Jesse, at first I read that as your cat emailing you to tell you that she couldn't deal with carpets, but then I re-read it and I got it.

Hee. My cat would totally think he could deal with carpets. They are so great to pee on! So that is what he would email me. If he could type.

Wait: did Work of Art start!!???

I can't believe I missed it.

Happy birthday, birthday kids!!

ita ! I am so glad you're with your family and your mom is recovering well. All kinds of ~ma as she and y'all move forward with treatments.

{{{msbelle}}}

So, Onerous Task Day...I decided that I ask my students to step outside their comfort zones all the time in my class so it is only fair that I do it, too.

I belong to a women's club that puts on children's musicals to raise money for our foundation (providing free dental services for low income kids). Last year, I directed our version of Toy Story and played Rex (the dinosaur).

Last night, I auditioned for Finding Nemo. I have no problems with the acting part, but singing is a different thing altogether. But, I sang a solo and really went hard for a part with a solo. And, I ended up getting it!! I will be playing Marlin (Nemo's dad)! I'm pretty excited about it. But the reality of singing solo in front of 1000 people has also started to set in. More outside-the-comfort-zone stuff.

Congrats, ChiKat! That is soo freaking awesome.

Happy birthday to b-day folks.

Sorry to hear about your mother, ita. Glad she's feeling the love and doing well so far.

My real name is incredibly common. My username used to be unique, but it appears to have been co-opted (including in my areas of interest). I've never really been interested in twitter, but it's kind of sad to see someone else is tweeting as "me".

It appears my son has the misfortune of sharing his name with a cheating poker player.

Oops. Not used to posting from my phone yet.

I think I need a theme to trigger my costume idea brainstorming process.

I'm going to be a devil, simply because I want to wear my flamey corset (overbust, black leather with red flames). I have devil horns, and red-and-black striped tights, and a red petticoat to wear over a black petticoat. And black stompy boots. I just need to buy a trident of some sort (I was harshly reprimanded by a friend when I called it a pitchfork; I didn't know people had such strong feelings on the devil's accessories) and maybe red sparkly eyeshadow.

My father says thank you for the birthday wishes.

Happy birthday to the other thirteenth babies.

My sister has informed me that I don't understand the Kayapo like an anthropologist would, but, honestly, her student still sucks.

Hivemind help requested!

My daughter is looking at Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pennsylvania. Any information or opinions you have about the college or the location - particularly about the winter weather (so far she's lived in Houston and the Oregon coast so her idea of cold and snow is a bit skewed) - would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry, Jesse, he, not she. Please convey my apologies to your cat.

smonster, my noggin is healing as it should. After go-go-going the past week, I spent today resting, in preparation for my marathon travel day on Saturday. I found that if I roll onto my back in the middle of the night and the weight of my head presses on the injury site, I get a very brief wave of dizziness and nystagmus. But I've started using my travel neck pillow so that doesn't happen anymore.

ETA: oh, and France is KICKASS. More later! Though it's all winding down. Tomorrow we return our rental car to Beziers and pack, etc. And then we leave at 4:00 am Sat. to drive four hours (in B.'s rental car) to Barcelona. Then home.

As for Halloween, I'm not going to have a party this year. Usually, I have a theme chosen months in advance, as you know. I'm just not ready!

Congrats, ChiKat, that's so cool!

Kathy, I'm glad nothing too bad happened, re: the paper