Thought or Rant of the day!!!

[Doug R.]

I thoroughly didn't enjoy myself,

It sounds like it was a thoroughly unenjoyable wedding with a stuffed guest list to show how powerful/connected you are. Stuffy affair. For our reception, we rented a fire hall, which included the cake, and the meal for about $11 a plate (this was 12 years ago, so adjust for inflation). It was good too. We paid more for our honeymoon cruise than the whole wedding. I think everyone had a good time, even the people at the "odd-folks out" table in the back.

[Snickie]

Thought: My neck still ails me.

Is there something going around? I woke up this morning with a really bad pain in my neck on my right side. I just assumed that it was a torn muscle or something from all the crap I did yesterday. My mom thinks it could be because I might have slept on it wrong, or my pillow's too thick or something. But when I told my English teacher at school this morning, she said her mom and somebody else had also been complaining too her about their necks this morning.

I can't turn my head to the right more than 60 degrees (an improvement from this morning, by the way) without it hurting. I can barely rotate it fifteen degrees to the right without pain. If I want to look right, I either have to look down and right or turn my shoulders. I can lean my head all the way forward and all the way back, but trying to lean it to the right from these positions cause me pain.

To compensate for the pain, I've been holding my head to the left. Now the muscles in the left side of my neck are starting to get sore (but only a very little) from doing that all day.

If this persists into tomorrow with same or worse pain, I'll have my mom take me in to get it checked out.

[gejyspa]

Thought, Snick -- stress injuries from holding clarinet at band camp 12 hours/day?

Doug -- not really, I mean, everyone ELSE was having a good time, dancing, etc. (and if you ever seen videos of dancing and "shtick" at Jewish weddings, you know they can be pretty wild). Maybe I'm just stressed about earthquakes, hurricanes, and stuff going on at work. (Distinct possibility, especially the last). Well, have a good weekend, everyone. And if you are on the east coast of the US, try to stay dry.

[Snickie]

Thought, Snick -- stress injuries from holding clarinet at band camp 12 hours/day?

Actually, I told my mom that the pain was still there, and she started laughing at me because apparently I just have a "crick in my neck" (southern terminology) and she's had it a hundred times and it'll go away. This is the first time I've ever had that. Gimme a break, Mom.

And band camp was only 8 hours a day. Yesterday wasn't actually band camp; I was just comparing it to band camp.

Maybe I'm just stressed about earthquakes, hurricanes, and stuff going on at work. (Distinct possibility, especially the last). Well, have a good weekend, everyone. And if you are on the east coast of the US, try to stay dry.

I'll be praying for you. And enjoying the nice, non-hurricane weather here.

[Doug R.]

Ok, I admit it, after watching the news tonight, I'm very nervous about this hurricane. I just got my roof repaired, so that' should be fine, but my house sits in a hole, guarded by two storm drains. They're calling for 4 inches of rain per hour at worst. Can those drains handle that much water? If not, it's coming right in my back door. And then there's that walnut tree that always sways during high winds, and I just know that power will go out. Gonna spend tomorrow elevating the stuff in my basement, taking out the air conditioners, taking pre-damage photos for insurance purposes, and anything else that keeps my mind off how badly it would suck to have a flooded basement. An earthquake and hurricane in less than a week?

[Snickie]

I feel like people are treating this hurricane more like a Cat 4 or a Cat 5 than the Cat 2 it actually is. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I live in Florida and Cat 2's are just not worth waking up for here. (Okay, we also freak out about hurricanes, but not nearly as much as northerners and inlanders who aren't used to them do.) Maybe it's the fact that Irene is 700 miles wide, around the size Frances was back in '04.

I'll keep praying anyway.

[Wolfsong]

River Song makes me wish I'd majored in Anthropology instead of minoring in it.

[Chroma Key]

Collection of thoughts: I am now officially a "wage slave". Woot. I am actually quite happy. Since I moved to another department (I used to be on this project running 247 cases - eek! My new caseload is 73. 50 of them are litigated so it's a whole new experience - new in the way that now I defend claims so most of my time is spent drafting defences, counter schedules and other boring stuff you really don't want to hear about.) I have started feeling much better about my job. It is not crushingly depressing to look at my task list anymore, even though it is still a constant run, I feel that I am getting there and not helplessly behind.
Best thing I did for myself - changing my working hours from 9 - 5 to 10 -6 (even if it means I can no longer have lunch with a certain Cantrian ). No more stressing in the mornings. I can take my child to school! Woohoo! That makes such a huge difference to both of us.
I've been sleeping much better lately. 9 hours' unbroken sleep? That's extremely rare for me, and I can't seem to spend the weekend nights up till 5am anymore. My mind has felt tired for a while now, finally my body and mind seem to go at a similar pace.
It was great to go back home a few weeks ago for my brother's wedding. Wonderful to see family members whom I had not seen for over a decade. Last time I saw my younger cousin he was 11,5, he is 23 now! Half his life! It was quite a shock to my system to see the little boy grown into a fine young man. The first few moments were terribly awkward as we didn't know what to say. He then told me that what I wrote on his bunk bed was still there - it was something out of The Shawshank Redemption, which made us laugh and after that the distance and time didn't matter at all. I was so impressed with his drumming skills, too! He played to one of my favourite songs while I sang, it was awesome! Ditto with other members, but luckily I get to see most of them once a year.... and my sister is almost old enough to fly on her own.
The wedding itself was great. A lot of laughter and tears. Tears because P & I aren't going back to visit next year so the next time we'll see them will be in 2013. This is so difficult at times. I miss them already!
I am reading "I Am Legend" and I like it so far. I was told it has a brilliant twist at the end, just can't wait to finish it! It's a great sign of life for me to go back to books, the world is a bit lighter when I read. I wasn't able to do that for a long while as I couldn't focus. It annoys me when I have to read the same page a few times and still can't manage to actually read as in absorbing the meaning of the words and putting them into context as part of following the story.
Finally... Yay for 3 day weekend!

[Rebma]

I officially feel old because that movie ^ came out in 1994. And I never knew that.

[Doug R.]

I feel like people are treating this hurricane more like a Cat 4 or a Cat 5 than the Cat 2 it actually is. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I live in Florida and Cat 2's are just not worth waking up for here.

They're expecting an 8 foot storm surge in NYC - a lot of the city will be under water. It's not the wind, it's the rain and the surge that's the problem.

[Snickie]

They're expecting an 8 foot storm surge in NYC - a lot of the city will be under water. It's not the wind, it's the rain and the surge that's the problem.

Very true. Fay in '08 was merely a tropical storm, and she brought some serious flooding to parts of Florida. The amount of rain doesn't have very much to do with the sustained wind speeds of the storm, but more with its size, travelling speed, and maybe its organization. NYC doesn't have much experience with storms like Irene, and probably have little to no built-in precautions for it.

It'd be like....if something weird happened, and Florida were to have a blizzard like those which are typical in the northern U.S., we'd probably be freaking out and flooding all the grocery stores looking for firewood and batteries and matches and water, and have forced evacuations, andd be doing things much like they're doing up north right now with Irene. Florida rarely gets blizzards (or snow in any weather-related form). NYC rarely gets hurricanes. .....I was going to make a point about this, but now I'm not so sure what it was.

[SumBum]

I feel like people are treating this hurricane more like a Cat 4 or a Cat 5 than the Cat 2 it actually is. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I live in Florida and Cat 2's are just not worth waking up for here.

It's also a matter of that type of storm hitting an area that isn't designed to withstand them. Drainage systems are completely different in more "tropical" areas than they are in places that don't often have to deal with heavy rainfall, etc etc.

edit: can disregard this post since you addressed it while I was typing, Snickie!

[Comy]

Thought: Now my neck is killing me and I can't figure out why, so I'm just going to go ahead and blame CN and Snickie.

Rant: I would like to form a hunting party to seek out the not-so-little thug and destroy his face. I will never, ever understand people who aren't aware of and grateful for everything their parents have done for them. Granted, there are bad parents out there (he's one of them! So is the mother of his child. So is his girlfriend), but there are plenty of good ones. Our mother happens to be one of them. She is difficult to live with, incredibly rude, irritatingly superior, and immature, but from the moment I was born, her entire life has been about caring for and supporting her children and the things he does make me so angry I could throttle him. I haven't been this furious since...well, probably since he left Texas when we were kids, and I physically cannot cope with it. I've spent years turning myself into an annoyingly mellow person and I don't think my body has the capacity for this kind of anger anymore. I'm about five minutes away from clawing my arms open. I should have gone to stay with my brother while his family is gone; that way, I wouldn't be contemplating going to camp out at my mom's while she's not there in the hopes that the not-so-little thug will show up so I can do something rash.

[gejyspa]

Personally, I'm not so very about this storm. I agree with Snick. I mean, it's a category one. Ho-hum. People who aren't used to them worry about earthquakes, hurricanes, blizzards, etc. a lot more than natives, having no frame of references. So far, it's been rain *yawn*. (That being said, one of my wife's internet friends who lives on the shore did just lose her house today, apparently).

[CN]

Thought: Now my neck is killing me and I can't figure out why, so I'm just going to go ahead and blame CN and Snickie.

We totally passed it on to you via the interwebz

Also, Snick, it was indeed just a crick in my neck. went away after a day or two


Thought: I make really bad decisions.