He is a Carolina Mudcat this year.

That's damn cool. I wish we had minor league names.

Emmett is a Cub this year. Thanks for giving us a team name with a championship tradition!

At least we can get the blue pin-striped pants again.

On the flipside, our team had the first two picks in the draft. Which is insane; we've got half an all-star team. We knew we'd get first pick overall because our coach's kids were not on the 11 y.o. all-star team last summer. (They were on the 10 y.o. team.)

We had hoped we'd get a second round pick, but getting the second pick overall was ridonkulous. Not that we were greeted with a room full of resentful glares when we arrived for the draft and a pelting with rotten fruit. But it was widely agreed that we'd gotten an over-generous set of choices.

Emmett was so excited when he heard who we took for our team it almost made up for the Santa Claus mythbusting this year.

vw, do you think the first sentence (the possible!mono) could be related to the next paragraph?

I'm not trying to be snarky; I'm concerned about your health. It seems like you've taken on a LOT lately, with tutoring and school and the after-school kids' program, along with your regular life and quilting and other stuff. Maybe it's a little too much right now. Your health is more important than anything.

And we love you and want you to be a healthy bug.

I know you’re not trying to be snarky, and I really appreciate the care and concern. I’m just uberfrustrated right now. I just had a really tough therapy appointment because of all of this. I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired. I’m sick and tired of my brain not being able to process things and turning it into actual physical illness. I’m actually sick of being me. I’m sick of hearing myself try to explain away another day at work or school. And I’m even more sick thinking about how sick everyone else must be for hearing about this yet again. I’m actually in a space right now where I just want to be locked up and have the key thrown away. I’m never going to be able to function at the level I hope to, and apparently, I’m having a difficult time accepting this right now.

I’m also having a hard time figuring out when to push myself and when to give in. Everyone around me seems to think this isn’t a time to push, but that’s just really hard right now. I want to be the best person I can be, you know? I love this new job, but it’s a good possibility that it’s too much to take on right now. And I hate that. I hate that I’m always giving up things I want because it’s too much for my stupid fragile body.

And I’m sorry for that huge rant. I’d been trying to keep this stuff out of Bitches.

Happy birthday, Connie! May it be filled with gargoyle flights.

all I can think of when I see him is "Bat Manuel!

Me too. Then...mmmm, Bat Manweeeeellll.

Emmett was so excited when he heard who we took for our team it almost made up for the Santa Claus mythbusting this year.

He's becoming a man.

{{{{vw}}}}} I'm so sorry that you are having to go through this. Trying to accept the limits of your body is so very difficult. I definitely think this is a time you should give in, at least for a day or two, because you need to get better.

He's becoming a man.

He's almost bigger than his mom and he's only 11.

Of course, she's wee, but still. He's 4' 11" and 113 lbs (mostly muscle).

Right now, Wednesday looks good, Sparky. Union Station seems like the best bet.

David, it's all hockey all the time. It's his job now. The high school Varsity 1 team is headed to the playoffs (he's the assistant coach). The V2 team (head coach) pulled off its own miracle on ice and knocked a team out of the playoffs in the last game of the regular season. His bantam team is his cross to bear this season. The have no heart and think that they are the greatest things since sliced bread, so there's no need to follow the system or play with any intensity. He's also doing private lessons with goalies with a number of different organizations.

It's a lot of hockey.

Which isn't the worst sort of typecasting, I guess, but probably not what he's going for as an actor.)

Nestor Carbonnell is a very talented actor. I like him a lot. it's hard for me to see him in serious roles, but he's very good in them.

The have no heart and think that they are the greatest things since sliced bread,

Eueucchh, I hate that combination. Emmett's tournament team was like that when he joined but (a) we added star players who were really nice kids and had a ton of heart and; (b) some of the snottier little divas grew up and improved their behavior.

That's a little too much hockey. I think he owes you a summer in Tuscany.