Today I actually had to say, "Whether or not I smile is on me, not you. You don't have that power or responsibility." Totally hurt his feelings, yet I totally don't care.

This is the right thing. I hate to hurt people's feelings, and will avoid it if/when I can, but what this comes down to if hurting his feelings briefly so that everyone can be happy later. Of course, this may be a knee jerk reaction to people telling me to smile, because it enrages me.

DJ: You know, I just assumed they were married? How very heteronormative of me.

Ha! No, but most people assume that. In fact it was a very conscious decision to have the kid and not get married. Neither of the K's are married to their significant others.

Erin can you box some of her shit up and just mail it to her?

Jen sorry about your sitch. Sounds like you made it clear to the guy to back off. Not sure what else you can do but keep repeating that.

Or even, Erin, tell her "Do you want X, Y, and Z? If you don't let me know by (date), I'm going to have to donate it, I'll give you the receipt for tax purposes...otherwise, it'll be $xx to ship it"

I think I'll keep it, and then send it back with her husband in October. Or have it boxed up, and say, I'll ship it out to you guys, it's $X.

His drums are in the garage, and I'm going to ask him to find a new home for them then, also. It would be awfully nice to be able to PARK in the garage this winter.

I hit a low motivation point this afternoon, but then when I started pulling stuff out, M and D got into the act and I am getting more stuff out. It's good. I promised M for all the kid stuff he pulled out, he could keep the profits, so he's getting rid of a few things.

Now I have to nerve myself to go in the gross basement and go through at least a few boxes and salvage some stuff to get rid of. I think I will try to pull two bags of crap out of the basement for each trash day. That's doable, right?

Hi Spidra! Best wishes on your move and transition.

Cute shoes! [link]

He's reviewing Dinner For Schmucks and talking about the original French version.

Oh, sweet Jesus. Diner des Cons! THAT'S why the plot sounded so familiar.

I was catching up on an issue of The Week magazine and was just pissed off at everything!! I hate the world and the news reporting covering it.

For real. I took on some eejit today on a friend's FB page saying that NPR was just as slanted as Fox. NO, NO, AND FUCK NO, IN THAT ORDER.

M**** is VERY stuff oriented

Darling, did you mean to use his full name? You generally don't, here.

Can I bitch about the weather? In the 10-day forecast, the lowest high is 94 degrees (the highest is 100). We had a little break over July 4 weekend, but it's been in the 90s for what feels like months now, and I am so tired of it.

You know me, I love the summer, but even I am tired of it.

With my kids it was teaching them to separate want from need.

...still working on that meself.

So anyway, here we are on Thursday afternoon. Should I call again? Should I just accept the fact that it's New Orleans and shit sometimes takes a while and just relax and wait?

Have you checked with K and KL to see what they think? I'd say call tomorrow afternoon if you haven't heard.

A fellow RPCV found this today and posted it on my FB wall: [link] I had no idea this was in the world. I'm feeling almost shell-shocked having watching it. I haven't seen much video of me, ever, and that on top of the weirdness of being interviewed for PC promo purposes, and my complicated feelings about my service... I just don't know.

And now that I've meara'd, I'm going home.

Oops, thanks, smonster! I generally don't cause he's a youngun. NOW YOU ALL KNOW HIS FULL NAME, ZOMG!!!!!!!!!!!

K and KL

I know who these people are, but it took me a minute to figure out which one was which.

KL isn't working for a NO firm, her office is based in DC. I would say K or T would probably have a good idea of NO business behavior.

With my kids it was teaching them to separate want from need.

...still working on that meself.

Oh, no shit. Me too. Nothing like me reaching for something and one of my own kids asking me if it is a "need" or a "want".

I have a friend who leaves next month for PC service in Africa. What was complicated, if you don't mind my asking?