I can totally vouch for the coolness of pirate halloweens. I think four of Emmett's first six halloween costumes were pirates (one of them a zombie pirate).

David, I'm so sorry. I hope everything turns out as well as it possibly can given the evilness of cancer.

Susan, yay on pirates!

I'm really not here. Sleeping. Have to get up in 7.5 hours.

Hec, I'm so sorry. Much ~ma to Karen. Chemo is awful, but I hope it does what it is supposed to do and she is around for many years to come.

Have a happy anniversary celebration, Susan.

Much ~ma to Karen.

I just found out that the little boy who lives next door to my parents, who I used to babysit three or four days a week during the summer when he was a toddler, just had a pre-cancerous mole removed. I don't know all the details, but he's supposed to rest for the next two weeks. He's not a great reader and gets bored with TV pretty quickly. His mother has no idea how to keep him occupied and not running around. (I suggested art projects.) Poor baby. (Well, he's 9 1/2 now. Not so much a baby anymore.)

David, all the health vibes in the world for Karen. She'll be in my thoughts.

Susan, the Cute-Bad Pirate Annabel sounds adorable. And yay you and DH getting away for a bit.

Health-ma to your young friend, too, Hil.

Thanks, all.

If I'm reading the charts right she's Stage III. That puts her survival rate a bit better than a coin flip. Actually somewhere between 50% and 64%.

Fucking sucks.

Her youngest daughter is an 8th grader at Emmett's middle school. We saw her the other day and she's aware but sort of blithely oblivious. They've told her, but she really doesn't understand the implications. Which is fine. I know I was when my mother had her first bout of cancer.

I don't know what to do except stop by her house and give her foot rubs.

David, I'm so sorry about Karen's news. I hope the treatment turns out to be aggressive enough.

Job #2 seems to love me to bits, but it just makes my gut churn with dread.

I'ma go a bit against the grain here.

When I decided to take this job, it was with a heart full of desperation and a belly full of apprehension. Lots of reasons I was going to HATE working for Boss. He's too young, he wouldn't "get" me, he'd be an a-hole, etc etc etc. I was convinced I would HATE it.

I was wrong. I love it here, I love what I do, and Boss isn't AT ALL what I thought he'd be and he truly values me, I really believe that. He's like, one of my top 5 favortie bosses and I've never even slept with him! (Well, just that once. Kidding!!!)

Sometimes, I think, the job that just looks like it sucks ass on the outside, actually turns out to taste like lime-aid. Of course, if you hate lime-aid, then it does suck like ass.

...

...

I should eat and be caffinated before adivce-ing people.

Christ, David. Much -ma to your friend.

When we have wireless mic's on actors, we take an unlubed condom and put the transmitter in it to keep the actors sweat from making yukkies with the electronics.

...okay, that wouldn't have been in the top 100 guesses for use-of-condom I'd have hazarded.

Buffista babies - cute! But we knew that.

JZ - I'm thinking that this "go with your gut" thing is good, if you can afford to hang fire a bit. Just because you can't put your finger on why it's a bad choice doesn't mean that you're mistaken in getting the bad vibes about the place.

ion - holy crap, DQ raspberry/oreo blizzard is to die for. Wow. I heart raspberries and chocolate in combination.

So, finished the first week back, and to my pleasant surprise, I think that I'm going to like this class as much as the last class. I mean, I know one is supposed to not have favourites, but in practice each class is different, and some ARE just more immediately engaging than others. And my last year's class were one hell of a difficult act to follow - so very much adorability! But this lot - yeah, I think they're pretty damn adorable too. It's a bit shocking how young they are in comparison to the level I'm now used to (ie, how they'll be by the end of the year), but they're terribly sweet. Terribly. 'Course, one of them's new to the school and doesn't have a word of English, but she'll be okay. She's trying hard, and she seems like a smart kid.

...shall I go and buy some deep fried bananas with sesame seeds to take home? I think I might. Hmm. And maybe some Vietnamese rolls for tomorrow's lunch...

eta

OMG The Trouble With Tribbles, in the style of Edward Gorey!

This wins at life!

Hec, I truly hope Karen can whip cancer's ass and be around for a very long time. Better to fret to us and be strong for her.

Annabel is my kinda girl.

Owen had his first potty success this morning. I made cinnamon rolls to celebrate and we're off to preschool dropoff.