For Spider, a little catch-up. Anyone else want to summarize their year? ----- September was my 10-year highschool reunion. I skipped the official one and went to a bar with some people I remembered from highschool and some I didn't. One fellow I didn't remember knew who I was and we started dating, but he wasn't over his exwife and I ended up breaking up with him at the end of December when I realized it wasn't going to get better. October through June I tried to go to Portland State, but found my grades and mental health suffering. The school is so big, I never found much community & couldn't find a major that I could stick with. I did spend some time learning to fix my bike and took some classes that improved my knowledge of language, religion and philosophy, so it's not a total wash. I'm going to apply for a veterinarian technician program, but it's not due until May. One class and 40 hours of shadowing is all I need to get in. My mom's mother, my final grandparent, died in June. She was 96. I'd vowed to myself that I would live in or near Portland as long as I had any grandparents left, now I'm free. I was seeing a fellow starting in May, but I had a feeling that things were strange not long after. Ignored it and didn't break up with him until two weeks ago (one week after realizing I wasn't attracted to him *at* *all*). Since then, he's sent me a card, a telegram and shown up at the house uninvited. I just blocked him on twitter and facebook and asked him to give me space; hopefully I won't hear from him for a while. 10 days ago, I boarded a bus to Minot, ND to work with the cleanup effort. The money dried up and I'm home again already, 4 weeks earlier than planned. I met a fellow on the bus who became my best friend at the camp, we spent virtually all our non-working, awake hours together & finally kissed the night before I was sent home along with the rest of the people from Portland (except him). I don't know how long it'll be until he's back in town & I'm worried. I'm writing a letter.

i quit my job of 10 years. i reconnected with old friends. i broke up with new friends. my youngest turned 2 years old. i dead lifted 230 lbs. i got an ear infection. i busted my ass doing a lot of small things that add up to nothing. my eldest and i leave for hawaii in 2 weeks. in most aspects i'm not much closer to the goals i set in january. sadly, that's about it.

We have had a series of devastating earthquakes. Sept 4th Boxing Day Feb 22nd (took many lives) June 13 Our central city is still cordoned off and we have had many demolitions to our favourite buildings and places. I have been living in a surreal headspace for the last almost year since the first one hit. I got married in March. After many years of waiting. Both our venues were hit by the Feb 22nd quake and we had to find somewhere else. It was a great day and a huge celebration. I worked from home for months. I got promoted - but couldn't hire someone to take on my workload until we found premises to work from. Currently we work out of a house. and I am getting into the promotion (although some days I feel a bit grumpy) In March 2012 I am coming to America. For two weeks. I am super excited about this and think this is the only thing keeping me sane right now. I have the worst winter flu. Dee is getting a cancerous lump chopped off her leg next week. My best friend is moving to Australia and I am gutted.

Identical twin girls born May 20th, named Alicia and Danielle. (Allie and Dannie). That's the only thing that matters about 2011 for me.

how's that going Dougie? how are the girls?

Thanks for the updates!

The girls are great, sarah, growing like weeds. They're mostly sleeping through the night now, which is great. Just got back from a trip upstate, we rented a cabin, and although they're young, I'd like to think they had a good time. I know I did -- plenty of trout!

Well let's see. I celebrated my five year anniversary at my job last month, so that was cool. Still love my job even though the director of our library system is kind of an idiot in every way other than budget balancing (which is important, so I probably shouldn't complain). Cleo is a senior this year, she's doing half a day at the vocational school here doing a "Professional Medical Careers" program and half a day at the community college, so she's not at her high school at all. She wants to be a doctor. I'm super proud of her. Dave is still self employed building lockers all over Washington- he drives for hours and hours each day. He's looking quite svelte now because his job is physically ass-kicking. We were poorer than I think we've ever been over the last couple of years, but I think we're finally coming out of it and are almost completely caught up on our bills. We are down to one pet, Kitty, the best rottie in the world, who is a little on the older side and has some mobility issues and takes medication. We have two goldfish too. In my continued tradition of doing too many things, I am a volunteer at our local All Ages venue (which is currently searching for a new home) and I'm on the Olympia Arts Commission and have been counterprotesting at Planned Parenthood every Friday morning and am still trying unsuccessfully to make a little art on the side. I've been working sporadically on two zines for over a year. That's about it for me. I am boring. xoxoxo

Woah, go Cleo! I keep coming back to this thread wanting to post some kind of update, but, honestly? My life is incredibly boring. I work. All the time. I've gotten some good, interesting contract work this year and am showing up in a variety of odd places, but, mostly? I work. I'm so tired I basically have no social life. I'm trying to get a project off the ground and feeling frustrated. And then I work some more. In the last year I've moved house, lost two cats, and determined that being a grownup really isn't as exciting as it sounded on the box.

I want to post, but need a reference point to start from. What year should I start, Spider?

Wow, I don't actually remember when I went AWOL from here. Gimme the last two years to be safe. :)

I'd honestly rather not think about most it.

there you are.

hallo :) i came back to look around and add to my personal thread but then got too upset n stopped. I'm so happy to see Spider though :D <3

Sooo, hi. I haven't checked in for a while, I don't think. It's really cool to see that so many of you still at least drop by, too. It's been an interesting year. I no longer live in Montana. I got a job with Amazon, and we moved to Seattle. The wife is still trying to find a job, but things are sounding pretty good for a job at a cancer research library. Prior to the new job, I worked as "Interim Director of Development" at my job in Helena. Then I was passed over for the permanent position. It sounds like that might have been awkward, or that it led to my leaving, but it wasn't, and didn't, really. I wasn't actually a good fit for the first Amazon job I interviewed for, so I referred them to my best friend from high school. He got the job, which is in the same building as me, and started the same day I did. It's been a huge boon for him, since he was miserable, had no health insurance, his mother had just died, and he was going blind. Now he has a well-paying job with benefits, medical insurance with no existing condition exclusion, and he's in a city with lots of good specialists. His cornea transplants are scheduled for December. So... things are pretty good. Starting at Amazon was terrifying, and still is. Everyone there is brilliant. It makes me aware of my shortcomings. An Android app I wrote to scratch an itch a while back has suddenly started bringing in a substantial income, and was mentioned in a For Dummies book for Android. Not something to put on my gravestone, but it was gratifying when someone at Amazon said, "Wait, *you* wrote that?" Now it just sounds like I'm bragging. If it helps, I'm still painfully shy and awkward. One of my coworkers intimidates me beyond reason. I'm haunted by insecurity and feel like an impostor among geniuses. I'm happy to see your names on my screen again.

what a wonderful update tbone. i am way proud of you! and i don't mean that in any condescending way. you totally deserve the recognition and the opportunity to shine.

Ditto from me hon,so happy for you!

TBone! I have been thinking about you, and it makes me happy to see your name on my screen again. It sounds like things are...going your way, which is awesome. I bought a bed. It's my first-ever new bed and I'm a little intimidated about going to sleep.

TBone, contact my friend I referred you to at Amazon. He'll cure you of your shyness. He is one of the least shy people I know. :) One thing that has been hard for me to learn over the years is that shyness and self doubt are totally useless. I mean it. They're completely and utterly useless. If you wrote an android app that was not only noticed, but appreciated by total strangers (and the brilliant folks at Amazon) and written up in a book then you are by definition a badass. Accept that. Internalize that. If this hasn't happened in a year I will personally come to Seattle and kick your ass. Also, realize that you are now one of those brilliant guys at Amazon. Yes, YOU.

App name pleez.

Thanks, Antigone. I'm not really that bad most of the time. It's always there, but I've certainly found that pretending to be confident is a bridge to actually feeling confident. The rest comes from just knowing what I'm doing, and I've already made some contributions that have been noticed and appreciated. There's so much to learn, but I was surprised to find that there's a ton of room to make improvements and make my mark as well. The interviews were brutal, as were the first few weeks, but I'm getting the place figure out to some degree. My app is WootWatcher. https://market.android.com/details? id=com.drclabs.android.wootchecker&hl=en It's specifically for Woot.com addicts.

And thank you everyone else, too. Platypus, getting a new bed is a big deal. I think it's time for me to get a new bed. The hand-made, second-hand futon frame in my place is so old and has been moved so many times that it barely stands. I've never bought a new bed, either.

Get a sleep number bed. Expensive? Yep. But even though you're a young'un your back will thank you in a few years.

Yeah, this reminded me to have my bed to be replaced pretty soon. I think memory cell would suite me well. No more spring or air clyinder matress..........

Very cool Tbone!

I love it when good things happen to good people. I'm happy for you T Bone.

ex-gf just got married. why did a white guy like me ever date a Muslim girl? it was like having an affair with a married woman -- which i did once and swore I'd never do again -- and now she really is married. was I her Rumspringa? who fucking knows? who knowing fucks? who knucking fows? Congrats!! You look absolutely amazing! I love love love your dress! I wish you all the best :)   Mabrook :) Congratulations, You looked beautiful! You looked stunning! Wishing you all the best! Congratulations, girl!! You looked absolutely elegant and beautiful!! Have a safe trip to your new home and I'll see you next month! :) xoxo I'm glad you found somebody to share your life with! all the best. Congrats! Alf alf mabrock ya helwa. Wish u a lifetime of beautiful and joyful memories. U deserve the best muahzzz you were very beautiful and so was the groom congratulations I hope you guys have a great life together ... Gorgeous hallah!!!!!! :) Mashallah beautiful inside and out congrats!  Mashallah the most beautiful bride ever!! beautiful flowers for a beautiful bride mabrouk!!!!

Yep. Sucks when an ex you were into gets married. Funny I mentioned a sleep number bed above. Had to give it away. Not only was it (ironically) causing me back/shoulder pain, it was too emotionally painful to keep. It was one of the first pieces of furniture Marci and I bought after we were married.

The Word says God don't give us credit for lovin the folks we want to love anyway. No, He gives us credit for loving the unlovable.” ― Denver Moore, Same Kind of Different as Me. i don't know if that quote is particularly appropriate here, but i'm putting it up anyway. i just recently found out denver moore died. antigone might have heard of him; he died in dallas and lived homeless in fort worth for years. someone, just someone, used to say that quote to me all the time. suggesting that loving me [or actually just tolerating my existence] meant points with god. love.

I was ready to love that girl, but it was a foregone conclusion that the culture would get in the way. It's the first time I was ever the "white guy" in a relationship. Walking around town we could not be seen together by certain people or in certain places. It was okay at first when I guess I imagined my charms and graces (heh) would vanquish the power of her religion. But it got old and ugly, as will we both some day. She'll always be special in my life because she's the only girl I ever dated who was actually nice to me. But sometimes she made me feel real bad. I swear to God that before I die I will find a girl with whom I can go places and do things and have conversations and sexual encounters without it being a complicated arrangement. Probably not... Maybe Kate Hepburn had it right: women and men shouldn't live together, they should just stop by and see each other once in a while. She said she loved me (the girl not Kate). She said it a lot. It didn't matter. I wanted to do the same but either I'm getting too old for that shit or the obvious fail loomed hard. She was 25 & 26, I was 40 & 41 for the ~18 months we were together as luvahs, but we'll be friends for longer than that, even if I am miffed that I didn't get so much as a way to send a wedding gift or even a post card. Maybe Muslims don't do that? I don't fucking know. Her hubby might know about me, and Muslim men can be assholes about the virginity thing. I didn't know of Denver Moore until now but speaking of Texans (and not necessarily appropriate here either except in a stream-of-consciousness way) I gave up on Jandek when it took me about 8 minutes to realize he was no Harry Partch, who was no Texan and probably never heard of Texas, but I thought of him when the word "hobo" appeared in a Denver Moore obit. Arthur Stace's "Eternity" comes to mind. I thought about getting a Sleep Number or one of the other adjustables. It just never seemed right sleeping in a way other than that at which human beings have slept for millenia: more or less flat on some non-rock-hard variably malleable surface. I tried the poor-man's bedwedge and the phone-books-under-the head-of-the-bed thing. I always woke up feeling like I'd been hanged.

bought one jandek album, but not a second. i'm more into ornette coleman. am listening to a horny mockingbird. it's mating season and lonely, deranged males spend all night long doing the calls of every bird in the area at random.

...I'm so sorry to hear this,she did love you,but that family honor shit ruins everything with them Muslims.Had she followed her heart and stayed with you,her family would have killed her I'm sure.

It's been years since I've been on here regularly. I've been lurking around lately, and figured this was an appropriate thread to show my face. Career-wise, I've taken a couple of turns, and have ended up teaching. Right now, I'm working with infants and toddlers, at a child care center in Cambridge. I never thought I'd be working with kids this young, but I've been loving this group, and have fantastic co-teachers. I have two wonderful girls of my own now. The older one is turning seven next month. She's a voracious reader, kind of like I was. A couple of weekends ago, she plowed through the third Harry Potter book. I've also gotten her hooked on Legos, which has been great fun. Her younger sister is four and a half. She's more active and more outgoing. She's a hoot, loves to tell a good joke, do gymnastics, and run around. She's also a little cuddle but. They live with me half the week, and their mom the other half. We split up last year, and it's been a lot of negotiating and working things out ever since. It's for the best; we were pretty mismatched as a couple, and struggled to make things work for years. I'm much happier now, and feel more like myself than I have in a long time. I think she does too. I'm still searching for some equilibrium with the girls when they're here, but I think we're getting there. The transition days are hard, especially the first school day when they're back here. I'm also dating now, which started out a little stressful, but lately has been great. I've been seeing someone lately who is younger and willing to accept me for who I am. That part's been great, and fairly novel, as has been the simple, uncomplicated sex. It makes me realize what I'd been missing all those years during my marriage. It's great to be back here, and to see some familiar names still about.

great to read this update! how do your girls like your new partner? (not a fan of simple, uncomplicated sex but to each their own ;)

They haven't met her yet. It's still pretty new. We've been dating for about a month and a half. I'm getting the sense she's going to be around for a while, but I want to be on more solid footing with the girls before I bring her into the picture. As for the sex, well, it's nice to be with someone who doesn't pick a fight when she senses that I'm in the mood. Power dynamics and trauma issues meant that marital sex was infrequent and loaded. We certainly were never able to have a conversation like: "Whattya feel like doing?" "You."

2013 update: I'm 12 weeks pregnant. Not as in shock anymore as I was. We have a third scan on Monday to see the ratio for Down Syndrome etc. Andrew is worried. I am not. He has refused to tell his family until he knows the risk factor - which means I'm not supposed to tell anyone either and can't say anything on facebook yet... but I had to come and tell you guys. I am still planning on Hawaii 2015 - but I'll probably have around an 18 month old with me.... who is in?

oh and I know Ethel (in womb name, no idea of sex yet) is fine because these past 9 or so months have been an utter utter bastard. I got headhunted and then made redunant 97 days in to my new job. (fucker). I got a temp contract and am still here, and have been verbally offered a perm role with more social media and advertising aspects (which is great) but am currently waiting on the contract - which means yay maternity leave (up to 6 months) and govt payments (14 weeks). phew.

WooooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOoOOOOOOO! Join the baby train!

hahahah. This is the most insane thing I have ever done.

Yeah, but it's going to be fucking awesome.

Congratulations, moonit!

I knew there was a reason I needed to check into Sorabji today. Congrats, Moonit! Our son also had an in utero name - Bruce, after the many awesome Bruces out there, but particularly the lead singer of Iron Maiden (since that was his first show (still in utero, obviously).

Thanks :) Andrew laughs everytime I say Ethel, when I first started calling her/him that he had just finished reading a book about the devil's daughter and her name was Ethel Worldslayer. Every now and then he'll refer to her as the worldslayer. I think he is slowly coming around - if she really is a girl he has picked out a name that I was surprisingly happy with.

the girl and i have made it 8 months (I say 10 months, but it depends whose interpretation of the first kiss you accept). it has not been smooth sailing by any estimate but she is better than I deserve and we (almost) always find a way to make hilarity and amusement of our time together (6am episodes of fist- throwing, kicking-at-the-air, me self-defensively covering my nakidity notwithstanding). i have never assumed that i am interesting to women or worth their effort. the girl of now has learn�d me some interesting thing(s) about myself (and likewise). i have at least come to learn that self-deprecation has a needlessly draining effect on those around me more than on myself (the intended target of said self-loathing) and that i might have something to be seen. something to be seen. a correspondant of (formerly) no tangible face or physical denomination (e-mail and postal mail only) suggested that i see the world. he suggested thus but after correspondences of yore he inconsequentially added that i should "be seen". (i just fell down a staircase remembering this) that individual has no idea how those [4] words (" [you should] be seen") opened my solpsistic, misanthropic world(s). almost entirely on his account i let this amazing girl into every closet and bathtub and morning-spastically-remembered dream of my life. she remembers every single word i say, down to me waking up fearfully grasping her boobs and yelling "I JUST DREAMED HILLARY CLINTON AND MY MOTHER WERE FLOATING OVER MY GRADE SCHOOL ON TWELVE THOUSAND MATTRESSES AND THEY WOULD NOT LET ME LISTEN TO ROCK AND ROLL!!!" the girl and i get racist gibes outside our circle of comfort. the people we see regularly may be too na�ve or intoxicated to care. most of our friends are not Caucasian white but comfortable enough in their portion of the United States of America that they may be what MLK described as the "Apathetic White who so took his rights for granted that he neglected to use them." Wandering amorously around the basements of Chinatown we find that asians talk of "brown people" and "white guys" as normally as Howard Cosell talked of "Little Monkeys". Not that i matter. It does not faze me. The girl concurs. Our friend blindswine has said to me and to you and to me again and again: racism is everywhere. We agree. After it ended with the Muslim girl I randomly wandered the Little Egypt neighborhood of Steinway Street in Astoria. I was looking for a Radio Shack. Instead I looked at the bare feets of the women, the bare feets of the men, the darker skinned bare feets of this small suspicious state of Astoria. I looked at my Caucasian bare feets and imagined the world's bare feets clasping and clawing earth's generic sidewalks. I rememebered the Roumanian girl knowingly accusing me of being white on account of my discomfort in showing my feet to strangers and lover (such as herself). "It is because you are white! White people don't like to show their feet. You are white!" I watched her in the shower, shaving her cunt. Race is one powerful motherfucker. No one on Steinway Street that day saw me take off my sandals and hold them over my head, tipping my pedestrian hat to Race: i never doubted You, Race, but i appreciate that You are one powerful motherfucker. (standing somewhere with a pair of sandals over my head, in salute) i need a noseblow checking in on the Cliff's Notes �sthetic.

i rent a room to a guitar-slinging blue-eyed soul singer who may have the whitest legs and feet i've ever seen in my life. scary white-- only freshly-turned zombies should have extremities that blanched. his girlfriend says he makes up for it with the rhythm and blues crooning. i just laugh and laugh and laugh-- cuz nobody mistakes michael mcdonald for a black man. even with media-zombies piping in scary white news through the cable box we just connected to the curbside tv he found down the street--i gotta ask if he could use some vitamin-d supplements. or at least throw those sticks out the window to get some sun. portland gets about three months of solid sun a year-- but this kid comes from florida. no excuse for the scary- whites. for the love of god, let the light come in. only been in this spot for three years, but have already seen the neighborhood change. gentrification is in full effect-- the little black kids who used to play football in the street have been replaced by yuppies on bikes with kiddie-trailers in tow. (i'm still amazed by that shit-- do you wanna keep that kid or not?) besides this old rocker studio house i've taken over, the only traces of anything that might be extra-legal are the bloods around the corner and what i suspect to be a meth-lab down the street. the bloods seem pretty harmless-- they just bbq and bullshit all day long. the meth house? who knows. i think their customers are responsible for keeping the little yellow glass- recycling bin clear of beer bottles, so kudos to them. the irony is that not much extra-legal happens in this house, but i bet a bunch of those new soccer-moms in the neighborhood are growing commercial-grade weed in their basements. by any means necessary, right? times are tough. overall, portland is weird. but not weird like they say it is-- more weird like america is. i miss new york. still, NYC is the only place i've ever really felt at home. never felt like i needed a shotgun there, but here? a loaded mossberg 590 might come in handy. shit. i'm getting old and those soccer-moms might be dangerous. maybe i'll walk over and see if the bloods wanna set up a neighborhood watch program.

fucking break tags. can't seem to stop listening to... i got sea legs.

Hi Mark, I am stunned!

mooooooooonit is have a baaaaaaaaaaaby! congrats, girl. are you feeling sick at all? man. pregnancy is such a mind-fuck. try to enjoy it. i didn't, but you should. but mainly having a baby is awesome. and hard. and you are going to be a great mom. and of course duh i will be in hawaii 2015. no brainer. but be warned. flying a long distrance with an 18 month is a living hell. we did it with a newly walking one year old and a 2.5 year old, and it was not fun. but it's finite. and then you're in hawaii and you forget how awful that flight was. kind of like giving birth. labor and delivery are hell, but you immediately forget when they put her in your arms for the first time. but i predict you're having a boy.

I feel fine, I've had a couple of morning where I thought I might lose my stomach but managed not too, mostly I'm just tired.

Truth: I don't even know what's going on in my life anymore. I feel like a baby jellyfish.

me: http://www.captionite.com/c/2013/4/29/0cb5162. jpg [it's a blobfish (Psychrolutes marcidus)] congratulations moonit.

My son is scheduled to emerge late November. I've been doing my best to keep up with the sympathy weight. It has been easy, mopping up after each new food kick - the chicken finger kick, the cheese burger kick, the current pie kick. My stock black tee has given way to tentesque short sleeve button ups. Aside from the elevated stress response that comes with the weight, I'm genuinely, uniformly happy. We will be married Thursday afternoon. She wants to take my name, and she wants her new name on the birth certificate. I want the increased access marriage brings in case of medical issues. These are why we will drive to the county seat Thursday afternoon for a minimally witnessed ceremony performed by some deputized stranger. She is the most amazing woman. My family fell in love with her immediately. My friends all adore her. Her family are great people. Her friends are quickly becoming mine. I have never experienced such an easy meshing. She thinks I am hilarious. What more do I need? I have been writing software for myself. I am not sure it will pan out. It is most of what I have done in the past six months, though not the most important thing. The most important thing is the boy I started. The tiny skeleton; the miniature cock and balls; the real, live human brain that is developing at an amazing rate with the abdomen of my wife- to-be. This is something wonderful.

Hey, I heard that there's a earthquake again in New Zealand, hoped moonit is alright.

Awww Nate, Congrats ;) Yup all good Pepper - it was a fair way north of christchurch, I felt it, but no damage here, however Wellington is shut down for the day while they inspect buildings etc, and Andrew's fam who live in Blenhiem, which is close to the epi centre are slightly freaked out.

Holy fuck, I had no idea there would soon be a Nate-daddy. More sorabji brood awesomeness.

Congrats to the both of you, Nate and Moonit!

moonit, I am glad that you guys are alright.

Wow, these things are contagious. Congrats, Nate, on the baby and wedding!

Congrats, Nate. I feel ya on the sympathetic baby weight. Heaviest I've ever been was that time - but exercise and paying attention to calories solved that.

how did the marriage go yesterday? i bet today it feels more than just increased access marriage brings in case of medical issues. marriage and babies kick ass. both a lot of work. as always, best wishes, nate.

Congratulations Moonit and Nate

Moonit, Don't you love your universal health care "Too fat for New Zealand, chef faces deportation". The story ins on www.news.msn.com. And, people this type of thing is what we can expect from Obama Care. http://news.msn.com/world/too-fat-for-new-zealand-chef-faces-deportation

Fuck you. Guess what California is getting? Lower insurance rates for better coverage. Oh the humanity.

I got an Obamacare rebate check yesterday. $119! Oh, the overworked doctors. I promise never to get sick again. ......... I fear love. I am heading oblong into love. I miss my lonesome times. But this girl might be awesome.

Watcher, if you want to permantly move to nz, who has free hospital care, then I think my government has the right to ensure you won't be a drain on it. I pay $37 per doctors visit, (unless its pregnancy related) some medicines are subsidized. All my maternity care is free, apart from scans which are $50. (Unless they are urgent, ie bleeding etc) I see my midwife once a month going to fortnightly later in the pregnancy. All free. And I get to choose my midwife and find someone who matches my beliefs. If Earl (the fibroid that is growing on my left ovary) doesn't die off during the pregnancy, then my dr will refer me to the public health system to have it removed. For free. We have the option of private health insurance, but the public system is quite good. There are some surgeries that have waiting lists, but patients are prioritized. So yeah, I get why nz immigration are concerned - because they want to put their own citizens first.

the watcher's probably afraid he'll get deported for depressing the nation. i'm in agony. at noon today i picked a nutrition bar of some kind at walgreens for a quick lunch. i forgot to check the ingredients for cashews. my entire digestive tract becomes inflamed, like having cement poured down your throat. if i reach far back enough with my tongue, my throat feels knobbly. all i can do is wait it out doubled up in my chair or in a fetal position in bed. speaking of fetal positions: love to moonit.

Do you have any Benadryl or Pepcid on hand? Or preferably both? Is your breathing okay?

Sorry to hear about that. The medicine I am taking is making me tired. I am taking Naproxen for my foot. Because my right foot has a large heel spur. It hurts when walking.

it's been 12 hours since i ate the nut bar, and the worst is over. i had pepcid (or the walgreens equivalent), but it didn't occur to me to take one. i have now, because i do that every night before bed. i just now found a box of walgreens antihistamines in a drawer. didn't know i had them, don't know how they got there. i have an intolerance, not an allergy--i don't have the enzymes to digest cashews. i was just reading on a website that this is specifically a histamine- related intolerance. so i probably had my deliverance with me all this time. but it's over. my stomach is still tender, so i just drank a little milk. i wish i had some ice cream.

Droopy I love your namesake. I can't get enough of those cartoons.

I have an intolerance to eggs, and from what I've read, intolerances can develop into allergies with no warning. For that matter, anyone can go from not-allergic to allergic with no warning, too.

Usually, I am allergic to some cats.

watcher: ah yes, the great tex avery. it was "dixieland droopy" that got me hooked. i didn't develop the cashew intolerance until around the time i turned 40. it was, coincidentally, the time i was in the habit of taking a shot of vodka every half hour throughout the day. don't know if there's a correlation, my maybe.

New Zealand deports legal resident aliens for being to fat. And the US gets shit when we try to deport ILLEGAL aliens. You know the ones who did not legally cross the border. The ones that we pay for their kids to go to school and give free health care to. We have the most liberal laws in the world regarding illegal aliens but all the "civilized" countries want to know how we can be so cruel to these people. Sorry about that. I just needed to rant for a moment.

They are making us like an ass.

Congrats on babies and marriages and so on. I lived in California for four months, with boyfriend. Things got weird, both with him and the job I had. Just escaped to Seattle, heading back down to Portland on Monday to housesit for a little over a month. After that, I have no idea. Most of my things are in San Jose. I can get a job there or in Seattle or move to Maryland but mostly just miss being with Charles, but I can't be with him. I don't know. It's so hard to sort everything out and I miss havig my own space to make things and instead I'm wandering around and dont know what to do......

my father, a new england republican, sent me this joke/story whatever it is. we have never had a conversation and we generally don't like each other, but lately he feels that - now that he's near death - he can keep in touch by forwarding republican spam. the funny co-incidence here is that my sister lives in new braunfels, texas. this one's for the watcher. SPEAKING GERMAN IN TEXAS In Texas there is a town called New Braunfels, where there is a large German-speaking population. One day, a local rancher driving down a country road noticed a man using his hand to drink water from the rancher's stock pond. The rancher rolled down the window and shouted: "Sehr angenehm! Trink das Wasser nicht. Die kuehe haben darein geschissen." This means: Glad to meet you! Don't drink the water. The cows have shit in it." The man shouted back: "I'm from New York and just down here campaigning for Obama's health care plan. I can't understand you. Please speak in English." The rancher replied: "Use both hands."

I like the story!!! Thanks Droopy. I needed the laugh.

Nate! Tardy to the party, but yay marriage and babydaddyhood. I'm so glad you found an awesome lady.

You say you're not going to fall for an american again, but then you find yourself on the edge of the Grand Canyon at sunset, making out with a guy who has a giant Misfits tattoo. Later you carve SLAYER into the back of a park bench and giggle. You are adults. You're in the desert, the fucking desert, YOU, from the tundra nation who gets miserable at temperatures above 77f, has flown to the desert in summer (SUMMER!) where it's 112 at night. You don't even know how this kind of heat works. You've never before felt your sweat evaporate and work as it's supposed to. You do not understand cacti. You can't stop poking them. You're also not used to someone wanting to be your boyfriend. Openly. Gladly. Excitedly. This has not happened in actual years. This didn't even happen during your last real serious ~relationship~, you realize but try not to think about because that realization took this long and is awful both because it's true and because you didn't even notice that at the time you idiot girl. You are in Phoenix and you are being introduced as someone's girlfriend. Life, wtf? Who flies to the desert in the summer on 4 days planning?? You know it seems like for sure you're living way more than any of your friends. You also know this probably just means you're making way more dumb mistakes.

Aw, wisper. Embrace the desert. :) Life feels bigger out there.

Enjoy the scenery! The colors can be breathtaking.

wisper! Excite. If you have to be somewhere insufferably hot, at least it's a beautiful place.

Watcher. You are not informed about NZ. He is not a legal resident. He does not have residency. He has a work permit. There is a difference. Stop commenting on things you don't understand. It just makes you look like an ass.

sure it could mean the possibility of making dumb mistakes, or equally possible, achieving unbelievable happiness. it takes courage with a dash of fuck-it-all to fly to the middle of the dessert in August for a boyfriend. you are living more. i'm stating the obvious. i want to hear more.

CHUPACABRA!

Hi CHUPACABRA!

CHUPACABRA!

CHUPAVERGA!

Antigone.......droopy......

CHUPACABRA!

CHUPACABRA!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's the spigot!

Moonit, don't get your knickers in a twist. I was just spouting. Over here we've seen a lot of liberal press etc. about how cruel we can be deporting illegal aliens that that story got to me. There isn't another country in the world that has immigration laws as liberal as ours. Mexico which does the most bitching about it has much harsher laws dealing with those who come into their country illegally than we do. And, for aliens that are their legally they are banned from owning property within twenty five (?) miles of the coast or fifty miles of the boarder.

My Canadian Grandmother loves me. Antigone, I know you wrote "CHUPACABRA". The Watcher, I know the reality of Mexico, but I do know for one thing": There is oppression going on down there. I am getting tired for not sleeping.

Pep, a great eye, lidless, wreathed in flame...sees all. You know of what I speak.

Naw, that's not me. :-)

Maybe it's me

Well goodness, look at you all over here! Mazel tov to everyone for babies and weddings and plunging into love. My update: just got back from the bay area, we took Cleo back to school for her second year at Mills College. I spent a week in Oakland and San Francisco and a little bit of Berkeley. The BART is pretty much the coolest thing ever. I ate a lot of delicious cheap food and drank a bunch of fancy coffee and went to some libraries and museums and the like. Heather bought me breakfast and showed me a cool reuse store full of random stuff (y'all jellis, I know!). We talked about most of you. Now I'm home again and back at work and in the phase where I'm a little sad and missing having Cleo around. Still working at the library. August makes seven years at the craziest, most exhausting and rewarding job I've ever had. I've been doing some letterpress printing and making some zines in my free time. I've also been volunteering for a couple of years at our local all ages music and art venue, Northern. Dave is still mostly a hermit and is working as a contractor in locker and metal shelving fabrication. He doesn't love it, but it's a job. We have a pit bull basset hound mix named Betty. Also, some goldfish. Life is pretty good. Love to you all!

I'll be the first to exclaim "COLLEGE????!!?!?!?!" Jesus.

PS, now we have a Ms Pepper? LAWD!

agathafrye, Ms.Pepper is officially a unicorn <3.

Wow, ditto on the "COLLEGE????!!?!?!?!" Holy shit, Cleo is an adult?! ?!?!?!

I am in college too,as a part time student, because, I have a full time job so.. I am taking Business information system and Information Technology. I find my teacher's lecture very interesting and some tools of trade using the MS 2013.

just yesterday i was talking to woman i knew from years ago who has a son who just entered college. now cleo. i hate it when i'm reminded that time marches on. but it's nice to see agatha back on the boards.

Man, Agatha, I would have come down for Bay adventures! When you go to pick Cleo up, we need to arrange a food date for sure.

Agatha...long time no see. Ms. Pepper Do they still teach COBOL where you're going? I've got about 26 years of experience if you need it.

I dunno if they teach COBOL. I am going to find out about that.

hey all you pregnant ones, and those that exclaim at college age: Carol and I are awaiting our first two GREAT GRAND CHILDREN. Talk about getting old.

Where's heather?

We are all getting older. It really makes one feel their age. First when friends tell you they are about to become Grandparents. Then it really hits you when they say Great Grandparents! Congratulations Danielssss. Thanks for making me even more depressed;-)

I went to the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention on Friday. They had a lot of exhibitors with bootleg copies of a host of old TV and Radio programs. Pictures of stars and old movie posters. There were even quite a few toys from the old TV cartons. I got to see Robert Loggia and Julie Newmar. I did not buy their autographs. But I did buy the T.H.E. Cat DVD collection. I do wish the network would release it. The bootleg copies are watchable. But, authorized releases are much better.

Julie Newmar? " To Wong Fu, Thanks for everything, Julie Newmar." I loved that movie!

find your inner julie Newmar!

I am trying!

She was quite hot as Cat Woman. Today, not so much. She is 80 years old after all.

juliecatwoman"at"gmail"dot"com is the thing you might want to email to her. She has a pretty figurine on her.

the last couple of days i've had an idea for a novel in my head. the working title is "find your inner julie newmar." it's about three guys - the last posters on a moribund website - who finally bond with each other as cross-dressers.

Three.

Anyone heard anything from Heather? Haven't heard from her since she last posted sorabji from Hong Kong.

i wouldn't mind a word or two from my homegirl spider, just to know how she's doing.

I'm right here, yo. :) Since I've upped my medication, I'm a lot more productive at work and don't surf the web much anymore. Do people still say "surf the web"? Anyway. I don't take my medication on the weekend and today I have done absolutely nothing but surf the web and eat. My brain is not working properly and I feel gross. Still in my pajamas. Last night I went to the university production of Samuel Beckett's "Endgame" with some coworkers. It was alternately boring as fuck, profound, and terrifying. Nothing like spending two hours trapped in a crowd forced to confront isolation, the meaninglessness of life and death, and the futility of hope as a communal experience.

i've been trying to avoid meaninglessness of life lit, lllllately. the son of a friend of my mother had a book published recently. "necessary errors" by caleb crain. she road tripped down to austin to hear him do a reading. it's a fictionalized account of his time in prague after he had come out as gay (so i'm told). he is my age. while i have done nothing. i don't need beckett to feel depressed.

good to hear from you, spider.

To be honest, I came home from the play and immediately took two Benadryl so I would be asleep before I had an anxiety attack. Watching someone enact (even in highly stylized form, produced by college kids) growing old alone and isolated, watching as your world shrinks around you and becomes nonsensical, knowing you will soon die alone, is like watching someone enact suffocating in a small space or being eaten alive by rats. What was I thinking, going to that play? Beckett should be on a controlled substance list.

In happier news, I've been bonding with my kitten, Tobias. He purrs while you pet him, he purrs in anticipation of being pet, he purrs while he eats, he purrs in anticipation of eating, he purrs when his big cat friend grooms him, he purrs if the big cat walks near by...he's just so happy. I like to imagine that he thinks the big cat is his dad, and the big cat thinks of him as his son.

Back in San Jose. Staying with exboyfriend/somethingorother/doesitmatter until I find a job and a place to live or we get sick of it. Should find Heather and say hi. She's only 40 miles away. I didn't see her the whole time I was living here before.

la, haven't heard from Heather since she was in Hong Kong over a month ago. Had a strange dream that I was 2nd guy standing next to a Russian mobster, he tells me that he wanted to assassin the pope. w.t.f is my dreaming tell me this.

I'm right here. If I buy a house you should come live in it, la.

Hi Heather! I am glad you are back! So how was Hong Kong trip?

It's good to see Spider, Heather, and La again. I was beginning to think I was spewing my drivel out to an empty void. Oh, wait. That is exactly what I am doing. This is all just a delusion. A hallucination. A vision created by the Matrix just so I will continue my meaningless existence to feed the machine. Oh, I really am nuts you know.

I need to go target shooting again. I think I'll finally get my telescopic sight mounted on my .22 rifle. Then I might actually be able to use it.

I finally got to pickup my new home defense gun today. The last day before the Peoples Republic of Maryland forces us to get a license to be able to purchase a handgun. Imagine all the fuzzy little bunnies feeling safe and secure because we now need a license to exercise a constitutional right. At least until this afternoon. Then maybe a federal judge will issue a restraining order. One can only hope a drop of sanity will find it's way here. Soon please!!!!

Pregnancy is both amazing and fucking terrifying. My only experiences of children is playing with them on the Sims games.

The only thing anyone would possibly want to steal from you is a gun.

In Illinois, procession of a stolen gun, and or fail to register to own a gun is a felony. Class X. You have been warned.

First I was wondering why that sentence makes so much sense and then I realized, procession. Hong Kong was hot and humid, interesting. Bali was beautiful. Watch out, watcher, the OTHER is coming.

Moonit, when are you due?

l.m.a.o. I mean possession of a stolen firearm, dammit.

26th of January Spider. :) (ARGH)

Congrat moonit! :-)

Hi heather! If you buy a house, I'd gladly give you rent moneys. And tap dance and teach myself accordion in it. I'm trying to make it to Oakland on Friday for an art opening at The Uptown, if you'd like to meet up. Moonit, if you rush your wee one by a mere two days, I'll be exactly 32 years older than the babe. Congratulations, BTW. Glad to see you too, Watcher. Don't worry, we're all mad here, not just you. But realizing it is so brings us closer to sanity.

Sorabjifest at heather's house!

Congratulations Moonit!! You will be a wonderful mother!

Moonit, go past your due date four days and your baby will share a birthday with my son...

full-term is a five week window. who knew?

Either way, good week with good birthdays (actually, Jan 24th is a strange day, look it up). Bravo. Job interview on Monday in Hayward! I might take up a trade and drive a truck. Weeeeeeeeird. SorabjifestCA? I'll make coleslaw and limoncello.

I'm glad to see so many have shown up. I really was beginning to think you had all deserted us for Twitter!

Twitter? Ha. I haven't posted on Twitter in ages. Now facebook.......

I never use twitter, I haven't used myspace for few years, but constantly using facebook.

i cannot believe you are this far along in your pregnancy, moonit. are you having a boy or girl? you will be a great mom. your child will have an awesome sense of humor, that's for sure.

what

Oh god, no.

hah thanks guys :) We still don't know if Ethel Worldslayer is a girl or a boy, due to him/her not co-operating much with the sonographer, and at the second chance look the giant fibroid growing alongside was covering his/her bum. My friend Tarn is a sonographer and is going to try and sneak me in after hours and see if we can get a definite, although she thinks from the one image that Ethel is a girl, and at the second scan the sonographer said 75% chance. We're not sure yet if I will be going the natural birth route, it depends on what happens with fibroid (who I have named Earl) and where he grows...

Can you please please please name your kidlet Ethel Worldslayer for real? That would be amazing.

Ethel Worldslayer was a small child with a big problem: his parents wanted him to live up to his name. How could he possibly be a Worldslayer with a name like Ethel? Notable characters in the Worldslayer family had names like "Joan" and "Genghis Khan" and "Ed". Not Ethel. Ethel is not a Worldslayer name. "But Ethel," his parents said, "Ethel is a proud name. A grand name." Ethel shook his head and went on practicing with his bow and arrows.

Oh wait. Edited. ----- Ethel Worldslayer was a small child with a big problem: his parents wanted him to live up to his name. How could he possibly be a Worldslayer with a name like Ethel? Notable characters in the Worldslayer family had names like "Joan of Arc" and "Attila the Hun" and "Genghis Khan" and "Earl". Not Ethel. Ethel is not a Worldslayer name. "But Ethel," his parents said, "Ethel is a proud name. A grand name." Ethel shook his head and went on practicing with his bow and arrows.

Hey Mark, How in the world did Sorabji ended up in IndianExpress newspaper? Must of being famous in a foreign country?

Ethel Worldslayer is glorious. My buddy Pete married a woman named Ethel. She's our age, 30-something. They have a son named Elias. Old-fashioned names are genuinely popular, so no one would bat an eye at Ethel W. Ethel Mazzaterra.

Mark knows everyone. EVERYONE!!!

23 August 2027 Dear Diary. Omigod omigawd OH-MY-FUCKING-JESUS-H-CHRIST- GAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWD! Aubrey winked at me in Phys. Ed and then I threw a ball and destroyed Malaysia. How does this even happen????? Sincerely, Ethel Worldslayer

Ethel worldslayer came about because I kept calling 'it' Ethel, because its horrible to not be able to refer to a baby as something, and Andrew had just finished a book whose main character was Ethel Worldslayer, the devil's daughter. Normally, I just say Ethel, he calls her the Worldslayer. Mum rolls her eyes.

This lady is really disgusting!! Too much McDonalds! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs_9s31Je7Y *usps truck,*fat lady*white fence*green lawn*garden*hose*package*grey porch*brick pavement*hungry for mcdonalds

Antigone, your link" EVERYONE!!" is not working.

I don't think it is a good idea being a part-time student while being employ by a full-time job. fawk!( pardon my Donald duck swearing.)

Oh no! She's lazy and works for the postal service! I don't give a shit. What does she have to do with McDonalds, anyway? Pepper, you're profiling.

la, I used to work as a newspaper carrier. I would never do such a things like the lady does. I park my car on street when it comes to a deliver paper at their door. Not on one's grass!

I agree with you there. But assigning additional values to this person you do not know based on one video is preposterous. And yeah, maybe we don't like how this person operates, but there's no reason to do this shaming on the internet. There's no joy in it. And having seen this video posted by half a dozen people.... I'm simply disappointed.

I saw it before too. I have no idea why anyone would do what she did. Maybe she was pissed off with that person.

Homeowner's ex?

What I'm trying to say is that it shouldn't be something we're concerned with. She's probably lost her job and learned a hard hard lesson, and may have a difficult time getting another one. "Oh! You're that woman who drove the mail delivery truck over that person's lawn and threw a package onto their porch? We can't use you." After they stop laughing. Proper action on the homeowner's part would be to show the video to the post office and have the whole thing end there, with the post office deciding what to do about it. But to have it on the internet where we all can see... No. Nuh-uh. We don't know anything about this woman. Maybe five people called in sick in her area and she was trying to finish three routes at once. Maybe she had a sprained ankle and couldn't walk very well. Maybe she was going through something and wasn't thinking very well. We don't know her reasons. Do me a favor and read this article.

I am sorry, but, uh huh , I am not clicking this link. Thank you.

youtube public shaming depresses me. it reminds me of things like the scarlet letter (adulterer!) or stonings where everyone in the village takes part in the punishment. let's face it, the majority of people get a kind of high out of feeling outrage - outrage i tell you! - about this mail woman who drove up on a lawn or whatever pissant sin can be captured on a phone or digital camera and posted for the world to see. anybody else read ...'s link to the article from indian times with the quote from wayd in 1997 or thereabouts? i've always thought most of the poetry - the spontaneous and sporadic poetry - of the web was lost with the advent of social media like twitter and facebook. the apparently anonymous confessions and soul-exploration into "the void" were replaced by self-advertisement. that's why i want to leave this world. i used to want to build a quonset hut down in the hills south of austin, but these days you can see that with google earth. earth is completely spoiled for me.

It's easy. Just be invisible.

What you do is find a featureless void (this place will do) and live underground. Oh! Or you could dig yourself a dug-out shelter in the side of a steep riverbank, and travel to and from your home by riding on top of a fallen log. Or live somewhere under a tangled forest canopy so dense the satellites can't find you.

The question is not how that guy in India found Sorabji. The question is what name did he post under?

they may have posted here, but i wouldn't assume so. back in the day there were far more observers than participants of WAYD and these message boards.

droopy, make a homemade camo, so that they can't find you.