I like Define-a-lash waterproof.

Connie, he just opened up a school about half an hour from me. I'm contemplating the treadle lathe class.

DJ, there are no words. What a horror. Thank goodness you guys were there to be a bastion of strength (and sanity) for him.

ChiKat, since I had to give up my favorite (Full-n-Soft, by Maybelline) for non-cruelty-free issues, I've had really good luck so far with Almay's mascara. Also long lashes, also oily skin (also want the budget-wise-ness of a drugstore brand) and haven't had a problem with it landing on my cheeks - except when I wash my face. That might be my only complaint - it's not even the waterproof, but it still doesn't like to come off with just soap and water.

I'm sure there's more, but as always, no, is too much, let me sum up. {{{Bitches}}}

Blinc Kiss Me is great.

{{DJ}} I can't even imagine. Like Frank, I would find that way OTT in fiction.

{{{DJ}}} That sounds just awful. I'm so sorry for you and for your friend.

Blinc Kiss Me is great.

None of the tubing mascaras should smudge, right?

DJ, I can't imagine the horror of that memorial.

I had a hard time with the open casket at the funeral I went to at the start of the month, but I get that it's valuable for some people (the immediate family seemed to need it quite a lot). Animation? No. Slide shows I get. Slide shows to music I hate, because it ruins the music for me. I had two funerals in a row with "It's so hard to say goodbye" and I haven't been able to listen to that song since.

Connie, he just opened up a school about half an hour from me

I liked in his blurb where he said he had to quit Williamsburg because the fife and drum music was driving him nuts.

Poor DJ. That's the most horrifying funeral story I have ever heard.

When my friend Tom died of AIDS, his service was in St. John the Divine cathedral in NYC which is a glorious space. A "friend" of his, who had not once come to visit him the 18 months he was housebound with the disease, wanted to speak. Instead of speaking, she said her feelings were "too powerful for words" and instead did an interpretive dance with a six-foot rainbow parrot puppet to express her loss.

That sounds horrific, DJ.

I just had yet another fun experience with health care. The student health center called me and told me that my insurance company had requested some of my medical information from them, and I had to go in and sign a form authorizing the release. So, I went in. And I explained to the receptionist why I was there. And she replied, "What information do you want?" I said I didn't need information, I needed to sign the form. She asked me why I was there. I explained again. She asked, "So what do you want to tell us?" I said I didn't want to tell them anything, I came in because I got a phone calling telling me to. This went back and forth, with her asking totally irrelevant and/or nonsensical questions, and me repeating why I was there, for several minutes, until she finally asked for my student ID and showed it to some administrator who pulled out my file and found the form I needed to sign.