whaddup! I'm wondering whether my sister being uproariously amused by puns & wordplay gives me the right to disown her.

Hello! I am multitasking, which in this case means "doing a bunch of stuff half-assedly":
- starting dough for a fresh batch of pita bread, which we eat as fast as I can make it
- working my way through World War Z a few pages at a time
- researching for my own writing. (Did you know that moles have a toxin that allows them to disable their prey and store them, alive, but immobile, for later? Ick!)

And after I make the bread dough, I should go offline to do some writing.

How's work?

Howdy fellow hot person! I'm not in an office, but I'm toiling in a hot house, doing laundry and other assorted housework (albeit while watching a movie -- see a couple of threads down lol). It's 93 degrees here today. Think cool thoughts!

I'm at home but doing a little work, logging in to work and checking that the automated tests queued for the weekend are still running. We've had so many power events from the storms that our test and tool servers in the lab keep falling over and killing the test runs. I have to log into the test website, check all the runs that failed and make sure that they didn't fail because of some non-product-related network and/or power issue.

I wanted to work, but my work server is down from 9am today until tomorrow, so I couldn't!

Still working! But after this, I'm getting a pedicure!

Just got invited to a friend's house for BBQ/swimming tonight, and I'm bummed that I am feeling way too bad about my body right now to go swimming in front of anyone I know.

Ooh, pedicure! I treated myself to a blowout this morning. How luxurious of me.

Please go swimming, amro. I couldn't begin to count how many invitations I've declined because I felt bad about my body. What a waste.

Target has the cutest swimsuit coverups. Any casual jersey dress will do. I love the wrap styles. Wear some cute sandals with your pedicure and you'll be fine. Have fun!

Would it help to realize that many of those people at the swimming BBQ feel exactly the same way about their own bodies?

If you are thinking "There's no way, they all look fine," keep in mind that they would likely say the same thing about you.

I'm working on a letter to my younger self, and this issue is up there near the top: dear younger me, please stop fretting and feeling self-conscious about your body. It's unbelievably strong and capable and pain-free, and it is a gift. Those moments when you forget your body and just are? Those are the good moments. Strive for more of those.

Personally, I run under the assumption that if I am not satisfied with the way I would look, it is the problem of the got-danged swimsuit makers, not my fantabulous body.

Mmm, barbecue after you've been working all day. I agree--you should go.