sj, I would probably be either caving under from undeserved guilt or blowing up the relationship right now, if I were in your place. So, yeah, I have no advice, and I am deeply appreciative of the wisdom of the hivemind.

There's no way in darkest Hades I could deal with a child who was threatening me and biting me on a regular basis. That child has learned that no one will hurt her because she's a little kid, and there's no other constraint she cares about that her parents will enforce. As a little kid, I was very much influenced by guilt and the fear of my parents' disappointment. I can't imagine the shit I could have done if I hadn't been.

Me: billytea would be so proud.

He would! Did Mal learn of the sarcastic fringehead from the Life series?

My Amazon UK order arrived this week (insanely quickly, and free shipping, which I am pimping to everyone I meet). It includes Attenborough's First Life. There's this thoroughly charming moment in the "making of" special, where the bus with all the camera gear is bogged in mud in Morocco. David is sitting out at the film site with his friend Richard Fortey, a leading expert on trilobites (I have this book of his: [link] ).

Anyway, while they're waiting under the Moroccan sun, Richard pipes up with, "I've been thinking of making a movie about trilobites. ...I'd call it, 'Thoracic Park'."

Thoroughly charming.

My sleep cycle is entirely frelled. I'm barely awake during daylight hours anymore, which makes it oddly difficult to get anything done.

Happy anniversary, billytea!

I've been there, Zen. It sucks.

Could I request a little ~ma this morning? Nothing major, but I have my annual review today. I think it should go well, but I'm entering a period of high stress on the job and have skated a bit too close to some deadlines.

Fortunately, it's first thing so at least I don't have to be on pins and needles all day long.

Still more photos of Ryan. A trip to Healesville Sanctuary, an Australian animal park: [link]

I would also like to add, in honour of our wedding anniversary, a short pictorial of Wallybee:

First photo of the two of us: [link]
This is where and when we got engaged: [link]
From our wedding photos: [link]
Another wedding photo, changing the mood a little: [link]
On vacation in Tasmania, a visit rife with echidnas: [link]
(Here's some of them now): [link]
Finally, of course, our joint production: [link]
Wallybee is simply lovelier every day. She is a wonderful mother, daughter and wife. These have quite possibly been the happiest four years of my life. [link]

From our wedding photos: [link]

Another wedding photo, changing the mood a little: [link]

You know, while the second picture is SMOKING, I utterly love the first picture because of how completely happy you are in it.

That said, this one: [link] made my computer start to smoke. (From the hotness.) (It didn't literally cause computer failure.)