No Christmas music allowed until AT LEAST after Nov. 17th.

That's....oddly specific!

My goal is to see whether she can take care of a house.

@@ I mean, I'm all for appreciating the cultural context of this wife search, but... jeez. The whole process is highly sexist.

But I have my cranky pants on, because I am sick, sick, sick and OMG DID I MENTION I TAKE MY MAKEUP COMP EXAM THIS WEEKEND????

The good news is, it doesn't appear to be the swine flu, just a really bad and icky and painful sore throat with a head cold as gift with purchase. It appears to be immune to advil, sudafed, and nyquil (well, the generic versions thereof.)

And I really, really don't want to fail this exam again. To be understated about it.

OK, in less grumpy mode:

YAY JILLI-JOB!

Hooray for erin's house! (sorry about the computer though)

It's sort of good that I'm at a conference and already in Meeting People I Don't Know mode,

Yeah, totally! Good perspective.

Also, WHOA, Fay.

Seska, have you ever read PhD-Piled High and Deeper? It's all about navigating dissertation and other fun grad school stuff.

I haven't talked to this girl at all, so it's essentially a blind date. Any blind date advice from previous blind date havers?

I met Lewis on a blind date. Of course, it was so blind, neither of us knew we were going on it. I was just in it for the wings. We were also set up by mutual friends who thought we'd have a ton in common and on the surface they were right, but in the long run, it's been the differences that have provided some of the best moments in our relationship. Some strife, too, obviously, but the differences I think are what make us interesting to each other. And of course, after twenty years, the changes we've both gone through.

Which does NOTHING to answer your question. Look-- you're meeting in a hotel lobby? Any chance there's a coffeeshop nearby? Get something to drink and just chat and you know... be normal people? (Crazed marriageminded parents notwithstanding?) Don't be afraid to mention you like comics, but like the others said, don't launch into a dissertation. Or if you do, be aware of it and be somewhat self-deprecating about it. Awareness is a big thing. Ask her what she's into. You know... be a nice guy.

Cheerios (and not the Sue Sylvester kind)

YAY erin on new housageness!

I'm so, so glad we have a wave of good news here. Hey, maybe the epidemic will stick to me (I feel like they universe owes me big time after my summer. Breaking most beliefs and Thing I Knew about the World without a proper support system or fair warning was more than I could handle rationally).

And a lot of ~mas to those who are coping with pain, stress and/or deadlines.

Okay, colour me intrigued - wherefore the concern? (Also - thanks for the earworm, mate!)

I just got the general notion that if someone doesn't love another romantically speaking, it considered to be a case of lack of respect. WTF? Love does not equal respect.

buy their tickets and visit the museum and then feel it was appropriate to PISS ON THE GRAVES.

Now that's a true, real case of said lack of respect.

I'm gonna bake muffins now.

Look-- you're meeting in a hotel lobby? Any chance there's a coffeeshop nearby?

Yeah, I believe that's the plan.

Don't be afraid to mention you like comics

It just may come up, since I am going to call my comic book store today and buy stuff over the phone during their sale.

In two hours, I speak on a panel about creative nonfiction. Man, my whole life is creative nonfiction.

Oh, Topic!Cindy, I sure hope that good~mapidemic will get to you, pronto. I really hope it's nothing~ma on the way to you.

I sure hope that good~mapidemic

Heh. This makes me think there should be a Buffista take on the Verizon take on the iPhone commercials. "Worried about scary hospital tests? There's a ~map for that."

I just got the general notion that if someone doesn't love another romantically speaking, it considered to be a case of lack of respect. WTF? Love does not equal respect.

Oh! See, my reading is very different. This:

I'm so in love with you/ I'll be forever blue/ What religion or reason/ Could drive a man to forsake his lover?

makes me read the whole song as being about someone who has dumped him/is still in the closet and denying the relationship, rather than being about wooing someone. So there's a definite lack of respect involved.

(That aside - you're quite right that love, or indeed sex, doesn't equate to respect. I've generally assumed that in the Otis Redding version of R.E.S.P.E.C.T. 'respect' was being used at least in part as a euphemism for sex, making the Aretha version that much more of a reversal - anyone else got any thoughts on that one?)

Cindy, lots of it's-really-nothing-serious~ma for you this morning!

Hee. ~mapidemic took me a moment of thinking, "That doesn't sound like any other transliterated Hebrew word I've ever read." Thanks, Shir. I'm just jumpy. Also, I have residual excitement. The only other times I've ever had an ultrasound, it's been to get baby spoilers, you know? So I keep thinking, "Whee, ultrasound!" And then, "Oh yeah, no, no whee here."

Thanks, everyone.