I've hard a sort of ache and feeling of weakness in my left hip/butt. It goes away when I do the stretch Steph mentioned here (all I can remember is the dominatrix part, and not the actual name.)

Ha! It's the piriformis muscle.

Those soldiers are perceived as "broken". It's a huge part of Army culture.

I don't know if anyone here knows (or knows OF) ginmar, on LiveJournal, but she's an Iraq veteran with severe PTSD -- she doesn't drive, and she can't take the bus because it sounds to her exactly like a Humvee and triggers flashbacks and massive panic attacks. So the VA had been providing transportation for her until recently, when they stopped. So now she has no way to get to the VA. She posted about it on DailyKos recently, as well as in her own LJ. It's a shitty, shitty situation.

Yeah, he was fine- I magicked it all away with gin-based cocktails.

Thank dog for that. I know bad shellfish can do a serious number, but I bet the one he spat out was the offending critter.

Ryan is too adorable!

Congratulations, Nora! I know that is a load off. Woohoo!

Happy birthday, Miss Jilli!

Tep, you turned the board pink!

Aw, I wish I had seen it. Would love a pink board!

Oooh, Pete is taking me to Purple tonight. The place that a bunch of us went during the f2f!

ginmar is an amazing writer. Her personal stories and the stories of her friends, the connections she draws between them and larger policy and culture issues for the US military, and the background reading and research she does are awe-inspiring. I've even gotten weirdly fond of her unapologetically abrasive style; some readers seem to just get antagonized and flamey, but there's such a weight of experience and knowledge behind the bristling.

In a completely different way, with a different focus and different background, she's still totally in what I vaguely think of as the Jilli-erika class: how is she still scrabbling for notice instead of being paid buckets of money every time she sets pen to paper?

Happy Birthday Jilli! Congratulations Nora!

JZ, for what it's worth, you're in that same class. I love all of the Buffistas for their various talents, writing among them. But it's impossible for you to write anything, even if it's just one sentence, that doesn't sing. I'll say it right here, in front of God and everyone, that you're my favorite Buffista writer. No, hell, you're one of my favorite writers, period, and if I were rich I'd pay you to write just for me the way people would have Mozart write songs just for them.

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY Jilli!!!

AND NORA, YAYAYAYAYAYAYYAYAYAY! I am so happy and relieved for you. (But not at all surprised).

You flatter me, Ms. Zmayhem. Although I have the same thought every time I see Seth McFarlane. And not because I'm such a genius, either. Because, okay, he watches TV and makes gimp jokes. I watch TV and make gimp jokes. When he does it, it's "OMG, so edgy and brave!!1" When I do it, it's(skeptical face) "Ok, but this doesn't have the makings of a crossover pop hit." I think it's safe to say that sometimes I hate Seth McFarlane, but the whole topic just reeks so hard of my thwarted intellectual vanity, I don't *even* bring it up. But I think it a lot. Fuck you, McFarlane...go back to Quahog and eat ramen for a while and see how damn brave you are.

Oooh, Pete is taking me to Purple tonight. The place that a bunch of us went during the f2f!

Awesome! I wish I'd gone on one of the earlier expeditions. Much as I nommed at Wild Ginger, I think Purple was some of the best food I had on the trip.