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shadowkat1. Husband Plants Thousands of Flowers for Blind Wife to Smell
When his wife lost her eyesight, a farmer planted thousands of fragrant flowers around their home so she find her way back from sadness.
Toshiyuki and Yasuko Kuroki had been married for 30 years, working a herd of 60 cows on a dairy farm in Japan, when Yasuko went blind from complications due to diabetes.
She began to withdraw from life, no longer talking to people and locking herself away inside their house.
One day, Toshiyuki noticed a shibazakura — a bright, fuchsia-colored flower — growing on the farm. He knew his wife couldn’t enjoy looking at it, but then he though about it’s powerful fragrance and an idea blossomed.
Toshiyuki began planting the flowers near the house, then across the farm. He transformed his dairy into a giant flower garden. Tourists started showing up during cherry blossom season to tour the pink-blanketed grounds.
And his wife began to open up again. The fragrance lured her out of the house, and she began interacting with visitors which led her away from life as a recluse.
That was more than 25 years ago, and the flowers are still blooming on Toshiyuki and Yasuko’s farm. The dairy cattle are all gone and a shed that housed them is now a museum of the flowers and the story behind them.
2. How Blade Runner's Behind the Scenes Issues Made it a Good Movie
As an aside, movies that were great filming experiences often are horrible or okay.
Such as Dark Phoenix, which was okay, but apparently a wonderful filming experience. And Maverick -- again okay, but a great experience. While Office and a Gentleman was a nightmare but a great movie, and so too was Apocalpyse Now, not to mention The Shining which involved 50 some takes per scene, and drove Shelly Duvall off the deep end.
If you think Blade Runner is a masterpiece, you’re right. But, if other cool movies are like obedient robots—dutifully executing exactly what the filmmakers wanted—then the metaphor for Blade Runner’s awesomeness can be found in its rebellious replicants. This is a film that tried to destroy itself in nearly every conceivable way and that’s why we love it so much.
When science fiction is considered “good,” it’s often because its messages are contrary to the status quo. If cool and resilient science fiction were a person, it would be the opposite of someone who is “basic.” Philip K. Dick—the author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? upon which Blade Runner was based—is about as far away from basic as you can get. In the documentary On the Edge of Blade Runner, we hear Dick in his own words say that “The American people are basically anti-intellectual.” Next up, science fiction author Brian Aldiss asserts that “Dick wrote against the grain of what was currently [then] accepted in science fiction.”
If science fiction writers are inherently a species of contrarians, then Dick—by Aldiss’ estimation—was an iconoclast even on a planet of iconoclasts. Still—call it brilliance or call it testiness—Dick had a hard time dealing with screenwriters. Hampton Fancher, the primary screenwriter of Blade Runner, referred to Dick as being overly “theatrical” and mentioned that the author was someone who believed “he was getting messages from God.”
Fancher is hardly alone in believing Dick was known for theatrics, nor would the author necessarily disagree with the fact that he’d been contacted by intelligence from “beyond.”
I’m not here to answer the question of whether Dick did or did not telepathically bro-down with aliens, because such an essay would be millions of words in length, which is time better spent just reading Dick’s awesome books. The point is neither Fancher nor director Ridley Scott thought the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was particularly good. Instead, they believed there was a marketable and even mainstream film hiding in its pages. Even before it started filming, Blade Runner was at odds with the very thing which allowed it to exist at all: Dick’s original novel.
In the climax of Blade Runner, the replicant Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) breathlessly tells Harrison Ford’s Rick Deckard that “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe!” And when you start researching everything about this movie, you begin to read and see things you wouldn’t have believed either. Stars Ford and Sean Young (who played the replicant Rachael) hated each other. The crew hated Ridley Scott. After throwing numerous fits, Dick wrote a letter saying the movie was awesome. Scott almost signed up to make a totally different movie, Dune.
Dune by the way was NOT a masterpiece in regards to movies. For some reason people really struggle with Dune. I was obsessed with Dune as a teenager and couldn't wait to see the film -- which I saw on the big screen, and I was in love with Kyle McLachlan who played the lead. But even I admit, Dune wasn't a good movie. Blade Runner -- I saw with my mother in a half empty theater when I was a teen, we both adored it. It remains among my favorite sci-fi films ever. Weirdly we also saw a preview of Back to the Future that same year, which we saw again with my brother and father, neither my mother nor I were impressed with Back to the Future (the time travel bit did not work for us), but we adored Blade Runner.
3. Amazon Agrees to Stop Making Stranger Things if Netflix Stops Good Omens due to Christian Protest
The petition has since changed to the proper streaming service, editing in a disclaimer that reads, "Due to an oversight by Return to Order staff, this petition originally listed Netflix as responsible for the offensive series 'Good Omens.' Amazon Video released the series on May 31. We regret the mistake, and the protests will be delivered to Amazon when the campaign is complete." Regardless, those behind Good Omens were happy to get some devilish comments in before the modification was made.
Apparently they don't realize that there is only one season of Good Omens, because it was a book and the adaptation that was shown was of that book in its entirety, and there are no more episodes planned. Also it already was made and streamed way back in May and June. So by the time they figure out their petition, it will be over with.
Also, Stranger Things by the way is also ending after the third season due to the fact that the kids are aging faster than they can make the series. (A problem with making series with young children.)
4. Ask Polly - My Friendships Make ME Sad
So listen. I don’t think you’re a mess of a person in general. But I do think that you have bad instincts when it comes to friendship.
Now why would I write those words, when you so clearly deserve my empathy in this moment? (And yes, I do empathize!) Because I want you to understand that friendship is absurdly complicated and taxing. It’s difficult in part because people usually disagree about what friends should expect from each other. You can ask someone, “Hey, is this workplace behavior okay?” or “Should my boyfriend act this way?” and most people will give you the same answer. But with friendship, there’s less consensus.
Nevertheless, when you talk about friendship troubles, the majority of people will mostly just tell you to chill the fuck out. When you’re hurting, that response sucks a lot, but that’s how we treat friendship in our culture: like it’s something that should never require any hard work. You’re not supposed to get upset about it. Is our culture’s perspective on friendship broken? Probably. Social media can break anything! Are your friends being insensitive shitheads? Sure, they are. A few of them have clearly decided that you’re too sensitive, and they don’t want to deal with you or talk to you about it. That’s seriously upsetting. But I don’t think ditching all of these friends and making new ones will feel good or solve your underlying problem.
5. Today's Masculainity is Stifling
In hindsight, our son was gearing up to wear a dress to school for quite some time. For months, he wore dresses—or his purple-and-green mermaid costume—on weekends and after school. Then he began wearing them to sleep in lieu of pajamas, changing out of them after breakfast. Finally, one morning, I brought him his clean pants and shirt, and he looked at me and said, “I’m already dressed.”
He was seated on the couch in a gray cotton sundress covered in doe-eyed unicorns with rainbow manes. He’d slept in it, and in his dreaming hours, I imagine, stood at a podium giving inspirational speeches to an audience composed only of himself. When he’d woken up, he was ready.
He walked the half block to school with a bounce in his step, chest proud. “My friends are going to say dresses aren’t for boys,” he told me casually over his shoulder. “They might,” I agreed. “You can just tell them you are comfortable with yourself and that’s all that matters.” I thought of all the other things he could tell them. I began to list them, but he was off running across the blacktop.
I scanned the entrance to see whether any parents noticed us as they came and went. I hadn’t expected my stomach to churn. I felt proud of him for his self-assuredness, for the way he’d prepared for this quietly and at his own pace, but I worried about what judgments and conclusions parents and teachers might make. And of course I worried somebody would shame him.
When he walked into his classroom, sure enough, one child immediately remarked, “Why are you wearing a dress? Dresses are for girls.” A teacher swiftly and gently shut down the child’s commentary and hugged my son tightly. He didn’t look troubled, didn’t look back at me, so I headed home, tucking a backup T-shirt into his cubby just in case his certainty flagged.
Niece: I'm glad I'm a girl, because I can wear dresses.
Me (who the whole pleasure of wearing dresses is completely lost on): Well, not true. I've seen quite a few men in dresses in my lifetime. Most recently at Contra Dancing.
Honestly, I never understood why it was an issue. Wear what you want. Why does everyone care?
6. How Your Looks Shape Your Personality
One study out of Germany’s University of Göttingen recently reported that of more than 200 men, those who were physically stronger and who had more “macho” bodies – including larger chests and biceps – also tended to be more extroverted, especially in the sense of being more assertive and physically active. The same strength-extroversion association was not found among the women in the study.
Other research has found that physically more formidable men also tend to be more prone to aggression and less neurotic (as in, less fearful and worrisome). Again, this makes sense if you see personality as an adaptive strategy. If you are physically weak, then being cautious and wary of danger is likely to lengthen your lifespan. But if you are physically formidable, you can afford to be more of a risk-taker.
There are intriguing parallels to these ideas among behavioural ecology scholars studying animals. These researchers have noticed how, in many species, the animal’s “personality” (their tendency toward boldness or timidity) varies adaptively in response to their bodily state – for instance, one study showed that larger jumping spiders were bolder in the face of a potential predator than their smaller counterparts.
It’s noticeable that a lot of the human research on the association between physical strength and extroversion and aggressiveness has focused on men. This is because, according to evolutionary theory, physical strength and fighting ability is more of an asset to men who must compete with each other for mates. One study out of the University of California, Santa Barbara looked at both men and women and found the usual association between physical strength and trait extraversion, but the link was noticeably more robust among men.
The same study measured participants’ attractiveness, another physical attribute that could, in theory, make it advantageous to develop an extroverted personality style. Results showed that for women as much as for men, greater attractiveness tended to go hand in hand with being more extroverted – thus suggesting that some of these body–personality trait dynamics can play out for women too.
“The present findings demonstrate that a surprisingly large fraction of the between-person variance in extraversion can be predicted from physical strength and physical attractiveness,” the researchers wrote.
What’s more, their findings could not be explained entirely by differences in a key gene related to androgen function (likely to influence strength, attractiveness and aspects of personality). That bolstered the idea that physical attributes increase extroversion, rather than the body-personality associations merely reflecting shared genetic effects.
It’s not just people’s extroversion and neuroticism that are associated with their physical attributes. Other research has suggested that your approach to hooking up with relationship partners may also be a strategic adaptation influenced by your bodily and facial features, especially if you are male. For instance, in their research involving hundreds of undergrads, Aaron Lukaszewsk at Loyola Marymount University and colleagues, including Christina Larson and Kelly Gildersleeve at the University of California, found that the men (but not the women) who were stronger – based on a weight-training test – and more attractive were more likely to say that sex without love is okay, and that they could happily have sex with someone without being close to them.
I don't know. Seems like a lot of generalizing. We are, unfortunately, an exceedingly shallow and looks based society. So there is that.
7. It's humid and sultry here. And I'm somewhat tired and unmotivated. Did buy a swimsuit via Amazon -- it wasn't that expensive in comparison to other sites, and I'm only wearing the dange thing a couple of days. We'll see if it fits and works.
Or I'll have to send it back.
Making headway on book. It's now a little over 590 pages and counting. Once I finish, I'll decide if I should revise the hell out of it, and try to get it published or shelf it.
I don't know if anyone would read it or not. Hard to know with people. It's a weird contemporary romance novel -- which is sort off the beaten track for me. (I'm basically got annoyed with all the ones that I'd read and chose to write my own.)
Parents are okay. Dad survived the UTI and is recuperating without issue. The anibiotics took care of it apparently. He's still a bit confused though and yes, Alzthemiers. I tried to watch a TED talk by an older woman claiming most people aren't plagued by dementia or physical ailments at her age -- and I wanted to smack her. Yeah, right. Most of the people I know are. And sorry, hon, I'm still not going to vote for anyone over the age of 65 in the democratic primaries next year -- assuming of course I can, since NY refuses to shift my party affiliation back to Democrat from Green Party. (It's a long story.) Which is why I did not vote today, even though my workplace informed me that I could take three hours off to do so.
I couldn't, Green Party. NY has a rule that you can only vote in the primary of your affiliated party. The amusing bit? I still get junk mail from the Democrats. They want money, but they won't change my registration. Phooey.
Anyhow, all ranting aside, very grateful about my Dad. Now my Uncle is plagued with an infectious UTI. Up until recently, I was of the impression only women were afflicted, apparently not. It's actually worse for guys.
Being able to pee is NOT something to take for granted.
Bro, according to mother is doing fine. He's holding down the fort while sis-in-law and niece visited the city. (No, they didn't tell me or ring me up, although to be fair, I work in Queens not Manhattan and am about twenty-thirty minutes away by train from Midtown Manhattan. So it's not really doable.)
Work is...well I got stuff accomplished despite the fact that the server disappeared for a bit and I had to call IT to get it restored. Very busy day today. It's either insanely busy or not busy. Very annoying, that.
Co-workers were discussing sports again.
Me to cubical mate: Is there any sport you don't follow?
Cubical Mater: Yeah, golf.
When his wife lost her eyesight, a farmer planted thousands of fragrant flowers around their home so she find her way back from sadness.
Toshiyuki and Yasuko Kuroki had been married for 30 years, working a herd of 60 cows on a dairy farm in Japan, when Yasuko went blind from complications due to diabetes.
She began to withdraw from life, no longer talking to people and locking herself away inside their house.
One day, Toshiyuki noticed a shibazakura — a bright, fuchsia-colored flower — growing on the farm. He knew his wife couldn’t enjoy looking at it, but then he though about it’s powerful fragrance and an idea blossomed.
Toshiyuki began planting the flowers near the house, then across the farm. He transformed his dairy into a giant flower garden. Tourists started showing up during cherry blossom season to tour the pink-blanketed grounds.
And his wife began to open up again. The fragrance lured her out of the house, and she began interacting with visitors which led her away from life as a recluse.
That was more than 25 years ago, and the flowers are still blooming on Toshiyuki and Yasuko’s farm. The dairy cattle are all gone and a shed that housed them is now a museum of the flowers and the story behind them.
2. How Blade Runner's Behind the Scenes Issues Made it a Good Movie
As an aside, movies that were great filming experiences often are horrible or okay.
Such as Dark Phoenix, which was okay, but apparently a wonderful filming experience. And Maverick -- again okay, but a great experience. While Office and a Gentleman was a nightmare but a great movie, and so too was Apocalpyse Now, not to mention The Shining which involved 50 some takes per scene, and drove Shelly Duvall off the deep end.
If you think Blade Runner is a masterpiece, you’re right. But, if other cool movies are like obedient robots—dutifully executing exactly what the filmmakers wanted—then the metaphor for Blade Runner’s awesomeness can be found in its rebellious replicants. This is a film that tried to destroy itself in nearly every conceivable way and that’s why we love it so much.
When science fiction is considered “good,” it’s often because its messages are contrary to the status quo. If cool and resilient science fiction were a person, it would be the opposite of someone who is “basic.” Philip K. Dick—the author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? upon which Blade Runner was based—is about as far away from basic as you can get. In the documentary On the Edge of Blade Runner, we hear Dick in his own words say that “The American people are basically anti-intellectual.” Next up, science fiction author Brian Aldiss asserts that “Dick wrote against the grain of what was currently [then] accepted in science fiction.”
If science fiction writers are inherently a species of contrarians, then Dick—by Aldiss’ estimation—was an iconoclast even on a planet of iconoclasts. Still—call it brilliance or call it testiness—Dick had a hard time dealing with screenwriters. Hampton Fancher, the primary screenwriter of Blade Runner, referred to Dick as being overly “theatrical” and mentioned that the author was someone who believed “he was getting messages from God.”
Fancher is hardly alone in believing Dick was known for theatrics, nor would the author necessarily disagree with the fact that he’d been contacted by intelligence from “beyond.”
I’m not here to answer the question of whether Dick did or did not telepathically bro-down with aliens, because such an essay would be millions of words in length, which is time better spent just reading Dick’s awesome books. The point is neither Fancher nor director Ridley Scott thought the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was particularly good. Instead, they believed there was a marketable and even mainstream film hiding in its pages. Even before it started filming, Blade Runner was at odds with the very thing which allowed it to exist at all: Dick’s original novel.
In the climax of Blade Runner, the replicant Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) breathlessly tells Harrison Ford’s Rick Deckard that “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe!” And when you start researching everything about this movie, you begin to read and see things you wouldn’t have believed either. Stars Ford and Sean Young (who played the replicant Rachael) hated each other. The crew hated Ridley Scott. After throwing numerous fits, Dick wrote a letter saying the movie was awesome. Scott almost signed up to make a totally different movie, Dune.
Dune by the way was NOT a masterpiece in regards to movies. For some reason people really struggle with Dune. I was obsessed with Dune as a teenager and couldn't wait to see the film -- which I saw on the big screen, and I was in love with Kyle McLachlan who played the lead. But even I admit, Dune wasn't a good movie. Blade Runner -- I saw with my mother in a half empty theater when I was a teen, we both adored it. It remains among my favorite sci-fi films ever. Weirdly we also saw a preview of Back to the Future that same year, which we saw again with my brother and father, neither my mother nor I were impressed with Back to the Future (the time travel bit did not work for us), but we adored Blade Runner.
3. Amazon Agrees to Stop Making Stranger Things if Netflix Stops Good Omens due to Christian Protest
The petition has since changed to the proper streaming service, editing in a disclaimer that reads, "Due to an oversight by Return to Order staff, this petition originally listed Netflix as responsible for the offensive series 'Good Omens.' Amazon Video released the series on May 31. We regret the mistake, and the protests will be delivered to Amazon when the campaign is complete." Regardless, those behind Good Omens were happy to get some devilish comments in before the modification was made.
Apparently they don't realize that there is only one season of Good Omens, because it was a book and the adaptation that was shown was of that book in its entirety, and there are no more episodes planned. Also it already was made and streamed way back in May and June. So by the time they figure out their petition, it will be over with.
Also, Stranger Things by the way is also ending after the third season due to the fact that the kids are aging faster than they can make the series. (A problem with making series with young children.)
4. Ask Polly - My Friendships Make ME Sad
So listen. I don’t think you’re a mess of a person in general. But I do think that you have bad instincts when it comes to friendship.
Now why would I write those words, when you so clearly deserve my empathy in this moment? (And yes, I do empathize!) Because I want you to understand that friendship is absurdly complicated and taxing. It’s difficult in part because people usually disagree about what friends should expect from each other. You can ask someone, “Hey, is this workplace behavior okay?” or “Should my boyfriend act this way?” and most people will give you the same answer. But with friendship, there’s less consensus.
Nevertheless, when you talk about friendship troubles, the majority of people will mostly just tell you to chill the fuck out. When you’re hurting, that response sucks a lot, but that’s how we treat friendship in our culture: like it’s something that should never require any hard work. You’re not supposed to get upset about it. Is our culture’s perspective on friendship broken? Probably. Social media can break anything! Are your friends being insensitive shitheads? Sure, they are. A few of them have clearly decided that you’re too sensitive, and they don’t want to deal with you or talk to you about it. That’s seriously upsetting. But I don’t think ditching all of these friends and making new ones will feel good or solve your underlying problem.
5. Today's Masculainity is Stifling
In hindsight, our son was gearing up to wear a dress to school for quite some time. For months, he wore dresses—or his purple-and-green mermaid costume—on weekends and after school. Then he began wearing them to sleep in lieu of pajamas, changing out of them after breakfast. Finally, one morning, I brought him his clean pants and shirt, and he looked at me and said, “I’m already dressed.”
He was seated on the couch in a gray cotton sundress covered in doe-eyed unicorns with rainbow manes. He’d slept in it, and in his dreaming hours, I imagine, stood at a podium giving inspirational speeches to an audience composed only of himself. When he’d woken up, he was ready.
He walked the half block to school with a bounce in his step, chest proud. “My friends are going to say dresses aren’t for boys,” he told me casually over his shoulder. “They might,” I agreed. “You can just tell them you are comfortable with yourself and that’s all that matters.” I thought of all the other things he could tell them. I began to list them, but he was off running across the blacktop.
I scanned the entrance to see whether any parents noticed us as they came and went. I hadn’t expected my stomach to churn. I felt proud of him for his self-assuredness, for the way he’d prepared for this quietly and at his own pace, but I worried about what judgments and conclusions parents and teachers might make. And of course I worried somebody would shame him.
When he walked into his classroom, sure enough, one child immediately remarked, “Why are you wearing a dress? Dresses are for girls.” A teacher swiftly and gently shut down the child’s commentary and hugged my son tightly. He didn’t look troubled, didn’t look back at me, so I headed home, tucking a backup T-shirt into his cubby just in case his certainty flagged.
Niece: I'm glad I'm a girl, because I can wear dresses.
Me (who the whole pleasure of wearing dresses is completely lost on): Well, not true. I've seen quite a few men in dresses in my lifetime. Most recently at Contra Dancing.
Honestly, I never understood why it was an issue. Wear what you want. Why does everyone care?
6. How Your Looks Shape Your Personality
One study out of Germany’s University of Göttingen recently reported that of more than 200 men, those who were physically stronger and who had more “macho” bodies – including larger chests and biceps – also tended to be more extroverted, especially in the sense of being more assertive and physically active. The same strength-extroversion association was not found among the women in the study.
Other research has found that physically more formidable men also tend to be more prone to aggression and less neurotic (as in, less fearful and worrisome). Again, this makes sense if you see personality as an adaptive strategy. If you are physically weak, then being cautious and wary of danger is likely to lengthen your lifespan. But if you are physically formidable, you can afford to be more of a risk-taker.
There are intriguing parallels to these ideas among behavioural ecology scholars studying animals. These researchers have noticed how, in many species, the animal’s “personality” (their tendency toward boldness or timidity) varies adaptively in response to their bodily state – for instance, one study showed that larger jumping spiders were bolder in the face of a potential predator than their smaller counterparts.
It’s noticeable that a lot of the human research on the association between physical strength and extroversion and aggressiveness has focused on men. This is because, according to evolutionary theory, physical strength and fighting ability is more of an asset to men who must compete with each other for mates. One study out of the University of California, Santa Barbara looked at both men and women and found the usual association between physical strength and trait extraversion, but the link was noticeably more robust among men.
The same study measured participants’ attractiveness, another physical attribute that could, in theory, make it advantageous to develop an extroverted personality style. Results showed that for women as much as for men, greater attractiveness tended to go hand in hand with being more extroverted – thus suggesting that some of these body–personality trait dynamics can play out for women too.
“The present findings demonstrate that a surprisingly large fraction of the between-person variance in extraversion can be predicted from physical strength and physical attractiveness,” the researchers wrote.
What’s more, their findings could not be explained entirely by differences in a key gene related to androgen function (likely to influence strength, attractiveness and aspects of personality). That bolstered the idea that physical attributes increase extroversion, rather than the body-personality associations merely reflecting shared genetic effects.
It’s not just people’s extroversion and neuroticism that are associated with their physical attributes. Other research has suggested that your approach to hooking up with relationship partners may also be a strategic adaptation influenced by your bodily and facial features, especially if you are male. For instance, in their research involving hundreds of undergrads, Aaron Lukaszewsk at Loyola Marymount University and colleagues, including Christina Larson and Kelly Gildersleeve at the University of California, found that the men (but not the women) who were stronger – based on a weight-training test – and more attractive were more likely to say that sex without love is okay, and that they could happily have sex with someone without being close to them.
I don't know. Seems like a lot of generalizing. We are, unfortunately, an exceedingly shallow and looks based society. So there is that.
7. It's humid and sultry here. And I'm somewhat tired and unmotivated. Did buy a swimsuit via Amazon -- it wasn't that expensive in comparison to other sites, and I'm only wearing the dange thing a couple of days. We'll see if it fits and works.
Or I'll have to send it back.
Making headway on book. It's now a little over 590 pages and counting. Once I finish, I'll decide if I should revise the hell out of it, and try to get it published or shelf it.
I don't know if anyone would read it or not. Hard to know with people. It's a weird contemporary romance novel -- which is sort off the beaten track for me. (I'm basically got annoyed with all the ones that I'd read and chose to write my own.)
Parents are okay. Dad survived the UTI and is recuperating without issue. The anibiotics took care of it apparently. He's still a bit confused though and yes, Alzthemiers. I tried to watch a TED talk by an older woman claiming most people aren't plagued by dementia or physical ailments at her age -- and I wanted to smack her. Yeah, right. Most of the people I know are. And sorry, hon, I'm still not going to vote for anyone over the age of 65 in the democratic primaries next year -- assuming of course I can, since NY refuses to shift my party affiliation back to Democrat from Green Party. (It's a long story.) Which is why I did not vote today, even though my workplace informed me that I could take three hours off to do so.
I couldn't, Green Party. NY has a rule that you can only vote in the primary of your affiliated party. The amusing bit? I still get junk mail from the Democrats. They want money, but they won't change my registration. Phooey.
Anyhow, all ranting aside, very grateful about my Dad. Now my Uncle is plagued with an infectious UTI. Up until recently, I was of the impression only women were afflicted, apparently not. It's actually worse for guys.
Being able to pee is NOT something to take for granted.
Bro, according to mother is doing fine. He's holding down the fort while sis-in-law and niece visited the city. (No, they didn't tell me or ring me up, although to be fair, I work in Queens not Manhattan and am about twenty-thirty minutes away by train from Midtown Manhattan. So it's not really doable.)
Work is...well I got stuff accomplished despite the fact that the server disappeared for a bit and I had to call IT to get it restored. Very busy day today. It's either insanely busy or not busy. Very annoying, that.
Co-workers were discussing sports again.
Me to cubical mate: Is there any sport you don't follow?
Cubical Mater: Yeah, golf.