"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!

my stupid half-brother got caught being a weed courier.Apparently, I have DVDs I should have loaned him.

Apparently, I have DVDs I should have loaned him.

The Wire? Breaking Bad? Dirty Jobs Special: How to Be a Drug Mule?

Yeah, except that last one.(Although you never know, do you? Man spent many years in The City That Bleeds.)You know, I'd watch it if it were out there.) It's not his fault in some ways...Dad and Stepmonster really prefer parenting to be series of photo ops. My dad is sure he "did it for gas money," because that happens, never. He's sixteen now...the stupid things are really going to get my important. There is kind of a "gilded cage" kind of deal with him, which I get, but he has their attention now. Of course, if I smoked pot *now* and he found out, my mother would get calls about the degenerates I was hanging with, and don't come crying to him when the funding gets cut off and...I never got the "good kid from a good home" defense. So a tiny part of me is Nelson Muntz right now.

Sounds like your brother is in serious trouble, right?

How much help does he need right now?