That’s Some Bad Puns... The MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Hi there, Cool Kids. I’m not gonna make any pretenses of having read more than the last page of the MMP.

This week has been hell on my nerves. My stress levels have been building up for months (for a million different reasons), and this week, which combined a huge midterm paper, midterm exam, dental worries and a weeklong tension headache, just did me in. Last night I almost made myself puke from worry, the first time I’ve done that in a long time. :frowning: Note to self: must go visit the campus counseling center next week…

SCL: if there’s one thing I’ve learned from my sociology classes, it’s that personality and deviant behavior (or mental illness) are not mutually exclusive. Your friend’s daughter may be doing all these immature, attention-getting things because she bipolar/depressed/whatever, or she may be depressed because she’s used to more attention than she’s getting. Either way, it sounds like she needs adjustment. I hope she’ll be alright, and that her parents will be alright too; it must be torturous to watch your daughter act that way and not know how to fix the problem. :frowning:

Rigs, I do have a fair bit of guilt about being the catalyst to break up the family, but as Ali constantly reminds me, he knew it was going to happen sometime. I know I’m not the fundamental “problem”. It still really pains me to watch it happen though, and sometimes I wish I hadn’t caused it – but for that to happen, I would have to not have this relationship with Ali, and what we have is most definitely not something I want to give up.

Thankfully, my parents have been more than supportive in this whole mess with Ali and his dad. They were completely stunned by his parents’ reaction. My mom often waxes philosophical about the damages caused by fundamentalism now, and I think my dad would just love to get face-to-face with Ali’s dad and shout him to the floor. My parents have pretty much decided to incorporate Ali into our family now; he’s been invited over for Thanksgiving and Christmas functions, and my mom’s even taken to harrassing him about getting his degree. :stuck_out_tongue:

{{hugs}} to all who need them. I’m off to make pancakes and finish a paper about “point of view as a subjective genre convention in literature”. Fascinating stuff. :rolleyes:

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Aw crap, I missed the edit window!

I was gonna add, on a more positive note: I had a fifteen minute discussion with my Ethics professor after class today, which was awesome. He is officially one of the coolest people ever. We started talking about our class’ discomfort with the topic of homosexuality and eventually branched off into discussing the intentions and alterations made to the Bible, and about the lack of pure objectivity in any sort of analysis of religion… It was awesome. :smiley: end philosophical nerdiness now

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Driving Husband and I just went to Ikea to pick up some shelves for the bathroom. When we were in the line, there was a guy with a hook instead of a hand. 've never seen anyone with a hook before. Unfortunately he didn’t have a parrot and an eyepatch.
I’m eating a… thing… which I bought in their food section. It’s… green and tubular. And sort of marzipan. Anyone want one? :smiley:

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Just to clarify - first one throws a pot (or whatever) on the wheel - forming it to whatever size and shape is desired. Then the piece is removed from the wheel and dried to “leather hard” which means it’s more firm than wet clay, but still moist.

At that stage, the piece is trimmed - that is, it’s put back on the wheel bottom side up, held in place with clay chucks (lumps of clay stuck to the wheel and the piece) and using different tools, the base/foot/bottom of the piece is trimmed - finished - purtified. If you’ve ever seen a lathe operate, it’s the same principal, only the piece is horizontal, not vertical.

Finally, if anything is to be added - handles or decorative elements, they’re added at the leather hard stage. More than you wanted to know, right?

More excitement at work today - our Chief of Staff resigned. Rumor has it, he was asked to resign or face firing. He was a retired Army colonel, and apparently, he was unable to shed his rank, and the big boss got tired of it, so there ya go. Dunno how true that explanation is, but that’s 2 folks from the front office within a week. Interesting… :dubious:

As **MamaTigs ** said, it’s gloriously cool, as well as breezy here. We’ll actually have to close the windows tonight, as we’re being promised upper 40s - brrrrr! I may be dragging in some firewood this weekend! Cozy…

I think the Colonel will be making supper. Or maybe the deli section of the grocery store. **FCD ** wants fried chicken. I’ve got to run to Leonardtown to get his pain meds, and I wanted to stop for celery for bean soup this weekend. Since I’ll be down there, I’ll be nice and get some fried chickie bits and appropriate sides. And maybe dessert. All of a sudden, I’m starving!!! So I’ll feed the critters and we’ll head south.

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::Tentatively reaches for a piece of thing:: (I love marzipan!)

Hugs to meli, too. Hang in there. Just conquer one thing at a time. And Ali’s right - this would have happened eventually, even if it hadn’t happened with you. Lucky for both of you to have one set of really supportive parents.

Eid Mubarak and كل عام و أنتم بخير to you too, Dotty! What do you do on the other two days of Eid?

I’m home with the friendly neighborhood sinus headache. Blew off all my afternoon meetings. Doctor started me in on something conservative to see if it helps. I’m not optimistic, but I’ll give it a try.

Crawling back into bed…

GT

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:Tentatively hands gt a piece of the green thing:

It tastes pretty good.

Drat. I should leave for work and I’m working with Lazy Whiny Idiot tonight (who apparently has been told off by the manager. I’m waiting to see if he’ll complain about it). My throat is a bit sore, I’m a bit cranky, and I plan to be nasty tonight if he’s Whiny and Lazy.

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:: mouth full of cinnamon roll :: muhghymph

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Haze I LOVE Ree!!! She is absolutley hilarous. Do you read her main blog as well or just her cooking one? Her recipes are to die for. Yummy!!!

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I usually stick to the recipe blog but sometimes I’ll read her main blog as well. She is so funny. Her recipes always make me laugh out loud. And they are really good. And easy to make. I like The Domestic Goddess (http://www.domesticgoddess.ca/) as well but her recipes tend to be fancier and call for ingredients that aren’t always on hand.

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I’m getting a dog! Nelly the beagle will be coming home Wednesday, after she’s spayed. She’s quite mellow, even likes cats. :smiley: Work went OK otherwise.

Glad you’re hangong in there, Meli.

BBBobbio, there was that Simpsons episode where Bart slipped in his own music “In the garden of Eden(Set to In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida)”

Hope you get better soon, MamaTigs

Dotty, Eid Mubarak and كل عام و أنتم بخير

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Nelly is a cutie! Yay, doggiebut!!

I went ahead and closed up the house. The temps in here were mid-60s, and I didn’t want it to get too cold before bedtime. Mainly because I don’t want to have to wake up and shower when it’s too cooooooooold. No need to turn on the heat just yet. It shouldn’t cool down inside too much tonight. I hope.

I see some leaf mulching/sucking this weekend. The front yard is pretty well leaf covered, the back yard less so. But we don’t want it to build up too much, so there’s yardwork in my near future. Good times. Doncha wish you was me? :smiley:

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Yeah, I understand the basics of pottery. I just keep forgetting about pottery all together and think you’re doing something to your actual pets.

OMG that website looks amazing, Haze!

Glad your parents are so supportive, meli and are being so caring towards ali. Hope it all works out and that ali’s father realizes that it’s better to accept that you two are adults and going to live your lives the way you see fit than to miss out on seeing you at holidays and such.

Yay! on the new dog, db!

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Nelly is adorable!

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Nelly is adorable!!

Haze, thank you for the domesticgoddess link! I can’t wait to look at that site more. :slight_smile:

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Nelly is so cute!

Guess what time it is! It’s United Way time! Oh, joy. Luckily, I’m new and not yet an employee, so I’m not expected to volunteer to help with the drive. I’m going to follow my former boss’s advice: “Donate something, even if it’s just a dollar. How much you donate is none of their business, but once you’re on the donor list, they quit harrassing you, and you avoid being accused of not being a team player.” I’m not as averse to United Way as some, but I prefer to keep my charitable donations private.

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Same thing going on here too. The whole thing pisses me off. Especially the “not a team player” thing if you don’t donate. I do give just so I’m not “that guy” (or girl in this case) and I do buy the casual day stickers - we can wear jeans from after Thanksgiving through the end of January for $50. But I whine and bitch and complain as I do it. Not exactly a charitable attitude. But I give on my own to the charities that I choose and them forcing me to give to a charity that I don’t really believe in (UW has more admin type costs than many of the ones that I choose to give to.) just rubs me the wrong way. Grrrrr.
[/rant]

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**Jah ** - I really hate feeling pressured to donate - especially when I know it’s all about making the boss look good. A few years ago, I quit playing the game. My charitable giving is my own business and I refuse to be coerced into a donation. Fortunately, the last 2 drives at work, they took non-harrassment to heart - all I got was a form on my desk and inclusion on occasional mass emailings. I ignored them all and life went on.

I’m cold. It’s probably not too smart to be drinking ice water, ya think?

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Ok, first, {{{HUGS}}} where needed. I’d be more specific except I can’t right now. I have a sinus headache and work tonight, so right now this is as good as it gets.

Dotty could you explain Eid? I know basically what Eid is, but I’d like to know how you all celebrate it and stuff. I need me some culturin’.

BBBobbio the music played before churichifyin’ begins is the prelude. Most people wouldn’t know what the organist is playin’ cause no one pays attention. Which means it’s a good thing I’m not a church organist cause I’d be too tempted to play inappropriate church music just to see if anyone’s listenin’. :smiley:

taxi I am thinkin’ of givin’ RR’s Country Captain a try. You should make the real thing sometimes. It really is soooooooooooooooooo good!

doggio Nelly is a cutie. Yay for your new canine overlord!

We went to the bad Chinese place for dindin. Rather I met ol’ y’all know who there. He has a meeting to go to tonight. Just as well, since I have work to go to tonight. Dear Og I hope I don’t have to do third shift after this week!
Black pocket t and blue jeans tonight btw.

Ok, off to do other things. Later Y’all!

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This is not only a drive to raise X million dollars, but is also a competition to raise more than their competitors. Since they “lost” last year, they will undoubtedly go **way ** over the top this year with the pressure. In my current position, if giving is public, I will have to give “enough.” But I have no idea what “enough” is here. I hope giving is done privately. If it’s not, I’ll just suck it up and donate $50 - $100. I just don’t like being told how to spend **my ** money. And once **my ** paycheck is in **my ** bank account, it’s **my ** money. I’m funny that way.

I’ve said before that I would gladly set up an account, funded either at the beginning of the year, or using my paycheck, where whoever wanted could dip in for United Way, birthdays, school [del]crap[/del] fundraisers, Girl Scout cookies, assorted parties, whatever, as long as they **leave me alone ** about it. For some reason, this makes me a curmudgeon. :confused: :smiley: My co-workers got *really * upset the year I put $200 in an envelope on January 1, and whenever somebody passed the hat, I told them to take whatever they felt was fair, but when it was gone, it was gone, and I wouldn’t be donating anything for the rest of the year. There were a few who were appalled at how fast the money went, because even averaging $5 a pop, I ran out of money by the end of summer.

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Aww, Nelly is adorable!

I was hoping to get farther today, but I’m a bit over halfway, and besides once I get into Idaho the speed limit goes up, at least until I get off the freeway. So here I am in Baker City, Oregon. And I’m not going to do anything at all to speak of except for getting some food and some sleep! Later, though, it’s way too early for either.

I really, really hate being surrounded by 18-wheelers. And I especially hate it on twisty-turny mountainous freeways.

I hope the food at the restaurant here isn’t crappy because I have a two-dollar off coupon for it, so I’ll eat there, especially as there doesn’t seem to be too many other options that I’d contemplate around here.