[candycane_girl]

(((((((christine)))))))) Have you discussed it a lot with A? When I was little one of our family friends died and I wasn't taken to the funeral. It's possible that it might be a bit much for the kiddo because now she's even more aware of what's going on.

(((((sassy and mom)))))) I'm sure she'll be fine.

(((((zoya's niece)))))

(((((sidecar))))) anti flu vibes! I hope you're getting lots of fluids and resting.

rose, I know how you feel about the identity crisis thing. I always feel silly because I'm 24 and I'm only in my second year of university. I'm with a bunch of 19 and 20 year olds. I mean, I did get an advertising diploma before this but I feel like if I had just started with university then I could have had a master's or at least be close to getting one by now. I'm in a program with a lot of artistic and interesting people but I myself don't feel creative at all. I'm hoping to get involved with more things this summer.

I hope everyone who's going to see The Watchmen enjoys it. I'm not familiar with the story except that I know it takes place in 1985 and that superheroes are supposed to be a part of everyday life. Or something.

((((((((kvetchies))))))))))

kvetch: the boyfriend apparently has plans to hang out with his friend tonight AND tomorrow. But it seems like that doesn't even matter since I have an essay and an assignment to work on anyway. Blargh.

undies: white with little penguins on them.

[stargazer]

((((((((((((christine))))))))))))))) you are a great friend for going to be with your bestfriend. as for wanting to bring the kiddo to the funeral, each family has their own tradition and way of handling death and grief. kids were always involved and present at a funeral for a family member in my life. we never felt the reason to shelter kids from the funeral. i guess A and you need to talk about how you want to share death and grief as a family with kiddo. it doesn't sound to me that you are being selfish. you just want your family with you during this tough time.

*~*~*healing vibes for sassygrrl's mama*~*~*

(((sassy))) i hope you are feeling better.

(((sidecar))) i hope you get a relaxing weekend! you definitely deserve it!

(((sybarite))) Yahoo for progress on the thesis! May our thesis/dissertation mojo help us to finish this year.

(((rose))) damn. i don't know what i didn't think of it, i could've taped the new season of BSG for you! damn. let me know if you need to tape the newer ones. my folks are total sci-fi geeks and are BIG fans of the show. i can send the epi for you on a dvd for you.

antikvetch: i'm feelin' like i've gotten my dissertation mojo back. my goal is to spend today and sunday finishing the damn thing.

antikvetch2: i'm going to spend tomorrow with polly going to the sockmonkey fest. it is my 1 day of freedom during the dissertation finale.

kvetch: still no word about a training site. i still have some tension i feel as i get some distanced from the fallout with my friend. but, it is small tension and no big deal.

oh, and can i ask for some vibes for zoya's little niece? she went back into the hospital. zoya left today to be with her family. thanks!

(((kvetchies)))

undies report: going commando

[Christine Nectar...]

bestfriends dad died on wednesday night. she and her mom were with him, and her sister was in the house too. i'll be going to the funeral on sunday, and she’s asked if I will come to the family viewing first, which of course I will.

(cross posted in Hip Mama's thread)
i could use some feedback on this dilemma - I asked A if he will come with me to the funeral (it’s a good 4 hour drive to get there) and he said wouldn’t he need to stay home with kiddo. I had just assumed I would be bringing her with me, but he’s not so sure it’s a good idea.

she has been to a funeral before, almost 2 years ago when my Oma died. she saw the open casket and everything, and was pretty understanding about it all, amazing for a kid who was 3 at the time. It was within a few weeks of that that one of her grandparents dogs died, which she was really upset about. after all of that, she did develop sort of a weird obsession with death for a while - she had a lot of questions, and talked about death a lot. she would matter of factly state at dinner time “mommy and daddy, I don’t want you to ever die”. she even informed us that her imaginary sister, whom she had been playing with for months, had got sick and died. she was soon replaced with 2 new imaginary sisters. to me, this was just her way of processing everything that had happened, and I figured it was better for her to become familiar with that at a young age, as opposed to when she was older and it would be more of a shock to her. A was always pretty uncomfortable about it. his mother was pretty clear when my Oma died that she thought it was really inappropriate for me to bring kiddo to the funeral.

bestfriends family are an especially kid-loving family, and I’m pretty certain there will be other kids there from their church and extended family. they are trying to take a really positive view of the end of his suffering, and i think they would be happy to have a smiling 5 year old around.

am i wrong? is this too much to expect kiddo to deal with? am i being selfish and using her for my own comfort?

on the up side, i’m taking my sister out for a surprise bachelorette party tonight. she’s 3 months pregnant, so we had to scrap our original cocktail party idea, but it should be fun, which I know she could use right now. so can i!

i feel like LIFE is really hitting me right now. all the incredible complexity of it. it feels like spring today, and i’m really glad.

((((kvetchies))))

Sorry for the long post.

*cream coloured knickers with brown flowers and trim, black and white bra. terribly clashing!

[sidecar]

Martini saw it at a critic's screening about a month ago and liked it. He said it hewed pretty closely to the original but said that the woman who played Laurie is so bad that it significantly detracted from the movie. (He wasn't crazy about the fellow who played Adrian Veitch either -- and he liked the actor in other stuff. He just wasn't right for the role, but then Martini admitted no one except young David Bowie would be and there's not much one can do about that.)

I just read the book last summer, and I found it really spoke to our post 9/11 world. He's prescient, that Alan Moore.

I left work early yesterday and took today too, as I could barely wake up this morning. Kitten, I think you're right on it. When I hit a peak of stress, my body just gives up. Hopefully a quiet, restful weekend will be what I need. And what I get. (I mean, this is my life, so who knows what will happen.)

[sassygrrl]

I'm glad people have liked The Watchmen movie. I was wary of it as well. I really loved the book. I think Mcgeek and I will go this weekend.

Kitten, congrats on the internship!! Also, thanks for the DVD title. I really need to start working out again myself. I've gained way too much weight due to weather.

((christine))

((sidecar))

((rv)) I felt similar when I went up to UGA last week. I was around all these graduate students, and then got really sad about myself. Please just know you're awesome.

((sybarite))

((star, morn, mando, kvetchies))

If I could ask one big health vibe please? My mother has been diagnosed with a strange type of hypertension that doesn't respond to medication. Her doctor isn't sending her to the hospital, but it's scary to me anyways. Her blood pressure keeps rising and falling on a daily basis. Her and my dad were supposed to come up for my late birthday this weekend, and instead are heading to a specialist. Thanks!!

Kvetch: Had a seizure on Weds night. I was on my home to have a dinner party!! It may be due to this new medication. I've taken two days off.

Anti-kvetch: Maybe this is stress-induced, but I've lost two pounds.

undies: pink boyshorts and sports bra.

Happy Friday all!

[sybarite]

I was wary of the Watchmen movie as I love the darkness and nihilism of the book, but I enjoyed it (saw it at premiere on Tuesday.) I did find it moved uneasily between being slavishly faithful to the book (dialogue + images, in particular) and departing radically from the story though. Also, they cast an idiot as Laurie which was annoying.

Kitten, I'm sorry you and your dude had to wait 2 hours to see it! Belated congrats on the internship!

(((RV))) I hate those feelings of social inadequacy; remember they are informed by external definitions. We can all attest to your awesomeness!

(((sidecar))) Hope you feel better soon and that things get easier for you.

No updates on me except for work-related ones Thesis is really in endgame, which feels awesome. However, admin day job is getting much trickier as we're suddenly fielding a lot more requests for info and networking with more orgs, which means we have to rely on their timeframes etc. There are a lot of clueless people in the workforce out there!

However it is Friday, which is fantastic. I am becoming someone who lives for the weekend.

*turquoise silk knickers and cream lace bra--unmatched, as ever*

[kittenb]

The DVD I have right now is Ten Minute Solutions: Fat Blasting Dance Mix. I am looking forward to trying Ten Minute Solutions: Tone It Up, Dance It Off as well. I like trying them on Netflix. If I like them, I'll look on Half.com and get them cheap.

The Geek said that The Watchmen hewed very close to the book. I might have said this before but, if that is true, it doesn't feel crammed in like the first Harry Potter movie.

{{{sidecar}}} I hope you are feeling much better now. I wonder if your body has done like mine does sometimes and just stops after all of the pressure has gone away. Sucks when it happens.

Hmm, I am becoming quite the thread hog here. Oh well. This is about the only one I will have time for today. I woke up with my head full of unfinished homework. I decided to get on that and just go back to sleep afterwards. So I will get on it.

Happy Friday all!

[roseviolet]

Cheese and rice, Sidecar, I can't believe you're having another rough week! Why does life continue to kick you in the shins like this?
~~~~~~~~ soothing for Sidecar ~~~~~~~~~~

Kitten, which dance workout is it? I love dance exercise routines because they always feel more like I'm just having fun rather than exercising.

Has anyone heard from Mandi? I hope the chemo is going as smooth as can be.

What about Tes? I've been wondering whether she's going to stay in Africa or come home. Back at Thanksgiving she & Mr. HB were still undecided.

I'm looking forward to The Watchmen, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much. I read the graphic novel back in the early '90s & re-read it a couple of years ago. That story comes off VERY very differently in a post-9/11 world! I can't help but wonder what changes they may have made to the story. It'll be interesting to see. And yeah, Kitten, Sheff's company takes everyone out to see a big fan-boy geek film a couple of times a year. They don't pay for spouses or friends, but we're always welcome to join the group.

Anti-kvetch: Sheff and I finished watching all of the BSG DVDs!

Kvetch: I cannot find the first 2 episodes of the current season ANYWHERE! They're no longer on Hulu or the SciFi channel's website or on our on-demand channel. I can find all of the other episodes we've missed this season, but not those first 2! Which means we can't catch up with everyone else & watch the rest of this series until it comes out on DVD! Bah!!!!


Millie keeps tapping my leg with her paw & giving me that look that says, "Can we go to bed now? Or may I at least curl up on your lap? Please?" So I suppose I should shuffle off. 'Night, all!

[sidecar]

Kitten, it's being released on DVD for the first time, and it's going to be a piece about how much the film differs from the comic book it's based on (plus the story of the comic itself, which is really interesting.) It'll be in xSlatex (remove the Xes) in a few weeks.

I think I have the regular flu now. I had a cough earlier this week and it went into my sinuses today. I thought it was a relatively minor cold, but now I have aches, a fever, and dizziness. Joy. I may not be well enough to see Watchmen tomorrow. Boo.

[kittenb]

Also, did you see the Watchmen preview where the print showed up two hours late? Martini's coworkers were at that one.

Yes. People keep asking me if the movie felt long but I cannot trust my perception. I got to the theater at 5:30 for an 8 PM show, in my one and only business suit as I was coming straight from an internship interview. There were at least 100 people in front of me. I sat on the floor for about 2 hours. The we went in the theater and realized that over ten rows were blocked off for press, none of whom were there yet. We found two seats together in the second row from the back. And then we waited..........there was no announcement until almost 8:30. By that point I had flagged down a staffer and learned that the movie hadn't arrived yet. It is a good thing that I liked the movie as I basically gave up half of my day to see it.

I feel compelled to defend Howard the Duck. I cannot comprehend why Martini has to watch it for work but when I was a kid I loved that creepy and weird little love story. And I think the backstory, how it was supposed to be HUGE is hilarious. Heads rolled over that movie. What were they thinking?

Howard! The Duck!
No way to control it.
And he shot an arrow straight thru my heart!

[sidecar]

(((((bunny))))) I'm ready to start reposting over on our blog, too. I'm counting points again. February was a wash, between my inlaw drama and illness, but I am down 5 pounds since January 1. I have a chest cold this week (it's always something!) so I am waiting to work out again until it goes away.

(((kitten))) i'm glad you got a good internship! Also, did you see the Watchmen preview where the print showed up two hours late? Martini's coworkers were at that one. (Martini saw it last month; we bought tickets for Friday night.) I also love, love, love the original graphic novel. I just read it this summer, and it's amazing.

Oh, RV, don't sell yourself short. You're awesome!

Martini is watching Howard the Duck for a freelance project and ugh, it is the worst movie ever.

[kittenb]

Rose - it makes me laugh that Sheff's boss is taking the crew to see The Watchmen. That is some hardcore geekin'. As for the amazing people, what you wrote about yourself kind of reminds me of Erma Bombeck and I always wanted to meet her. She was hilarious. Try not to run yourself down. You don't know what others think of you.

Kvetch - My ass hurts. I am more out of shape than I realized.

Antikvetch - that workout DVD was more intense than I realized and a lot of fun. I love dancing workouts.

[stargazer]

(((christine)))

(((amilita))) that sounds like an awesome 40th birthday celebration!

(((pixie))) um, pics please of the betty paige wig and costume you will be sportin'!

(((sidecar))) the weather is kinda warming up now.

(((rose))) just try to stay focus on your own journey. i know it is hard to do. your presence does matter. you have alot of interests which you can use to join any group. you know, i don't like that i use the whole "what do you do for a living?" as an icebreaker in conversation. i don't want to seem like i judge a person by what he/she does. i think when you try to put yourself into something, like a role or job or career, the stress makes it harder to come to a conclusion of what feels right for you. i'm sure you will find something whatever that is that suits you.

(((kittenb))) i really am happy about your internship site. it sounds amazing. one less hurdle to complete your degree!

(((kvetchies)))

[roseviolet]

Congrats on the internship, Kitten!

Bunny, I think health issues are a very good motivator. Once you get going, you'll start to feel the benefits immediately.

I'm kinda sorta getting back into the blubber blog. My motivation has been WAY down since Xmas, but I'm trying to get back into it. For instance, I worked out for 30 minutes & used my food journal today. I just need to make sure I keep up with it & do it tomorrow, too.

Sheff's company's new game: I don't feel comfortable posting the name of it here because I don't want this page to ever come up in an internet search. Howzabout I just say that it's called "Xeat Xlead: xthe xreturn xof xmatt xhazard". Just remove the x's. The whole game is meant to be a sort of parody of the first-person-shooter genre. There's a really creative backstory that's playing out well in the marketing campaign. It's a shame that the reviewers have been so harsh, though. Sometimes it seems like they just haven't gotten the joke. Luckily the regular gaming customers who've picked it up seem fairly happy, so we're hoping word of mouth will help.

Glad to hear you liked "Watchmen", Kitten. Sheff's boss is taking the whole office to see it on Friday afternoon & I'm going to tag along. I'm really looking forward to it!

Kvetch: Having a bit of an identity crisis here. We got to see some AMAZING people last night - inspiring people whom I'd love to get to know better. But when I saw their bios in the program for the show, I was overwhelmed & intimidated by how cool they all sound. I can think of no reason whatsoever why these people might want to befriend me. I don't have an interesting career. Hell, I don't have a career at all. I don't sing in a band, I've never had any writing published, I didn't go to a posh university, I don't have a blog that is read by hundreds of people a day & I don't have any quirky hobbies. I just like to hang out at home, play about in the kitchen, & occasionally take some photos with my cheap little camera.

Anti-kvetch: The show was still really inspiring.

[kittenb]

With the Bust the Blubber thread, I just got lazy this winter. No great excuse. I kept my gym membership but my intrest in going is at an all-time low. I think the cold weather and the long walk there really deterred me. But these are just my excuses. Next pay, I am taking my bike in for a seasonal tune-up and then I'll be using that more again. And I have started getting work out DVDs from Netflix. I just did my Fat Blasting Dance Party. It felt really good and a lot more fun than the treadmill.

{{{Christine and friend}}}

Rose - can you tell us what the game is?

Pixie - when is your performance?

Bunnyb - I am sorry that everything is so rough at the moment. Does England have office temps? It isn't always fun but it can help just to get you out of the house. {{{hugs}}}

So I agreed on an internship today. Starting in July, I will be counseling sexual assault survivors in group and private sessions at a center near me. The hours are good and NO WEEKENDS!. I interviewed at a very exciting place yesterday but, after much consideration and a conversation with Stargazer, I just don't think that is the place I should go. And the SA place gave me an offer. So at least now my searching is over.

Last night I had passes to see The Watchmen. The Geek was ecstatic. I knew almost nothing about the story but I enjoyed the movie. It is a long and thoughtful examiniation of the psyche of people who would want to be superheros, not what I was expecting. Worth the $$, I think.

[pixiedust]

((Christine))

((bunny)) do you post on Bust the blubber? Does anyone anymore? I gave up cause no one else was posting.


(((busties in the cold snowy northeast)))


Nothing much going on here, I am just busy getting ready for my show. I got to choose my own song for the last song that hadn't been picked. It's Bon Jovi's Welcome to wherever you are. I am having fun with it. Not thrilled about my Sinatra song, but I bought a very sexy Betty Paige style wig to wear for that number. And I am waiting for my fabulous dress to get here from across the pond.

(((Rose, Yuefie, Bunny, mando, Mornington, Star, polly, sidecar, everyone))))

[bunnyb]

((((christine, best friend, her dad and family)))) my sympathies. I lost a surrogate parent, the mother of my best friend, a number of years ago .

I need to lurk less often and post replies more as I forget all of the kvetches I've read. Sorry, (((everyone))).

kvetch: I am officially obese. I finally went to the local planning clinic for my BC pill and I've put on more weight so I actually shouldn't be on this pill any longer as I'm at greater risk for thrombosis, as well as all of the other dreadful health risks that obesity entails. I've to lose half a stone over the next three months (and kickstart more loss, I hope) and also have my blood pressure monitored as that is currently too high. Ah, the joys of adult life. I feel ugly and I'm really worried about my health so it's time to proactively fight the flab (where's that blog?) instead of just complaining about it. This is real and when somebody dangles mortality in front of you it's time to take it seriously.

I don't have an anti-kvetch just now unless you count reading a good book. Sorry to be so down.

[roseviolet]

((((((((((((((Christine's best friend, her father, & the whole family))))))))))))))))))))))
That's so difficult. I certainly understand the conflicting feelings that come up at times like this.


Anti-kvetch: Sheff and I saw a really great show tonight & laughed our asses off. It was a great mid-week date. We definitely need to do this more often.

Plus, the first reviews came out today for Sheff's employer's latest video game. A couple have been a bit harsh, but others have been pretty nice. The amateur reviewers have been encouraging, so hopefully they'll keep the audience from ignoring this game altogether.

[sidecar]

((((((christine))))))) that is so hard. i wish him safe passage, and comfort to you, your friend, and your families.

[Christine Nectar...]

I wanted to drop in to ask for some special vibes. I got some sad, though not unexpected news last week. My best friend’s dad has been sick for a long time, and she’s gone home to her parents now because he is dying. Apparently it could be a matter of a couple months, or a couple days. Fortunately, he’s at home, so they can all be with him, and he’s not really cognizant anyway.
We’ve been best friends since we were 8 years old, so her mum and dad are like second parents to me. I talked to her mum a bit on the phone the other day, and was lost for words when she was cheerily telling a story about how they only really ever had one big fight in their 30+ year marriage, and it was when they took my friend and I to Wonderland, but she could laugh about it now.
In a way, I hope he goes quickly and peacefully now, since it will let the family move on. On the other hand, this man isn’t even 60, and won’t be there for his family any more, so it’s just really terrible to see this happen.
I think the family (and me) could use any positive vibes available. It’s hard knowing that you’ve got a funeral to go to, but you’re just waiting to find out when.