It is annoying, but it fits within the spectrum of stories that Curtis was trying to tell. I'm just sad that the story of the school principal was cut for length.

I like U2's Baby, Please Come Home as Christmas music, and some of Trans-Siberian Orchestra's really bombastic stuff. I will claim my love of the '80s power ballad to my grave.

(I know I mention it a lot, but I really am having a hard time dealing. It's...not what I expected. Sorry for the whole "death likes carrots" thing.)

Aw, honey...I'm so there with you. Just yesterday, I 'saw' my beloved Kim driving down the road. I asked her a question and she answered with her characteristic energy. The fact that she died in September '09 doesn't seem to have diminished my need for her in my life.

Peace to your heart, balanced meds and every warm wish coming your way.

Steph, you still get Eartha Kitt singing "Santa Baby," which always makes me happy.

Y'all are reminding how much I hated the Colin Firth story line in Love Actually. Really, the only characters that redeemed that movie were Thompson and Rickman, but then I'd watch it again for them alone.

Rickman is always an excuse to watch a movie, even January Man.

Andi and I have today and tomorrow off together, then she has the weekend off without me. Sigh.

Work is getting sucky for me, they have changed so much and are regimenting a process by which all info and troubleshooting is codified and eventually to be scripted. Um, I'm a good troubleshooter *because* I am not regimented. I can take disparate elements in what they say and synthesize a whole path of repair. It's one of my strengths. It also bodes ill for pay raises when any schlub and read a troubleshooting guide and do my job, badly. (Not that I've had a raise in 3 years, or a bonus in the past several months.)

sigh, but I'm home now and andi is napping, and I'm trying to scrape together cash to pay for my $2000+ in copays.

OTOH? I have paid off all of my debt from back in diabetic unemployed days, no more cc debt, and now the credit repair may commence.

I have paid off all of my debt from back in diabetic unemployed days, no more cc debt

That is awesome. That is HUGE! I hope you're proud of yourself, because you should be.

Didn't Sophia recently pay off her cc debt, too? Go Buffistas, rocking the finance!

The way forward is not easy,Daniel, but you are doing it. good job

I'm sorry work and bills are sucking, DCJ, but paying off your credit card debt is an enormous accomplishment. Go you! Go Sophia!

ION, my awesome doctor had a cancellation today, so I can see him about half an hour from now instead of 5 pm tomorrow. This is good.

I have to admit I'm a little...something -- concerned? Wary? Intrigued? -- about the appointment, because since the last time I saw him (months and months ago), I referred 2 friends to him. Both are from the kink group. Everyone knows that you DO NOT out someone else, ever. So, like, if Awesome Doctor asked Friend #1 how she knows me, the answer is just "We're friends."

And Friend #1 is totally chill like that. Friend #2, however, is the type of person who never, EVER thinks before she opens her mouth. EVER. Kind of Anya-esque. And she's not too concerned about people knowing she's kinky. (Which is fine -- if someone is at a place in their life where they can be out about it, more power to them. But I am NOT at that place.)

So I'm honestly expecting that, when Awesome Doctor asked how she knows me, Friend #2 blurted out, "Oh, from the kink group! You know!"

She had been sick with a nagging something that wouldn't go away, and she moved here a couple of years ago and never got set up with a new primary-care doctor. So when she mentioned that she was sick and didn't know where to go, I recommended Awesome Doctor. (Because he is Awesome.) And then the next day it hit me that I recommended my doctor to someone who could out me -- not intentionally, but intent doesn't matter in this case.

I e-mailed her and told her that I am not out to my doctor, and that I was SURE she'd never say such a thing (I feel flattery, even if it's bending the truth, is the best way to go in things like this), but to please not say she knows me from the kink group. I never got a response (I'm not even sure she reads her e-mail), so it's entirely possible that I'll show up and Awesome Doctor will give me the stinkeye. (Though it would be a violation of HER privacy if he said anything about what *she* said, so...)

He's cool, and would no doubt be cool with my stuff if I chose to tell him. But *if* I ever do, I want it to be because *I* decided to, not because the world's most indiscreet person blurted it out.

So we'll see. Soon.