Red-Handed Jill

Well, my mom and I have talked about it and she says that there's definitely a difference between kids nowadays and when I was a kid. And all of her friends have made the same observation. One of the problems is that more recently people seem to have a problem with being personally accountable and this is spilling over into how they raise their kids. So many of these folks assume that their kids will learn good manners by osmosis, completely forgetting that their parents had to work very hard to teach them any manners. And hey - my hormones are finally back to normal - yippee!

Old Faithful

Curtain climbers - that's a new one for me. Christine, I am so with you on that one. I recommend getting snipped and tied - it's very liberating. One thing that bugs me is this tendency of parents nowadays treating parenthood like it's some kind of cultish religion and their kids like sacred beings. Not that kids aren't important, but it really has gone way out of proportion.

I can't tell you how often I've seen couples at Disneyland with a couple of kids, the oldest perhaps three years old. Yeah, like kids that young are going to get anything out of the Disneyland experience. These kids are unhappy and squalling and the rest of us have to put up with parents constantly hitting us in the ankles with their strollers. Maybe I'm a bit harsh, but if the kid belongs in a stroller, he or she does not belong in Disneyland.

Meow mix

I don't feel so tough. I've spent the last two days crying on and off and feel like a total weakling. I know it's mostly the hormones and that my reaction is normal, but I feel I should be tougher than this. I tried to get my life back to normal - heck, I went to a ren faire on Sunday, once I recovered physically - but processing this is going to take as long as it takes. Drat these hormones! Christine - those weather changes do tend to wreak havoc with sinuses. That happens to me and lots of folks I know.

Gooey

Thanks, everyone. I can't tell you how much your words of encouragement mean to me. I figure I'm probably better equipped to handle this than most folks, mainly because I've had to live with it for so long, but I'm really having a tough time. And this condition also throws my hormones out of whack, so I'm very emotional right now. Drat those hormones! Christine - there does seem to be something going around. Three of my co-workers have it. I hope it doesn't last too long; drink lots of fluids, take echinacea and try not to overdo it.

I'll have what she's having.

Its-its!

Big Gulp

Feeling kind of emotionally "wonky" these past few days. I have a condition that when it flares up, it creates, shall we say, problems. The day it flares up and doesn't go away, I will die. I've prepared myself the best I can, but have refused to dwell on it, since that's unproductive and doesn't help any. And it will probably go on as it has so far and I could live a long life. Typically, this condition only flares up for five hours at most and then I spend a day recovering. Well, on Friday, it went on for fourteen hours. This scared the bejesus out of me and I contemplated going to the hospital, but the best they could do would be to hook me up to an IV and try various drugs to see if one would work (there's one that might work temporarily, but could cause serious issues due to my tendency towards migraines) and if the condition didn't right itself, I'd be in the hospital or otherwise hooked up to an IV for pretty much the rest of my life; even with a living will, I'm not sure my wishes would have been respected. So... I spent fourteen hours contemplating my options: allow myself to die at home or spend my life hooked up to an IV. Thank goodness the condition started to right itself eventually and after a couple more hours it stopped completely. After a day and a half recovering, I tried to distract myself, but I couldn't hold off dealing with the attendant emotions forever, so I'm dealing with the aftermath of a very scary situation. So... emotionally it's been an eventful few days. It definitely helped me put things into perspective, though.

the Sandwich Islands

Captain MacNamara, where did you get the plaid fabric for your breeches? I swear it looks remarkably like the fabric in my high school uniform.

chastity belt

Pac Man

Easy Rider

High Anxiety

dig

American Fencing Supply in San Francisco is very good. Their site

Sirius

Pokey!

gumbo

Mick Jagger

Pepe LePew