�I need a hug, come on-a-baby/Closer to the fire/Close to something� �Komeda

Please say a little prayer for Susan who just had two impacted wisdom teeth violently removed (they only did the left side because her heart rate dropped dramatically and she almost passed out) and has an infected cheek now. Also say a little prayer for a very good friend of the family�s puppy Buster because he�s in the doggy hospital with pneumonia and is not doing very well, poor little guy.

After two years with this song clanging around in my brain I finally finished it yesterday. I always liked the music but needed new lyrics because the old ones weren�t doing it. So now I have a new song that�s fun to yell and pull out of my bindle on the transient road to HELL� Just kidding. Anyway, aren�t bindles cool? I wanna bindle with a red and white polka dot scarf and a little dog like Rufus in that allergy medication commercial with the banjo music. And in search for a picture of a bindle via google (what a cute little phrase �bindle via google� is!) I found these weird sentences: Do Not Fend, Mold, Bindle or Sputilate. Not for use in hot tubs. This product is meant for educational purposes only as students are trapped in classes and can't escape and I highly recommend the rest of it. Actually, according to my bindle search, it looks like a lot of people who like the word �bindle� are weirdoes just like me! And I highly recommend the reads of this lady�s �In Defense of the Hobo/Bum�, complete with hobo shorthand, which is so cool. My grandma used to take hoboes in and feed them supper and pie in upstate New York. She now lives in an apartment because there are other people around and wasn�t too into living out in the middle of nowhere with no one around after my grandpa died. But their house was so cool and it was on acres and acres of farmland with a �crick� in the back where my cousin Trisha and I used to catch frogs and let them go. I remember one time we ran out onto the plain with my lavender-colored Sharp cassette player/radio and choreographed a whole dance to Lionel Richie�s �Dancin� on the Ceiling.�

Brent made fun of this guy S. who he works with for singing the �zoom zoom zoom, yah zoom zoom zoom zoom� jingle at work yesterday and I told him that karma would make him sing a jingle by accident today at work and he felt bad. (Later�. He just called me to tell me that the karma did bite him�he�s been singing some Bertucci�s commercial constantly. But S. is singing right along with him. If ya can�t beat �em, join �em!).

I did something funny to my foot while walking, I presume, and my stupid left inside foot �ball� is hurting indubitably and I�m trying to employ what little reflexology I know to soothe it. Apparently, this part of the foot relates to the thymus gland. I think I made it worse. Ow. I think I�ll opt for ice instead. Once in like 7th grade I jammed my big toe running down my best friend Stef�s hallway and doing one of those 80�s jazz dancer splits in the air and I think this is the true source of the end of my penny loafer days.

Here�s one of my favorite palindromes: Cigar�toss it in a can�it is so tragic. I may have written this before but I thought it was about time to repeat it. Pete and Repeat were sitting on a fence and Pete fell off. Who was left? Repeat! Pete and Repeat were sitting on a fence and Pete fell off. Who was left? Repeat! Pete and Repeat were sitting on a fence and Pete fell off. Who was left? Repeat! Pete and Repeat were sitting on a fence and Pete fell off. Who was left? Repeat!

Sorry, that seemed appropriate for about two seconds. Here�s another palindrome gr�ce � la kooky programming humour of those crazy jerk cityites.

I would like a tool-belt. I think I will be a carpenter for Halloween next year. Y�know what would be funny? Dressing as Jesus The Carpenter�a white cloak and beard and crown �o thorns and stuff with a big ole tool belt on.

I have a magnetic Virgin Mary on top of my freezer door but she doesn�t keep me from emotional eating. Oh well.

So Brent�s restaurant was voted The Editorial Numero Uno and Audience Numero Three seafood restaurant in Boston! (I just emailed them to let them know, in case they ditttint). And it�s not even IN Boston! And he�s THE grill. And he�s so humble and sweet and yet drinks whisky and wants to beat up people who are mean to me. Several of my closest friends want to beat up people who are mean to me (and vice versa) and somehow I must have eluded them to my dark evil soul. ;-) But nobody�ll get beat up cuz we knows that�s not where it�s at, man. And while we�re at it, I think this makes for a good word of the day:

em�pa�thy

1. Identification with and understanding of another's situation, feelings, and motives.

2. The attribution of one's own feelings to an object.

Example: Because of her empathy at seeing him in a bad emotional state, she let him run the show too long without putting up better boundaries and in turn let the situation get ugly and bad after politely suggesting things needed to change didn�t work and after all she realized he didn't like her all along just because she grew up with money and saw her as something he could use and not someone he could exist next to and yet because of said empathy she still felt bad for him because she knew he was unhappy and really still wished him the best.

Example: At watching her mother struggle with her last breaths drifting in and out on a morphine drip in the hospital, her empathy welled up inside and she felt the walls closing in as if her own soul could leave her body at any moment.

I don�t want to end on a gross note. I had a great conversation with my dad today. He recommended several books to me and we talked about movies. I always love when I go to Jerz and I see he�s jotted down on a notepad the titles of movies I�ve recommended to him on the phone. We talked about how good Training Day was and I talked to him about Daniel Clowes and said I wasn�t sure he would like Ghost World because it�s about two high school girls but that it�s worth seeing because Daniel Clowes is so good at showing the absurdity in normalcy and I told him he HAD to see The Royal Tenenbaums and he said how much he likes Gene Hackman and we discussed how good he is at playing loveably despicable characters. It was good. And we bellyached over the fact that I haven�t finished my thesis proposal and how good it will be when it�s done. I�m really lucky to have such a great family even though sometimes they drive me crazy and I drive them crazy. That�s what families are all about, I guess.

See which Greek Goddess you are.