And let her sail on the sea like a stone.

• The US as third-world country (courtesy zey). Add to the current administration's fondness for Lysenkoism.

• Win at LJ drama! (courtesy faerierhona)

I am down to 96kg, soon I'll have to put heavier weights on the dumbbells and my back hurts a lot less than in the past. This "exercise and stop eating crap" thing is paying off nicely.

It should also help me feel more decorative. I pinged Future Designs about New Rocks today. My size 47 Formulas will probably arrive mid-November, as expected. They'd initially ordered the size 39s for quiet000001 to arrive with them, but after I clarified it on the phone today they said they'll get those in for early next week. I must get a replacement Matrix coat then too.

We continue our climb up the gadget chain. Yesterday I ordered another 512MB for the laptop and this morning redcountess received her wireless portfolio for her Palm Zire 72s. The web browser on the Zire doesn't actually suck too bad if you're willing to mess with the small screen and Graffiti, so this could be t3h w1nn@r when the PowerBook's too much weight to manhandle. Anyone know of a good LJ client? I figure I can cope with the gadget buying if I think of it as X hours at work. So those should be paid off today.

This morning, Neo went outside to poop after breakfast. YES! T3H W1N! (Mind you, he peed in a bucket yesterday.) We will be installing a catflap soonest possible. Must get proper cat tags. They had their second round of shots on Friday, so should be relatively safe around the other local cats, of which there are plenty. (Our yard is part of the enormous local cat chess tournament.) Next vet visit should be December, to get their bits snipped and microchips put in.

arkady's daughter got one of our old IBM Thinkpad 560Xes for her birthday. 160MB RAM, external floppy, PC-card CD-ROM, PC-card Ethernet and Windows 2000, since she'll be using it for school. (Ah well.) She is over the moon. And hey, it plays MP3s!

Anyone going out pubbing, etc. any time this week? I have stir-craziness to dissipate. I Can't Believe It's Not M:Alice tomorrow is a hot prospect, particularly if anyone else here is going (and Liz is well enough to be left, which is far from certain — she's been having a really crap week or so).

Well last night she kissed me but then death was upon her.

• DSM-IV multiaxial diagnosis of conditions demonstrated by the inhabitants of the Hundred-Acre Wood (courtesy en_ki).

We actually got trick-or-treaters this evening: two little girls, who redcountess said looked eight and ten (dressed up, too), with their mother watching from the gate. Liz answered the door wearing her £1 witch's hat from Whitby and gave them assorted chocolates from the fluffy carry-pumpkin we got from Asda last year. The kids were very polite and not greedy. After all the preparation, spreading the gospel of the inner seven-year-old made Liz's night :-) Later we got a couple of teenage girls, not dressed up but happy to nicely accept sweeties.

I should note that Liz's wifi portfolio came with a stick of rock. Seasonal, I presume.

I tried sticking the shower head mount up this evening. Liquid Nails failed to stick to either the chromed plastic of the mount or the tiles on the wall in any way whatsoever. Feh.

I popped over to arkady's and topped up the water for the flytraps. Her next dollie has arrived, without Customs whacking on about twice its value in duty! It looks like the secret is: (1) mark it "TOYS" (2) scrawl the value unreadably. It could have said $296, $96, ¥96 or 96 light years.

We lit a tealight lantern out the back and toasted absent friends. We couldn't get any mead (this is Walthamstow) so we had Waggledance instead. Well, it's honey. I think most of the friends would have appreciated the beer more.

Tomorrow, Liz being well, I shall stop in at not-M:Alice. I shall probably *pint* and feed kekhmet beforehand. Meg, wear as goth as you can to work!