Yeah, not sure whether to kick it up a gear, or just say cest la vie. I'm not good at the pursuing thing. If ya wanna play hard to get, I'm not going to get you.

omnis, thank you for the advice. It is very good advice that I will try to remember. You're right - it's challenging stuff and I should be less hard on myself. ION, much girl-showing-fewer-mixed-signals~ma to you.

Shir, I am sorry if I've caused you self-consciousness with regards to English tenses. That's what you get for asking a former English teacher to proof-read your e-mails, though! And please remember - in Hebrew I am still stuck on 'ani lomedet' and can only recognise about five letters. (I must get a teacher soon.) Your English is fantastic.

omnis, I'm not so sure it's about playing hard to get - it's about making her feeling comfortable enough to contact you, IMHO. Then again, what do I know about this shit.

Seska, you're a lying lair who lies. First, because for "ani lomedet" you need more than five letter (Alef, Nun, Yud, Lamed, Vav, Mem, Dalet, Tav. That's eight!). And second, because you want me to be self conscious about my mistakes in order to fix them. Now that's why I ask a former English teacher to proofread my emails. So there.

Actually I think commercials use some of the most innovative and effective cinematic and editing and CGI out there, and I like those elements.

It's been true for a long time that commercials are (ironically) at the cutting edge of experimental filmmaking technique. Fitting the "your life is an empty meaningless shell without our product" message into a 30-second narrative is harder than it looks, which is why so many of them make me want to spork my eyes out.

Supervisor is going to 'try' to persuade the university that I need four years (rather than the standard three) to complete my PhD. I may have to go down to the research administrators' office and hit them repeatedly with a copy of the Disability Discrimination Act. On the bright side, supervisor's happy with the work I'm doing. On the less bright side, our silly little nation's silly little Chancellor of the Exchequer has just announced his 'spending review' and it has left an entire country sobbing into their lunches, so that's not happy-making.

First, because for "ani lomedet" you need more than five letter (Alef, Nun, Yud, Lamed, Vav, Mem, Dalet, Tav. That's eight!)

I didn't say I could write it in Hebrew. I can't!

Now that's why I ask a former English teacher to proofread my emails.

I'm glad my pedantic perfectionism is useful to someone.

Seska, listen to omnis. omnis is wise.

So for breakfast I see to be having mac&cheese with broccoli and cauliflower mashed up into it.

I anticipate a big yelling showdown to occur at some point, and, honestly, it needs to happen, which is one reason I'm going. If things get too ridiculous, I can always go stay with my brother.

You could just plan on staying with your brother. That way there is less constant stress and you can possibly avoid a "blowing up/flouncing off" scenario.

Staying in a hotel can be a very good thing. I adopted that policy for trips to San Diego a few years ago and it has made time with my family a bit more bearable.

AMEN and TESTIFY.

Just when I was about to ask for ~ma, the situation got less scary. My neighbor's grandson was rushed to the hospital for fever of unknown origin, with a stiff neck and hugely swollen lymph nodes in his neck. However, after a day of trying everything, they did a catscan and found a large abscess at the back of the throat, which they're going to drain today. Googling indicates that once it's drained and he's on antibiotics a few days, he'll be fine.

In the last year, one of his mother's left my friend's daughter for another woman; his mother lost her job due to blatant homophobia; and because of the above, he had to go to a new school, where he hasn't been doing well.

The universe is just mean.

In times like these, who doesn't crave the security of knowing where your next pie is coming from?

She needs to work out some kind of corporate sponsorship with SPN. This is so very Dean.