Blast. The Snook just happily crowed that his company is getting to see a sneak preview of Spider-Man this Thursday afternoon (a week ahead of the rest of Australia). I wonder if I can scalp the ticket I bought him for the first midnight showing?

The “right-to-die” movement has just been set back five years by the case of Australian Nancy Crick. This older women had been suffering from bowel cancer for several years and wanted to end her life. Last week she did just that, surrounded by friends and family. Supporters (like me) were happy that she was able to go the way she wanted. Unfortunately it was revealed a few days later that she didn’t have cancer anymore (if at all). What a mess. Now the euthanasia activists are backpedaling, saying that her diagnosis doesn’t change the fact that she was in a lot of pain. Dr. Philip Nitschke, the Australia “Kevorkian”, is denying that his credibility has been damaged. His opponents are pointing out (quite rightly, I think) that this women received some bad counseling. I’m all for people with terminal illnesses having the right to terminate their lives, but Crick’s case pretty much demonstrates one of the worst case scenarios – that of a healthy person needlessly dying. It’s such a complicated situation…

My little brother Joey is the cutest thing in the world, isn’t he? (Hey, if other bloggers can post pictures of their cats, I can post pictures of babies.) Apparently he just got his first tooth, and he can now pull himself up to his feet! He’ll probably be walking and talking before I see him again. 🙁

New Poll: In honor of the fine Mexican dinner the Snook and I shared last night, please give me your opinion on the gift from the gods known as fajitas. Are you a fan?

What a way to start the morning. I read this article on the WTC collapse and the associated MeFi comments. Then I cried. Warning, folks. Don’t read this one at work unless you want everyone to see you get all sniffly.

Well I’ll be blowed. The White Stripes really aren’t brother and sister. They’re actually a divorced couple posing as siblings!

Since I’ve got two new quilting projects in the pipeline (one for my sister’s birthday in July, and one for our friend Kenya’s wedding in January), Snookums bought me a present today… my very own sewing machine! And what’s more, he even waited for an hour with me inside the very busy sewing store. (They were having a big sale, and every grandma in Sydney was in there buying yarn to knit winter sweaters.) But eventually we got my toy! Too bad I don’t have anything I can actually sew on it yet. The bandannas for my sister’s project (don’t ask) are on order, and I need to cut out about 500 more triangles before I can start work on Kenya’s. *sigh* I’ve got a very full winter ahead of me!

Rodd’s nephew is such a sweetie. He just turned two. When we visited on Thursday, I read him some stories and he just sat in my lap and sucked his thumb and watched quietly. And when we said goodbye he gave us lovely messy little boy kisses. I enjoyed it way too much, which is why I found Wing Chun’s essay “112 Reasons to Lead a Barren, Childless Existence That Ends in Your Death” very helpful. Whew. I feel much better now. 🙂

Hee. So Bono’s doing his third-world-crusader bit down in Africa, right? Turns out nobody down there’s ever heard of him. Oops. I guess they don’t really watch major sporting event half-time shows down there, do they? Don’t worry, Bono. I’m sure this won’t hurt your chances for sainthood.

Friday Five:

1. What’s the last vivid dream that you remember having?
I was having one half an hour ago before I woke up. (It’s Saturday morning here.) I dreamed that my friend Little Julie and I were going to be bridesmaids for this skanky girl from my high school. The wedding was actually at the school, and we were getting dressed in the drama classroom. We had to wear these hideous navy blue flapper-type dresses. We made the wedding late because Little had to straighten my hair. (In reality my hair is straight as straw.) When we finally got to the cafeteria, my mom was yelling at me because I’d breached some silly bridesmaid rule of etiquette I didn’t know about. That’s when I woke up.

2. Do you have any recurring dreams?
Three. In one, I’m being chased. I just breathlessly run the entire time trying to avoid the pursuer right behind me. This is my persecution dream. I hate it. In another, I’m about to go on-stage for a play and I don’t know any of the lines. In an unusual twist, it’s sometimes a play that I’ve actually been in before. I’ve even had a variation where I’m up in the booth as stage manager and I don’t know any of the cues. This is my insecurity dream. Lastly, I sometimes have a really good one where I can fly. It’s never, like, up in the clouds; it’s more like I just fly a few feet off the ground while going through my daily life. It’s not effortless, though. I have to mentally strain to take off. Nevertheless, it’s a good one. (Didn’t I read somewhere that all flying dreams are really about sex?)

3. What’s the scariest nightmare you’ve ever had?
I tend to not remember my nightmares, so I can’t say definitively what the scariest was. I did have a really bad one recently where my sister killed this guy and I had to help her hide the body. It was really upsetting.

4. Have you ever written your dreams down or considered it? Why or why not?
Nah. Most of mine aren’t good, and I don’t like to dwell on them longer than I have to.

5. Have you ever had a lucid dream? What did you do in it?
Nope. I tried to once though. I got this book out of the college library on astral projection and lucid dreaming. I tried some of the techniques it gave, but I never really got any results.