I just need to go create a custom list of the people I want to read, instead of scrolling through all (good God!) 891 "friends".

That is a very sane plan.

Could she be skittish about being touched on her nubby because of (1) genuine pain (which the vet has never indicated is a possibility), or (2) because of *our* assumptions about it and subsequent actions (like, hesitance to touch the nubby, etc.), which she then picks up on?

Yes and yes. She may have developed a patterned preference for having her nub left alone and anytime she has shied away from being touched there, YOU were patterned to expect a negative response. It becomes a cyclical thing.

She may not be in physical pain, though it is very difficult to tell such things with out muscle testing technology. For instance, Bartleby had a broken tooth for six months when I got him. I actually brushed exposed pulp without knowing it and he never flinched. I've heard loads of stories like that.

It may be that the skin stretched over the nub is uncomfortable when touched or stretched.

If you were of a mind to, you could train her out of disliking having her nub touched by making every touch a jackpot experience for her. But, unless it is a problem with vets needing access that she denies, I think you could chock it up to, she doesn't like it. Goodness knows, I don't like having MY nub touched. (uninvited, of course)

I really need to do some hardcore reviewing of the clinical research on this subject, but in the meanwhile, I can say that most behaviorists suggest the very strong difference between associative and sense memory.

"My dog hates [fill in the blank] people"...which I hear far too often...is bollocks because dogs have no association of 'what [fill in the blank] people are like.' Not even if such a person abused them in some way. There is simply not enough of the right kind of cortex for that neurological association.

The one exception is persons of diminished capacity who have unbalanced energy whom dogs generally perceive as either threats or targets.

"My dog doesn't like storms" is based on a physical preference that is reinforced by the memory of the humans around them.

It's fascinating stuff that I try to simplify by suggesting that there are certain things we can tell by a dog's behavior and MANY more things that we make assumptions about. When in doubt, take the most practical, least intellectual route and your dog will thank you for it.

Heh. I'm almost done with the second Emily of New Moon book. I just got to a scene where Emily, who wants to be writer, mentions to her teacher that she's been reading Mrs. Hemans' poems. [link] Her teacher tells her that those poems are not of the literary quality that she ought to be filling her mind with, and if she wants to read such stuff, she should just go and read Elsie Dinsmore. (I gave up on Elsie somewhere around the time that she went to the Worlds Fair, when the past several books had basically been spent with the characters sailing up and down the east coast and telling each other about Revolutionary War battles and how good and patriotic they all are, and how all these immigrants aren't really Americans. Also in there was a fairly terrifying scene where a 12-year-old girl was essentially bullied by her father into saying that she accepted Christ.)

London rocks, and if you go to the British Museum, have a cheap lunch or dinner across the street at wagamama (also, the Cartoon Museum is near there)

Also, I recommend either of the Tates, but Tate Modern just a skosh more.

I realize I'm a day late on this discussion, but if someone has some ativan or clonazepam that could use a good home my unemployed uninsured self would cheerfully oblidge.

[Edit: I am giggling at the self-explanitory nature of that sentence. "Why do you think you're having anxiety symptoms again, Trudy?" "Well, if I were to take a wild guess, doctor..."]

So, I've had some sleep, and am feeling better.

Trudy, I'm really, really sorry I got cross with you. I know it wasn't intentional and that you were joking, you just had the misfortune of hitting me literally square in the place that has been the source of my deep depression.

If I have inadvertently done the same to you in turn with my response, I'm very, very sorry.

Hugs & Kisses, Seany. It's all good.

Go see cool London things. Or thing -- pick one and run with it.

Hugs and kisses back.

It did not help on my end that, after the long travel day, we had to take an hour long tube ride from Heathrow to Covent Garden with a BILLION suitcases, and the tube was packed. Then, the "five minute walk" to the flat, turned into an hour long adventure dragging our BILLION bags behind us, trying to figure out where the hell we were, using a not-detailed-enough map. By the time we got to the flat, my shoulders, neck and head all felt like they were about to fall off.

Our flat (that I'm only staying at one day.... BOO!) really is a five minute walk from Covent Garden, if you follow the directions correctly.

For those who know London, we are on Tavistock St at Drury Ln. We are less than a block from the Duchess Theatre and the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. I don't know where War Horse will be showing, but I'm not in charge of the tickets.

As for what we'll do today, I really don't know. Y'all are making me REALLY want to go to the British Museum, which I already wanted to do but was going to skip because I had the impression that it was like the Smithsonian in that you want to spend a couple of days visiting it.

Even if you can do it in a day, I kind of want to get as much of London as I can in this day that I'm here. It's hard to say what we'll do today. Dad and I are about to look at a map, and discuss some possibilities.

As for the weather.... I'm so glad to be in London right now. Italy was much hotter and more humid than I thought it would be. Ninety degrees and very humid. I was sticky every day, and usually showered at least twice.

Last night and this morning, I AM A LITTLE CHILLY! I'm finally glad I brought my leather blazer with me, that has hidden in my suitcase for the entire trip.

The other thing that has been striking for me is the mix of people you run into. Not that I expected nothing but wall to wall white people, but it has been quite beautiful to see.

In Italy, we regularly saw Africans with that gorgeous deeeeeeeeeep ebony skin, like Djimon Honsou's. SO BEAUTIFUL!

Here in London, I was almost startled at how many Middle Easterners and Indian Subcontinenters come to the UK. I have never personally seen so many veils and chadors in one place as I did in the passport queue at Heathrow, and then again with their relatives waiting to pick them up past baggage claim.

And so many different Hindu/Jainist/Coptic head wraps. It's fascinating to see so many different ones in one place, knowing that each different kind/way of wrapping means something different.

The one thing I do need to do today is pick up the last souvenir for a friend -- a box of PG Tips for a Anglo/London-o-phile friend.

Oh, and find any place to get a real scone with clotted cream.

Our host (who's not here, he's at my dad and Step-mom's place in San Francisco) has excellent taste in videos, by the way. X-Files, Simpson's, Futurama, Family Guy and.... BUFFY! Among other things.

He also has excellent taste in beer, except..... Okay, keeping your Guinness at room temperature, fine. But keeping your Stella Artois at room temperature???? COME ON!

Forgive him Sean, it's a British thing. Put a couple in the fridge, and drink them later.

So I am finishing up season 2 of Mad Men. It's really creepy how women are treated in the show, and I'm guessing, back then.