No, “lap fungus” isn’t a disease — it’s my cat Hasani’s nickname! It’s because he loves to sit in my lap, which I find adorable and cozy and sweet. I didn’t see hide nor hair of him all weekend, since he’s not fond of strangers and he spent most of his time in the spare room upstairs. But on Monday night, he finally reappeared to take his accustomed space on my lap — and continued to do so every time I sat down on Tuesday.

Tuesday my Number One Internet Fanboy treated me to a lovely dinner at NoHo’s (the teriyaki chicken is always a good choice!), and then we meandered back to my place to watch the Discovery Channel while letting dinner digest a bit before desert. (Gee, I think that makes us geeks.) As usual, we had good conversation and lots of laughter about silly stuff that I can’t recall at the moment. But hey, I think a good relationship is one where you enjoy one another’s company so much that it doesn’t matter what you were really doing, as long as you were enjoying it together!

My elder spawn is home for a visit, getting her sister all riled up (in mostly happy ways) and generally being the sparkly darling that she often can be. Of course I can’t say that I love either of my girls more, but I do tend to appreciate different things about them. Angst looks more like me (can you say clone?) and has a few of the same tendencies I had at that age (bad temper, spontaneous to a fault, passionate but fickle), but she also has personality traits that perplex me. I generally find it easier to reason with, and understand, Anxiety — and to deal with her when she gets upset or frustrated. Not that either of them are all that difficult, now that we’ve gotten past the evil “tween” years of 10-12 (which I happen to think are far worse to deal with than the majority of the adolescent crap). I don’t know why so many people complain about teenagers — I happen to enjoy my girls far more now than I ever did when they were younger.

Saturday, my old pal Murph & his wife visited, and ended up sleeping over. It was a really neat visit, catching up with Murph on the last several years — and getting to know his wife, who I hadn’t met before! They have one of the few happy & healthy polyamorous relationships I’ve seen — not unlike mine & Geoffrey’s, although there were certainly more than a few differences in the way that polyamory works for them (on a practical level) than it does for us. It was very, very heartening to know that some of the problems Geoffrey & I have encountered as a polyamorous couple were not unique, as they’ve been through much of the same.

It was also reassuring that the ways in which Geoffrey & I have dealt with problems were very much like how Murph & his wife resolved similar situations. She & I talked more about that than the guys did, I think… for some reason, there seem to be more women than men who want to disrupt an established committed relationship, or perhaps it’s just that more women seem to be willing to be part of a V or triad before instigating (or exacerbating) problems between an established couple. In any case, it’s usually seemed to me (in my decade-plus experience with polyamory, both personally & in viewing other relationships) that men tend not to even believe how pervasive, nasty & sneaky some behavior can be until they’re confronted with undeniable evidence that it’s happening.

That’s not to say that men are necessarily less observant — or more ethical — than women in poly relationships. They just usually tend to be more direct about unethical behavior than women often are; men seem more likely to establish double standards, or be more controlling of their partners’ relationships, and not expecting the more devious & underhanded behavior and therefore being less prepared to cope with it.

Not that the whole day’s discussions revolved around polyamory — far from it! We also talked a lot about …well, just about everything. *grin* There was lots of laughter, and enjoying everyone else’s company (not that way, you dirty-minded sorts!), silliness of all sorts in a cheerful & interesting way. We had pizza, and were up far too late in the evening, and it was just a really sociable weekend.

Sunday I battled a migraine, did a bunch of crocheting (on a new project — now that I’ve finished the other two I was working on!), and was pretty lazy. Drank a lot of coffee and nibbled on cold pizza all day. Oh, and my pea plants now have a bunch of pods growing, and my first batch of pumpkins are starting to blossom! Yay for vegetables!

My 13-year-old had planned on attending a sleepover, with 4 other girls who are all her friends, on Friday night; she was all excited about it, and very happy when I dropped her at her friend’s house. Several hours later, she called me in tears, asking if I had the car tonight because she wanted to come home. I didn’t have the car, and she didn’t want me to bus out to her. She said she’d just get through the rest of the evening and I could pick her up early Saturday. A couple hours later, though, she had the mom who was hosting the sleepover drive her home.

Apparently, Anxiety’s former “boyfriend” is one of the other girls’ current “boyfriend,” and that girl was getting pissy over Anxiety talking & exchanging text messages with the boy, who Anxiety still considers a close friend. I put the term “boyfriend” in quotes because, in 7th grade, it seems to mean only that you’ve acknowledged that you like a boy and he’s acknowledged that he likes you, and perhaps there’s been a few kisses, or just holding hands & sharing a few dances at a middle school dance.

It’s sad that 12- and 13-year-old girls are already having squabbles over boys and letting their friendships become endangered over it. It’s sad that these girls don’t realize that, if a boy really loves you, he won’t let another girl come between the two of you — or that if a friend truly is a friend, no interaction she has with a boy (even if it’s the “boyfriend” of either one of you) would threaten your friendship. And it’s sad that they haven’t learned that anyone who truly cares about you not only won’t disrespect you or treat you badly, but won’t tolerate others disrespecting you or treating you badly, either.

But then, I’ve seen a lot of adults who haven’t managed to figure that stuff out, so I suppose it’s not surprising…

Don’t you hate it when you think to yourself, “I’ve got to remember to blog that!” and then, as soon as you’re in front of the keyboard, you forget what “that” was? Hate that lots. Maybe my low-grade (but highly aggravating) migraine is part of the problem, grr.

So, since I can’t recall what I’d planned to blog, I’ll just do a general update…

And now for something completely TMI…

I’ve already set the countdown function on my Google homepage to “days until school starts.” (For those interested, it’s 84.) Anxiety is going to her school’s “last day dance” tonight, and that means that I get to babysit my almost-6-yr-old goddaughter for a couple hours — since Anxiety is her usual sitter. I love my goddaughter. It’s not her fault that I’m prejudiced against children who have single-digit ages; I simply like my conversations to include the occasional word of 3 or 4 syllables. Oh what fun this will be. Le sigh.

My Number One Internet Fanboy took me out last night for a birthday dinner (utterly scrumptious steak at Applebee’s — but don’t click on that link unless you want to listen to stupid music), and then we stopped at Tower in the hopes they’d have something suitable for a pressie. They’re running a 20% off sale this week, so that was a nice bonus!

And now for something completely TMI…

Yesterday Lyse was hit with a nasty migraine, and couldn’t come visit, so she sent Angst to bring me my birthday presents — some snickerdoodle toffee cookies from Quizno’s (where Angst works, and they are the best cookies I’ve ever had!), and an Au Lait Pamper Kit that has milk bath powder, cream body wash, body butter (lotion), cream bathing milk, shampoo, and soap. I’ve been using Au Lait lotion for 3 years, and it’s the best-smelling stuff ever. Definitely a fabulous birthday gift! There were also funny cards from each of them (and I got a sweet card from my mom in the mail) — the card from Angst was priceless. It said, “After all these years, you still look great!” and on the inside, “‘Cause any woman who raised me should look like hell by now!” Too damned funny.

And now for something completely TMI…

Happy Full Moon! The moon at sunset last night was amazingly gorgeous…I hope it’s that lovely tonight.

The birthday sidebar on Neopets makes me giggle…

From the Birthday Calculator:

And now for something completely TMI…

I read something today that made me sad. A teenager (not one of mine, thank heavens!) said that jobs such as working at fast food restaurants, with high turnover that pay minimum wage, don’t deserve more than your minimum effort, that those jobs are all about socializing & screwing around & scoring all the free food you can. And that it’s no big deal to get fired from those kind of jobs.

If this is the attitude of most American teenagers today, it’s clear that we’re doomed. Dubya can’t screw this country over anywhere near as bad as having a bunch of lazy whiners, who feel entitled to do as they please on someone else’s time, making up a large percentage of the population.

And now for something completely TMI…

I find okCupid amusing, for the most part. It’s even been instrumental in reconnecting me with a couple of old friends I’d lost touch with (just yesterday, Geoffrey pointed me at the profile of a terrific guy who used to be in my coven years ago, and we had a really long phone chat today with promises of me & Geoffrey getting together with him & his wife for coffee in the near future!). But then there are the occasional downsides…such as the message in my okCupid inbox today. Here’s a smidgen of excerpt:

I am guessing but because you have been the mother of the year FOR YEARS that you have not met your yearly sexual quota. I say this because I have pretty much devoted my life as Ward Clever and June isn’t gettin it done.
So, sex! yes lets put that little bastard word out there! Now that the big S has peeked it’s little head ( Not a Play on words) out there let’s talk of NEEDS! Have you been touched lately in a way that makes you crazy?? I have not and it pisses me off. I have however the talent to make you crazy for more of my touch. Soft kisses, yet taking you to an edge that you want more but not sure you want to leave the place your in!

Can I get an “ew”? Actually, I think that one deserves a “mega ew!”

I deleted the message unanswered, and blocked the person that sent it (who was way too old for me even if he’d been the least bit appealing). But I can’t help wondering what kind of icky worm writes this kind of stuff?! Entirely putting aside my knee-jerk reaction to the piss-poor spelling & pathetic punctuation, does any woman with half a brain not find this type of come-on totally disgusting?!

For the record: The idea of bedding Ward Cleaver turns my stomach, I think the concept of a “yearly sexual quota” is pitiful, and I’m frequently touched — by both of my boyfriends — in ways that make me very happy (I wouldn’t say “crazy” is something I’d want in my sex life!).

He’s probably just another obnoxious jerk who thinks “polyamorous” is synonymous with “will fuck anything that looks at her.” Thankyouverymuch, and buh-bye.

The 4400 will be back with its third season starting on my birthday Sunday! Yay!!! I really love this show…

On the USA Network website, they have a little quiz on what kind of power you’d be given if you were a 4400 returnee. It’s 10 questions but you don’t necessarily get the same 10 every time, so you might want to take it a few times to confirm your answer. Here’s my results:

You are a Clever Clairvoyant

With your already perceptive personality, great memory, and almost sixth sense of prediction, a little jaunt into the future would undoubtably send you back endowed with the ability to foresee the future. This has its disadvantages though — Maia Rutledge has scared off every babysitter she’s encountered — but we’re sure with some practice you’ll learn to use your powers for good, rather than for spooking people.

(If anyone’s curious, I still haven’t gotten Season Two on DVD, which sells at Amazon for only $25. *grin*)