Fortunately they were both alive enough to get in touch with me, and they are both home and basically okay. Send them some good juju, though, will you? You guys are good at that. (Especially my notify list is good at that; last time I asked for some it came right through, although as yet I cannot Reveal All.)

[The update is that Tim has a broken collarbone. "Broken collarbone" sounds kind of dramatic; at least if you have to be in so much pain you may as well be able to say "broken collarbone" all manly and things. J. hasn't been to the hospital yet, though. He says he's "just bruised" -- hey, that's what Mr. Collarbone said too! Go to the doctor and you might have something more sexy than "bruised" to complain about.]

Which leaves me of the problem with what to write about?

The cursor, she blinks.

Mo pie, she blinks.

The cursor, she blinks some more, as if to let me know that she could sit there and blink all day, I can keep staring, but this entry is not going to type itself and the blinking cursor is not going to type it for me, so I can just forget it.

Mo pie, she sighs, begins typing.

Let me try another tactic. Here is something tangentially related to the Development, but I can skip over the part that involves the Development and skip straight to the fun part: I'm going to Belgium!

If all goes according to plan (I have to salt all of this liberally with knock-on-wood type disclaimers so as not to jinx anything) Tim and I are going to head to Belgium and Holland in the spring for some debauchery and sightseeing. Tim has finally come around on the issue that traveling is cool, and I can't wait to show him Amsterdam and environs.

The debauchery is not only going to happen in Amsterdam but also in Belgium, where they make enough beer to constitute, in technical terms, "a fuckload." We're going to a Trappist monastery where they have been making beer since the 12th century. That is, also in technical terms, "a long-ass time."

The more I read about Belgium, the more excited I am: they have a Museum of Spontaneous Art, they have a museum devoted to the plastic of 1960-1973, and you can eat at a restaurant that's inside the Atomium, a giant molecule. Belgium: full of weird crap! And we're going to see it.

And now, some random thoughts:

1. Gung Hay Fat Choy -- it's the Year of the Monkey! It is very cool to work in Chinatown right now; all the shops are so festive, and there were firecrackers going off everywhere yesterday. I might end up having to work on Saturday; the upside will be that I can watch the parade!

2. I hope you have all gone and seen the cookie picture, even if you don't read the weblog. It might be my favorite picture of me ever, not the least of which because I love those sprinkle cookies from Jerry's Deli more than any other cookie, ever.

3. I really don't want to talk politics, but of course I am paying attention. I am rooting for Dean and for Clark, both of whom I really like, but mostly I am rooting for anyone who isn't George Bush. I agree with Scalzi. Why do you people like this guy? Aside from the fact that he seems like a guy with good intentions?

4. I am just shy of having 600 people on my notify list. Sometimes I am just amazed that all these people out there care about my trivial petty crap. Thanks for caring about my trivial petty crap, you guys! I pull you all into a warm, pillowy, metaphorical embrace.

5. Speaking of pillowy, I was fantasizing about a breast reduction again last night. I know I should wait until I am "done" with the losing weight thing, but oh, it would be so glorious to have D cups.

6. Here I am in wineland, in a photo that did not make it into the photo essay:

7. Someday I am going to have cable TV, and NetFlix, and time to watch TV and movies. Someday I am going to have a kitchen and learn to cook. Someday I will start writing regularly again. Someday I will get so many of the things I've been wishing for. And by "someday" I mean very, very soon -- I hope!