I hope your trip to the dentist goes ok, and that they give you the good drugs.

Oh, about using the word "Dutch" as an insult: I asked my CouchSurfee, a woman from Copenhagen about it. She didn't know what I was talking about. She said there's some kind of using slurs towards Swedish that coming to buy stuff that are cheaper in Denmark (mostly beer), but the main words that are being used to talk about someone coming from a place where people are "stupid" are names of cities/regions in Denmark itself.

Oh, so much ~ma, ita! I really hope this works.

Timelies, all!

Much ~ma to you, ita!

Oooh, gorgeous dress, meara.

Lots of ~ma and vibes to you, ita.

meara, that dress is the shit. It's so bordello gorgeous.

And Bev, I'm sucked in by the decoration and the color. (I love really deep rich teal.) I dunno about the cut-- it appeals to me, right now, I think, since I'm feeling very Pillsbury Doughboy-ish and it would drape rather than cling.

Of course, that means it would probably make me look like a Weeble.

And because it deserves its own post-- lots of ~ma and good thoughts for ita that she finds some relief today.

vw, I'm sorry about the breakup. I would like to say, I find your perseverance and determination to meet your challenges head-on really rather inspirational. Everything you achieve (and I think you achieve a lot) really means something.

Oh, I also wanted to mention, your tales about looking after the kids in daycare reminds me of a book Wallybee and I have been reading about how to raise emotionally mature and well-adjusted kids. By a guy, John Gottman. When you talk about your experiences I always think, "That's what Gottman says you should do!" It's rather nice hearing about it in practice.

Timelies, y'all. I am, despite copious amounts of sleep, gronktastic once again. It is torrenting down outside, and I have a presentation in a business class this afternoon. I will be avoiding caffeine in an effort to dodge the anxiety cluster bombs.

So is the state of the smonster, this day in history.

Jilli, that hat was *made* for you.

Crate-loads of ~ma for ita.

Licking, cuddling, and nibbles all welcomed. Thanks for the enthusiastic greetings - it's good to see all your fonts as well.

I once met a Dutchman who told me the following - if someone belches, one can comment, "I hear you've been working on your German."

I find intra-European insults to be quite amusing, as long as they stay good-humored. I believe that the English used to call going AWOL "taking French leave" while the French called it "filer a l'anglaise," and you can guess what that means.

Billytea, thank you so much. You have no idea how much your words (everyone's words, actually) mean to me.

At the risk of sounding egotistical...I think the way I'm handling this breakup is a tribute to how far I've come. Part of me is sorry that CBD doesn't know/see/understand that, but I do think that is his loss. It did become very clear in the end that we wanted very different things, and we just got very comfortable. We probably never should have been together. Though, I'm glad we were.

Anyways, Saturday night I was flipping out--after CBD and I originally talked about the issues we were having. I was frantically trying to find someone to come be with me. I was afraid I was going to have to go into the hospital--not because I actually needed to. It's just that in the past something like this would have sent me over the edge...especially considering I've been fairly depressed the past couple of weeks.

Instead, I tried very hard to be in wise mind, rather than emotional mind, and I made a decision. I looked at all of the facts and emotions, and decided this wasn't the best thing for either of us. And rather than dragging it out until Sunday, which is when we'd originally agreed to meet again, I said, time to just finish this.

There are times when I wonder who I am. I'm certainly not the same person I was six years ago.

Sorry...that was more babbly than I intended on getting.

Also, billytea, I'm glad you think I'm handling my kids well. I certainly try. I actually use a lot of DBT skills with them...teaching them how to respond...and responding myself in a DBT-like way. I've always loved kids and been good with them, but I do think that DBT has given me even more tangible help with how to work with them.

Thank you again for your kind words. They really do mean a lot.