1. At work for another hour. I got slammed this morning by Voldemort Amazon dude one of our most prolific patrons, but it's been quiet since then.

2. Have to run over to my parents house after work to drop off my federal taxes so my father can check my math (because I fail so hard at simple arithmetic) and talk to him about getting a ride to the property tax hearing on Thursday and see if my mother (who has been harassing me about going out shopping with her) wants to go to the tailor (since I have 2 dresses I need to have altered) and Target after the hearing.

3. Kinda nervous but excited too about my new schedule that I came up with over the weekend. I hope I can stick to it since it's going to be awesome. I hope. Either that or I'll just faceplant. We'll see.

After the earthquake in Christchurch, I reconnected with a very old friend. Hadn't talked to her since we were in NZ a year and a half ago. To my surprise she now has a new fiance AND a new baby (she was in the middle of a breakup when I was out there last). She told a harrowing story about running through the kitchen with knives and glasses dropping off the wall to get to the baby who was 5 days old at the time. Not the best circumstances to reconnect with someone, but there you go.

Something nobody ever tells you about having a kid: Having to schedule your pooping around a clingy toddler that will not leave you alone.

I really need a massage.

I've got a friend visiting from Austin. She came in to go to Mardi Gras with us, but so far, the plan's a bust because:

1. Today I have a funeral for the son of the local Chief of Police. It is his third and last son to die, all because of the same heath reason.

2. Tomorrow I have a graveside funeral for the child of an old Scout buddy. The baby died at birth.

3. Another friend's house burned down Friday night, and I'm trying to organize a local relief effort for his family. He's very kind about it, telling me not to worry about him until after Mardi Gras, but they have an immediate need, and I can't go to parades until I know that they're taken care of.

1. I've spent the weekend feeling that nonspecific crappy that sucks even more than the crappy that has a pointed source.

2. I have, however, managed to get the house in a lot better condition than it had been.

3. I have watched an absolute marathon of The 1900 House, Regency House Party and Texas Ranch House all weekend.

Re-reading it, my post seems very "woe-is-me", so here are some happy thoughts:

1. At my funeral today, I saw a friend who I haven't seen in about ten years. And I got to meet his wife and his son for the first time. That was nice.

2. My diet is going well so far. I've lost nearly thirty pounds and I've changed the way I eat and exercise. I feel great and all my clothes are fitting much better.

3. I'm giving up TV and movies for Lent and I'm looking forward to diving into some photography projects that I've been working on for the past four years. Expect so see some disturbing pictures from me in the near future.

1) I have a humongous massive project by my usual standards and it's due in just a few days and I'm attempting to psych myself up! Already have the Red Bull and junk food on deck

2) I recently saw Inside Job, The Fighter, and Moon (2009). Moon is great and I liked it much more than 2001 a space odyssey which just bored and befuddled me.

3) AAAH BIG PROJECT

1. Cars. . .my wife and I are disagreeing about cars. Daughter needs a car. . .I want to get us a new Prius (0.0% for 5 years!) and give daughter our 2001 Saturn wagon that is in good shape, albeit has 140K miles. Wife thinks our car is too old and just wants to buy daughter a newer used car and drive ours into the ground. She's winning so far in that most of the cash layout up front is hers (we keep our money separate).

2. Sister had a heart episode yesterday but pretty minor and came away with scrips for blood pressure and cholesterol. Pretty good news.

3. Saw The Adjustment Bureau last night and enjoyed it. Was disappointed to read the New Yorker review afterwards implying that I am a simpleton for having done so. William Gibson tweeted that the movie was Kafka as lived by figures on a wedding cake, and I felt that was apt.

Sorry to hear that your part of the world is rainy.
I was walking through Amsterdam today and it was beautiful; sunny, cool. I had coffee outside in the sun, overlooking the Amstel.

1. Oh it is indeed rainy rainy here. Goodbye to many layers of snow.

2. I worked out *twice* today. Crazy. Lifted weights this morning and ran this afternoon. At this rate I will soon be Amazon Woman.

3. Only have to put in 6 hours of overtime at work this coming week.

I finally remembered my metachat login! Yee-ha!

1) it is raining here too. And chillier inside the house than out. I need to put on my fingerless gloves, my hands are cold even in the summertime.

2) ColdChef, that is great! You are inspiring me to re-commit to my own diet and exercise efforts. I've lost a substantial amount of weight this year myself, but recent stresses have put back a few of my hard-won lost pounds.

3) Keeping my fingers crossed that the men in the house get well soon. First I was sick, then the boy got sick, then my husband got sick. Good thing we have a lot of boxes of tissues.

1) It's been flirting with warming up here. Yesterday got all the way up to 5c and without the wind it was quite pleasant. I've been able to ride my bike again. I'm way out of shape.

2) Recovering from maybe a sinus infection. Took me out last Monday, and I stayed home for the first time since I got here last March. Bleg. On the other hand, I learned that wearing the surgical mask to work (this is Japan after all) is magical, because everyone instantly knows you're sick, but in a positive way, if that makes sense.

3) My contract expires at the end of the month, which means I'm leaving at the end of the month. So far, my plans are either back to Seattle (well, Kirkland for starters), or Portland. Seattle's so expensive when compared to Portland, but I have a lot of friends there. I like Portland a lot, but I worry about the job market and my lack of marketable job skills.

Beautifully rainy here...and I've stayed in all day.

1. Finally watched "Best Worst Movie."

2. Re-organized the kitchen...to make room for my new cookie jar!

3. Looking forward to going to bed early and finishing my book while Mr. Arkham studies for his midterm.

1) For my birthday, we got two bags of pasture grass seed. (Expensive present!) We've been dragging and aerating and spreading. Very satisfying. Tired, tho.

2) I thought today was going to be *miserable* since the Zofran apparently stopped working two days ago. I spent a while talking to a pharmacist last night, though, and she had some suggestions for how to affect the nausea, and today I feel SO much better. Another nice birthday present!

3) Badass Kitty (the feral who escaped a coyote? attack) seems to be doing reasonably well. The bump in her eye looks like it's receding, and today her eye has gotten clear enough that it's possible to see her pupil! Very exciting. She seems about ready to be done with treatment, though. She bit me yesterday and has been grumpy all day today. I can't blame her; it's 3 weeks now she's been in that crate. The vet wants just one more week of treatment...

And now it's Sunday night. This is what I do on Sunday nights: I cook something complicated for dinner, so as to have leftovers for later in the week, and I listen to The David Jacobs Collection on BBC Radio Two, and then The Big Broadcast with Ed Walker on WAMU. I love Sunday nights.

Here in NE Oregon it keeps snowing and melting and repeating. I've been ready for summer for quite a while.

1. I picked up the boyfriend and his father from the train station. They were supposed to be here a week and a half ago but their train was canceled due to snow. It's been a super quiet house with only me in it, and I'm happy to see them, even though they are both super sick with a cold.

1b. I'm ready for spring. Where's spring?

2. The father-in-law is on a heart medication that means he can't eat most vegetables (no Vitamin K) and we cook mostly vegetarian. I was thinking soup would make them feel better. So I am cooking Beef Guinness stew and feeling pretty proud of myself - I only recently gave up vegetarianism and don't eat much meat at all. Much less chop up stew meat! Smells pretty good, we'll see how it turns out.

2b. I'm still only really going to eat the veggies out of the stew.

3. My cat had a hellish week with emergency room visits, lots of pain and lots of medical bills. He survived but is really doped up for a week. He has been alternating between being himself and then after I give him his pain medication, he follows me around like a dog and sprints around the house. It's funny to watch (and I'm glad he's not in pain anymore).

3b. I am really glad the boyfriend is home - trying to give a large strong cat a syringe of pain medication by yourself sucks, and it was making me blue that I didn't know anyone nearby that I could ask for help. I am surprised Moose (my cat) didn't kill me in the process.

1) I was all set up to go shoot some of Elizard's knitwear, but my model backed out at the last second.

2) I compensated for the disappointment by getting my wife an iphone 3GS

3) Back to the grindstone, the rain the past few days has sorta left me in a depressed state.

We've been getting tantalizing bits of warmer weather (10C/50F) with sunny skies and there has been lots of LBB* activity.

It's staying lighter later and that's been lovely. Can't wait for the time change.

Upping the amount of Seroquel I take has been great mood-wise this last month. Update with doc on Thursday.

PS to danf: Looking forward to see The Adjustment Bureau next weekend. I don't care what reviewers say, if I want to see something I'm going to see it. Not everything has to be Oscar material; there's absolutely nothing wrong with entertainment for entertainments sake.


*Little Brown Bird (sparrows, juncos, finches, etc.)

Is Elizard designing knitwear? I want to see! Send a link when pictures have been taken, please!

gaspode, I can't imagine dodging knives and glass to get a tiny baby. I am now completely against those metal strips to hang knives (I was a little against them just because my house is often dusty because it's an old house). That image goes on my list of things I never imagined but of course it happens.

sperose, I love that your dad checks your math. That's so cute. (And I don't mean to be condescending.)

ColdChef, wow. My condolences to all of your friends. It's a good thing all of our miseries don't coincide so we have time to reach out and provide some ballast for others in need.

Also: Lent is one of those things that really fascinates me. I grew up in a completely non-religious context, so I'm always interested in hearing how adults process and philosophize about the formal ritual aspects of their belief systems.

galadriel, hooray for recovering kit-kats!

Sil: boo about the emergency cat. :-(

For my part, I'm standing in the kitchen getting stoned and making dinner. Then I'm going to continue working on my memoirs and notes for a collection of music I made as a young teenager.

It's grey and I'm blue. Why is tomorrorw Monday, whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

1) Finally (finally! yeesh) got the house on the market, and someone's supposed to show up at some point tomorrow to take panorama shots for a virtual tour.

2) Spent my afternoon tidying up the yard - I love the pine trees, but they drop a metric ton of needles every year, and I didn't get them all raked up before winter hit. I will not miss yardwork.

3) Mmm, stir-fry.

Only 1). A 9-hour hike through the woods, with snow and creek crossings and up and over "Pinnacle Peak". It was absolutely fantastic. We finished just as it was too dark to see anything. A perfect use of all the daylight hours in a day!

I am not not happy with my houseplants.