stopped, it was 0230, and I couldn't get to sleep. And we're still in Panic Mode. So today looks like it's going to be great, as well.

Normal, as opposed to the other? Yes. Normal as in quiet, happy, celebratory? Not so much.

I have a post that's currently been pending for a while -- from yesterday morning. It's in pending limbo because it has links to pictures of my daughter, who makes me happy by being herself. It'll show up sooner or later, but this is just to say hi, and to add my wishes for a very merry Unbirthday to Xopher et al.

The post also had a link to Japes for Owre Tymes. No point in making anybody wait -- I linked it on my LJ and Beamjockey said I should tell ML about it too.

I love the Mary Worth one. A very cool concept.

Happy birthday to all born yesterday.

Wednesday, I made a decision about my house-for-sale that made me giddy with happiness. Yesterday, still giddy, I spent the early part of yesterday morning writing a review of Paul Offit's Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure. Review partially done, I went to meet the Bad Moms for coffee. While there I suddenly realized I had forgotten an assignment due at 4 pm for the Mild and Moderate Disabilities class, so scampered home, wrote like a monkey on performance enhancers, and drove over the San Mateo bridge to the Oakland hills for said class.

Returning home across bridge, the bay was that beautiful dark steely blue of twilight. I'd like a trip to the tropics. With boat, if possible.

I continued the normal by writing my nephew Jesse Robbins a birthday salute.

I don't go to church any more, I'm pretty much an atheist, but I do miss the communal Peace that is part of the Episcopal rite.

So I'll send it out anyway: "May the peace of the Lord, which passes all understanding, be with you".

Liz 155: Happy birthday to all born yesterday.

Hey, I may be a September 11 baby, but I wasn't born yesterday!

*muted trumpet goes "HWAA, hwaa, hwaaaa"*

Thank you very much, I'm here all week, don't forget to tip your waitress...wow, I haven't seen a rutabega in years!

*exit in a shower of vegetables*

Yesterday, not my best day ever. Last night I was sitting there talking to Patrick about putting up a short entry about Hurricane Ike and the impending immersion of Galveston Island. (See Weather Underground.) All very normal. Then I got this strange pain that was kind of like indigestion only not, and then it radiated up my chest and neck and lower jaw ...

Fortunately, I read Jim's posts in Making Light: so I knew the answer: eat the chewable baby aspirin and phone 911. I drew a great pair of paramedics, Alsaedi and Thomas, and a good hospital, Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn. The hospital won't let me go yet.

I remain frustrated over not getting to post the Hurricane Ike story. Now the NYTimes is all over it, and they quoted the exact line I meant to quote. Foo!

#157: Crappe! You take it easy, heah?

Tip o' the hat to Jim for making #157 possible!

Yesterday. Hm.

I slept in, needing to catch up on my zzzzs. I picked up Babes in Toyland because Josh and I need to watch it for next week's Broadway musicals larp. I've been warned about the minstrel show.

I met Josh in the city, and we had dinner at Congee Village, where we ordered no congee. I had duck's blood, which was precisely the taste I'd been craving.

We went to Stephen Tihor's place, where some D&D took place. I ignored that to work on my apa for Lee Gold's gaming zine, Alarums and Excursions, and to listen to show tunes and scenes from Hello Dolly on youtube, as I'm playing Dolly in that larp. Turns out there's an entire high school performance, up on youtube in 17 parts, not half bad either. This was really useful because the movie version made a couple of changes, and I wanted to see what the original play did.

As Josh is playing Horace, we also discussed methods of making that total personality shift at the end plausible, as well as how to modify the scenes for the dymanic chaos that is larpdom.

Meanwhile, the person playing Lucy from You're a Good Man Charlie Brown has been having an amusing dialogue online with the person playing Schroeder about the fox trot and Beethoven. And, we offered another player crash space if he needs it.

I think I did some minor work on the larp we've been working on for over a decade. Today, to my delight, one of my co-gm/authors has come around to agree with a decision I think we should make. I need to see if we have a holdout, or if we just have a friend who's not checking her email. If it's the latter, we go ahead and implement. If it's the former, and she really feels strongly about this, we don't. We are not breaking friendships over this game.

But, it's still amusing to see our Official Larp Consultant dance a jig as he watches us one by one coming to agree with what he begged us to do over a year ago.

Teresa Nielsen Hayden #157: The hospital won't let me go yet.

I found out the hospital I was in recently has wifi that patients can use (although they don't accept any liability for safety of laptops, of course). That would have been a nice 21st Century Moment for my stay, but I didn't have any wifi-enabled devices to try it out with (although one visitor I had fiddled with an iPhone on it for a bit).

Oh, Teresa! Goodness, what's up?

Teresa (157): That sounds scary. Yay for remembering Jim's medical posts at the right moment*, yay for good EMTs, yay for good hospitals, even if they do insist on keeping you. Good luck and get better. If you're posting it can't be too serious, right? Right?

*when I had a serious gall bladder attack last year, I called 911 when I did because my symptoms were entirely too reminiscent of Jim's description of a heart attack, and I didn't want to take any chances

TNH: K-wrap!!!! Did you have a heart attack? Sounds distressingly like it.

Dammit, that sucks.

Good health wishes from this coast, too!

Yes, best wishes, Teresa.

My yesterday was a bit unusual, as I had the beginnings of a cold and stayed home from work. Later in the day I went to the 1920s Torchwood RPG and was all heroic; before that I finally posted on my LJ; and had a brilliant idea about storage for a bunch of rolls of art paper that have been taking up space in my room: unroll them, sandwich them between two big pieces of cardboard, and stuff them behind the dresser! Aside from that, though, the day was pretty much a wash, as the cold turned out to be quite energy-demanding... And today as well.

Teresa, I am sure I speak for all of us at Making Light (and I expect that I am merely seconding Patrick) when I remind you that you are Not Allowed to Die, and that such would be Completely Unacceptable.

Please keep this in mind when making your plans. Thank you.

Teresa, I give you some of my Stubbornness. You are now too stubborn to die.

Teresa:

Yikes! You're in my prayers.

I wonder how many people have had their lives lengthened by reading Jim's posts. Though it turned out not to be a heart problem, I went to a cardiologist a while back, pretty much entirely because I read one of Jim's posts, which made me realize it was really stupid to just assume it was nothing. And I have baby asprin in the house pretty much explicitly because of his advice about heart attacks.

The 11th is two days before my mother's birthday, which this year I did not forget. For the past few years, as a defense against the Dreaded Annual 9/11 Jingoisms, I've aggressively repressed my knowledge of the date of the month, which resulted in my forgetting her birthday a lot. Last year she told me I'd be in real trouble if I did so again, as Saturday will be the big Six Oh. So I haven't forgotten.

Other than my mom's birthday on the 13th (and Xopher's on the 11th, yay!), I have only to report that I spent the evening with two very wonderful people, snuggling on the couch and watching decade-old VHS tapes of Animaniacs and Freakazoid. That was the only thing the TV got turned on for. It was a good evening.

Got to see T a little bit earlier this evening. She looked pretty perky. This is good. They're looking after her, and testing this and that. As far as I know, none of the testing has been in verse form so far, but I dunno what they got up to after they shooed us out when visiting hours ended.

My instructions from herself are to look after Patrick and look after the hamster. Both are, at the moment, asleep, and as far as I can tell they are adequately looked after. We have spinach for the hamster when he wakes up, and there will be a Teresa for Patrick to visit when he wakes up, so those are the cunning plans as I know them at the moment.

When I extended my visit due to a bout of ill health, I didn't exactly figure I was going to wind up being Additional Useful Person In Times Of Unexpected Medical-Fu, but there ya go. I've been Extra Person Re-Phoning the Nice 911 People after the first call got dropped, and also Person Useful For Opening Doors for the Nice Paramedics, and then tonight I got to be Assistant Bringer of Orange Juice and Various Teresa Noshes. All of this is to say that I'm really really really glad we called within three minutes of onset, and that the flashing-lights-wagon got here within five minutes, and that she's in good hands now. Because she is. They seem a very fine lot there.

Elise, thanks so much for keeping us posted here. I can't express how glad I was to see your post with some more news on the situation.

The Making Light Auxiliary Corps stands ready to spring into action. If at any point there's any possible way I can help Teresa, Patrick, you, or the hamster, please let me know; I'm sure I'd only have to elbow a couple hundred people aside to be first in line.

Teresa--yow. Sympathies.

What Clifton said: I'd be in the line like a shot. Elise, thank you for that post; Teresa said just enough to alarm me (and probably at least half of all fandom), and it's very good to know she's being treated well and competently.

Teresa, my thoughts are with you, and my hopes as well.

Nancy @ 150: One Easter, I went to a Portuguese Mass with my family in Newark. My dad described it as, "Italian, spoken with a German accent."

That's funny! :D I always find it humourous when people ask me if Portuguese is a dialect of Spanish. Heh. Some of the things I've read indicate that Italian and Portuguese are closer to the original Latin than are the other Romance languages (Spanish, French, and Romanian).

I've heard that some think Portuguese has something of a Russian sound to it (I'm speaking of the Continental variety, not the Brazilian); it's the 'sh' sound of many esses that gives Portuguese a slight 'Russian' sounding quality. When I hear it, however, especially the numbers, I hear what sounds to me like a mix of Spanish and French.

Teresa @ 157: Then I got this strange pain that was kind of like indigestion only not, and then it radiated up my chest and neck and lower jaw ...

Eek! O.O Not good!

Some months ago, because of palpitations, as well as some chest pains, I had a couple of visits to the local ER. During my last visit, I was injected with some radioactive isotopes so they could take an image of my heart at rest, and then under stress, to see if there were any blockages. None were found. My heart is something that concerns me greatly since my great uncle and my father both died from heart attacks. In the end, it was discovered that I've hypothyroidism (which explains the weight problems I've experienced over the years), and now I'm on levothyroxine, with me having to have blood work done every few months, and my dosages increased incrementally until the right level of medication is found.

I hope all is well with you and that you're soon released with the proverbial 'clean bill of health.'

Teresa: Eep. I'm so glad you did the sensible things, and are being properly tested and looked after by those who know what they're doing. An extra candle is lit here for you, and lots of GoodThoughts headed your way. Also, if Marilee's stubbornness isn't enough, have some of mine as well - the women in my family are notorious for it; the older we get, the more stubborn.

Thanks for the updates, elise. Please do keep us posted, or we will fret.

Teresa, be of good cheer and get well.

Patrick, take care of yourself.

I'm coming in this late as usual, but I too want to send Teresa best wishes for recovery from, well, whatever it was went wrong.

Teresa, my belated best wishes.

Teresa -- sending prayers and good thoughts, as well as patience and stubbornness p.r.n. for a quick diagnosis and speedy recovery.

Teresa, get well soon.

Oh, Oh, (Eeek!) Thank you so much, Elise, for your news and your 'usefulness'.

Teresa, Patrick, hamster dude, you, and other Fluorosphericans can be assured that the Antipodean Branch of the Making Light Auxiliary Corps will be knitting together and parcelling up as much available supplies of positivity and stubborness as can be gathered to help with any shortfalls you have there — any surplus to your needs you are welcome to send on to the Caribbean and Gulf areas, where we hear there are other areas in need (and maybe to those recovering from the fires we heard of earlier).

Helpful as they are, I've spent far too much time of late in or around hospitals; thinking of people I care about also being stuck there — DO NOT WANT.
*waves both arms encouragingly and slightly wildly from moonlit rooftop in Sydney, with extra thumbs-up and thanks to Unca Jim* (They're used to odd behaviour 'round this part of the city.)

elise -- I was hoping that you were still in NY and able to lend a hand. Thanks for doing so, and for letting us know.

Teresa -- Get well soon, and all that. I spoke with the Internet, and everyone agreed not to do anything wrong until you're back on your feet, so you don't have to worry about that.

:Sending good thoughts to Teresa (and Patrick, because it's also scary being the loved one in the waiting room.):

Teresa, yikes! Get-well wishes headed your way.

Teresa, best fishes, we'll keep busy making extra light to keep your place warm until you're back to the height of your powers. (Or if you're an Irish whiskey drinker, the height of your Power's.) There's been too much of this cool people landing in hospitals stuff lately - cut it out, OK?

Xopher @ 156:
*tips his wineglass, his waitress and his hat*

Teresa, make like a tree and get better soon. I don't know how to pray, but you're in my thoughts.

I wish I had something inspiring and amusing to say, but I don't, I just have: Teresa and Patrick, you all are in my thoughts and prayers.

Also, here is some Stubbornness. I'm from an incredibly stubborn family, and I can spare quite a bit!

Teresa, you really need to Ask Permission before doing things like this. Otherwise, how can we Forbid it?

Feel better soon! (Or else!)

ethan 186: I don't know how to pray, but you're in my thoughts.

Then you know how to pray (at least the very simple kind called "keeping a good thought"). If you want to structure it a little more, just take a moment every now and then to picture Teresa happy and healthy, doing the things she loves to do.

If you want to be more formal about it, you can close your eyes and visualize this Lady (or print out the picture and look at it). That's the White Tara, a Tibetan Boddhisatva. Those hand gestures mean "I grant boons" and "fear not."

Chant the White Tara chant, which is "OM TARE TUTARE TURE SVAHA" (aum tah-ray too-tah-ray too-ray svah-hah). This is a chain of Sanskrit praise words chosen more for their sound than their meaning; OM you're familiar with; TARE is vocative of the Lady's name, and SVAHA means something like glory. Just say it over and over.

After you've said it for a while, try to visualize light coming from the Tara's heart and going to yours. Let your heart fill up until it overflows; then let the light flow from your heart to the person you want to heal (in this case Teresa).

Belief in any deity or supernatural being is not a prerequisite for this process. It's all about focusing the mind. Of course, if you think it would be wrong FOR YOU to pray without having belief, you shouldn't do it. But let me tell you, the White Tara won't care. And as far as I know, it's in no way offensive to Buddhists or anyone else for non-Buddhists to chant this chant and call on the Tara.

TNH #157: Oh, shit! Get well soon.

Teresa! Jeez, I hope you're already better and my message is too late to catch you still in the hospital. Stay healthy for that 50th AZAPA anniversary party later on, in the Virtual Hilton with the great view of Pi from the Grand Ballroom. Hijack Jim and take his good advice.

elise, don't forget to make fresh coffee for the hamster, and put some oil on Patrick's wheel so it doesn't squeak all night.

Me, I've been blathering away on the "60s-70s Denver: Incontinent Nostalgia" thread over at bOINGbOING, and hijacking part of it to go on about Fort Collins as well.

But you... well, you know already. Everybody here has already said it better than me. Get well soon.

What they said -- get well, and stay safe.

Xopher, thank you.

Oh my! (Finally catching up after over a week away from the computer.)

Happy birthday and anniversary, belated or otherwise, to those having them. Best wishes and congratulations to those embarking on and/or completing adventures.

Sending healing white light to Teresa. So very, very glad that you headed the words of Jim and took prompt action.Hears to a speedy recovery.

(also catching up) Teresa: best wishes for a full and speedy recovery! And thanks, Jim, for the good advice.

Teresa, if you've feeling better and have a laptop & wireless access in there, here are some entertainment links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebI8H5nq5L4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jndn4xqsRz0

Teresa, best wishes for full and swift recovery. You have our numbers in a pinch.

Yikes, Teresa! Take some time and relax as much as possible.

My Thursday this week wasn't special, good or bad--well, I discovered a new pizza place--but:

Yesterday, I got a new appreciation for the law in all its silly majesty.

Tuesday I saw John M. Barry talk, mostly about Katrina and the Mississippi River but also about Newt Gingrich and Jim Wright, and someone else asked the question I didn't get to ask.

Monday I was told I did yeoman duty, and got general praise from all but one particular asshole for doing it (and getting shit from that pathetic excuse for a human being--who does possess the dignity and worth inherent in all human beings, and I hope someday he'll find it--is praise, too.)

And tomorrow? Tomorrow marks the first day this atheist teaches Sunday School.

So, yeah, it's a pretty good world.

Teresa: Here's hoping you feel quite a bit better, very quickly.

Liz Ditz @ 155 "May the peace of the Lord, which passes all understanding, be with you".

"And also with you"

Teresa - yargh! I'm very glad that you noticed, and got appropriately rushed to the hospital -- and hope that you're feeling miles better. Healing energy to you!

Teresa -- Keeping you and Patrick in my thoughts and prayers.

Get well soon, Teresa; I assume you're home, since you're posting?

At the risk of sounding like a stalker, I have a get well giftie, and I need to know where to send it. I promise it's not chicken soup.

Teresa, hoping for the best. It sounds like you're surrounded by helpful people.

Teresa, yikes! I'm glad you're okay. Get better soon---and take it easy.

Patrick, hope you woke up alright and had a great visit with Teresa.

Best wishes to both of you.

Hey, cuz, these episodes are Not Allowed in this family. Return to normal health, stat!

Get well soon, Teresa, and take care of yourselves too, her friends and family.

<sends virtual chocolate & healing thoughts> Also belated birthday & anniversary greetings.

I was pleased at how little I cared about reaching my fortieth birthday. I told myself the previous Thursday, 06 September 2001, 'The world will be pretty much the same on September 12 as on September 11.'

And you know what, I don't think I was wrong...the hypnotisable became a little more so, the people with the hideous certainty of their own rightness or cynical indifference to it were willing to exploit them, and the rest of us were still chained by the wrists and ankles to them, as they cheered on the driver heading the bus steadily and speedily over the cliff, ready to jump out as soon as possible and bill the Company for the mileage.

ACK! Teresa, stop that right now!

Congrats on the smart move, and I hope you are well enough to come home SOONEST! (And thanks, Jim.)

elise, #170, thanks much for the update!

Sarah, #203, stuff usually goes to Tor.

Okay, seriously, all the Ike stuff on the frontpage is fine, but I really, really want to know that Teresa's okay.

Please be okay, Teresa.

You too, Patrick.

Thinking good thoughts at our hosts. Get well soon.

Teresa, please be increasingly well, and well doctored; Patrick, please be amenable to comfort and tending; Elise, you are the one to whom I send shares of strength and cleverness, since the job you're doing is the one I have talent for, in person.

Michael Turyn #209: I was pleased at how little I cared about reaching my fortieth birthday.

51 is a bad one, because it sneaks up on you after all the mental prep you do for the 50th.

Just checking in here quickly, because I have got to go catch some sleep:

Talked with T a little while ago on the phone; she'll be in the hospital tomorrow yet, as there are a couple of tests they did not manage to get done today. (I am taking it as encouraging that she's not on the Super-Fast-Track here, because although I know it's frustrating for her not to be able to get home quickly, they do need to figure out a few more things about what happened and what's going on.) P and T talked some, and I know that reassured P; he misses her a whole bunch, but hearing her voice means he probably won't run around on the wheel all night. (Ref: Kip @ #191, which made me giggle a lot.) He is, in fact, sound asleep now; I practiced serious neckrub and backrub-fu on him until a bunch of his muscles unlocked and he said something like "catastrophically falling over now..." and went and crashed out on the bed.

The hamster is asleep inside his house, where he has pulled all the fluff into the doorway again, which is what he sometimes does. I expect he will be out in the morning, asking where his person is, and we will tell him she will be home as soon as she can.

T looked better today than she did on Thursday night (well, 12:40 Saturday morning, technically) when all the excitement went down. They haven't confirmed exactly what happened yet, so none of us can say with certainty what happened, but it's looking pretty much like a mild heart attack looks, yep. And there are so many ways in which getting treatment for a mild one is apt to improve and prolong one's life, so... well, I'm hoping that catching this one is one of those super-lucky things that makes a major positive difference for her.

I dunno if that makes any sense; I think I'm catastrophically falling over sleepy myself now. I am going to go find a pillow and a soft place and lie me down to sleep.

More soon, I hope directly from herself. We go see her in the morning again as soon as they let us in.

If you want to find amusing things for her, by the way, I suggest finding links to images of interesting fossilized stromatolites.

Er, make that 12:40 a.m. FRIDAY, not Saturday.

Tired. Definitely tired.

Thank you so much for the update, elise! I sure hope you're asleep by now, and you'll see this in the morning.

Bright, bright blessings on all that household.

I'm glad that Teresa and Patrick are as well as can expected to be in this situation. Have a good rest, elise.

A possibly interesting fossilized stromatolite. White 3d whorls.

Here's one that looks... um... kind of like a piece of meat. It's part of this page.

Not technically a stromatolite, but looks kind of like a Japanese sand garden. Found on answers.com.

On Flickr:

Looks like a big stromatolite, but might not be. © All rights reserved.

Also, there is apparently a Flickr group for fans of cyanobacteria. Not many pictures, but some serious microscope closeups. CC attribution-share-alike.

A chunk of stromatolite interestingly framed against a shore, not your typical pools of stromatolites pictures. © All rights reserved.

I like this picture of a pool of stromatolites best out of the various at Flickr. © All rights reserved.

But this bird flying over a stromatolite pool is really neat. CC attribution-non-commercia-share-alike.

Not really stromatolites. Gorse eaten at by sheep in a pastoral landscape that looks like gigantic stromatolite formations. © All rights reserved.

Arachne Jericho, the one that looks kind of like a piece of meat is Mary Ellen Jasper, a kind of jasper that Teresa is fascinated by. We've been looking for good beads and specimens of it for a while now.

Oh. I hope Teresa gets better soon.

Mary Ellen Jasper is a great name for a romance heroine!!!

In fairness to what this thread was originally supposed to be about, and also so that the conversation is more easily discovered by folks who don't reload Making Light threads 47 times a day, I've posted about Teresa's probable heart attack here, and I'm suggesting that further discussion (which is welcome, and a great comfort to both of us) take place there as well.

Since we're talking about beads and stones and nifty things, there's something I've been wondering about for twenty-some years. A chance discovery, and I don't know if it's novel or "oh yeah, everyone who does jewelry knows that".

When I was young, on a family trip to New England, I picked up a few mollusc shells on the beach: large, heavy, sturdily-built, and parts of the inside surface were a rich purple/indigo colour. These ended up in a box of odds-and-ends and souvenirs. Some years later, I was doing some rock tumbling, and needed to add something to an under-full tumbler barrel, and on a whim I tossed in a couple of pieces of those shells which had a lot of the purple. Just to see what might happen, basically.

What happened was... beautiful. Flat, smooth, and the colour was a banded structure in shades of ivory and indigo/purple, a bit like fine malachite that had been shifted a couple of colours. I ended up making the best of the pieces into a pendant necklace for a girl I was interested in.

I tried a couple of times after that to reproduce the effect, but never had any luck. None of my remaining shells had as much of the purple stuff, and all of it got ground away in the rock tumbler. The remaining white bits... well, nice enough in their way, but not very interesting.

Have any of you folks seen material like this in use?

so that the conversation is more easily discovered by folks who don't reload Making Light threads 47 times a day,

How strange of them!

Cat @ #9 - I actually said that at my parents 40th anniversary. There was a long silence around the table before my father said "Well, in our day that was how things were done."

We all had a big laugh about it, and I realized that at some point my parents had become my friends.

And further, that we have been fortunate enough to have my husband's children become our friends as well.

Joel, #224, yes, I have, but usually they haven't been tumbled, they've been sanded with increasingly tiny grit on the paper.

Joel Polowin #224:
Shells of paua (a species of abalone, Haliotis Iris) from New Zealand are a favourite of sellers of souvenirs. Traditionally used for making jewellery, these days, is also used to manufacture much souvenir junk.

Soon Lee @ 228: The iridescent shell is pretty, but nothing at all like what I had. I've dummied up a couple of approximations by colour-shifting some malachite images: here and here.

#224 Joel

Bivalve or univalve?

Paula @ 230: Bivalve. They might have just been large clams, or something along those lines. It's been a long time.

When did I turn into Andrew Willet?

I don't know, Kip, when did you turn into Andrew Willet?

And did your ID's undergo a similar transformation, or are you now stuck with a driver's license and passport that are—at best—useless?

Also, not having met either of you, and therefore not knowing your respective sizes...do your clothes still fit all right?

This could be the beginning of a very interesting short story.

Never mind. Nothing I can think of to say makes me look any less petty, so I'll stop now.

Actually today for me is pretty bad. I just burst out crying in the middle of class. Man, I'm such a loser..Hahaha.

[posted from 67.86.6.174]

#238 is not spam, exactly, and I'm sympathetic to Craig's troubles, but the post is very out of place.

I'm not very sympathetic with someone who starts his screed with I am allowed to do that here in the US, so why not take advantage of it.

People who mistake a private blog, however widely commented on, with a public utility, and who come here not to engage but to speechify? Bye-bye.

Craig, in the unlikely event you come back to see whether your wall of text had any effect—in other words, if you're listening as well as talking—try the thread that's actually about TBI: TMI about TBI. Then try engaging with the community.

We're not an audience, any more than we're required to host your epic. Earn our attention.