(It's a testament to today's headache -- seriously, am I going to get a migraine every Sunday? -- that the first place I went was the table tennis league at the gym. OTOH, getting swatted with a ping pong paddle is something I'd rather not dwell on. My butt is a wimp.)

Ten years, Zen (well, for adults). Mine expired a year ago. 2011 seemed like such a long time away back in 2001. Oops.

This is the kind of thing that uses up all my WTF. [link]

Bagby wasn’t allowed to take the courses that actually might help her find a job. She discovered, in fact, that the ministry didn’t allow female veterans to take the same classes offered to men, such as truck driving, culinary arts and training for “green” jobs. Instead, the women were offered training in such things as knitting, art therapy, yoga, meditation, how to de-clutter your room, self-esteem and Bible study.

I always thought table tennis had a reputation for being serious shit amongst those who take it seriously--I mean, in a different way from ultimate frisbee. I mean, I heard so much about the Soviet Bloc domination, or whatever. I figure, if China is bothering to squash the competition, there's some shit going down.

I had asked my mother to look through her pictures to see if there were any of sis that could be useful, and then I'd send over M's best friend to do the technical legwork, because my mother doesn't know how to use her scanner.

I call today, and mother dearest is in the middle of a scanfest. Unfortunately, it was a 200 DPI scanfest, so I made her go back to the beginning, but for all her complaining about not being able to multitask and losing files at every turn and "how do you undraft an email?" I still got the first bundle of higher res pictures that are at least high enough quality for a collage.

I've made a flickr set with one of my alternate identities to collect pics from everyone else in the core group, and I hope they have some good stuff. But even if they don't, my mother has found some absolute gems. And some horrors, including me. But is my sister not ridiculously cute here? If it weren't for this picture, it might be my favourite. This isn't so much about my sister as it is about my mother. That's a Barbie doll cake, except my mother thought Barbie was an oppressive tool of The Man, so she painted her skin with browning, and tied her hair up in a wrap.

This picture makes me laugh, because I don't remember having Astrid's hair during high school...I don't remember ever looking like that, actually. This blurry mess is made even more unfortunate by the fact that my dress is gaping between buttons just below where I cropped the picture, so--eyes up! Concentrate on the hair!

And, last but not least, my mother is the only redeeming feature in this horror. I would have given my sister a pass, but then I saw her socks. I...I cannot be saved. Nuke me from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.

This is the kind of thing that uses up all my WTF.

What? They didn't offer training in how to find a good man to take care of you, how to have babies, or how to dress up to please men? They clearly don't care about those women's futures!

I better make sure mine is current before I try to go to London in November.

Your passport shouldn't expire within six months of your travel, so if your passport will expire before May 2013, you should renew it now.

I bought a suitcase with a handle and wheels! I feel like I've joined civilization circa 1993.

Hey, there's a Scola on Argentina's basketball team. He just scored, I think.

Kitchen clean, bathroom clean, laundry washed and drying. Whew. Still to do: Straighten first floor. Then the rest of the week is bedroom and office cleaning time. Oy.

I've been rewatching DS9 to entertain myself through all this. I love this show. They were able to tell so many different kinds of stories and feature so many of the ensemble in their own episodes. Love.

Not love: I have flies getting in somewhere in the kitchen door/window, and I can't figure out where. They're stupid slow flies, too. I can grab them off the window with a paper towel, so I kill them as soon as I see them, so it's not like they're flying around. So weird. I must have killed ten today. I'm buying fly paper tomorrow, and I'm going to spray or something outside the door tomorrow. I've never had an infestation of flies before, and it is gross.

Great stills of dogs (and a cat) shaking off water. [link]