sundries

[rm]

Last night, I talked to my mother who asked me if I'd heard about my father's gout. She also told me she was on a bus the other day and it was leaning to one side, so the bus driver had everyone on the bus get up and go to the other side so the bus would lean the other way so it could pick up a passenger using a wheelchair. I think, "well, good, but WHY IS THE BUS LEANING SO MUCH?"

Small child in the office elevator today. 4-years-old with a backpack, shaped like a giant, abstract pink cat, nearly bigger than her. When she and her father got off on his work floor (a union organization with a lobby completely coated in fake marble and brass trim -- it's very Donald Trump, but with fake flowers on a fake antique table), she exclaimed, "This is marvelous!"

You guys are fabulous. While we still have a long way to go for graduate_maria the flurry of signal boosts and renewed interest in the auction last night raised the estimated total by several hundred dollars in a few hours, and there's been a bit of an increase since then as well, although I've not run the numbers today or looked at donation amounts, etc. I'm pretty sure we're closing in on $2,000 though. And there's still time to bid on this round of stuff until 11:59 tonight!

Yesterday I mentioned elionwyr doing the blogathon for Live Strong. Today shadesong has a roundup of other people doing blogathons for a variety of organizations.

copperbadge is having a job fair thingy in his journal.

Alarmist homebirth blurb.

sparkindarkness on people flaunting their sexuality.

Time asks why are French moms killing babies? I ask, are we sure this is statistically significant? It feels like this summer's shark attack to me. With bonus "think of the children!" plus "those awful French!" and "women who don't love babies are secretly all murderers!" Anyone?

Contraband: the weird, ordinary, depressing and inexplicable stuff confiscated from people at Kennedy Airport.

I wrote a list. Now I want to ask you how you feel about the Oxford comma. I love it, despite its lack of use above. I was trained to use it at Hewitt, then trained out of using it in J-school. Now lament that I am no longer reflexively archaic in this regard (yet still find anxious to mean "excited and anticipatory").

Update on the 18th-century vessel found under Washington Street.

I am late on this, but Festibility is a multi-fandom fic fest featuring fandom characters with disabilities (either canonically or in your work). Yeah, there's some universe in which I'm going to get that Auggie fic done soon.

But, oh god, I haven't written my WIAD yet, although at least I know what it's about now.

Last night was the first episode of Project Runway: So dude who did nothing other than reverse a kimono and staple it is still on the show because they're hoping he'll make more offensive rapetastic statements, ne? What a fucker.

I also hate how the early seasons of the show really were at least somewhat about couture and innovation, and now it's all about whether you can sell it at fucking Target. I don't care.

Heidi annoys me. The judges never listen to Tim. Why do none of these designers know where a waist is? Why can't the models walk in heels? Did you see that preview? With the ambulances and the cheating? WHAT IS UP? VIOLENCE ON THE RUNWAY!

And then there was Austen and Santino's roadtrip show (the title of which totally forces me to refer to people I don't know by their first names, which I hate, but anyway). Which isn't really that compelling except Austen was on my screen again. When I am famous and have to wear dresses to events lest People Magazine mock me, Austen will make all my gowns.

Comments

[bethynyc.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link to copperbadge's virtual job fair!

It sounds like we may be in the same boat regarding aging parents. Did you see the article in yesterday's Times about wiring up the house of the parent to let long distance children know that they were eating, sleeping, and taking their meds?

Mine aren't quite in that position yet. But I worry. A lot.

[rm.livejournal.com]

My father is much older than my mother, so I have some buffer, but as an only child who may no longer be in NYC after Patty gets her degree, it's on my mind a lot.

[bethynyc.livejournal.com]

My folks retired to Florida last year (oh well) and they love it and take dance lessons and bike when it is cool enough and Mom is volunteering to teach literacy classes. They are healthy right now, but I still worry. Especially being so far away.

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

::wince::

What is the link to that article?

While my father is in fairly good health and a compulsive health obsessive, he's 79, and he's the last one left in NYC. (His children are now scattered to the four winds, and my mom died last summer.)

[bethynyc.livejournal.com]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/29/garden/29parents.html?ref=style

You may need to log into NY Times, but it is still free so far!

And even though my folks are in good health, I still worry because of being so far away in case of problems.

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Yeah, as I said, my father's doing fine (aside from a hip issue which he's addressing), and is fairly health-obsessive. He's not the sort to handwave an issue and get admitted to the ER with the cumulative result of ignored, easier problems. He's better about going to the doctor than I am.

THAT SAID.

He's 79, lives alone, and all four of his kids are hundreds of miles away. I WORRY.

[bethynyc.livejournal.com]

See, the Worry App gets installed really early in some people. It is not possible to uninstall it. ::joins you in solidarity of worry::

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

There is an uninstall, but it requires quantities of valium and booze my liver can't really handle.

[bethynyc.livejournal.com]

When the uninstall is so very complicated, it is easier to just leave it in and keep hitting the minimize button when possible.