Anne, when do you close on the sale of your house, and move, and stuff?

vw, funny you should say that--the new house is a perfect party house, and I'm hoping that various Buffistae will come to visit.

Closing is on the 27th, and I get in my car and head west on the 28th. Whee!

Mom's going to come here on the 20th and help me pack. The movers will theoretically be getting all my stuff on the 26th.

Not a lot of time left, is there?

The big things left to do (besides packing) are to get the boxes for packing, arrange one more visit from the plumber, and take care of getting various utilities and services cancelled.

Oh, Anne! This is so exciting! And I definitely want to come visit...just depends on lots of variables. I haven't been doing much traveling of late.

And you're definitely going to buy the new house, too?

Ok...got a question. Last night I noticed I had some little red dots all over my right arm, and they were itching. This morning, I noticed they had turned into defined bumps. While in the shower, I noticed that they were spreading and now also on my left arm. And they itch like CRAZY.

I'm sure it's an allergic reaction of some sort. But, I haven't changed soaps or lotions recently, and I can't think of what else might be causing them. Should I stop by health services today or wait a few more days and see if they go away or get worse?

health services today!

Oh yeah, I had some skin weirdness last night. The area where my tattoo is was all puffy and itchy - the inked part, not the surrounding skin. I've had this tatt for like three years, though, it's not like it's new. It seems to have mostly receded this morning but it was kind of weirding me out.

Waits for bt to pop in and provide details on how many non-tuxedo penguins there are

Well now. Your big-uns, the emperor and king, are quintessential tux-wearers. So too the gentoo, chinstrap and adelie. Your African and South American birds (black-footed, Magellanic, Humboldt's and Galapagos) are also paragons of penguinicity. And you said no crest, which cuts out the rockhopper, macaroni, snares, erect-crested, fiordland and royal penguins. The yellow-eyed penguin is out, it has this yellow streak on its head that you'd have noticed; and there's no way the fairy penguin is getting to two feet tall (especially if it keeps falling on its head like that, Steph knows whereof I speak).

Really they all go in for the light tummy and dark back, if you're spending your life in the sea it's the safest colouration. Some, like the yellow-eyed or the fairy penguins, are more slate blue than black, but they're still your basic colour pattern. OTOH, some penguins are prone to some odd colour variations, like the isabelline. But they'd be noticeably paler than what you saw, almost albino. (The isabelline colouration gets its name from a Spanish princess who got the Low Countries as a dowry from her father, Philip II. Yeah, the Armada guy. Anyway, the Netherlands rebel, and to uphold her father's desire for a united empire, she vows not to remove her underwear until her hubbie's conquered Ostend. Three years it takes him, thus proving that some guys will do any damn fool thing for a little action. So now 'isabelline' refers to a grey-yellow colour morph sometimes seen in penguins. Wasn't that fascinating?)

My guess would be that your penguin was a juvenile just on the verge of getting its adult plumage. It could've been a moulting adult, but I would guess most penguins get tetchy around then. Most penguins can be a bit cranky at the best of times. They have their dignity, you understand. Except the macaronis, because, seriously - macaroni.

People ask me what's my favourite penguin. Like I could choose. ...Ok, top three I could do. Emperor, Adelie, fairy. But that's it.

Penguinpenguinpenguinpenguinpenguinpenguinpenguinpenguinpenguinpenguinpenguinpenguinpenguinpenguinpenguin

Wheeeee!!!!

Also, earwormed:

penguins, penguins, penguins penguins, penguins, penguins, penguins, penguins, penguins, penguins, penguins penguins, penguins, penguins, penguins, penguins Puffin! Puffin! penguins, penguins, penguins penguins, penguins, penguins, penguins, penguins, penguins, penguins, penguins penguins, penguins, penguins, penguins, penguins Walrus! Walrus!