Traditional Navajo distinguish the rain with gender. Male rain is a hard blattery rain that has a lot of water, but falls all in a rush so that the land can't receive it and it just runs off into the washes, taking topsoil with it. Female rain is a long soaking gentle rain, that in the end provides more water to the land because it falls softly and allows the land to absorb it.

I did mention how Navajo is a matriarchal culture, right? Hee.

Soft, soaking rain, yes? I vaguely remember the term...

1. Loki, of course. He's a nutball. Before that, the kids in swim lessons at the pool. So enthusiastic and bellyfloppy!

2. 54.7 sec lap average. I seriously thought I miscounted, but for once, I was fully ON the count, and watching the clock, I saw the minutes dropping. And IF I misread 39 as 38, that's an even crazier speed.

I totally had NOT seen Liese's post, honest.

Hee, I believe you, sara!

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Why are people at work being so stupid?

To paraphrase today's new york times, sometimes life suggests "stupid has some enduring appeal."

I AM FREEZING. I have on flannel jammies, a camisole, a tshirt, a sweatshirt. I am wrapped in a fleece blanket. STILL COLD!

I guessed as much. Awesome.

Also? FOUR boxes, muah ha ha! I am no msbelle, but I am plodding along. Tonight's box was more books, and mostly Harry Potters, but still. I am committed to at least a box a day.

I just "hired" msbelle. Or rather, she saved me. I poked around online and she packed my shit and refused to let me help beyond tape (because it made me even more of a stressbunny.) It was awesome. I can never repay that.

What's the last thing that made you smile unexpectedly?

A friend calling me up saying he misses me and wants to hang this weekend

Tell me something you like about yourself right now?

The pedicure I just got! It's very shiny and red.

I'm sure any story will bring in more crank calls, so I'm rather glad I'll be out of town at the beginning of next week.

My sister (14ish at the time) picked up a stalker when her cat went missing and she put posters up. This guy would call and keep claiming to have the cat and ask her to meet him places. He came over once, was creepy as all hell and wanted her to come with him to pick up the cat. Then the calls kept coming, always with weird excuses for why he hadn't brought her back or arranged for us to come get her yet. Collect from payphones a lot of the time, and neighbors kept seeing him hanging around. So fucked up. It was the first time I ever realized I actually had the capacity for lethal violence.

(And I still get worked up not just about him but the phone company, who claimed the only way to establish exactly where the calls were coming from was to accept the charges and wait for the bill.)

The cat in question is on my lap right now, for the record.

ETA: Jesus, she's old.

This morning a classmate of Owen's told me that she liked a story about a girl who kills vampires. The girl touched them with a magic stick and the vampires turned to dust.

I asked her if the girl's name was Buffy. She said yes and then she said one of the vampires was good. He had white hair and was named Spike.

I couldn't wipe the smile off my face all morning.