I'm used to girl groups being more distinct and looking busier than boy bands. Which is probably biased selection more than anything else, but there you go.

Yeah, the only one I can distinguish at a glance is Nicola Roberts, because she's a redhead. I can't even pick out Cheryl Cole without some scrutiny.

Good...um....afternoon, y'all!

My friends came over and it was lovely to see everyone and I decided at 11pm I wanted champagne and didn't see any reason to wait. And then everyone decided to have some, and everyone left by 11:45pm. Hah! My friends are old.

This morning I woke up at 8-somethingAM, and got coffee with the Girl, and then went back home and napped for a couple hours. Now catching up here and deciding what to do the rest of the day, other than finish cleaning. I view the new year as starting on 1/2, since today is a holiday, it's the "get ready for the new year" day.

Talk in the front room has turned to manly sexual boasting. I wish I had recorded some of it so you could laugh along with me.

....manly sexual boasting of like, 15 year olds?! I want hilarious reports. Well, even if adults, I want hilarious reports.

Like, so full of cassoulet that we skipped the cheese course entirely in favor of more salad. (As a palate cleanser so we could eat more cassoulet.)

Wow, passing the cheese course? I want some of that cassoulet.

So I lost a set of car and house key and Y membership tag in the field tonight, oops?

Ooh, crap, i hope it's easily recovered in daylight!

[OMG i just had to pause catching up because we heard a bagpipe. There was a random ragtag bunch of people carrying big scottish flags and meandering down the sidewalk with a bagpiper. We have no idea why]

Late first-footing?

(Is the lead guy a brunet?)

I was taking the meara approach and treating today like the holiday it is - staying in my pajamas, giving myself a facial while watching Farscape, that sort of thing - but I decided I'd better go ahead and get this application ready to mail before I lose the transcripts that have to go with it. It's an application to take an exam to qualify for a job with the state that currently doesn't have openings near me but I hope might some day.

OMG it took me hours to get through it all and make sure I had the dates formatted correctly and didn't answer questions I wasn't supposed answer. Even getting the app and (sealed in their own envelopes, of course) transcripts stuffed into an envelope that I bought especially because it was supposed to be the right size was a chore and a half. So I am done, no more productivity today. More Farscape and maybe a cocktail.

Um, less all about me, I also love Burt&Virginia on Raising Hope.

GUESS WHO JUST CALLED ME??!!! MISS LOUISE!

She's alive, had just changed phones a year ago. She's doing well, still in the senior apartments downtown and loving it (she has a view of the harbor.) She's got a new great-grandbaby who she adores.

I am SO RELIEVED to hear from her! Told her I'm going to be calling now that I have her number.

Yay 2013!

Yay, Miss Louise!

Oh, yay! That's great news.

Wonderful news!!!

Wonderful!

That is a great start to the year, sarameg! So great to hear! Life of Riley--great grandchildren! Totes amazing.

Browser question-- do ¹ and ⊃ look different to you? Browser/OS check with versions, plz. None of you are first-timers. You know the drill.

Bonus question: what do ¹ and &sup look like?