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1. Trying to figure out how I can go over to my folks house to get my father's help on filling out my clearance forms for NARA but NOT get sucked into an argument, shit on, or be dragged out to the probably overcrowded and panic-inducing stores by my mother.

2. Almost finished all my ticky boxes for today and then I won't have anything to do. I'm thinking about spending some time out on my patio reading but I'd have to go out there with a stick and knock down all the cobwebs and put on pants. Hm.

3. Have to drag my ass out to my brother's house at some point later this afternoon since he's been badgering me about going up there to take pictures of one of his motorcycles that he wants to sell. I'm not thrilled about this because it's an hour drive out there and he's going to be an asshole about me not wanting to do this for him the instant that he told me about it (which was a few days ago and I told him I was busy with schoolwork).

3a. I hate my 'family'. I can't cut them off (yet) and I have so much to lose if I slip. Fuckity fuck fuck.

1. Listening to NPR and reading book reviews.

2. Doing laundry and cleaning. I'm going ice skating with my kids at 1 o'clock. It's a perfect day for ice skating. It's overcast but still very hot and humid.

3. Contemplating two beautiful books I finished reading recently. Thinking about new books to bring on trip I'm leaving for on Monday.

1. Partner is recovering nicely from skin cancer removal on his face, but it's still been five days of sitting in the house doing nothing but watching Netflix. The only thing I can think of doing is going to the movies -- he doesn't want to do stuff outside because sweating would make the already-loose bandage looser. (Can't say as I blame him.) So... going stir-crazy.

2. Feeling depressed because taking care of him gets my nerves up about being a good partner/caretaker, which spirals me into an "Oh, shit, I'd be a terrible mother" panic and makes me all agitated. When, really, all he needs is to have me tape him up and get him a cold pack (which he can now do for himself), and he says I've been awesome. And then I get depressed again for feeling things and not being able to accept reality.

3. Found out via acquaintance's blog that ex-boyfriend, the only one (including ex-husband) with whom I don't have decent closure, is newly engaged. The recent scare has ground my own hopes (and bank account) to a screeching halt as we go day by day, but when I went back to work on Wednesday I found out that my lovely dreamy history of looking at expensive engagement rings that we can't afford was still up on the browser's toolbar... and another ex-boyfriend got married last weekend and won a Fulbright on Tuesday. So, basically, everyone is livin' the dream except us. Sigh.

I'm just a bundle of perkiness today. Sorry. Can I have a hug?

1. I really want to do something outdoorsy today, like canoeing or going to the beach, but most of my friends are away and I don't want to do it alone.

2. I have had ridiculous energy the last few days, and I don't know why.

3. I also have major low blood sugar symptoms, for no apparent energy.

(2. and 3. are not mutually exclusive.)

HA. For no apparent reason.

1. Doing lawnwork on my huge (1500 Sq Ft) acreage.

2. Going out to dinner with wife and son and his girlfriend for my birthday tonight. Then hopefully going to Toy Story after that.

3. Neighborhood block party tomorrow, celebrating a neighbor who moved here with his partner fifty years ago this summer and helped found the neighborhood group.

1. Got up really early, took the dogs for a run at the park. By 7:30 there were already joggers and bikers arriving, argh, but fortunately we were already at the let's put the leashes back on and head home stage. The dogs are perfectly friendly but some people get unhappy about loose dogs - and, okay, they are muddy and drooly and enthusiastic about greeting potential new friends - so I try to make sure that we only go run when the place is empty.

2. Then I came home, ate breakfast and took a nap! Yay!

3. Low key weekend ahead. Did my partying on Wednesday and Thursday night; this is going to be just mellow time.

1. No cats or other pets in my household. I might be allergic now that my asthma is back. Boo. Miss fluffy things.

2. Called 'bullshit' on one of my best friend's. He was wrong, his ego wouldn't let him admit it.

3. Starting rehearsal today. Back onstage. Keeps me humble.

(((((Madamina)))))

1. Watched Germany annihilate Argentina this morning. Good times.
1a. Feeling rather prescient, because after the first round, even though I am a Brazil fan through and through, I thought Germany looked the best.

2. We are dogsitting in our home this weekend, so after the game, we took the dogs out to run at the park. It's a gorgeous day, but there wasn't a single soul in the park except for us. I guess everyone traveled for the holiday.

3. After a trip to the hardware store, Paraguay v. Spain this afternoon. I think Spain has got it. I would love to see an all South American final, though.

1. ALA was awesome but totally wiped me out financially, and now I'm trying to think if I have anything I can sell (probably not, I sold most of that stuff last summer).

2. I just got mocked by some teenage girls who were sitting and reading in the store, which makes me feel extra-awesome today.

3. Somehow I have no 4th of July plans and my family seems to think I'm pretty lame b/c of that. Sorry that none of my friends are having bbqs? I'll totally enjoy a day on the couch watching netflix on demand (not as much as hanging out w ppl, but that's ok). Hell, I'm just happy to have a day off. (Despite all of the above, I'm in a pretty good mood, though a day of retail may beat that out of me.)

1. Been on a cleaning binge lately. We hired Junkluggers (who rock, by the way) and had half a sizeable truckload of "junk" carted away (they're coming to take it away, hee hee...). Boxes in hallway: gone. Boxes in kitchen, den: gone. We can see floor! Our small, formerly cluttered apartment feels cavernous. Jon even thinned out his books and records/CDs by HALF (he's still recovering). We're both happy for the change, though. It's a new day. I even vacuumed.

2. I'm considering getting some new living room furniture (a sofa and recliner), though I didn't realize they don't take the old sofa away when they bring the new one. We may need Junkluggers back for a brief visit. I want something plush and cushy, maybe in a chocolate brown microfibre.

3. We went to Coney Island on Wednesday and ate Nathan's and saw a Cyclones game. I love summer.

Wow, Pips, I can't wait to see the de-cluttered apartment! That's the trouble with having space - it gets filled up with stuff!

1. Just paid some bills, and hauled three loads of crap to the recycle bin. Now I can see the floor to vacuum it, yay!

2. Joined the History Channel "club" for the main purpose of getting History magazine, which I like. Now I'm getting TONS of junk mail from other places, and the HC itself is actually sending me unsolicited DVDs, which I have to pay for unless I send it back (which I just did). Can they legally do that? If they send another one, I'm just going to write "refused" on the envelope and send it back. What a pain in the ass.

3. Slept surprisingly well last night. There is absolutely NO way I can predict which night I will sleep well and which night I won't, which is really annoying. It would be nice to have SOME control over my own damn life.

Thanks, senyar! (I keep wanting to say ej :) You won't recognize it!

1) Went to doctor today to find out why my sore throat-headache-fever thing is STILL going on. Was tested for everything from (literally) strep throat to malaria to dengue fever. (Apparently my symptoms look a LOT like malaria- WTF??) Tested negative for all those, was given a couple of shots (a steroid and an antibiotic) that were like two whacks on the butt with a sledgehammer. YOW!! OW!! But that was 2.5 hours ago, and I do already feel a little better. (I also have antibiotics to take for the next 10 days.)

2) That's actually BEEN my whole day, and my sainted parter has been so awesome and supportive and helpful through the whole ordeal, including sitting over 2 hrs in the waiting room at the doc's while I was being treated. He is one in a million.

3) I've gotten my prescriptions home and opened (it looks like Xmas Day at William S. Burroughs' house in here) and plan to spend the rest of the weekend vegging out on the couch or in front of the PC. I wish I had Monday off, but since I'm already feeling a little bit of improvement, maybe going back to work won't be so bad.

1. Yesterday, I learned that the sudden onset fatigue I often experience is actually eye fatigue from sitting at the computer, and further, for someone with a bad heart like mine, even eye fatigue is even to shut me down.

2. My cat's current favorite toy is a long piece of string that I drag about the apartment.

3. I think the kids are going to try to go camping.

1. Like BoPo, I've been pretty brutally sick with a sore throat and assorted other symptoms. Unlike BoPo's, my sainted partner is out of town, so I've been hunkered down alone... which is fine until you get so sick you can't tell how sick you are.

2. Last night my worried sister came over, planning to drag me into the emergency room. By the time she arrived, we decided together that I was on the mend. Yay!

3. She brought me canned soup and juice and, blessedly, an enormous carry-out container of pho. She arranged everything beautifully on a tray for me and sat me down and watched me eat the first bowl of it, after which I immediately felt miraculously better. I suspect it has actual magical properties, especially since I suffered an expected relapse around midnight, ate the rest of the pho, and immediately felt better again. Placebo effect FTW!

1. Catching up at MetaTalk
2. May watch a movie later
3. Very tired

1. Took a chance on a VERY cheap recon'd desktop compy to replace the hanging-on-by-a-string thing on my desk. Arrived today (before I expected, considering I went with Free Slow Delivery). Easier to set up MY way than I expected - it's my first experience with Windows7 after avoiding Vista and living with XP for so long. So far I am quite relieved and pleasantly surprised.

2. As Warren Zevon said "Enjoy every sandwich". But I got carried away with the fresh veggies and cold cuts I acquired yesterday. By the time I sat down to eat, I had to lay down. But it's been an active day with cleaning up my neglected desk, setting up the aforementioned PC and helping a neighbor set up his identical PC (we talked each other into it so we piggybacked the order and they both arrived today... in boxes big enough to put mainframes in; what IS it with internet stores overpackaging?!?). The epic shopping trip yesterday also wore me out (I didn't beat the Dollar-a-Day guy from the MeFi thread but impressed everybody in the neighborhood by cutting my costs about 60% by couponing, bargain-hunting and hold-my-nose-and-drop-into-Walmart-next-door-to-the-super-for-three-items-they-always-beat-everybody-on-price-probably-by-forcing-the-supplier-to-take-a-loss-but-I-like-the-product-and-don't-like-the-manufacturer-so-I-justify-myself-with-targeted-schadenfreude).

3. Thought about a past 4th of July and wrote a few HUNDRED words about it here, partly while waiting for the FedEx computer delivery and finishing after my sandwich-related collapse. What I call Penicillin-Resistant Nostalgia.

3.1 CATurday? One reason I like MetaChat is because it gets most of its kyoot from bunnies, not kitties. The only cats I do not HATE are Adam Koford's Hobo Cats. Can we do something less vile, like Otterday or Hamsterday?

CATurday? One reason I like MetaChat is because it gets most of its kyoot from bunnies, not kitties.

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1- Today is day one of a month off. Sort of unplanned at this point, but there's no real stress to find anything particular to do. Today was a good start in that direction.
2- Tomorrow is a bbq at my friends house with a great deck in the Oakland hills.
3- No further plans but to take more pictures and familiarize myself with my new Wavedrum.

Well played, BoPo.

1. Fry got out, and I had to chase-entice-wait for him the next hour and a half. I debated leaving him be until he pulled off his safety collar. I worry about him getting lost and not knowing about cars. Unfortunately he gets into this scared-aggressive mindset and hisses and bites and scratches, and I'm diabetic so this is not good (if you recall my winter bout with antibiotics). Ran out afterward and got more Feliway.

2. Still dealing with the drug house across the street. Last night I was taking the laundry in, standing in the driveway, when the girls drove up (this often signals an end to business for the night, they have the kids). All three women gave me the finger. I have a city councilman on my agenda, so we can put pressure on the city-employed landlord. Yes, city-employed landlord.

3. Worried about the bankruptcy. We're currently sort of appealing dismissal, whatever that means outside of actual court. I feel if it fails it's on me, but it's realy all the financial shit my dad pulled.

4. Oh, yeah, Dad was in the hospital this week. At one point he ate skin conditioner as if it were pudding. There's no conversation we can have anymore. He has no interest in reading or television, so he just sleeps. Without his Social Security the bankruptcy is impossible and my mom loses everything. It's hell.