i think i was wrong about my toe being broken
i think it is just badly sprained
not that the swelling has gone down
it is easier to tell
that is good
though it still hurts to walk
and running is out of the question
but it will heal much faster
not that i am planning to do much running in the near future

i feel a bit embarrassed about the confusion
but it's really not a big deal
i always feel as if i've failed when i'm wrong about something
i need to let myself be human
even if being human makes my skin crawl a bit
a bit of internalized anthropophobia

tonight was the last night of the bird meds
i am glad
tomorrow we will find if dubbins is better
i am worried

tomorrow is also paddington's grooming appointment
i moved it to tomorrow so purpleglitter could drive
because i had a not-broken toe
a strain would have stopped me to
so either way
tomorrow
which might be today by some people's estimation
but i don't change the day until neitherday has passed
the penny plan goes through neitherday
the day changes at 4am

i am tired
i must be up early
i should go to bed now
but i probably won't

I planted the oriental poppies today. I'm afraid I may have damaged one badly, I hope it recovers. The other 5 went in well and I have high hopes for them. I got to use the compost finally. I put it down around the poppies and through some of it around the back yard in places that I'm not going to plant but still hope will become lush with life. I hope everything grows well.

The Cassini spacecraft detected warmth, water and organic chemicals, the basic ingredients for life on Saturn’s small moon, Enceladus, reinforcing scientists’ believe that our solar system has favorable conditions appropriate for living organisms to develop. full story

Shocking!

Amazing!

This solar system may actually have life in it!

I hear there is this place called Earth that they should check out.

I've started making candles again. My new idea is flower candles.

I bought some flower shaped flexible cupcake molds. Planning on taking advantage of the contraction of the cooling wax, I filled in the depressions that form at the top of the solidifying candles with a different colour wax. I had hoped they would look like nice flower centers. However, the wax didn't fill evenly, making for extremely irregular centers that don't really say "flower" at all. For my next batch, I'm planning to pick up some metal rings at the hardware store that I can use as a secondary mold for the center. If they turn out well, I'll post pictures.

Poll #1148168 Sin and Virtue
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

What is your favorite deadly sin?

What is your favorite holy virtue?

I was out back trying to heat up the compost pile so that like a fire it's heat can sustain itself, and... well... oops.

I had a gallon tub of hot tap water and I poured it in the old brick barbecue pit that I'm using as a composter, and out the hole in front runs a opossum. I was worried at first that I injured it. Well, at first I laughed very loudly and then I worried. Either way, I'm pretty sure that the water wasn't hot enough to burn the opossum, and even though the opossum only fled and never squealed (like they did when I hit them with a tomatoe), to ease my mind I held my hand under the faucet for half a minute with the hot water and while the heat was uncomfortable I was uninjured.

purpleglitter just ending a four day weekend and trash day shifted to Wednesday combined to completely addle my internal clock. The trash came and went and I completely missed it. What's worse, this week is recycling pickup. Recycling pickup in Arlington only happens every other week, so missing it causes things to really pile up. Fun fun, I guess I'll move it down to the basement for storage until it can be picked up — which won't be until after New Years.

I'm giving up at completing NaNoWriMo. At this point, it's pretty obvious it's not going to happen. There is just no way I'm going to complete this. turil is right, I need to go about things differently. I need to set more realistic goals and take things in smaller steps.

Dear Human Rights Campaign:

Congratulations on getting ENDA through the House of Representatives. I forgave you the last time you betrayed the transgender community. Many of us did. We believed that your organization had changed. We gave you the benefit of the doubt. We were wrong and we won't make that mistake again.

If by some chance you manage to get the trans-excluded ENDA through the senate, President Bush is almost guaranteed to veto it. You sold out the transgender community for nothing. Nothing. You are not going to get ENDA &mdash all your going to get is a split and angry queer community, a queer community in which many do not and cannot support you, a queer community in which many actively despise and oppose you. That is what you've won, enjoy your spoils.

By the way, I fixed your logo for you. You should really consider changing it:

I've given up on this attempt of Project Three Meals, but plan to start it up again later in the week. Bad start timing.

It may look bad, but I had already mentally budgeted that I would make little or no progress at NaNoWriMo during invalid_userid's visit.

Day	Words
1	1729/1667
2	1883/3333
3	1883/5000
4	1883/6667

Project Three Meals went completely off today. I got no healthy snack, got no exercise, and went on a junk food binge. Don't worry, I am not following that binge up with a purge, those days are very long gone and I'm not going back.

I did get in my three meals, though, if that matters. For breakfast I had egg and swiss on an everything bagel, for lunch I had linguine in a tomatoed alfredo sauce, for dinner I had pizza. Oh well, tomorrow's another day.

With the preparations for invalid_userid's visit along with wanting to spend time with her, I didn't get much writing done. I expect to fall quite a bit behind while she's here, but I have already planned for that and if all goes well will catch up after she leaves. While I am serious about doing NaNoWriMo this year, spending time with good friends is far more important.

Day	Words
1	1729/1667
2	1883/3333

From the The Universal Household Assistant or What Every One Should Know (1884):

Lamps — why they explode. — Many things may occur to cause the flame to pass down the wick tube and explode the lamp.    1. A lamp may be standing on a table or mantle, and a slight puff of air from the open window or the sudden opening of a door, cause an explosion.    2. A lamp may be taken quickly from a table or mantle, and instantly explode.    3. A lamp is taken into an entry where there is a draft, or out of doors, and an explosion quickly ensues.    4. A lighted lamp may be taken up a flight of stairs, or is raised quickly to a place on the mantle, resulting in an explosion. In all these cases the mischief is caused by the air movement -- either by suddenly checking the draft, or forcing the air down the chimney against the flame.    5. Blowing down the chimney to extinguish the light is frequently the cause of an explosion.    6. Lamp explosions have been caused by using a chimney broken off the top, or one that has a piece broken out, whereby the draft is rendered variable and the flame unsteady.    7. Sometimes a thoughtless person puts a small-sized wick in a large burner, thus leaving considerable space in the tube along the edges of the wick.    8. An old burner with its air drafts clogged up, which rightfully should be thrown away, is sometimes continued in use, and the final result is an explosion.