Monday!

Administration
Happy birthday to childofchaos!

Hello to new reader s00j!

Medical
The usual. The hand thing was bad this morning. Woke up at least three times in the night.

KoL
Take a nap - it's time for Crimboween Present Right-About-Now...

Kittens
Anyone in Florida looking for kittens? Look no further. These kittens? Made of adorable.

Cats
Bostonians - what are the good local animal shelters? Elayna's big gift this year is a coupon redeemable for one (1) cat. In keeping with tradition, we will be doing the walk-into-the-shelter-and-let-the-cat-pick-you thing.

Daily Science
The dopamine agonist pramipexole, (Mirapex (R), Boehringer-Ingelheim) currently indicated by the FDA for treatment of Parkinson's disease, provides a high response rate of overall fibromyalgia (FM) symptom improvements...

And here are two articles on research into yoga for seizure control.

Daily BPAL
( Aglaea, Dublin, Mad Hatter, Mandrake )

midmorning miscellany

...I know exactly where Adam is keeping my $WINTERHOLIDAY gifts, and it is so hard to refrain from peeking.

*fuss*

Related: Locals who want to give me gifts but are shy on monies can give me coupons for around-the-house assistance with multiple-person things like building bookcases, hanging art, and folding sheets. That would be keen.

Unrelated: I am sick ("And tired!" /billcosbyhimself) of dealing with stupid health insurance bullshit. The latest? The request was faxed to my Atlanta doctor last week, yes, marked urgent, but she was out of the office, and the covering doctor didn't feel comfortable signing it. Nyargh. So. The person I spoke to today gave me her direct line and actually called me back with info; I think she groks that this is an emergency, at least. So. We'll see if the form gets signed today. If not, I have a decision - stop Lyrica cold turkey, or shell out hundreds of dollars and pray for reimbursement.

Also unrelated: Heard back from Dada.net. They didn't credit me for *any* friends, since they interpreted my "your invite system isn't working consistently" as "no people invited". I sent them the list from my friends-page there, but it would be helpful if those of you who I invited who joined e-mail me with your nickname there so I can make sure you're on the list. And add me there. I don't get credit unless you do. Also, the people you should contact to make sure you get paid are Jane Crawford <jane@upocnetworks.com> and Antonella Stellacci <antonella.stellacci@dada.net>.

*head in hands*

*deep breath*

Okay. Off to go Handle Stuff. I will not let the aforementioned bullshit dominate my day. I will concentrate on the first snow of the season, on Getting Stuff Done in a happy and satisfactory way, on still half-dwelling in the garden of yuki_onna's book, on being surrounded by good things. Life is good. Love is good. My cozy book-lined office is good. The worlds in my head are good. I will go have a nice hot shower now, and that will also be good.

rewind to 1990

I blew on the tiny, smoldering coal - not my first fire, but close to it, close enough that I didn't yet trust my skills. Shoved my hair back behind my ears. Blew slowly, evenly, carefully, til it ignited the tinder around it, til coal became fire, meager as it was, still fire, ground and blown into life by me, sixteen and exiled to the Utah desert. (This was my first tour of duty in the wilderness survival camp. I would turn seventeen soon, still here, far from home.) We were at Trap Camp, the first stop of the second stage of the program - white cliff walls incongruous in the middle of red rock canyons, sage and juniper surrounding.

I stood - and blinked, bewildered, at a drop of wet too fine and soft to be rain. And another.

I looked up.

It took one of the staff members to make me realize what was happening. "It's snowing," she laughed at my stunned expression.

Snow.

Tiny bits of white cold spiralling down out of the sky, slow and then faster, drifting, dancing, collecting on my outstretched hands, on my hair. The rest of the "campers" huddled for warmth under the blue plastic tarp that served as our only protection from elements and wildlife alike, cold and jaded, while little Floridian 'song laughed and danced. "Snow," I breathed, surrounded by tiny frozen miracles. "Snow!"