My heating pad isn't really hot enough (still trying to beat out this crick in my neck, it comes and goes.)

Also, I found it interesting that, at my former neighbor's daughter's 7th bday party, the attendees were 7 little boys. The other parents/guardians remarked on it too. She invited some of her girl friends too, but we were musing on whether it was a parent-schedule-thing or the fact Piper is such a rough-and-tumble-outdoorsy sorta kid (with a pink and purple bedroom, massive dollhouse, dolls up the wazoo and PINK legos- oh, and she got to spend her birthday in her blue-with-pink-princesses flannel pjs and sparkly sneakers,) that the boys were more insistent that they attend- so much so that there were two uncles who brought their nephews because the parents had other obligations for their other kids. But they were having a blast, roaring around the basement and back yard.

And it was fun talking to complete strangers I didn't even have kids in common with. And their blond golden retriever still loves me more than anyone else. It's kinda comical- she always chose me as her favorite when I used to go next door for get togethers, but you'd think she might've forgotten. Nope. I had a larger (she was < 1 yr when they moved) golden on my lap/leaning on me/following me the entire time I was there. That dog ADORES me. And she's pretty sweet, and well behaved other that the whole lapcat routine. She reminds me of Loki.

Sheesh, world that is not you. None of you secretly lives in Flagstaff, do you? I'm trying to find housing for a band for a night, and you'd think I'd asked them to give up their silver to use in animal sacrifices. Why is this so hard?

Scandal:

I guess some of this could be construed as regular tv stuff, but Shonda Rimes has a talent for writing stuff that is completely out of the realm of reality. I hope she keeps one foot in reality-land or I will drop Scandal like I dropped Grey's Anatomy. Let's hope no character visits his/her dead mother while they are in a coma or I am out.

Lunch with Cass, Kat, and co was a total win.

and getting my eyebrows done (a record of 157 tweezes this time!),

Did you count? I just try to go to a happy place in my head and have it be over. Because otherwise I would let them wax and then try to run away.

I also had lunch with Cass and Kristin and Noise Design.

Such win!

And Noah and Grace are amazing kids. (They also roll surprisingly well with new adults. I mean, unless they know we've watched them grow up from the glowy box.)

Today was a good day.

Ugh, FB reports that poor Scrappy is stranded overnight at the Charlotte, SC airport on her way back from The Netherlands.

I too am in that company that has been stranded at Charlotte airport, in my case while trying to return from Savannah, Georgia. It's not a great airport for the purpose. It is however graced with a lovely statue of Queen Charlotte going long.

Shit--I forgot to mention earlier--Criterion's entire catalog is apparently available for free on Hulu this weekend.

Head injuries are amazingly precise and predictable on TV. I'm not sure why this particular writer's crutch persists in the face of a lot of other nods to reality, but so it is.

Mostly I want to know where every writer researches their super ninja guys, the ones that used to work for a shadowy government group but now are working either independently or for the private sector. Because it does feel like each show is making up their own version of former-whatever, and I'd love to know what's grounded in reality...no, that's not it. I'd love to know which are the wackest.

I've been reading Savage Love off and on since about the mid-90s. Now and then I'll wince and say "Jesus, Dan..." but most of the time the stuff he says it pretty sane. He does joke about finding girl-parts unappealing but it generally seems (to me) like gross-boy-being-gross humor. He does pretty frequently issue apologies or clarifies or discusses further (I have some vague memories relating to a couple of numbers on that list). And he has evolved over time on specific points and will say so. The fat-o-phobe shit is tiresome, but the It Gets Better Project [link] earns him a good bit of grace from me.

And he's not always crap with women... this column (had to hit re-load a few times, no idea why) is one of the first I read and has come down as something of a classic. [link]

Ugh, FB reports that poor Scrappy is stranded overnight at the Charlotte, SC airport on her way back from The Netherlands.

Ugh. Poor Scrappy.

I am on the train back to Dublin. I have two days to do the town up. Did I mention I have caught a cold? I was out and about yesterday, but I was feeling pretty miserable. I think the worst of it is over...except that I have been awake since about 5AM because I was too hot with a fever to sleep. Caffeine and tylenol will be my friends.