Aside from blowing my nose and whimpering softly, the only other item of interest that I accomplished this week was going to the gym-- four times, which is quite an accomplishment. (How the worlds of phlegm and fitness collided in the area of the treadmill doesn't bear going into, aside from reminding myself that you can carry around a little packet of tissues all you want, but it won't do you a damn bit of good unless you've got a tissue out and ready for action when needed.)

I'll just move on to something else, shall I?

This is a picture of a lamp. An ugly lamp, now deceased:

Pretty hideous, no? But, wait! It gets better, as shown by this picture of its twin (not, alas, deceased):

Don't you love how it not only lights up from above, but from within as well? Thought you might. In any case, the above lamps have now been replaced by a cheap, yet infinitely more attractive, pair of bedside lamps from Jumbo. (Incidentally, it turned out to be the wall socket that was the problem, not the lamp itself. This is OK since, apart from being ugly, the lampshade was wonky and the damn thing wouldn't work properly unless propped up against the wall, anyway.)

The fish lamps are gone. I am content.

Now, I know that the fish in question are probably intended to be a carp, and that carp are a Chinese symbol of luck and so forth. However, I am not Chinese, Elvis is not Chinese, and those lamps have now been banished to the garage in the basement. They can keep the ducks company, and the ducks are welcome to it.

Good riddance.

One final note: The last time I played Twister, I was about nineteen. Specifically, I was at The University, at a review-session-slash-party preceding our Calculus final exam. (In fact, that party was the high point of my 3 semester calculus torture, but I digress.) That I haven't played since is probably a Good Thing, as evidenced by the small, but painful, bruise on my left buttock.

Oh well. At least I know where that one came from.