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.

Animation? No.

And not just animation, that "Animate Yourself" animation that looks all puppet like WITH THE FACE OF A DEAD KID. It had several venues. The first was a field with the animation waving and doing some wacky moves. Then, like a dance floor where, I SHIT YOU NOT, it does a "sexy dance." One was just an abstract swirly black and red roses. The last has the animation with wings and mostly just flaps, but then it zooms in until the face fills the screen.

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.

Oh. My. God. What is wrong with people!

Daisy Jane, any one of those things would have been bad enough, but all together? That re-sets the bar for Utterly Fucked Up.

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.

I came here for an argument!

Thanks y'all. I was beating myself up for being jugdey about it last night, thinking maybe people think a Morgan funeral is weird what with the laughing and fish fry after.

But you guys confirmed it for me (I didn't really talk to any one there about it). Actually fucked up.

One of my cousins just announced she's getting married. She let everybody know yesterday that she's having an engagement party on Sunday. I kind of want to go, since I actually get along with this cousin, but I just can't justify going up to NY for the weekend on such short notice just for this. I'm hoping we'll have more advance notice about the actual wedding.

Actually fucked up.

I don't want to judge other people's grieving process...but, well, I guess I am. It sounds like the things that the MomShaman did were very likely to interfere with other people's grieving processes.

Obviously everyone grieves differently, but with a funeral, being that it's generally a group event, some sort of middle ground needs to be reached that will hopefully speak to most people's needs in some way.

IMO.

The descriptions of those horror-show memorials leave me utterly aghast.

Pictures of Ryan are definitely helping to improve my mood after reading so many posts on the BMI/obesity issue. Ryan is a glorious baby.

I dropped my house and car keys down between the steps up to the back door and the house itself. I can't reach them. Daniel is going to have to move the whole stair thingy. I don't get, now or ever, who designs a set external of stairs with a gap between the house and the top steps.

ChiKat, I get my eyelashes dyed every month or so. It doesn't do much to make them fuller, but it's the only way I've found to make them darker that doesn't end up coating the skin under my eyes. It's pretty painless, quick, and relatively inexpensive. And I should really make an appointment to have them redone.

My ground school class wireless is finally working. I may never learn another thing, damn it.