Gronk.

Happy New Year to those celebrating.

Raq, good for you on that (possibly) painful step.

Tep, that sucks about the bar. Assclowns, indeed.

Emily, I have no idea what happened, but much booze to you.

vw, nice! Yay for coasting.

YAY JOE'S NEW JOB!! WHOOT!!!

I would never assume that I get to stay at someone's place, unless I'm explicitly invited. I have a problem even asking.

Yay, gainful employment for Joe! I wish we could help by calling up and asking about RV parts.

I hate to ask people for anything, much less to stay at their houses.

Teppy, that bar thing is just weird. What do they think you're going to do?

Yay, job-having Joe!

There are supposed to be angle brackets around my tag (lovingly provided by a co-worker) but I haven't had enough coffee to figure out how to make it work. Instead, I'll just up my crankometer.

Congrats to Vortex, it looks like a great house.

Congrats to Joe, also.

Raq, I'm really glad you stood your ground. I see that you mention nothing of telling your sister never to contact you again, only that she is not to come for this visit. It sounds like you did not specifically shut down the lines of communication, but are leaving it to your sister to come to her senses, apologize and learn to have more realistic expectations of you.

I also wonder if her son is aware of and uncomfortable with her boorishness, and that is why he wants to keep his family away from his fiance's family until the big day. If so, smart kid.

GC, < and > will do it for you.

I knew ita would come to my rescue!

Raq, sorry about the family craziness. I always prefer to stay in a hotel. The only family member who I would assume I could stay with without asking would be Mom, and I still always ask.

I just picked up a one day pass for a gym for Monday! I've been putting this off for years. If there are enough machines that I can do to make it worth my money, I'll be joining on Monday. My goals are to ease pain, gain some strength, and lose some weight in that order.

Every mosquito bite I have - and I count 12 just around one ankle - has just started to itch like crazy.

imustnotscratchimustnotscratchimustnotscratch

The only family member who I would assume I could stay with without asking would be Mom, and I still always ask.

I was going to say the same thing - I do assume that my old room is still MY ROOM when I'm in town, but I still don't think I'd just show up uninvited.

Raq, I am repeating the good on you for sticking to your guns. It's always hard to do with family and even harder when they throw in the emotional bullshit manipulation.