41 was a plot point in Emily Owens, MD this week (yeah, I'm a fan, sue me), and I did get a gut hit of "But I have nothing! No brilliant career to sacrifice to have kids or vice versa! I want a vice versa!"

Ah, well.

This week's soup special is below par. Paprika vegetable? Blah.

Our receptionists tend to be black/Hispanic, mid 20s. White guys in their 50s aren't all that plentiful around here, actually.

I worked at KMart HQ for a while, and when I started there, a woman had just been killed by a deer through the windshield. It was hit, flipped up through the glass feet first, and kicked her to death trying to escape. From thence comes my fear of hitting them.

Where in Jamaica does your friend live, Laura?

So now I'm wondering if I think of our receptionists as security because they are middle-aged men, or if they are actually wearing security guard uniforms. I think the latter, but I almost never go in the door where they are.

Hey ita, our company is doing work near May Pen.

So, we have a car.

The purchase was more rushed than we wanted it to be, but it became an emergency, as my car that wouldn't go in reverse suddenly decided that it didn't want to go in any direction at all. We were going to go to a mechanic's shop Hubby knows about that sells cars that people don't want to pay for, so Hubby got a ride down there.

A very generous soul got us the wherewithal to do some purchasing. It took a while to find one that he was willing to take a chance on. He settled on a '95 Isuzu Rodeo, a car with its own set of issues. In its favor, the head mechanic of the shop came into the office and said, "What's going on with the Rodeo?" "We're selling it." "I was going to give that to my son when he gets home." But money had changed hands and Hubby knew we needed transport. So at least it's a car a mechanic was willing to put his kid in. Hopefully not as a project vehicle.

Unfortunately, it's a manual, and it's been years since I've driven shift. So I'm spending the weekend re-learning how to work clutch etc.

In addition, we've gotten the unkillable Taurus back on the road, though it still needs a whole lot of work. My car has gone to its reward, so I get to revamp our insurance.

Cars are a pain.

our company is doing work near May Pen

I realise I have no idea what kind of work your company does, and whether or not I want them near May Pen. Which is not anywhere I've been to, but somewhere I've been through many times, on the way to the other side of the island.

we mine limestone.

...I think my sister hates you.

We have a very bad track record with mining, but that was mostly bauxite. Devastated the ecology. Not sure how the limestone is going, probably because we have a lot less, and rank way lower in the worldwide supply (we were #2 for bauxite for a decent while, and when you're second to Australia, a little island like us gets pretty fucked up--it was also the only sizeable legal money that wasn't tourism).

Back still fucked. Five minutes to walk it out.

well I'd hope we are not horrible to the ecology, but I honestly know almost nothing about our record. I do know the size and scope is pretty small.

Well, I didn't like it because harm came to cats. I liked it because it was affecting and heartfelt.

I should have phrased that better. Sorry.

Sorry, Cass. I shoulda' put a warning in that post.

No worries. I should have gotten come closer to that conclusion myself and then backed out of reading it instead of finishing it. I kept thinking it would get happier and it didn't. User error.

I'm in a bad place for anything that even hints at pet loss. I should have just stopped reading.

Someone's comment that it was affecting or something was enough to warn me off, for the timebeing anyway.

Hec has never been a cat hater so much as a "Mr. Pickles is sad because he doesn't like the color of the outfit I made him, therefore Christmas is cancelled" hater.