Hey there! Am aghast at the whole Valentines for babies rubbish, Empress. Aghast. I thought it was daft enough having a Valentines theme day at the elementary school, to be honest - it's a holiday for post-pubescents, damn it! It's about who you want to shag, not about who you love in a familial or friendly way. I blame Hallmark. My Grade 1 class enjoyed having bright colours and making cards and things, but it was all very contrived, imho: 'no, no, kiddies, this isn't a day about erotic love - nothing to see here! Move along! Your mother can be your valentine!'

Come on!

(Well, unless your mother is Jocasta, I suppose.)

Bless Tickybox. Fighting Nose Crime.

Meanwhile, in the world of me:

Egypt won the Africa cup on Friday - I went out to a coffee shop with a couple of friends and watched the match on TV (despite really not being a sports person) and it was very exciting. The place was heaving -well, everywhere was heaving. I actually found myself praying that they would win, because there'd been such a good atmosphere of hopefulness and pride in the lead-up (we're hosting the games here) and that had really helped minimise the sense of bad feeling towards the west that's been growing in Muslim countries over this whole Danish cartoon business. Losing would have been awful, but winning was fantastic - the whole city was out on the streets, singing and waving flags and generally being thrilled to be Egyptian.

In Britain, all the pubs would have been full and everyone drunk if we'd hosted an equivalent event. Here - well, I sat at a table with a young Coptic couple (who were kind enough to let the 3 of us join them, since the only remaining tables were located in places where one couldn't see the TV screen) and all of us smoked sheesha pipes and drank mint tea and ate (chicken salad w/balsamic & jalapeno dressing, in my case, which I shared with a small orange cat,who was most grateful and then curled up asleep next to me and slept through all the screaming and jumping that ensued during the course of the match) and discussed politics during the half time break.

It was very nice. Then we got a taxi into the town centre, and saw all of Egypt out celebrating, and went to Harry's Pub for karaoke. Where I bumped into my friend J, whom I've not seen for about 5 or 6 years, but who went to University with me & shared a flat with me for a couple of years in London. He'd come to Cairo with his mates to see the football - although as it turned out, they got to the stadium 15 minutes too late. (Egypt being Egypt, they closed the doors at 3pm, even though the match didn't start until 5pm. Many many people with tickets were turned away. Including my mate and his little gang, who'd come all the way from the UK for the match. Bless 'em.)

I'm presently applying for jobs. Have got an interview for a job in Thailand, and a phone interview for a job in Bangalore. Quite exciting. Want more replies from other schools, though. Damn it.

WindSparrow, I didn't think you had a bad attitude about the request from your employers. I thought you were justifiably upset at an unreasonable deadline. I'm glad it's been extended and that you're finding the signs so easy to learn. Good luck!

Fay, sounds very exciting! Yay for fun times. Good luck with the job search.

I'm off to school soon. Starting a new tutoring student this morning...at 8:30am. Ick. Oh, well. It's some extra money. And, I do enjoy the tutoring...feels like I'm helping the greater good.

Also hoping to get ahold of my PCP so I can stop at the hospital and pick up a needed "doctor's note" from her so I can make up an exam I missed on Monday. It's gonna be a busy day. There's a study session from 4-5 for my Behavioral Neuroscience exam that's on Friday. I'm not sure I'm gonna last that long, though.

Fay, that sounds like a great night. Go Egypt! (PS I didn't get the Japan thing.)

vw-- I'm sorry, I feel like I should know this, but what is a PCP?

Fay, sounds like a lovely day for all of Egypt. Those jobs in exotic places sound intriguing, and here is ~ma for finding a position where you will be properly valued.

vw, thank you so much for your encouragement. The thing is, I've been going over the new signs with the lady in question. It's a blast! She loves getting to be the teacher, she loves getting to be the center of attention, and generally helps us feel closer together.

And? We both thought it was hilarious when she signed something (another resident's name, she was asking about his stay at the hospital) to bosslady, and I had to translate, as bosslady was not picking up the meaning. This also illustrates my point about being able to form any number of signs having nothing to do with understanding what the lady is signing. The reason I knew what she was saying, was because I have observed her making those signs - as I was practicing the alphabet. So my study method makes this a win/win situation for the two of us.

PCP= HMO-speak for Primary Care Provider!

And the one person in the Tom/Katie story who hasn't been heard from has their say.

Trudy, if you are around I have sent some Poodle contact info to your hotmail address.

(It's nothing special -- just some National/regional club info plus some rescue leads.)

If the hotmail address isn't good -- email me and I will resend to whatever email you want.

Did you get laid on Valentine's Day?

joyfully raises hand

I'm about as gronked as I've ever been. I mean I'm Gronktina of the Gronkington Gronkwells of Gronkhaven. Jeebus I'm tired.

The 1st annual Beej 'n Fella 'we're morally opposed to Vday but will have fun anyway' event was a huge success.

Scallop scampi over lemon/pepper linguine, steamed broccoli and a salad with Stilton melted into balsamic vinegar, apples and pecans over romaine...crusty bread and smoked gouda. For dessert, the oft-mentioned 70% chocolate cake...which was amazing, if I do say.

Fella said he'd never had a homemade cake! How does that happen?

He brought incredible music, really good wine I drank a little too much of and a nice card.

It was a lovely evening...and way into the morning hours...so not enough sleep for me. So, I'm happy but wasted. Going to be a struggle to stay alert for all my clients today...I work from 10 to 9 on Wednesdays.

How does one tactfully explain a romance hangover?

eta: So wasted I didn't even think to apologize for a lot of skipping and not saying Timelies! Good Morning! Hoping everyone is well!

crawling back into the self-absorbed gronks

Ice cream and umfriend good. Yes.

Did you get laid on Valentine's Day?

Not as such. But....still good.

aw, romance hangover! Fun! Umfriend fun, also fun!