One of the things that I learned in psychology is that our mind has a template for many different things, and so even from the beginning our memories are often colored by the way we think such things are "suppose" to be.

One of the interesting side effects of this is that thing that happens where you go to a new city and you keep thinking you see people you know, a second before realizing that of course it's not them. Because the brain is trying to do pattern matching - rather than comparing thousands of data points making up a face, it grabs some lesser number and makes a leap to what it already has stored.

Thanks for the link Windy, I got a sample for my cat and for Mom's cat.

The library had their annual booksale today. I didn't get there as early as I liked but that's okay they were still putting out books. They have way more books than they have space, dirt cheap , but there was some confusion over the paperbacks, once I realized that the Norton Anthologies were $1 I went back to get more but there weren't many left, I ended up with 3.

I ended up buying a lot of YA books (they were a quarter)...including several Sweet Valley high books -- including Dear Sister where Elizabeth goes into a coma after being in an accident and wakes up acting "Bad" and goes over to a boy's house and it looks like she might be really sinful and have sex but she slips and falls and gets her memory back. And Kidnapped! where, Elizabeth gets kidnapped by an escaped insane prisoner, this is only about 6 books after Dear Sister. Plus I got some other YA Romances. And some cookbooks from the 60s.

He's old enough for you to say,

Well, sometimes they are, sometimes they aren't. I know there were times, twelve and after, where if my mother hadn't been riding me, I probably wouldn't have gotten it done. I did eventually get the hang of it, but different kids, different, uh, strokes?

I just found this website for a company called SweetSpotLabs [link] (be warned it's very pink! And their logo is a slightly tilted pink triangle). They make grooming products for a woman's "sweet spot", or as they sometimes call it "her heart of procreation". Wipettes, mists, washes. Or you can buy it altogether in a Hormone Harmony package to help with your "self-loving ritual."

For $33 your "sweet spot" can smell like basil grapefruit.

I've pumped gas, gotten back into my car, looked in my side view mirror and I don't remember putting my gas cap back on. And yet, when I double check the mirror, the gas cap is magically on.

I do this all the time while writing email. I send the message and think back on it, think "crap, I didn't even finish that sentence" or "crap, I didn't edit out that comment I didn't really want to say but just typed out for the catharsis", look at the sent message, and see that all sentences are finished and all cathartic comments have been removed. But I have no memory whatsoever of doing it.

Brenda! Get off Raq's butt, she has plans for it!

No, no, it's okay, it's big enough so that there's plenty of room.

One of the interesting side effects of this is that thing that happens where you go to a new city and you keep thinking you see people you know, a second before realizing that of course it's not them. Because the brain is trying to do pattern matching - rather than comparing thousands of data points making up a face, it grabs some lesser number and makes a leap to what it already has stored.

Huh. I always wondered why this happens. Drives me bonkers when it does.

My memory is gloriously crappy though, even when I'm not on drugs. Maybe especially when I'm not on drugs. In fact, who are you people?

You get lower than a C on the project or you don't have it done on time, and you are grounded for ____."

Kid already got straight F's at midterm report and is already grounded. Not thinking that will help much.

Right now, he needs to be stood over or it's not happening at all, and consequences don't help one little bit.

Not to go back to the discussion yesterday, but I enjoyed reading everyone's thoughts. I thought it was a good, while difficult discussion.

I did have a reason for bringing it up, though. I didn't just pull it out of my ass. Apparently, my Big!Boss was a witness for the defense in the trial back in August to prove Atkins was MR. Atkins lost, and his execution was set for December 2. That day is coming up very quickly, and my Big!Boss is helping with appeals. So, there was a lot of flurry in the office yesterday about things related to the case.

I was outraged when I heard the details, and instead of coming into the thread and saying, "I'm outraged about this!", I thought I'd pose the question to you guys and see what you all thought. I think it went as well, or maybe better, than the cheating discussion :).

It appears my new role on the board is to create drama. I may want to work on that.

* * * * * *

I did something stupid today. I went binge shopping when I have no money. I haven't done this for a couple of years. In fact, it's something I've really worked on for many years. I'm feeling stupid and guilty and trying to figure out what to do about it now.

We ALL had to help my brother finish his science projects all the way through high school. It always involved frayed nerves and late nights. He works at an innternational satellite firm now and lives in a cool house in Holland and gets to travel the world, so there you go.

Is there stuff you can take back, vw?