Well, Karen & I wound up staying home. I never got any sleep, going on 32 hours now. (I'm writing this at 21:55 Saturday night.) We went to Payless Cashways and took back the toilet bowl that Steve didn't need when he replaced the tank, but you have to buy them both at the same time. Also got a door closer for the front screen door and some weed-B-gone and some potting soil and some grass seed. I immediately replaced the door closer, but the other projects are for the near future!

Anyway, we saw "The Birdcage" tonight. We haven't been to a show in probably a year, and it was great; we laughed 'til we cried. Driving home after the show Karen was telling me about the speaker that BC/BS had for their employee something-or-another, talking about the benefits of laughter. The words "h!larity Ther*py" popped into my head while she was talking, and I thought I'd better get this down tonight, before I forgot about it. I like to think that it is a phrase I could coin, but most likely it's something I heard long ago and forgot. Or maybe I heard it yesterday, and forgot. I forget, what's the first thing that goes when you get older?... Anyway, more tomorrow. I think I'll get a good nights' sleep now.

Sunday AM... Mother's Day

Got a good nights' sleep finally. Up at 08:00, got the decaf going & read the paper. Karen made waffles for Bryan & me (He's spending the weekend with Matt). The yardwork is not going to happen today, or in the near future. Karen just told me it'll rain for the next four days, according to the weather channel. I don't know whether to cheer or cry, but I don't feel like crying about it.

A few words about Mothers' Day, mothers in general and my own dear mother: If we don't appreciate our mothers every day of the year, and tell them about it, we're doing them an injustice, and foregoing our upbringing. The upbringing for which they are responsible, by the way. What goes around comes around... I, of course, have the best mother in the world, and I truly appreciate her on a daily basis, but I don't tell her that often enough. She has the usual mother faults, natch. She loves me in spite of my bone-headedness and atheism. And I love her in spite of... well, actually, she has no other faults aside from the aforementioned blind love. Karen is also a wonderful mother and grandmother. Her kids and grandkids (and me, too) all adore her, and she returns better than she gets.

Back to H!larity Ther*py... we don't laugh enough, and the things that we laugh at are usually inappropriate: other peoples' misery and misfortune. We need to spend more time laughing at ourselves. We're an easy target, and usually handy. OK, I'll start off, you follow. Well... this is harder than I thought it would be. OK. I have this totally awesome page on the World Wide Web. I have this journal that I do. Pretty serious, huh? I must be pretty egotistical! And if there's one thing Americans love (and I'm an American) it is to see egotistical people fall on their asses! And the punch line is (I LOVE it!) NOBODY READS IT! NOBODY VISITS THE SITE! And I'm sitting here laughing at my pretentiousness! Not that I have any intention of stopping... I'm having too much fun.

OK, it's your turn...

Update, 20 MAR2003... I have been informed that h!larity Th*rapy is a registered trademark, and I need to remove it from this entry, which I have now done. There.

If you, perchance, have read this entry before, you must now submit your mind for proper cleansing. I will set up a PO box for this purpose, e-mail me and I shall send you the address.

Not having a really good day. I felt great when I got up, Karen fixed waffles, etc. Then Karen & Kim went to a Meals on Wheels function out at the Kansas Museum of History, and I worked for a while & got hungry. I decided to fix myself some beans & weenies. It was really good, but a big mistake. My belly isn't ready for that kinda food yet, and it let me know about it! Got a headache, too. Anyway, I laid down a while and started feeling better. Then Karen & I went over to Andy's, where he and Karla had barbecued a bunch of stuff. They had baked beans and weenies! I didn't toss my cookies, quite. I finally did eat a hamburger, which I am now regretting. Karen's kids were all there, of course, and everyone had (and are still having) a good time. Karen's kids gave her a bunch of neat cards, and Matt gave her a promise of two tickets to the KC concert of her choice this summer.I left shortly after eating, not being very sociable (or even pleasant to be around) when I'm not feeling well.

I think I need to adjust my eating habits. That gall bladder was more important to me than I had realized. I'm not to the point of becoming a vegetarian yet, though!

I did some work on the journal front page & added an index; of course, you'll know that already if you're reading this! The front page with the links was getting a bit unwieldy, and it was hard to find when I was uploading new stuff. Now I'll have the three files I need to move all together on the same page. Cool.

Now if I could only think of something interesting to say...