With the discussion of there being fewer posts here, I thought I'd try one! :)

1. We're in Atlanta, and we had our first weekend of what seems like fall. It was chilly this morning. I love the weather when it is like this, and wish we got more of it. I like to say "I love fall in Georgia - all 3 days of it!"

2. DragonCon costuming went really well - our niece looks fabulous as Harley Quinn, and the Game of Thrones cosplay went really well. It makes me want to keep sewing - it was so nice to make a dress for myself, even if it was a costume dress! In that spirit, we went to Jo-Ann's and I bought two pieces of Halloween fabric, which I will hopefully make into seasonally appropriate clothing (and then wear past Halloween!)

3. They are doing a Kickstarter for the Holga camera, and I backed it. I have a Diana, but haven't played with it much the past couple of years, and the Holga is digital, but with the same lenses, so I would likely use it more. I'm really excited to get it, and maybe it will encourage me to play with the Diana more!

1. Quite a rainy weekend, but I'm ready for cooler weather so I didn't mind. It was nice to walk in the woods and not emerge dripping with sweat.

2. Very dull editing project at work, but hopefully I'm nearing the end. Also an "office retreat" day this week, guaranteed by its very nature to be dull, dull, dull. I work in a building where exciting things often happen, but very few of them involve my job.

3. I really need to take a proper vacation -- the only time away from the office this year has been a) my mother's funeral, and b) cleaning out my mother's house. So, I am paging through the Amtrak timetables . . . .

1. I did my hair up in pin curls, but I screwed them up and my hair was this crazy mess in a 6" halo all around my head. So I ended up just wetting down my hair and all is well.

2. I am addicted to kitten Cassidy, a feral that was rescued very underweight and with legs cut off below the knees. He's a feisty fighter. If the livestream makes you sad (it doesn't make me sad), check this one out with 12 kittens and a mom. (There are two litters that were merged)

3. It is GORGEOUS outside. Finally after the heat we had a 75F sunny day yesterday, and I had the house open all day to air out.

1. I miss having a pet. This is the longest I've ever gone without having a cat. My heart wants a cat but my head is enjoying not having that responsibility on top of all of my other responsibilities right now. Someday.

2. My son will be three in less than a month and still isn't potty-trained. He's getting there, but he's not in any hurry. It is starting to stress me out but I'm trying to be cool and laid back about it. On the other hand, I think my 16 month old will be an early potty trainer; she hates dirty diapers and is fascinated with big brother's potty. They may end up both getting out of diapers around the same time.

3. I am finally sticking to a diet and have lost 12 pounds! It is a great feeling and I just hope I can keep it up. Goodbye baby weight!

Stewriffic, why were her legs cut off??

1. We're experiencing a Dutch nazomer. Which means torrential rain.

2. That's just as well because I've got a new project for which I'm making long hours.

3. I just received a tiny keyboard from the UK with real clicky keys. So I'm happy with my new gadget. All work and more work makes jouke a worky work.

4. gathering all my online powers for the unleashing of the METACHAT POSTATHON!!

Yay mecha!

1. The heat here finally broke yesterday, and we are reveling in our new, cooler environment.
2. Tomorrow we leave for a week out in Seattle/Vancouver! We are excited, we love our yearly trip to Seattle, and we are very much looking forward to exploring Vancouver this weekend. We don't have nearly enough time, and it's supposed to rain the whole weekend, but I don't care - I'm going to Vancouver!
3. My dog, whose health has troubled me all summer, appears to be steady and holding. In all honesty, I thought she would be dead by now. I'm really happy she's not! She'll spend the week with my in-laws while we are out tramping around the PNW.

amro -- they don't know how kitten lost his feet. They suspect it happened shortly after birth. It's pretty amazing he survived to 8-9 weeks before being rescued.

1. I put up a bunch of songs this weekend. Felt good to make time for creative endeavors. And I still managed to be social on Saturday night!

2. My musical collaborator is going on a sort of walkabout; he's leaving NYC for a bit, so I have to take all of the responsibility for running our show on my own shoulders. Our next show is Friday and I still don't have opening acts (or a guest host) confirmed! Aack!

3. I also need to take a proper vacation. I don't think I've taken a full week off work that wasn't to do something else in a couple of years.

1. Started the new school year last week. Rough, as usual. No A/C. Very hot and humid (97 degrees the first day). Can only open windows three inches due to construction. No access to books or supplies. Broken copier. Sigh. Kids were okay, for the most part. Large classes, over 30 students in each. Someone stole the boombox I use for audiobooks. Meh. Next week should be better. I ordered a bluetooth speaker from Amazon that should arrive tomorrow. Some books I requested should be delivered to my classroom. Copier was working by Friday. Things are looking up.

2. I posted two proposals for books on DonorsChoose, and plan to add more. Over the next week, DonorsChoose matches any contributions, in case anyone's feeling generous (for me or another worthy teacher's project, of course; search "Belmont Preparatory" in the Bronx, Ms. S., if you want to see mine : )

3. I'm having some vision problems with my left eye. It started on Friday. I see this weird jagged line, especially in bright light, and my vision's blurry (can't read even bumper sticker size print with that eye). After two days of research (and some panic), I finally got an appointment with an ophthamologist, after work on Wednesday, and right down the street from where we live (with good reviews online). It's been the same since Friday, but if it gets suddenly much worse, there's an emergency eye infirmary in lower Manhattan I can go to. Hopefully my eye's just fatigued and it's not a torn retina or anything (you can scare yourself looking online).

(I've missed a more active MeCha)

1. I'm waiting for a calzone like thing to bake in the oven. I got it along with a pizza bagel at the grocery store this weekend. The pizza bagel was quite delicious so I'm hoping this thing is just as tasty. It just didn't come with any cooking instructions, which is a bit worrisome.

2. This is going to be a busy week for me. It's going to be a busy few months for me here with tons of dance events and such going on. I've got rehearsal on Thursday with the Lazulis and we're working on our new Poe themed piece. And then we're going to dinner afterwards for Turkish Restaurant Week. And apparently the restaurant has live flamenco music and dancing! And next weekend we're doing a Wing Bar Crawl.

3. I'm still fighting the damned microsleeps at work. Luckily, I just barely avoided it today, but we'll see how the rest of the week goes.

1. Back in NYC after a long weekend in Baltimore for my SIL's wedding to her long-term boyfriend.

2. September is a busy month -- lots of birthdays. Maddie's party is this weekend coming, and from then on it's just attending them, though. And girl scouts starting. And school actually getting going properly.

3. I have to commit to start eating better. I have put on a bunch of weight in the last 6 months. I'm hungry ALL THE TIME and have been eating indiscriminately. Sigh.

Also, aw: no-foot kitty.

Kitties are over their respiratory infection. Bertie has an eye problem that we are trying the next step to cure after eye drops didn't fix it. I think someone threw up a tapeworm or maybe a rubber band that was found somewhere. I've been to the vet's office with cats at least every other week since kitten avalanche.

Work has been even more stressful than before with 10 to 11 hour days. I'm tired and cranky.

My Mom 's birthday is Friday. I'm going to make faux pots de chocolate since I have no time to bake a cake.

There's something I need to remember to do but I cannot figure out what - it just keeps nagging the recesses of my brain....

I ordered a hearing aid for my left ear on Friday. Thank goodness for health insurance. I hope it helps with the ringing, if nothing else. Being able to have a conversation in a crowded restaurant is a stretch goal.

I started my work day trying to debug an API request that doesn't work. I spent most of the rest of the day trying to fix OpenSSL on my mac. It is horribly broken. I gave up in frustration around 4 and surreptitiously read Metafilter for the rest of the day, which I almost never do at work.

I heard MeCha was feeling lonely, so I'm stopping by to say "hello".

Hello.

Hello, everyone. I hope things get livelier over here. Like gaspode, I feel like I haven't had much to say. It's Tuesday now, but still, here goes:

1. I'm fine myself, but the last month or so has been medical/health hell for several close friends. Ugh.

2. Looking forward to flying out to see my parents and brother in just over a week, and to doing some work on our cabin in the woods.

3. I forgot to take my car to the smog check this morning. I've got time, it isn't a problem, but I wanted to get it over with.

1. After moaning we were in the doldrums I then got so wrapped up with other things that I only checked back now, 3am, awake with a cup of tea and accompanying insomnia.

2. Work is insane - after having my work-from-home days cut down (along with everyone else), TPTB then realised that we weren't meeting our target for closing cases. That's because on the extra days in the office, we're busy with meetings, case clinics, professional leadership and other things. The huge open-plan office (200 people per floor) is so busy and noisy that there's no quiet corner where you can go through that 1,500 page case file. So they've now reinstated my 3 days per week working from home.

3. I'm on holiday next week. A friend has a caravan on a site in Felixstowe in Suffolk. (Lots of Brits have caravans - they're single-wide trailers on special sites, usually along the coast, holiday homes.) I'm going up there on Tuesday, coming back Saturday. We've had nothing but rain, sometimes torrential, never less than drizzle, all week, and it's here to stay for a while. So I think this'll mostly be time to read and catch my breath.