I think Iain (M) Banks is quite possibly my favourite writer, and I think The Wasp Factory is a very self-assured first novel. And I wouldn't have Banks any other way than twisted. But, yeah, it was one of those moments of OMGWTF, for sure.

I've just bought Dead Air of his, one of the few I've not read. Some of his books are less stellar than others, but overall there's a tremendous wealth of wit, creativity, perversity and just fabulousness, imho. (Also, he's a cracking public speaker - v. v. funny indeed.)

I will also not google. I have refrained in the past, and I will refrain again. Really. See me not looking.

sj, I'm sorry I missed you! I ran out to buy some soup, then didn't get back on the computer again all night. I'm on now, though.

I have learned my lesson and will not google. I appreciate being told not to look.

I found it sufficiently disgusting to loop back round to leaving me blank. Yet tubgirl distresses me. Go figure.

The hazards of typos. The AP had this headline online this morning:

Israel threatens respose to new militant rockets

My brain read it as "repose" and wondered how you threaten it.

On the other hand {{{Shir}}} if the craxy is starting again, so soon.

I am very sorry I googled "two girls". Although it did make me look fairly hip with my brother and his friends at a wedding.

For that reason, I not googling and am putting down the Iphone now.

I'm pretty sure the night janitor just told me he can tell I know how to ride a horse because of the shape of my legs.

Fay:

I've been wanting to check out Banks' sci-fi stuff, and somebody gave me Wasp Factory, so I could read his first novel. I like it so far, even though almost nothing has happened yet.

And the review quotes offer all kinds of warnings that there is Bad Stuff in the book (also some praise, though like American Psycho, plenty of reviewers found no redeeming value in the book).

Teppy, when they take your b.p., do they use the regular cuff, or do they get out the bigger cuff? We've got a resident who will ready 200/98 with a regular cuff and 170/80 with the bigger one. I know I have to ask for one when I'm at the doctor's, and that woman has way smaller arm circumference than I have. Not that it changes the fact that your b.p. is higher than it used to be, but it may well not be as high as you think.

I just assume they use a bigger cuff, because the regular one never seems to fit in a way that makes the nurse happy. But I can ask next time I go in.

Party last night ended for me when I (1) had to move my car so some people could leave and then when I got out of the car fell on the ice, hard, on my "bad" side (where my back hurts and the side on which my foot is constantly burny); and then (2) threw up in the hosts' bathroom (not b/c of drinking).

I'm sore today and also wondering why humans don't have a reboot function.

Last time I went to the doctor, they used a really huge bp cuff on me -- it covered my entire upper arm from shoulder to elbow, and then they had to retake the bp about three times because they couldn't get a good reading. I definitely do not trust the reading from that one.