Yeah, but my parents, not so much.

Well, they produced three pretty great kids, they must be doing something right.

P-C, you've got a good sister there. What everyone else said, and stop driving yourself CRAXY with the résumé watch!

{{vw}} So sorry about the red tape tangle. My fingers are crossed for your mom.

Libkitty, feel better!

I didn't have to actually cross a picket line today, but there were some people outside my building. (I enter the campus on the other side, so I came up behind them.) I suspect that this corner is very popular with those who have to picket because there are lots of cars going by but, more important, three coffee shops with good offerings right nearby.

Aww, P-C, your letter made me miss my own sister. Only she's not 14 anymore, which makes her more fun to hang out with, but a bit less cute and adowable.

Also, I agree that your parents' fear, though not really ideal or a good picture of their understanding of the American environment, is not really a sign of lack of faith. It's not that they don't believe you can be a good writer, is just that they don't believe ANY writer can earn a living. They're afraid that you'll be poor and miserable, which hurts them, so they're keeping the options open to continue supporting you if their fears come true. I think it's as much a sign of their love for you as anything else.

The picking out a bride for you thing I have much less sympathy about, but I think that's a purely cultural disconnect of the type that is very, very hard to bridge.

Job~ma to all and sundry. Goodness. The application and interview gnomes have been busy.

I would love to hear the lunch-time conversations over at the LoC.

That would be fun. Although I suspect b.org is similar at times. I wonder if there's a companion book called "The Feminine Chalice" or suchlike.

Today is my wedding anniversary. I'm fairly sure Hubby doesn't remember, but I'm not going to say anything. I despise those situations where women use anniversaries and birthdays like some sort of trap or test. Just because he doesn't remember the exact day we got married on doesn't mean he lacks respect for the marriage or anything like that.

In any case, he's got lots of other things on his mind, like his health, his job prospects, my health, etc. He doesn't need extra grief from me on such a piddly thing.

For what it's worth, today is our legal 19th anniversary (we lived together for nearly a year before and got married just to formalize things and to stop upsetting landlords). I've said for years that I want to spend our 20th in Vegas, so I'm cool with bringing that up. If we don't manage to be in Vegas on June 14th, big whoop.

Today's my parents anniversary, too, connie. Also my uncle's birthday, which he wasn't very happy about on the actual wedding day (he was 7).

Here's to next year in Vegas!

Here's to next year in Vegas!

It's not "next year in Jerusalem", but it's mine.

From the Washington Affairs Person for my Librarian group:

Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) credits librarians for first raising concerns about Sec. 215 of the USA Patriot Act with legislators during debate over the USA Patriot Act in 2001. Sanders heard our message, and he introduced the Freedom to Read Protection Act in 2003 and 2005 to exempts libraries and bookstores from Sec. 215.

As he did during the last Congress, Sanders is now ready to introduce an amendment to the House Commerce, Justice, State (CJS) Appropriations bill to cut off funds for library and bookstore searches under Section 215. His amendment came close to passing during the 108th Congress, and we need your help TODAY to get additional cosponsors so that it is added to the FY 2006 CJS bill.

Please take a few minutes TODAY to CALL your representative and urge her/him to support the "Sanders-Otter-Conyers-Paul-Nadler-Udall Freedom to Read Amendment." The U.S. Capitol switchboard is: 202- 224-3121, or find your member's DC and district office phone numbers at:

http://www.house.gov

Happy Anniversary, connie!

Happy Anniversary, connie! Hats off to you for not making a big deal about it. In my marriage, I am the spouse most likely to forget the actual day. At the moment, though, our ketubah has a prominent position in the living room so it would be really embarrassing if I did.