Well done, Teppy's boy!

JZ's birthday is tomorrow, and she was interested in a carrot cake. I might have to peruse recipes.

I got her the best present.

We're back from our whirlwind trip to LA for Kim's wedding. Drove down all day Friday, went to the out-of-towners dinner that night and crashed at the hotel. Saturday lazed around the pool and explored the Los Angeles Central Library (directly behind our hotel) which is So Freakin' Cool.

Wedding Saturday afternoon into the evening. All kinds of hipsters and Angelino bohemians. I got to meet the woman who wrote the screenplay for Slapshot! How cool is that? She also script doctored North Dallas Forty and wrote Ladies and Gentlemen The Fabulous Stains and Swing Shift (which infamously deviated quite a bit from the original script).

Sunday we squeezed in breakfast with Scrappy and WBBF. So fun, and OMG was she looking hot. New haircut + slim, trim Scrappy = sexy. Had a great talk with her BF too, as always.

Then we were able to see my friend Josh and his wife Bonnie who is 39 weeks, belly-button popped, baby-has-dropped pregnant. Then all-day drive back last night.

Could this day get any more stressful?

If the check didn't come? If Toto ate all the Monopoly pieces? If you accidentally dyed your hair green?

Yay, check! Deep breaths for all the hoop jumping to come.

vw, at least the check is there. You'll get it all done, I'm sure.

...mmmm, cake.

is entirely stuffed.

Man, how much do I love the Wicked soundtrack? LOTS. I love it LOTS and LOTS. Yes. And I think that if I keep at it, I may be able to sing along to things without breaking into great wrenching sobs. Possibly. Because they're cracking songs, and it's a shame to not be able to get past the OMGWeep!!! response.

...and I really do rather want Glinda/Elphaba. Yes. Because, OMG, it's even MORE so in the musical than it was in the book. Fabulous. And also, of course, I just love the notion of fanfic derived from a musical derived from a book derived from a movie derived from a book. LOVE. IT.

...so people keep coming to view the flat, which is a total bombsite still, although less so than yesterday. This time the agent doing the showing round was all 'so, can I have your number?' Honestly. Egypt. Yesterday some random Egyptian bloke lurking in the room at the British Embassy was all 'so are you available to go out for a drink', despite the fact that I had engaged with him Not At All beyond a cursory 'hello'.

In Britain, I'd be flattered. Here - well, it is flattering, of course, but also it comes (for me) with a healthy dose of "You, sir, would totally lose your shit if anyone made such an approach to your sister. So clearly you think I'm a random slapper, which - not so much with the flattering, actually."

That said, I think that next year I'm going to be looking back on the whole constant ogling with a whole shitload of wist. Because in Egypt - well, in the Middle East as a whole, actually - fatness isn't a strike against being perceived as attractive. Simply not the issue that it is in the west. Which is a nice paradigm, if you're a fat lass. Thailand, on the other hand, apparently more with the 'Fat Girls Are Total Freaks! Let's mock them!' outlook. Although Thai people generally just say this to other Thai people, rather than to foreigners, which is something, I guess.

...sorry, I've said this before, haven't I? Didn't mean to retread old ground. Back to the point - rental agent hitting on me. God bless Egypt. Captain Appropriate is just not driving the tugboat.

I had one of my friend's Christian buddies do that once. I might have been flattered too if he wasn't thinking Heathen Girls Are Easy. He thought I really was, too. Within an hour, he asked to fuck me. Uh, nice Christian charity, bunk.

So, evil Coldwater Creek sent me a $5 off coupon with my purchase a couple of weeks ago, and it can actually be used on clearance merchandise. The dresses I bought fit like a dream, so if I were to buy something else from them (even though I really shouldn't) should it be this or this ?

Oh, my, I love the first one. The second is pretty, but the first is gorgeous.

I love the first one too, but I am afraid it might cling to my hips and stomach too much. I wish I was better about judging these things online.

Juliana, you were not on my BART train, but I saw a woman who at first glance looked like you, and it was unfortunate that it was not you, as then I could have gotten a hug and a kiss, which I could use this gronktastic morning, Day 21 of Work Till I Drop, on which I have a headache and my shoulder is hurting more than it has been.