askye, it's nice to "see" you, and I'm glad you're working through this kind of stuff.

Plei!! Squee!!

We used to rent a block and a half away, so we know the neighborhood really well, too. No surprises.

Oh that is rad! I rented a place for two years two blocks away from the street I eventually bought. I'd always walk down the street where my home is and wish I'd be able to live there. And now I do!

ABBY!!!!!!!!!!!

How are you?

Is the bathroom bigger than 5 x 6?

Yes. It's also the laundry room, which I'm totally down with, but Paul isn't as much. But it's much bigger than we have now.

I missed you too Ple!

I want to say that one of the things I'm thinking of focusing on is more on email people and reaching out that way.

and I am getting to find myself and some inner strength.

I have to run off to work again soon. Oh and this weekend I'll be out of town at a cousin's wedding.

Ooh, that totally feels closer than your other place, Plei!! And I like to paint! Um, if you wanted to paint the walls or anything.

I am still only half awake. Bleh. Have a phone interview in two hours, and just realized as I was going to sleep that they would probably ask me those stupid "tell me about a difficult situation" questions. Have no good answers. BLEH!

That's a wonderful house, Plei! DH and I are insanely jealous, but glad to have y'all on this side of the Ship Canal. When do you move?

Yes. It's also the laundry room, which I'm totally down with, but Paul isn't as much.

Laundry in the bathroom is awesome (my friends' house where I lived for 6 months when I moved here had that). You can time doing laundry so that your towel is finished in the dryer just when you finish your shower. Divine!

You totally have good answers! You've been a loyal worker bee at companies in trouble twice now! That's a difficult situation!

We may have a local painting party. For both places, actually. Stay tuned.

Going back a bit -- my parents insisted that I learn on a manual, so much so that they were very upset that the school's driver's ed cars were all automatics. (I went to high school in a town with a big GM plant -- the school had a deal with GM for driver's ed cars.)

I've taught several people to drive manual. What works best is, "I'll drive for a while, and you sit in the passenger seat. Watch my right hand and my feet."

they would probably ask me those stupid "tell me about a difficult situation" questions. Have no good answers. BLEH!

I hate those. I'm thinking about making something up.

"Well, one prior employer turned out to be an elaborate front for a joint CIA/Mossad/Vatican conspiracy to seize control of the United Nations through a combination of propaganda, advertising and MK-Ultra mind-control techniques utilizing the phone services. This didn't really come to light until we were attacked by a crack squad of cybernetically enhanced ronin acting under the orders of an Artificial Intelligence that called itself Mr. Pooky. Mr. Pooky had been built by a crypto-anarchy underground movement called "Cockblock" that prided itself, as a whole, on smashing conspiracies just to smash conspiracies. So, that day, I had to fight off three of Mr. Pooky's cyber-samurai with a staple remover, expose my "boss" as a genetically enhanced alien/human hybrid super-brain encased in a large aquarium full of oxygenated fluorocarbons disguised as its desk (the mandroid behind the desk was a sophisticated puppet, see), and avoid being mentally subverted by Mr. Pooky flashing subliminal mind-controlling messages at me hidden in a complex fractal-pattern jpeg, all while dealing with a Mrs. Hewitt-Smythe of Boston, Massachussetts who needed to have her tax forms explained to her.

Thank God it was a Friday, you know?"