So. I just cleaned out my profile linked email...Uhm if you've emailed me in the last 6 months, I am so very sorry and I suck.

Sox, that sounds dreadful. I take it you've complained to the company organizing the work? Not that that often helps these things.

I don't feel defective for not having kids, but I do feel a little out of step for not wanting them.

That's an interesting point. People never believe me when I say I don't want kids. It's like they can't imagine why someone wouldn't. For the past dozen or so years, people have told me I'll change my mind when I'm older/meet someone/get married/get bored at work. I continue to prove them wrong. Maybe I'm broken. But I also don't think it's my personal social responsibility to repopulate the world or sort out the UK's ageing population crisis.

It is never ever just quiet in London. Ever. And I'm going to snap and start screaming at people and then I will be one of 'those' Londoners.

Heh. It is a problem. And a big part of why I'm about to move. There's a good reason why the British Sign Language sign for 'London' is a variant on the sign for 'noise'. Next week, we are looking forward to night-time work on the railway bridge that we live right next to. From 11pm until 5am for six nights in a row. I am going to buy heavy-duty earplugs.

Sending nothing~ma to Raq as well.

From 11pm until 5am for six nights in a row.

Oh dear crap.

We have lots of fireworks going off until about three in the morning, I think because of Ramadan. It's like people are saying "Well we're up anyway, let's set off some fireworks!" If memory serves, there's only meant to be fireworks for one of the nights.

Oh, boy. Construction near homes during sleeping hours. Ick. Sanity~ma to Sox and Seska. (I just went through this last month.)

I would have broken long before.

I'll admit that waiting this long to lose it has shocked even me. They promise to be done by September.

Seska, yes we formed a neighborhood group after we learned that the workers had claimed to be 'polling the street' for opinions about closures and impact and dust... but that no one we could find in a door-to-door quest had been asked. I reckon they were actually talking to the pavement.

From 11pm until 5am for six nights in a row.

this? I would snap like a twig.

Health~ma to amyth's brother and let-it-be-nothing~ma for Raq.

I think this is why I love this board so much. So many of you have the same problems and same questions I do. I haven't been in an LTR in over 20 years. I've been NGA for over 10. Like Zenkitty, I left a town I said I would never return to, but 18 years later found myself back there and happy to be there. Yet, because of you guys, I don't feel alone, I don't feel hopeless. I may feel occasionally lonely, but only until I come on here and read about all the cool things my friends are doing. I'd like to be in closer proximity to more buffistas, but I really like my town and am loath to leave. I'm making friends, though, with local lj buddies, so my social circle is growing. And while it took time, I had you guys to light the way for me and make me aware of the so much wider world of fandom. It has changed me in ways I wouldn't have guessed years ago and, I think, very much for the better.

And, in totally random news, one of the program coordinators came in and dropped off a basket of garden greens for me: cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, basil and sage. I think I'm going to make a salad for lunch!

Nothing~ma for Raq.

Strength~ma for P-C's brother.

And going back a bit --

And people who tell you it's a good time to take up pottery, or learn Sanskrit, or form a religion (since you have all that free time)? FULL OF CRAP.

I'm not sure I entirely agree. In the sense of "you have time for self-improvement," yes. But if you're interested in a relationship, it's a way to meet people with whom you have at least something in common. Couples have met in crazier places than pottery class.

IOcuteN [link] shows that parenting really isn't for everyone. Also, as in other matters, location is everything.

Thanks for the ~ma. I have a photo shoot for this tomorrow, so we'll see. My money's on cyst also, because otherwise I'd be the only person I know who GAINS weight from a malignancy.

Sox, yuck. Because you totally need that kind of disruption right now.

And if you’re not absolutely positively sure that kids are something you want, you maybe shouldn’t have them?

ITA. I am so glad we didn't have a kid until we wanted one. Sure, we're comparatively old for parents, but a) I did not have my shit together earlier and would've sucked as a mother; b) we got to have lives and do stuff; and c) I just didn't want kids.

As for more than one? I think it's the same as having one in the first place. You either feel like it's right for you or not right for you.

If memory serves, there's only meant to be fireworks for one of the nights.

Eid fireworks seem to last for as long as people can find fireworks to set of.

P-C, much coping~ma to you and your bro. And his GF. I'd wish coping to your parents and sister also, but I suspect they don't want to cope with it.