They don't have an icon that compbines all three. *Le Sigh*

Tired:
Went to bed at one am, which isn't all that unusual, except that I forgot that Fuzzy needed to be up early this morning. And then at two Zorro had a seizure. Icky. No one should have to change their sheets at two AM because of a dog. Or really, because of anything.

Grumpy:
Cleo's sick, and is demonstrating this by living puddles of doggie stuff all over the carpet. Our carpet, btw, is the color of beach sand, and therefore /everything/ shows. Zorro's in seizure mode. I didn't buy enough caffeine this morning. Two hours less sleep and I only have /one/ macchiato. Unfair!

Worried:
Every time Zorro starts a seizure cycle I worry that he'll injure himself, or that he'll go into status, and not come out. And I worry that we should consider putting him down, except that this is a bad 36 hours or so out of six-to-eight weeks of normalcy.

*sigh*

I hate Fridays. Bad things always happen on Fridays.

So….are we playing tomorrow? If so, are we playing at Casa de Telgar, or somewhere else? And what can we bring?

But maybe if I take a leaf from , that will help. I had to decline a loan for a couple who are Russian immigrants. He's working two jobs while she's pregnant, but because of guidelines I can't count his income from the second job – not enough history -. I'm sending it to the underwriters anyway, despite knowing they'll decline it, because without a formal notice of denial, termination, or change, the borrowers can't get their deposit back.

In any case, Nimiriel has been posting lists of seven things she's thankful for, and I'm blatantly stealing her concept, in the hopes that focussing on the good will help me get through the rest of this day.

1) The new bed is being delivered on Saturday. I still am not sure how we'll rearrange the bedroom, but I love such challenges. (Btw, anyone know anyone who wants to buy a black wrought iron queen-sized 4 poster bed frame, and a matching dresser and two nightstands, or a piano (spinet)?)

2) I have new stuff to read waiting for me at home. Fresh books are always something to look forward to.

3) I've figured out the perfect place to put the potted rose bush that needs to be transplanted. I have to rip out the Japanese maple to do it, but I really don't like the Japanese maple anyway.

4) There are purple pansies greeting me every time I walk in my front door. Yay flower bowls!

5) My eyes do feel better with the plugs in. I'm needing the drops less, at any rate.

6) It's grey and moody outside, and I love grey moody days.

7) I have some really patient friends who put up with me, even when I'm being bitchy and reclusive. Thanks, all of you.

One of my favorite diarists on Open Diary, Princess Ella (no link, because her diary is locked to non-ODers) has this knack of recommending books that are exactly the kind of reading material I need at any given moment. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that she's a violist, and therefore amazingly cool. Or maybe we just have similar taste in books. After all, she knew The Eight, and most people don't.

In any case, I just finished The Red Tent, which kept me enthralled the whole time I read it. It's the story of Dinah, daughter of Jacob, and is told in first person. And it's not all Biblical or anything, either. One of the reviews on the back cover says something to the effect that if the Bible had been written by women, it would seem like this, and I have to agree.

The author of that book, Anita Diamant, also wrote Good Harbor which was among my stack of books over the last week as well. It's set in a small coastal village in Massachusetts, and takes place in modern times, and I quite enjoyed it, but the other was much better.

I'm now half-way through Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris, who wrote Chocolat. Princess Ella actually recommended another of her works, but both of my trips to B&N were fruitless, and this title intrigued me.

Waiting at the bottom of the stack is the final P.E. recommendation, Stones from the River, by Ursula Hegi. It's been a while since I've read so much non-fantasy, and I'm enjoying the time just drowning in the written word.

Thanks, Princess, for a great week of reading!

I wasn't going to do this. I was going to write a real post, but the incompetence of the people at Providian has me seething, and surveys relax me….

MU* Roleplay Survey
1. What was the first MU* you ever joined? I visited PernMUSH in 11/93, but didn't stay. All 'first' questions will be based on the first character I kept. First character I kept was on ShardsMUSH, April, 1994.
2. How long ago was that? Almost exactly eight years.
3. What was the name of your first MU* character? Zenobia
4. Their sex? Female
5. Their species? Human
6. Their personality? Mildly impish healer turned quintessential greenrider
7. Do you still have that character? No
8. If not, which of your current MU* characters have you had the longest? Chaia
9. Which of your characters – past or present – is your favourite? Zeni
10. Why? Isn't the first always the most special? I was so innocent, so not involved in politics…
11. Which of your current characters do you RP the most? A tossup between Chaia and Zaidra
12. Which MU* do you have the most characters on? PernMUSH
13. Do you prefer MUDs, MUCKs, MUSHes, MOOs or something else? MUSHes
14. Do you draw any of your characters yourself? I tend to avoid pictures of my alts, whether by myself or anyone else. Anyway, I can't draw.
15. If so, which character do you draw most often? N/A
16. Which of your characters is most like you in real life? The original Zeni was.
17. How many MU*s do you currently have characters on? 3 public, one private
18. Which MU* is your favourite? PernMUSH is home.
19. Why? It just is. This answer is, however, subject to change.
20. Do you RP sex? Sometimes.
21. Do you RP extreme violence? No.
22. Do you prefer long or short poses? Medium. With some shorter and longer as needed.
23. Do you prefer long or short descs? Medium. If it scrolls off the screen it's too long.
24. Do you have more male or female characters? Female.
25. Do you find it harder to play characters of the opposite sex? I find it incredibly difficult to play a male /dragon/, and the times I've had male alts have been comically bad.
26. Do you prefer to plan your characters in full detail before you start RPing them or let them develope naturally? They evolve, usually. The ones that don't generally get idled out.
27. Do you ever get characters on a whim and then never RP with them? Never on a whim. Sometimes on request.
28. Do you log RP? Compulsively, now. But I have /nothing/ of my Shards days, and I wish I did.
29. If so, do you sometimes go back a read them later? As needed for references, or to get back to basics.
30. Finally, how many MU* characters do you currently have in total? 8

Duplicated from my lasik journal.
So, at my two week follow-up visit with Dr. McBride last night, we discussed two things:

1) I still have 0.75 – 1.00 astigmatism in my left eye, which is affecting my best visual acuity. This is far less than I had, but when we do refractions, it really comes out. She wants to wait another six or eight weeks, and see how I am, and then suggest having an 'enhancement' on my left eye. This would mean another surgery, just to correct the astigmatism. The initial fee covered up to two enhancements within the first year, and it's better to do them around the 90-day mark because then it's easy to lift the original flap.

2) My eyes were still really dry, so I now have Punctum Plugs. These are sesame-seed-sized slivers of silicone(dare you to say /that/ three times quickly) that plug the lower tear ducts. The concept here is to retain my own tears, rather than flooding my eyes with drops.

I mentioned, when she was sticking them in, that I'd had chronic ear/nose/throat problems all my life, and she told me about Herrick's theories, that dry eye due to over active drainage can actually /contribute/ to these things.

As always, here are some websites for further info:

1) http://www.dryeye.org/
2) http://www.drwalji.com/dry.html

Also, Fuzzy agreed with my analysis that just after they do stuff to my eyes, I get moody for several days. Hmmm. Something to work on, I guess.

So, it's April. Yay.

I've archived everything from March and earlier.

If you want to know the details of the plugs in my tear ducts, go read the lastest post from .

So, a process server served my boss with papers about a lawsuit. Apparently, one of the advertisers at Monster is suing a bunch of others for 'false advertising'.

I find this hilarious.
Perhaps I shouldn't, but I do.

And, I've succumbed to another quiz. I won't ask anyone to bow down, because that would be gauche, but offerings of chocolate would be acceptable :)

I am 81% worshipable! And you? Find out!

So, we attacked the back yard today, me with the new lawn mower, and Fuzzy with the edger. I really need to get over my fear of the edger, but after watching him use it, and seeing how much stuff flew toward his face, I'm really glad it wasn't me using it.

Anyway, the dogs are happy because the grass is no longer taller than they are, and I'm delighted because I planted two dwarf citrus plants last spring, then went on vacation, and came back to find that it had never occurred to Fuzzy that in 100+ degree heat, one should water trees.

I thought they'd be dead. But they're not. They're in blossom. And the calla lilies are in full force. The japanese maple is a lost cause, but I never wanted it, anyway, so I'm replacing it with a rose-bush I was given for my last birthday, and which I moved to a larger pot, and am now moving to the ground, at last.

And tomorrow I have another eye appointment, so those following my LASIK story will want to read 's stuff late tomorrow evening.

Happy Easter! Happy Spring!

I'm in a rambling mood tonight. Hence the cut-tag.

I slept til 10 this morning, because I could, and because I seem to need more sleep since LASIK. It's weird, because you wouldn't think a simple thing like your eyes would cause you to need rest but I find that reading computer screens and such tires me. A lot.

Had a hair appointment. My hair has never been horribly long – down to the bottom of my bra-strap at the longest, and it's bone-straight, and while I used to have it spiral permed, it's really too fine for that, and I got tired of picking rat-nests out of my hair. Two years ago, I cut it excruciatingly short, and I'd left it mostly short until last year, when I realized I missed ponytails. I am, after all, a true geek girl, and ponytails are a vital part of my existance. Also, I cannot stand having my hair in my face. In fact, it bug me when other people have their hair in their faces.

Anyway, today Azam and her new assistant (whose name I didn't get, but seemed like a nice guy) spoiled me – I've been cut, colored, and deep conditioned, and on April 13th I'm returning to my pre-LASIK routine of a manicure every week, and a pedicure every other week, and having my eyebrows waxed.

After my three-hour beauty marathon, I finally have a hair cut that requires no fuss, and is shaped enough that I don't feel compelled to break out the ponytail holders. However, I had to wash it, because the overwhelming amount of STUFF that had been used was making me dizzy and nauseous.

After a break, and a caramel macchiato, we went to the mall, so I could buy a new Franklin Planner. Yes, I have a Visor Prism. Yes, I love my Visor Prism. But sometimes I need INK, and sometimes the planner is better. I'd been using a compact one the last time, but now I have the larger classic size, with a spiffy new leather binder (on sale, of course). They even swapped the free cell-phone holder for a visor-holder, which I needed more.

And of course, since I dragged Fuzzy out of bed before three on a weekend, we had to visit Electronics Boutique, where we bought extension cords for the game pads for our Playstation 2, and a couple games. said the game I should have gotten was Shadows of Destiny, so I bought it. See, I do pay attention to game-talk, sometimes.

We went to Friday's, which is totally not in our neighborhood, but is a holdover favorite from our weekend rituals in SoDak, when we'd go to Zandbroz, then the mall, then Friday's, then B&N. We almost went to see The Time Machine but the hair stuff was making my eyes all wiggy.

We followed that up with a trip to OSH, where we bought a new electric lawnmower. The one the previous owner of our condo left us shorted out recently. Fuzzy claims the edger will do the whole lawn, but the edger scares me, and I /like/ to mow.

I also bought two six-paks of pansies for the colorbowl at the front of our house. I bought a six-pak a couple weeks ago, intending to plant them, and then got distracted. Fuzzy reminded me that OSH would have refunded me for the plants I killed, but my time is worth more than $1.89 in store credit. The new pansies, however, are planted.

So, here I sit. Showered (I smell like banana bread, thanks to my vanilla and banana bath gel, from Whole Foods), and freshly coiffed, and satisfied that I've done enough productive things for the weekend to justify hanging around and reading all day tomorrow.

Well, after I mow the lawn.