I was sort of confused the first time someone thought my kids were the other gender but it doesn't bother me. They're both of middling sized, too.

O's also getting to a stage where he likes pink. A lot. I'm waiting for him to ask me to paint his fingernails. I've already got the polish picked out.

ita, I'm sorry to hear you didn't pass the test.

Kat, you sound very ambitious for a woman with staples!

Beverly -- that's Danny Strong as in the one we know?!!!??? If so, wow.

Bev, that is so freaking cool and awesome! I had no idea! Go him!

I know I shouldn't care about the uninformed guesses of total strangers, and I truly wasn't bugged the first ninety times Matilda was identified as a boy half her actual age; as of the ninety-first, though, it did get a bit irritating.

Oh, I know I've said so elsewhere, but Kat, congratulations to you, and all best health wishes to all of you. Grow, babies, and heal, mama!

ita, I have no adequate words. I'm very sorry you didn't pass, but I remain immensely impressed with your dedication and the effort over months of physical debilitation, the stress of unemployment, and other factors.

Who would ever want to spend time with Allyson? Must be a loser.

THIS IS WHAT I AM SAYING.

We were going to have lunch, but my week is all booked with work friends taking me out, already. So then I said maybe we should just meet up for tea after work, which he thought was a good idea.

But then he called this morning to ask if I'd like to go to an Italian place that is in between where we both live, on Wednesday, because he's not on call, then. And then we talked about car chases on the 5.

Oh, and Matt, I'll totally send him East. Friends don't owe friends finder's fees. Just don't gloat about how fantastic he is in the sack. That's all I ask.

THIS IS WHAT I AM SAYING.

Bah. You're ridiculous! Everyone wants to spend time with you! I don't know if he's your lovah or what, but still I say YAY DINNER.

Dude! He likes you!

No, no, I think he likes my agent. If someone sent my book stuff to an agent for me, I'd totally want to buy them dinner.

Hm. I owe erinaceous dinner, it seems.

OH MY GOD ALLYSON JESSE BOTH OF THEM JUST CALLED ME A LOSER!!!!

runs sobbing from the thread

Bush Refuses To Set Timetable For Withdrawal Of Head From White House Banister

WASHINGTON, DC—Though critics have argued that he does not understand the futility of his current situation, President Bush announced today that he has no plans to remove his head from its current position: wedged painfully between two balusters on a White House staircase.

"Setting a timetable for withdrawal of my head would send mixed messages about why I put my head here in the first place," Bush said at a press conference on the Grand Staircase. "I am going to finish what I set out to accomplish here, no matter how unpopular my decision may be, or how much my head hurts while stuck between these immovable stairway posts."

Democrats, emboldened by electoral victories that gave them control of both houses of Congress, are calling for Bush to begin withdrawing his head from the banister immediately.

"Why does the president refuse to pull his head out of that banister?" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a speech yesterday. "Hasn't he had his head in there long enough? We'd all like to know just how the American people are being served by him keeping his head in that banister."