My condolences, Trudy. I'm sorry for your loss.

e_o, what a beautiful gesture! Surely everyone you touched must benefit. The more positive energy, the better.

Frankly, I could totally use some of your woo-wooey ness. I am awake, in the middle of the night, for the first time in a month. Worrying about being 'in right alignment' doesn't seem to be helping me achieve it, but I keep trying!

Ryan update: my little boy has learned a new word. It is "NO". The final piece is in place for him to turn two (DEFIANCE!). I am, however, pleased to report that it ran second to "Xièxiè" (Chinese for "Thank you") by several weeks.

More importantly, today we took him to the aquarium, and he encountered real live penguins for the very first time! [link] [link] There were king penguins and gentoos, all very active and very curious about this little boy. He in turn was simply gobsmacked that all those pictures around the house were of actual mobile animals (the Chinese for animal means literally "moving thing"), and after several delighted squeals and one or two calls for reassurance, he was up for copying their walking style.

Wallybee's parents enjoyed it very much too (about which I'm very glad, we had a five-day weekend here and it would've been a shame to do nothing special for it), as of course did I. The surprise find for me was the remoras (a species of fish with a suction pad on its head, which it uses to attach to sharks, rays, turtles etc for a free ride and possibly to pick up scraps from the host animal's feeding habits). [link]

A most excellent adventure for the little boy. And for Ryan.

Trudy I'm so sorry for your loss.

{{Trudy}} I am so sorry. Peace and love to you and your family.

-t, yes please. That would be wonderful.

erin_o, that sounds pretty darn cool to me. More impetus for me to get back into yoga.

smonster I'm glad you have Erin to help, moving is such a pain in the ass.

Currently I'm dealing with a situation where all of my things have arrived in Vermont. But the Ubox is in Burlington and while I knew they didn't have the same equipment as in Tally and I'd need to rent a trailer. I was informed it would be delivered. The Uhaul in Burlington said, no I'd have to pick it up, and oh the trailer wouldn't be available until Sunday. But I could rent a truck.

After a few phone calls we've got it down to - my stuff is coming up via trailer on Friday.

So Mom and I are roughing it with 2 camp chairs, 2 tv trays, 2 air mattresses and our computers. And small kitchen kit I put together, but so far we haven't cooked anything.

The only furniture I had I really liked and wanted to bring up were the things that were too big for my apartment. So if I had it to do over again. I wouldn't have brought any furniture (since everything I'm bringing was from a garage sale) and just shipped my important stuff via UPS and acquired used furniture up here.

However the cats were great travelers! And I think taking up their food and water at night was a great idea. And keeping them together was good too. Dean took the move harder than Maddie (she was much more interested in looking around and trying to see stuff) but he perked up for a while. And during the last part of the trip Sunday when he started looking pathetic again Maddie started bathing him.

Condolences to you and your family, Trudy.

I totally appreciate any woowooness you're sending, erin_o, being woowoo-inclined myself! It sounds like a beautiful exercise and I might try some similar things. (Currently reading several NLP-related books and working on my confidence and self-esteem. When I'm medicated, I can suddenly do that!) I need to sort out finding a yoga or pilates class soon. I need to sort out a lot of things, though...

Askye, I'm glad you have that hitch in the works sorted out, even if it is leading to a less comfortable life for the moment. And yay for the cats being ok.

billytea, those are great pics of the penguins, but I would like photographic evidence of Ryan imitating their walk. Actually, I would like video evidence, but figure that is too much to hope for.

erin_o, that sounds like a lovely experience, except for the weirdness with Malachi. Poor cat.

bonny, I hope you got some rest eventually.

IOmememeN, I don't quite get why I am just now getting a bill for the co-pay for the doctor who saw me in the hospital, when the insurance got the statement, and paid their portion at the end of January. I feel even less in control of my medical bills now. And as Daniel said months ago, are they going to prescribe tranquilizers for when I get the bills?

On a much happier, sweeter note, yesterday after a particularly frustrating session with my therapist, I was having lots of angry thoughts on those topics while at work. While I succeeded in not letting that leak overtly into interactions with the folks I was working with, when I was out driving with one guy who has autism, a couple of times when I was deepest into a brown study, he tapped my arm to bring me out of it. And when we got back to the house, he gave me a hug. Spontaneously. He has let me hug him, and responded by touching one hand to my shoulder in the past.

This, and other instances that show a keen sensitivity, not just from this one person, but from others as well, make me loathe the way persons with autism are characterized on TV.

askye, I hope you get your stuff soon, and I'm glad the kitties are doing well.

WindSparrow, medical bills are teh suck. But how lovely that someone was there to keep you present.

Seska, have you looked into Dialectical Behavioral Training? It's been helpful for me and my sis and other Buffistas. Good balance of woo woo and highly practical, based on mindfulness.

Sweet suffering jeebus screaming crispies on a cracker, my friend is texting me that former org just laid off two people from their NOLA office, which is a small office with a lot of work. Not good. Glad I was in the first wave of layoffs.