Fun fact: I met Lord (Richard) Attenborough many years ago when I was interning at a theatrical foundation in London that he was funding. I had no idea who he was until after meeting with him and the foundation director over tea, and totally talked him into paying for my monthly tube pass. In retrospect, I am shocked and amazed that I had the balls to even speak in his presence, much less barter for transit fare.

eta: and he was so pleasant that I had no idea he was super famous and awesome, because famous people tend to behave in a certain way, ya know?

omnis, I would hesitate to trade a gas dryer for electric. Would you need to pay someone to move their appliances to your place and haul yours away?

smonster - it was a good day. Except for a minor hiccup late in the afternoon that made me realize I am sliding towards depression. Tomorrow I'm calling and seeing if there's anyway I can see my shrink before mid September.

I'm sorry things are so fraught with z.

So, I ended up on the news last night but not for any fun reason that would make it worthy of linking.

I'm struck by how increasingly poignant this story is.

The victim was coming home from a birthday party at that pub I mentioned. Goodness knows, I've walked down those blocks specifically because they are so well-lit. He must have taken a short cut across the park, where he was struck. It's so weird because, years ago, the high hedges and obscuring trees were trimmed down. There are no blind spots there.

As is this neighborhood's way, the mommy mafia are organizing to help the family. They may be insufferable in their high-handed (and entitled) machinations, but they are really, really good at this. I'll contribute something to their fund.

It turns out that I did know the victim...in the casual, smiling as you pass on the street, sort of way.

I can't imagine what life is going to be like for his wife and child.

"The echidna is my favourite animal."

A genetic predisposition, or just clarity about the rightness of this choice? Tough to say.

Today we watched some Life of Mammals. (Every time David Attenborough came on the screen, he asked me, "This is the man you saw?") When we got into the echidna footage, he told me (entirely unprompted, I swear), "The echidna is my favourite animal."

Apple. Tree. Same general vacinity.

I do think you need to value yourself and thus already established friendships because you are a rocking thing that rocks ... rocks?

Yes, this. I am super lucky that my friend isn't pissed, and will give me another chance.

I'm catching up and what's wild is that everytime smonster mentions "z" I read "Zenkitty" and then I get confused anew reading Zenkitty's posts. Whiplash.

Ha! Sorry about that. If I can come up with a better initial/nickname, I will.

I love the Ryan updates. What a darling boy, and your adoration of him is palpable.

If you can afford it, omnis, I'd say get the HE machines.

Zen, you're not a stalker! I google potential dates or people I've been on one date with all the time.

erin, that's an awesome story.

bonny, I am so, so sorry. I loathe the violence that pervades our society, and the conditions of poverty and poor education and addiction that go into creating that violence.

I am listening to the Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast for the first time, and it is a hard listen because of how much it resonates. Definitely going to subscribe to this one.

Off to an art market with R.

Fascinating conversation about dating. I've been taking many mental notes. I feel my own internal mindset is extremely similar to Zenkitty's, so I'm paying very careful attention to everything being said. I'm still not brave enough to get on the dating sites, again. I tried match.com a couple of years ago and couldn't seem to get anywhere. Probably because while I got a few winks (which IME are useless), no one who even came close to having the same values I had listed messaged me. Only one dude who blathered on and on about his Christian values when I clearly said I was *not* looking for someone overtly religious. And the one man I messaged responded to the first message I sent, but not to the second. So I said the hell with it; I didn't have the self-confidence to keep going through that. To sum up, I feel for you all and can I borrow some mojo, if anyone has got any to spare?

IOcrappyN, it looks like my mortgage is now underwater. My condo went from being valued at 115k four years ago has recently been reappraised by the city at 82k (the third time in three years, each time with a drop of 5k, to this time with a drop of 13k). I'm still safe at that number (I owe 72k between first mortgage and HELOC). However, when I got on zillow.com, all the condos in my community that are currently for sale that are equivalent to mine are selling between 50-65k. Which means I can't refi, which I really wanted to do. My original mortgage is at 5.35%, which was great at the time when mortgages were going at 6-6.5%, and my HELOC is at something under 4% (it can't go over that, but it can go down). One of my coworkers is refi-ing at 3.6%, so I thought I'd look into it. I really, really wish I hadn't. It's not like I can't pay my mortgage, I make just enough to keep my head above water (after giving up cable, parking on campus and my cell phone thanks to Gov. Walker). I can keep on keeping on, I'm just really, really bummed.

IObetterN, my best friend is coming back from England to visit next week and I haven't seen her in seven years. I'm not sure if she's planning to stay for good or not (her visa expired). Much as I love the woman, she can be...um, flighty; I won't go so far as to say flaky. The last time she said she was here to stay, she ended up going back to her boyfriend. We shall see what we shall see and I will just enjoy having her stay with me for a while, because I have missed her terribly.

I love the Ryan updates. What a darling boy, and your adoration of him is palpable.

Hey, I'm only human.

A genetic predisposition, or just clarity about the rightness of this choice? Tough to say.

I'm voting for the latter. He's just recently discovered dinosaurs too (his favourite is the triceratops). Our local supermarket is offering a 29-piece set of prehistoric figurines for about $17.00. I believe this is in his future.

his favourite is the triceratops

Me too!