{{{WindSparrow}}}

I missed you as well. Glad to hear Daniel's getting better.

I also need to say that Scotland with Seska and The Wife was incredible and Very Much Needed, and I'm so very lucky to have them as my friends.

Wae13: Then your dreams have taken you to a place you should not be, and you are in great danger. Better wake up quick!

Wow. Very Sandmanish?

And Steph - what I'm about to say comes from my parents. Both of them were very afraid of becoming their abusive parents (there's a reason why we aren't in touch with my living grandmother, and that would be my mother and her siblings' childhood). And they didn't. They're awesome parents, and I'm very proud of them for that, given they weren't given any example on the subject.

And also,

And Teppy, you don't really need a reason to not want to be a parent other than not wanting to be a parent. Best reason in the world.

That.

In good news corner - I found a place in Haifa today for me and M., my roommate. It's really, really great, and we even have a guestroom and a washing machine. Gonna sign the contract tomorrow, if everything will go well with my new bank account (in the past 2 months, I transferred cities, jobs and banks. And I'm still trying to finish my B.A.).

Erin, could you get something more or less the color of your skin and print on it? Might be easier to do (and you wouldn't be walking around with print on your arms any longer than you wanted to).

Shir, you've been busy. That's a lot of change!

Oh, yes.

The new job is really great (humm. I now see I have to update the staff section...). Other than the foolish thing of dragging one seminar of my B.A. into my MLIS (technically, I have until December. In my fantasy-world, I wanted to get it done by October. And then I looked at the calendar), this year (Jewish year. I'm thinking in Jewish terms) looks very, very promising.

Apologies for all of the brackets. I had a long day with lots of stairs climbing in it.

Welcome back to Buffistaland Shir. Hope we will be seeing your pixels more frequently, but with your schedule we will understand if not.

Oh, and the whole "land of the dead as bassackwardsland" thing in the dream: reminds me of the Palm Wine Drinkard. Have not thought of that book in a long time.

The doctor gave me flexiril for my back/hip and wants to X-ray the area to see if I have any arthritis going on there. That would be unwelcome. Anyway, woo, flexiril!

Gluten-free beer alternatives.

The Estrella Damm Daura is outstanding. And Redbridge really is nasty. I'm surprised they didn't include Bard's on the list. It's pretty good. Not like the Daura, but pretty good. If Redbridge is my only choice, I just get wine.

Steph, my comment about your mother was not meant as a comment on your own abilities to mother, particularly given that you are not interested in having kids. I just meant to say you've already overcome her shadow, even if you still have to grapple with her from time to time.

Aww, thank you!

Hey, Steph, do you know about Just My Type: A Book About Fonts? There's an entire chapter on Comic Sans called "We Don't Serve Your Type."

I hadn't heard of that -- it sounds great. (As an aside, the awesome muffler shop that did a $90 fix on what the lying thieving dealership told me would be an $1800 full replacement of the exhaust system? They use Comic Sans on their invoice. In light of the $1700 savings, I decided to forbear.)

They use Comic Sans on their invoice.

Fortunately, you didn't know that beforehand

It's so good to "see" Shir!

My one ear is still stuffed up, despite steam, neti pot, Afrin et al. I just let water run way too long because I particularly can't hear white-noise-type sounds. I've started fantasizing about sending the tiny submarine from Fantastic Voyage through my sinuses.

Erin, there may be a cheaper version out there somewhere. There's a paper that makes waterslide decals that might work. Could you write on something like old hose for the arms?

See, I think my hip twinginess is incipient arthritis, and I'm also looking for it in my hands. All the female members of my family have it, so I expect to get it, but I am not looking forward to it.

They use Comic Sans on their invoice. In light of the $1700 savings, I decided to forbear.

Ha! It looks like our repair ended up being about $78 too. We replaced the lid of the coolant overflow tank, and they replaced the thermostat, which appears to have been the two seemingly invisible leaks. AND it means I will have heat in the car this winter, whoot! I still have only two of four windows operable, and there's the body damage, but at this point, I figure it's a win.

Erin, there may be a cheaper version out there somewhere. There's a paper that makes waterslide decals that might work. Could you write on something like old hose for the arms?

There are washable markers that you can write on skin with and it washes right off. Would that work? Were you hoping for fancy calligraphy-style script? Because that might be hard with Crayola washable markers. Or not -- you could practice. But they really do wash off easily.

So, latest word on the exams is that there will be undergrad proctors in each room, but several of them are people who were just roped into being proctors last night, and I have no idea whether I can trust them all to show up. So, I gave my students the email address that forwards to my Droid, so that they can let me know if something goes wrong.