Last night we had our annual choir potluck. Since our choir only meets for a jam-packed two weeks per year, this means we get 60 people and their assorted partners/children in someone's living room, get 'em good and liquored up (not the children... mostly) and sing out our stupids before our concert on Friday. It is absolutely crucial to our success (not even kidding here), and it also involves a lot of beer and sangria.

So I guess I left my work bag there last night while trying to escape before I melted (seriously, I am melting like a damn freezy pop here). Luckily I have my essentials, but I wasted time looking for it and missed my bus. So I had to take the other bus a few blocks away, which I have never done.

Oh, such new and exciting things.

Woke up at 5:10. Never use an alarm. I play early volleyball 3X a week, so get up in order to get to the gym at 6. The dog and cats have gotten used to getting up and getting fed at this time, hence they start making noise around 5 EVERY morning. It's war.

Madamina, that sounds like so much fun. (The choir party, I mean. Not the multiple buses. That sounds like less fun.)

Overslept by about two hours. Evidently I told my husband I was playing a "food game" in my sleep and couldn't be disturbed. I have no recollection of that.
I'm still in my pj's (par for the course) working to clear out some Monday projects. It's still hot and humid, so I won't be venturing far out doors.
Occhi, I have had "Going to the chapel" stuck on repeat in my head before. What do you suppose it is about that catchy little melody that causes it it to worm its way into our brain?

I dreamed that I sat in a recliner which explosively flipped itself over to eject me and hurled me into a crumpled heap across the room, the recliner piled on top of me, all burned-out upholstery and metal struts poking into my skin.

So, uh, I got up early.

Occhi, I have had "Going to the chapel" stuck on repeat in my head before. What do you suppose it is about that catchy little melody that causes it it to worm its way into our brain?

For me, it's partly because my obviously evil co-worker was singing it at me last week, and ikkyu2 and I are going to pick up our marriage license this morning, which involves neither a chapel nor saying "I do," but my brain's stuck there, apparently.

Also, it's just damned catchy. And repetitive. Seriously repetitive. It's like you never get to the end of the song, because it's all the same line over and over and over and over and over again.

Woke up quite late - didn't set the alarm as I have the day off, and am evidently still recovering from my jet-setting July. It's great to be back home. But we are having the most sparkly of summer days the past few days, so I regret 'wasting' the mornings in bed.

Did get to the beach yesterday - for an afternoon swim-and-sunbathe and then for a farewell campfire for a friend who's moving to Seattle. Hoping to get another hour or two today, but also need to grocery shop, and move some furniture that I want to rearrange, and change the oil in the car. WE'll see how far I get.

Couldn't concentrate this afternoon, so headed home from the office via the shops, and now have to work this evening to compensate. Hurrah!, and boo!, for the flexibility of self-employment.

Wishing I knew why the cat keeps throwing up. He doesn't usually vomit much, but now it's twice in two days. It doesn't seem to bother him - five minutes later he seems to be wondering why he's so empty and hungry.

It's warm (27C), cloudy and humid here. Not the most pleasant, but it's not too hot to get things done. Hope all you heatwave-sufferers are OK.

Woke up pretty late for me. The Bees was sleeping next to me and I didn't want to disturb her, plus dreaming was pretty pleasant, always a nice surprise.
Since then I've been fraught with anxiety about my near future plans being in the balance, all dependent on other people's decisions. The slow negotiations by text are suspenseful in the worst way. I'm going to have to assume the worst just because it's the only way out of this.
So much for teaching, so much for school, so much for my reputation as a good student and future career. It keeps on exploding like a bomb in my head, level by level.
Oh well, maybe it won't be so terrible, I say to myself. Maybe I will write a novel or a paper, pull together a website, paint and illustrate. Maybe I can still manage to teach through some miracle.

Happy marriage license day! What is the name for it?

Cripes, thanks for the earworm occhiblu.

Today is the first Monday of the month and I'm running down end of month stuff for work and also going through bills due for the month. I'm a really terrible adult so the only way I could stay on top of it was to make a list in my tiny 2 year planner and then just pay the bills going down the line of this date... I hate doing this, it makes me so anxious too because I have to also monitor my spouse's spending as I'm only slighty better than he is at this.

Done with my day, off on my daily long-ass walk to get my last of six train tickets to Poznan, Poznan-Berlin-Cologne-Brussels-London-Penzance already having been purchased! Whoo fitness! Whoo train tickets!

I woke up five minutes before the alarm at 5.30, I was in the office at 7, microwaved my porridge and made my coffee and had a nice leisurely breakfast at my desk, reading the law reports, before everyone else started to drift in.

It's been a busy, productive day, but I had some fire-fighting to do, sorting out a bit of a mess some junior staff had made of a case, trying to be too helpful but in the process screwing things up. Gah!

Now I'm home, watching Judge Judy and thinking about what to have for dinner. Good TV tonight (the new season of Britain's Next Top Model has just started, this week the 13 selected girls go into the house and Someone Will Be Going Home).

Lucy has had her dinner and she's washing her head now. Bailey always used to do that for her, pinning her down with a paw on the back of Lucy's neck (it would usually end in a fight when Lucy had had enough but Bailey had not finished the washing). Now Lucy has to do the paw-over-the-ear business to get her head and face clean.

Woke up at 435 this morning and could not get back to sleep. I refuse to get out of bed and deal with things until 7.

Today is day 2 of Ritalin and while my mood seems to be better and my motivation is a bit better too, the weird on/off nausea is irritating.

Haven't really done much of note today so far. Did some research on knife laws, pulled together my school group's posting for the week, some ACA reading, and a few articles.

This week is going to be busy, which worries me. I don't do well when I have lots of busy days strung together. But I suppose I should be a grown up and learn to deal with it.

My sister in-law and her bf have been staying with us, and they left about half an hour ago, so my morning was doing a bit of work and then having lunch with them. Now I am working. Or should be, to make up for the slow morning I had.

Got up early this a.m. thanks to the mister bring home breakfast after walking the dog. Just as well since we wanted to get to Petsmart before it got too hot today.

We finally succumbed and paid the outrageous sum for a Furminator (FF spelling recommendations: Terminator or Nominator). I have a feeling it's going to be worth every damn penny. Anyone want dog hair for knitting? Seriously, in just a couple minutes we have a ton of dog hair. It looks like it's going to work on the cats as well, especially Mingo as he's the one with long hair.

I also got a collar and tag for Oliver. He loves to hover by the door when we let Kaylee out and he usually tries to bolt for freedom. He's actually quite easy to catch if you don't yell at him. Anyway, the collar is white with black bug-like creatures on it which I thought quite appropriate for a cat with a nickname of "Bug". Bug is a shortened version of his kitten nickname "Bug-eyed freak". Yes, he had bug eyes, until he grew into them, and he's still a freak. He is trained to a halter and leash and once in a while I'll take him outside. Anyway. Now that he has a collar with his name and phone number I have a little more sense of security in case he doesn't come back after a bolt.

The funny thing is that Oliver LOVES to wear things like collars. He struts with his tail up high when you've put something on him. I'm sure it helps that we praise and fuss over him when he's wearing something.

[Cats, let me tell you about them.]

Oh, and I have also had "Chapel" stuck in my head. Usually after the mister has been singing it because it's been stuck in his head. Thanks for renewing that, occhiblu.

I have "Batty Bat" stuck in my head. This is a Sesame Street song, sung by The Count. It went away for a little while and then I heard my husband whistling it and now it is back and relentless.

It's been a good day so far in spite of a headache. We're going to look at a few houses and I'm always optimistic that we'll see OUR HOUSE just waiting for us. I love our realtor because instead of trying to spin everything (house across the street from major highway = Convenient To Everything! house stripped to the studs prior to being foreclosed = Ready For Your Decorating Touches!) she'll turn up her nose and say, "You can't live here", or, "$259,000 for this place? There's $259,000 worth of ugly brown wood paneling so that must explain it".

Have a nasty cold.

Normally I'm lucky and can walk to work, but on a training course in the City this week, so going in on the Tube. Can't believe I used to do this every day.

Despite all the breathless "nobody wears a suit anymore" hype, about 2/3 of the guys at Bank station were wearing suits even in the heat.

Woke up this morning with "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" stuck in my head. I hate the Beatles. I beat it back with the theme to the Muppet Show. And I mentally melted Max's hammer before I hit snooze.

Yesterday was a wonderful loungearound day with my sweetheart. I haven't had so much sleep in ages. What a way to beat the heat!

mahna mahna Eideteker

My (cell phone) alarm was set for 7:20 this morning, but it didn't actually go off until 7:50. Even then, the text on the screen said "ALARM: 7:20 A.M." But it wasn't 7:20 a.m. It was 7:50 a.m. I'm still scratching my head over that one. This is not sustainable, this alarm with flexible and arbitrary notions of time.

In other stupid news, I am sitting here at my keyboard suffering from a burrito-related injury. It's a five-minute walk from the burrito purveyor. I carried it cupped in the palm of my hand (because it's too big around for me to grip). By the time I got back to my office, I had a serious forearm cramp. Turns out that it's a major typing muscle that I strained under the weight of the burrito, and I think it's going to be a long afternoon.

I had mac and cheese for breakfast, so YAY! Slept 11 hours, so YAY!
Went to my part-time job that is supposed to turn full time, and found out that the funding is less secure than we thought. EEK! SCARY!
Had another (backup) job interview that went well, and they don't want someone to start immediately. This is good for me, because I want the job where we're waiting on funding. Wish me luck on the backup job!

Now have many songs going through my head. Mahna Bang Bang To Get Married!

I've been listening to the Hollywood Babylon podcast for the last 2 hours, so no music for me. I'm very exhausted because my boyfriend came home after being away for 1.5 weeks and I think it was just a little weird getting used to sleeping next to him again.

I may take a nap when I get home, before cooking.

Cripes, thanks for the earworm occhiblu.

If it's any consolation, I had *just* gotten it out of my head and then came back to check this thread, so now it's firmly lodged in my brain yet again. Blergh.

Ugh, I've been crabby all day. And dealing with a crazy yelling person right at the end of my work day did not help. But I'm home now! LET THE EATING BEGIN!

Didn't get to bed until 1:30 am last night and got up at 6:30 a.m. so feeling very tired. Did get breakfast and packed lunch and fed the pup etc. but I must admit I was depending on my coffee to keep me upright. Sadly too tired to remember to take the coffee mug out of the car when I parked it so feeling caffeine deprivation by the time I got into the office. Naturally the Keurig decided this would be a good AM to not work right. Aaargh. Being low on caffeine inhibited my ability to solve the problem so I could stoke up my caffeine reserves.

I checked the internets and was informed the Keurig problem (squirting water back into the reservoir while brewing) is tough to fix so remembered I have so many coffee points I could probably get a new machine cheap. Immediately after ordering it, I got the Keurig working again.

The good part of this is that once I got my coffee I felt a lot more functional for the rest of the day. Definitely don't have the energy to go to Bikram Yoga tonight as planned. Rather, early bedtime is on the agenda.

Yeah, not good at handling lack of sleep here.