That's an excellent question, Hec. My new theory is that I was snatched as an infant from Seattle and my secret twin, Plei, and placed with some scary but sweet Midwesterners.

Where you were given a replacement twin?

You rarely see that sort of consideration in mythic baby swaps.

Of course, if you were a Skywalker twin you'd be able to find the original family easily what with your name having been kept.

{{{bitches what needs hugs}}}

I must have missed something about Belinda. Why's she so scary? That is my sister's craxy ex boss's name but I presume she's not hiding under your bed.

I have Popeye's with red beans and rice and I just found out I can watch This American Life on Netflix. Life is good.

I'm finding it a little disturbing how much I can relate to xkcd: [link]

Laga, "Belinda" is (apparently) the name of an abomination before man and God. It is a big furry white cat-thing with a baby face (trust me, this description does not begin to convey the horror). Hec's sister gave said abomination to Hec and LZ as a present for baby Matilda a while back, and the picture of this...thing...scarred many of us for life. For some reason, our dear Nicole decided that she wanted it, and so it became hers. She keeps it in the guest room closet. Which terrifies us all.

I would link to a picture, but I can't find one. You should feel happy about that since you will be spared the nightmares.

I think a link was posted in a former Bitches thread.

abomination before man and God

oh that thing yeah. I saw a picture ::shudder::

check out the Bremen town musicians

Hil, I'm not too far off from you. Curled up on couch in soft sweatpants and hoodie, had a nice big bowl of sorbet, cataloging CD's and ripping them again. God this takes a long time. Quite the hot date night, doncha think?

OK, so hivemind question. It seems I may have a date next week, thanks to some e-mail exchanges in match.com. It seems she's a hiking/outdoorsy type, which is great... except I'm not so good at the hiking, what with the sticks and all. It seems like it is a key hobby of hers, next to reading. Do I make a point of being on the sticks before the date? (clearly still self conscious about this, even at 36)

Omnis, I think I'd say not to make a point of it before the date unless it comes up naturally, but I'm not sure. I can't think of a way to make, "By the way, I noticed you like hiking. I use crutches" not be awkward. But I'm not sure. I don't think that, just because she likes hiking, she expects everyone else to, too.

Can't wait to come home. Sound and Video automation is making my head throb.