Thanks Kat, I'd love to borrow it.

And yes, I should think about doing StoryCorps. Hrmmm.

I have a Russian army surplus one that you can...well, you could, but you shouldn't. Even if you didn't have a stylish previous offer. It's a bit heavy. And Cyrillic.

Yikes, Brenda!

I'm sorry, ita, they were parked in your same spot? How? and what jerks!

I saw Frankenstein with Cumbercookies as the Monster, and I wish I had seen it the other way round. But I do suspect that I would wish the same if I had seen him as Frankenstein.

I saw this on Tumblr and thought it was pretty cool. Good Stuff material?

The New York Subway Signs Experiment: [link]

Yikes, Brenda!

I'm sorry, ita, they were parked in your same spot? How? and what jerks!

I saw Frankenstein with Cumbercookies as the Monster, and I wish I had seen it the other way round. But I do suspect that I would wish the same if I had seen him as Frankenstein.

I saw this on Tumblr and thought it was pretty cool. Good Stuff material?

The New York Subway Signs Experiment: [link]

K and I did a StoryCorps interview today and now I feel a little gutted.

I can see how condensing it all could be...oof.

How was the interview structured? I've always wondered about that.

Oh god, neither my slugbrain nor the cats got the memo about the timechange. Nor that it was Sunday (brain.) Trying bed again.

sara, it's not structured. They have a facilitator in the recording area with you who is doing sound and keeping time. That person can ask a question or two for clarification, otherwise it's either an interview where one person asks and the other answers questions or a more organic conversation.

In our case, we started with what remember from the day the kids were born and we meandered from there. My experience and Katie's are so different that it was interesting. There were definitely things she said that I hadn't thought about or had heard but hadn't understood before. For example, my OB never told me how bad the odds were for the kids to live after being delivered, but she told K that it would most likely go down with the baby crying and then the baby would most likely die. In some ways I'm luckier that I didn't have to deal with the burden of that knowledge at the time and I was in denial land about how tragic this all was. I've escaped much of the PTSD around it where K hasn't.

sara, it's not structured. They have a facilitator in the recording area with you who is doing sound and keeping time. That person can ask a question or two for clarification, otherwise it's either an interview where one person asks and the other answers questions or a more organic conversation.

In our case, we started with what remember from the day the kids were born and we meandered from there. My experience and Katie's are so different that it was interesting. There were definitely things she said that I hadn't thought about or had heard but hadn't understood before. For example, my OB never told me how bad the odds were for the kids to live after being delivered, but she told K that it would most likely go down with the baby crying and then the baby would most likely die. In some ways I'm luckier that I didn't have to deal with the burden of that knowledge at the time and I was in denial land about how tragic this all was. I've escaped much of the PTSD around it where K hasn't.

Oh wow. That must have been really intense, all these years later.

My parents did one a few years ago, that I still haven't heard.

Yesterday on the phone my mother literally said to me, "I just want you to be rich!" The context was, how much house we could afford and balancing competing financial pressures (like college and retirement).

Last night I called to talk to my stepfather (a dentist) about some concerns I have about orthodonture, and this morning my mother called me up to tell me a story about a woman we knew who died of a heart attack very young, at about 35. Apparently my mother's last conversation with this woman included her ranting about how orthodonture had damaged her daughter's tooth enamel. My mother said I need to be less of a type A personality or I might have a heart attack. I pointed out that I was not very sure that any scientific studies identified personality type as a factor in heart attack potential. We then had this lovely exchange: Her: "How's your cholesterol?" Me: "Fine." Her: "Really? [like, tone like I must be lying] Mine's always been high." Me: "Well, you know, you and I are actually separate people."

mr. flea's comment, after I got off the phone, "The thing is, she honestly thinks that phone call was her being helpful to you."

My mother, people.