1. Today is our second day back from a really great one week visit to Grand Bahama Island. It is good to be home but in truth I'd like another week to lounge, beach walk and swim/snorkel. It is mid 40s and damp and gray here in Seattle.

2. My back got out of whack on the long flight back to Seattle. Some TLC from my super Bear really helped on Sunday, but it is not happy to be sitting and doing computer stuff today. Hoping I don't have to head back to the acupuncturist. We shall see.

3. We have set Its a Wonderful Life and one of the early versions of A Christmas Carol for recording on our DVR, but are very sad that CBC apparently isn't broadcasting the best version of Chrismas Carol of all, the Alistair Sim one, this year. Glad to hear Hitchhiker is available, because that 1981 version made me laugh until I cried.

1. Woke up this morning feeling like ass. Took an afternoon nap. Still feel like ass.
2. that's all really. blah.

1. Thanks for the Hulu tip. That'll be my late-night viewing this week.
2. Nothing at all remotely of interest to anyone is happening here today.
3. I'm about to drink a nice big glass of cold water.

1. Woke up feeling oddly happy and hopeful. I'll take it!

2. It's snowing here finally! First real snow of the season. Just a small amount, but SO SO pretty.

3. Looking forward to home this evening, and baking.

1) Last week we had some brutal--for FL--weather. Today I repaired busted PVC plumbing. Fortunately it was a place we could just leave the pipes shut off until I could get to it.

2) Woke up to an accident on the floor. Dammit. Poor senile old doggy. I need to be more careful. At least it was on the tile.

3) Fixed mom-in-law's gate that keeps sagging. No, wait. Stopgap-patched the gate, as I do each time it sags. I take it down and re-hang it, which is what my carpentry skills allow. I know a gate this size should have been hung with a support wire, but adding that is outside my skill level.

Still, I feel accomplished. I'm Doing Stuff.

~ ~ ~

Being somewhat blind to TV and so on, for quite some time I thought the catchphrase "resistance is futile" was a Hitchhiker's reference.

1. I'm just about over (I hope) a horrendous head cold that I've been trying to kill with zinc, vitamin c, chloraseptic throat spray, some kind of 'tussin' linctus that tastes like ass because it has no sugar or alcohol in it, and Vick's Vapour Rub.

2. Some friends from the area are coming over for dinner tonight - we're making Pho, Hoi-sin char-sui pork, salmon, rice with char-grilled asparagus, salad, green beans, bread rolls, then cinnamon-roast pineapple with ice cream, and a cheese board, with some lovely crackers.

3. Shadow, the beautiful cat who was so skittish last time I was here is now my bff and is on my lap at every opportunity. I love having a lap cat - my two at home are not lap cats at all. As they weigh 13 lbs and 15 lbs, maybe that's a good thing. Shadow weighs about 5 lbs and so I am happy for her to lie on my lap whenever she likes.

1. In less than 24 hours I will be in Florida! Woohoo!
2. Final for my class tonight. We'll see if I studied enough.
3. I got some packing left to do! Wish I had a scale, so I could make sure I don't overpack. It's tempting to pack everything but the kitchen sink.

1. It is so cold in my office that I have a blanket across my lap and am wearing a hat and gloves. Please excuse any typos.

2. Am thinking of cancelling my netflix account to save money, now that I have two free PBS channels and a lot of internet radio.

3. I have been advised by a wise-sounding MeChazen to get myself involved in some fun activities. I guess that's as good a New Year's resolution as any.

1. I just finished the last of a meatloaf made specifically for cold sandwiches. Although I am a mustard snob, I find that cheap yellow mustard really is best for meatloaf.

2. Would you believe I still have pain from the shingles I got in October? Well, I do.

3. I need to change my guitar strings.

1) I'm a single parent for a few days while hub is away on business. Part of it I like, part of it I don't.

2) Little boys and trains: My kid is 4 and loves trains. Over the weekend I found a model train museum. It's very informal. My suspicion is that a bunch of wives said to their husbands, "Get this sh*t out of my house already" and they all rented this big warehouse and now there are little model trains running all around. Jack was absolutely captivated and kept walking around admiring it all. I told him once to just look with his eyes, no touching, and he did just fine. He cried a little when we left so I think we'll go back tomorrow.

3) More snow coming. There's already over a foot on the ground. Staring down the barrel of 3+ more months of winter makes me a little blue. Plus my feet are always cold.

1. I made the newbie error of going to Costco today. When I saw the mobs in the store and at checkout, I quietly reshelved my stuff and fled.

2. One of my best friends and I like to meet at a cute local bakery at least one afternoon a week, but we keep forgetting it's closed on Mondays now. Luckily we thought of an acceptable substitute and I had a gingerbread latte and a zucchini cupcake.

3. This is my last week at one of my jobs!

1. I no longer live next to a creek, which is usually sad in the rainy season, but this year it might be a nice thing. as oneswellfoop mentioned, we're getting a lot of rain out here. I now live next to a freeway instead of a seasonally active creek, which provides a different sort of constant sound.

2. Mrs. flt and I saw Peaches Christ Superstar with some friends in SF this weekend. The show was awesome (much less dancing around than shown in that clip, but that didn't detract from the performance), and the weather wasn't bad for the trip up there and back, or our time there. We left mid-day on Sunday, before it started to hail.

3. Five cats is a lot of cats, especially when one wants to pick fights with the two new cats. Making cat obstacles was fun for a while, now it's just annoying to rebuild the cat wall. I have a "how to keep your cats from killing each-other" book to read on my holiday break, for a hopeful long-term solution.

1. Currently in love with the TV show "The Vampire Diaries". (I read the books when I was a wee thing but the TV show is sooooo much better.)

2. Took the week off work, which is a good thing because I think I'm coming down with something. (Woke up with sore throat, had mouth sores over the weekend, can't seem to hydrate enough=impending illness)

3. Haven't been able to shovel off my parking space to get into my garage since it froze over and there's not enough sunlight to thaw it. Luckily, I have an open parking tag so I can park elsewhere while I wait for my father to bring over a metal shovel. (Mine is plastic and wee and I don't want to break it.)

1. Depressed as hell.

2. But I did finally decorate the Christmas tree.

3. Gave annoying date boy second chance last night because he was ridiculously persistent. Turns out that if he was the absolute last man on the planet and the future of the human race depended on it I might sleep with him, but that is what it would take and I still probably wouldn't want to actually talk to him much. So I told him all about how my life is in turmoil (true) and I'm not in a space to start seeing anyone (also true) and I'm sure he can meet somebody far, far better than me (true too) and a whole bunch of related shite and I think we parted friends.

1. I have a cold - 2nd time in 2 months. 242, baby!

2. My husband bought himself Christmas presents, so I don't have to worry about that (yay!). He is now heading to the pub, so I don't have to cook dinner (yay!).

3. I got a Christmas card from my father, and his return address label has a Delorean on it (hee)!

. Exams are over. In terms of how they went, my reactions range from ohgodhelpme to meh for a mood point average of blergh. But we'll see.
.. Am mourning the sale of my parents' piano, otherwise known as the Piano of My Youth, a beautiful old honey-colored small grand Lyon & Healy. I never (cellist) learned to play it, but loved it anyway. One of my favorite places to be as a little girl was underneath it, either hidden away with a book or else feeling the rumble of the strings as my father played Schubert or jazz variations. In the interest of keeping it in the family, I offered a while back to store it myself or else drive it across the country to my sister's house, but my mother was somehow not very keen on the idea, and last year my sister and her husband got their own new upright piano, so the old one wasn't needed. Two nice young men came down from Grove City or someplace to pick it up, and I made my father swear that they were taking it to live on a very large farm where it could run and play in the sunshine with all the other pianos and be happy. I wish it had at least gone after Christmas, because it will be dismal trying to carol without it.
... Helping me get cheerful again is the fact that said sister, brother-in-law, nephew, and unknown-nephew-or-niece-to-be are flying up tomorrow night, and will be staying for a week, during which all kinds of fun are guaranteed to be had.

1. My brother is quite ill. Waiting for biopsy results to see what variety of wretched news it will be. F*ck you cancer, f*ck all your family and friends.
2. My work just sucks so much that I can barely get myself to drive to work.
3. It snowed, and it's pretty. Somewhere in all my Sad-Sack-Girl self is an appreciation of just plain old beautiful snow. Cold comfort, indeed, but a fire in the woodstove, a little dog, and lots of sappy holiday teevee fare will get me through a few more days.

((((theora)))) I'm so sorry your brother is sick .. fingers crossed for no bad news

So sorry to hear about your brother, theora. Fuck cancer.

Me too theora.

1- Day 5 of the cold brings some promise of getting well
2- At least I'm on vacation so I'm not using up valuable sick time
3- After 5 days in the house, nothing on TV is worth watching

notquitemaryann, your piano memories are really beautiful.

theora55, I'm SO sorry! Gah. I've been though this and I know there's nothing more horrible.

MGL, see here's where men aren't like women, because I'd probably have fucked him BEFORE I told him all that. Vive le difference.

Me:

1. Had the most amazing day today. Woke up late, had tea with the hubby, played videogames, went out for lunch, ran errands, waited for hubby to get haircut (I spent it in a sun-filled car talking to my mom on the phone, which was nice), listened to the news and had a cool discussion/debate with hubby, started a fire in the fireplace, had (more) beers.

2. Got to see my younger brother yesterday, with his family (including babies), and this is always a good thing. I just can't figure out if he's a fascist or an idiot. I know he's really neither one, but damn. I miss being friends with him. I miss him a lot. Fuck politics.

3. I reserve point #3 until later.

1. I worked this morning.

2. I took the afternoon off to ride bicycles with my lovely bride. We parked near downtown then bravely rode into the wind to lunch. This made riding back to the car so much easier with the wind at our backs.

3. We went out to dinner, me the wife and both sons, to an Italian-Lebanese restaurant before seeing the new Narnia movie which is quite good.

1. Getting house cleaned up and presentable for Mum's holiday visit.

2. Weather people keep saying we may actually have a white xmas, which would be fan-fucking-tastic.

3. Got a sweet xmas card from my (recently deceased) aunt's husband, totally unexpected. He included three recent photos of her, made me teary.

PS: Fuck cancer and the horse it rode in on.

1. I've been exercising again. It's nice to be in shape again. Because I'll be skiing in two weeks in Innsbruck. And because of the dating thing. It's an advantage of being naturally skinny; as soon as you get muscular you look pretty defined.
2. (somehow I don't feel comfortable complaining about very personal stuff on the internet, sorry)
3. I'm hoarding point 3, just like BP. Until I have a huge pile of update points!

Hey foop, look at it this way; the whole point of xmas is that is dreary and grey outside. And you guys in S CA are normally not very blessed with dark and cold normally at this time of year; your day is 11 hours long on december 21st! (7:45 hours where I am, even shorter in sweden)
So savour the bleakness. Huddle inside in the warmth and light as you're supposed to.

Theora, that's rough. I wish you strength (sterkte).

Hey, it's still Monday where I'm at...

1) Got my floor cleared up enough and the floor mats washed that I could actually work out this morning.

2) Work is. Got an interview with another group, but I found through other sources it may not be the step to upper levels I thought it might be.

3) I'm up this late to catch the lunar eclipse. I checked out a spiffy camera to take spiffy pix.

And yeah FUCK cancer.

oneswellfoop, I am thoroughly glad for all this rain. I'm from New England and miss my cloudy, stormy, soaking days, so this is a real pleasure for me.

Senyar, hooray for lap cats! My girl is 12 years old now, and she's become Superglued to me at all times in the last year or two. I can't sit down somewhere for a minute without an orange mass congealing around my haunches.

JanetLand - Heh. My building has neither heat nor hot water, so wintertime is a real treat for us. Everybody in the office is wearing fingerless gloves.

filthy light thief - I grew up in a house with up to six cats. It was like West Side Story half the time.

theora55 - Sending all the strength you need and a little extra. Cancer sucks... :-/

Okay, mine then:

1. One week into a modified Paleo diet and already I have no craving for sweets or carbs, my energy level has doubled, and my hunger and satiety levels are operating at high efficiency. I think I somehow hit the magical readiness point to kick that old habit, and not a moment too soon, as my 34th birthday was last week.

2. Just had a catastrophic hard-drive failure the very same week I ordered a RAID drive to back it all up. Ontrack was only able to salvage about 50%, and it's a total jumble of filenames and random data which has no guaranteed level of data integrity - to the tune of $1,000. The drive included hours and hours of field recordings made among folk groups and singers throughout Bulgaria, as well as similar trips to Spain and the United Arab Emirates ... sigh. So much for my entire work for 2010.

3. Meeting my boy's father and step-siblings for the first time over Xmas. He's the lone right-winger in a family full of liberals, and he's been making all kinds of excuses to avoid meeting or talking about me for the past year. I am at a stage in my life where I have zero tolerance towards bigots, and think they should be shunned and humiliated for operating double-standards in a home where opposite-sex boyfriends and girlfriends are openly embraced. But I will nonetheless be on my best behavior, because at least one of us can be a real man about it.

1.5 I never used to have a problem with rainy days in general, but last year's rainy season, which happened right after my "cheap car from hell" literally lost its sunroof, literally dampened my enthusiasm for rainy days - and the big dump-from-the-skies for a two days with news of flooded roads and overfilled sewage treatment plants was extra disconcerting - and hunkering down in my little homespace is usually good, but less so when, as I noted in #3, I really should do more remedial housecleaning and when you can't get to the dumpster with your trash because "a river runs through it", the evidence of my housecleaning progress sits in trash bags piled next to the front door. Yuk.

see here's where men aren't like women, because I'd probably have fucked him BEFORE I told him all that.

I know you're being lighthearted and not deeply philosophical bp, but geez that remark makes me sad. I don't think I ever want to go on another date ever again.

Well, for what it's worth, I don't concur with BPs assessment. I don't think all men want to fuck somebody knowing that they're not interested after that. But I'm sure they exist.
I do think that dating has a dynamic that can be rather selfish. Not only selfishness from men but from women too.
So it behooves a dater to look out for oneself. One of the things to suss out is whether a person seems kind/reliable and/or to find out whether that person is looking for the same thing (relationship vs hookup).
My point is that you're not a helpless victim of being treated unkind but you can use your judgement of character, choose the guy that's right for you.

Thank you, all of you. The caring and support from my Imajineery Friends on the Internets is incredibly meaningful, and it helps.

Mykescipark, I have an interest in Bulgarian music, and would love to hear more about your recordings. I have a gmail account.

Well, I'd be referring to most of those recordings in the past tense now... :-(