Everyone who spoke talked about how the essays had to be deep and personal and how they had to make people cry.

Good grief, I can see why you would be discouraged by the process.

You know, I did read quite a lot of previous posts, but I am so tired I can't remember what I read. I think I should close the laptop and give up for the night.

They weren't their usual Hollywood pretty, but they were incredibly compelling. And Elijah Wood, Nick Cave and (of all people) Flea seem to have absolutely ideal faces for tintypes; I wouldn't have been a bit surprised if the photographer had added a note at the end saying, "Oh, yeah, I threw those three in because I found them in a box of tintypes in someone's attic and they were such great vintage celebrity doppelgangers I couldn't resist."

I was so confused! wondering how our flea ended up on a tintype!

My mom had her surgery yesterday for a stent in her carotid. So far so good. They've scheduled the cancer surgery for June 5th, and will know then whether they need to do anything else. Trying to figure out when/how I can go home. I'll be in Detroit for work--why is it $400 to fly Detroit to Indianapolis??

Would it be cheaper and just as fast to rent a car when all airport shenanigans are taken into account (I don't know that distance)?

It probably would/will, Sara--it's about 5 hours. I just hate driving long distances, but even though greyhound is only $30, getting to/from the station to the airport might be more hassle than it's worth. And amtrak doesn't go between the two. Boo!

It's weirdly cheaper for our family to DRIVE to Ohio than for all of us to fly.

The tintypes are cool. Everyone's nose is jacked up, though, and it does weird things to skin. I thought Anne Hathaway looked great.

Kat, ignore them. You do your thing, clearly that has a noteworthy impact.

Seconded.

Health~ma to your ma, meara.

Can you call and ask what's up, sarameg? I imagine you could change agents if you wanted to, ihave three or four State Farm agents that are approximately equally conveniently located for me (although the one I have is fine, I plan to stick with her).

I shot off an e-mail summarizing my understanding of the situation before my eye exam, confirmed I don't need to change my prescription, don't have cataracts or glaucoma yet, and picked out some snazzy Michael Kors frames for a new pair of prescription sunglasses (I'm apparently just giving up on contacts), ran 3 miles and came home to an e-mail that I am interpreting to mean tomorrow morning will be early enough to go further. Whew.

If anyone is wondering, TJ's pork belly is pretty dang tasty.

I just logged out of work. It is chocolate and vodka and half-hour comedy time.

-t, msbelle, thank you for your recs. Those are two of the ones I feel better about.

I like that time.

I hate calling (which is why I have a long list of calls to make for garage door, porch roof, vets, etc. God, I want a vacation from everything. Except it still has to be done.) Adding another to the list when I supposedly signed up via the web just pisses me off. I suspect it is an agent issue of not acting in a timely manner to web-requests. But finding a new agent is another PITA (because I don't plan on ditching SF because I get pretty damn good discounts for multiple lines and my history with them, which I discovered shopping around when I bought my house. And I don't want to deal with the paperwork of switching homeowners.) Hrm, wonder if I can fire&hire online too?