wordsgood

Devi, thank you so much for your kind offer! I just may take you up on that. Right now, after several meltdowns, I'm just trying to take a break from it all for a while. I'm so very sorry to hear that yours has moved to the progressive form. From the little I've read so far, I can certainly understand why hearing that is like going through the first time all over again. These are for you and this too ! The doc who gave me the news did mention steroids and was surprised no one had mentioned them with either loss of vision. I hope neither of us has this issue again! I'm in Canada but we do have a local office where I'm scheduled to go in December for more scans. Something about enhanced ones to try and pin down which lesions are currently inflamed or something like that that. After than I'm supposed to be seeing the original neurologist who first suspected this was the problem and her main office is at the MS clinic, so I'm sure they will be able to provide me with a lot more information and help. Just have to get through the next few months without chewing my arm off! Muggle not, you review sounds like great score so congrats! And them wanting you to stay says a whole lot about how valued you are. But...I still don't think you're understanding the whole concept of retirement. Laura, some retails therapy after the year you're having sounds like an AWESOME idea! Have fun with your cadets.

Finally finished The Death of Chaos, by LE Modessitt. (Fanasty)

Okay, I finally managed to get some sleep. So, at least for the moment, I'm feeling a lot more human. Off to play now!

Maureen: Stormy is...DROP...DEAD...GORGEOUS! I can't remember who said it, but full persians and mostly persian cats always have that "grumpy" look on their face. It's gotta be a combination of their facial bone structure, markings and layers of fur. The one we lost at 14, a few years, was a also a gorgeous boy, but I don't think he ever stopped having that "angry cat" look on his face ever, not even when he scared, or excited, or feeling very cuddly. Bobblybear, I might be a little biased to because I'm a rabid lab fan, so I think your boy one handsome fellow! And I see he's got that perma grin on his face like every happy lab I've ever met. He looks so proud to have found the ball! Was practically strutting back to you in that pic. I'm glad he's having better experiences at the park and I hope you never run into more of those terds that shouldn't have any animal in their care!

Welcome to BCF!

Tigger!

First, a bit thanks to all for your encouragement and support! Did finally get an answer today and it well, it wasn't good. It's not lethal, thankfully, but it would seem I have MS. Specialist thinks because of my history I've probably had it for at least 15 years and possibly longer. Unfortunately I was misdiagnosed with fibromyalgia about ten years ago and since then everything has just been put to that. But the good news is doctor (neurologist/opthamologist) has a lot of experience and was very patient explaining things to me. Of course I will have see more doctors and related health care professionals to figure out what treatments might work, but for now I'm just happy to finally have an answer. It's been a very long-time coming. Yeah, I have a lot to learn and frankly, am terrified. But again, I'm happy to finally have a real answer to the the periodic blindness and a host of other issues that have been ignored or incorrectly treated for many years. And it looks like I might won't have to depend solely on my rather unhelpful GP. Best news of all? Finally get to book dog's surgery for sometime in the next two weeks. After recovery, I will finally be able to accept puppy kisses again! Though I'm expecting her to thoroughly play up the recovery for every drop of sympathy she can get. She wasn't exactly what you'd call brave for any of her previous ones. Well okay, she's not really brave about anything. Neighbour's cat terrifies her. She seems convinced the little dog next door, her pal when they meet each other, grows into a monstrously huge scary beast when separated by a fence they can't see each other through. Our cats push her around all the time. She's afraid of the dark though her vision is perfect. These are just a few of her neurosis. Good thing we don't count on her for guard dog duties. Chrissy, very pleased to hear your Mom is recovering well. for you both! Inver, I hope you get your kitchen back soon. Poppy, thanks. It is scary, but at least I've gotten most of vision back each time. Muggle, listen close. This might be foreign to you but I promise it's the absolute truth...retirement means you DON'T go to work anymore! Laura, hope the service went well and you're okay.

I was finally able to watch the last couple of seasons after it's most re-airing where I live. Never seemed able to manage the first time it aired. I have to say that I was disappointed with the final episode. It seemed to leave some store lines hanging. That or ended in a way I didn't like.

Argon9, been there and done that. In a word, ICK! Sympathies. Good luck with the rest of it though. On a personal note, I still haven't been able to schedule dog's surgery because doctors are still sending me for more tests to try and figure out why I occasionally go blind. Starting to feel like a guinea pig. Now we've reached the point of repeating tests. Again, I'm happy to have this long time problem finally addressed, but still want to get dog's surgery over with before she gets any older. Okay, whine officially over!

Greetings.

Okay, I'm a bit embarrassed to say this given my reading habits the last few years, but I'd never even heard of Kafka until I started seeing the name in various places around the forum. I just looked him up and am very, very interested. Would anyone have suggestions about what might be the best place to start among his works? King, sorry if it seems I'm trying to hijack your thread. I'm not, it's just thought it was a good place to pose my question.

Hmm, interesting thought about male versus female reading. Then again, men are notoriously known for not reading instructions or asking for directions... My husband calls it exploring, not getting lost!

About the old thread, I know I could have but I've been asking so many questions lately I'm trying not to wear out my welcome, so to speak. Just checked out your edition and compared ISBN's and we don't have the same edition. I suspect though, that yours is the better copy just by what I read in the link. It's not that I'm terribly unhappy about mine, especially since I got it very cheaply, but I am a little surprised to have run across glaring typos right in the intro and then find out it's actually not as "complete" as the title indicates. I've probably said this before, but I'm not that familiar with Poe's work so can't really speak to whether I will enjoy it or not. I've been more or less scanning it when nothing else holds my intention and some of it is catching my interest. However, and I hope I don't get hanged for speaking blasphemy, I did notice that some of the poetry sounded a bit like a phase teenage girls go though with their normal angst coming out in morbid poetry. (I was one of them, way back when... ) To be fair though, I will without anymore judgement until such a time as I am able really focus on what I'm reading! (She sighs as the crowd snuffs their torches, replaces the tar barrel covers and stop plucking the chickens. )

Glad to hear the squirrels are behaving. I hear they're sneaky little devils, even the ones without Jedi powers. I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on both books regarding Virginia Woolf. Am holding off add them to the already huge wanted list until then. Oh, I did look up the Between the Sheets one recommended and it looks good, so thank you for the recommendation. Have added that one!

Update (Oct. 21): I have gone ahead ahead and downloaded the 30 day trial of this software and so far it's working out that I'm able to to starting building my custom reading dictionary. I'm still on the hunt for software that can be used to create my own dictionary. Not a simple word list or table, and not a link to online dictionaries, but one I can basically build myself and entirely customizable for personal my use based on what makes sense to me. Having finally learned what is meant by the term "relational database" I went fishing online and came across a product called The TreeProject. I've posted a link below, and am wondering if anyone here has heard of it and/or used it, or software similar to to it? If so, would you consider it, or a similar product that you know of or have, to very user friendly for someone without any kind of programming skills? http://personaldatabase.org/ I looked though the site pretty extensively, including watching demos and viewing screenshots of various functions. It seems to promise a lot of the same great features (and more) as ones like Access offer, but without the huge, way out of my budget, price tag. And what also looks to be a much slower learning curve as this one seems quite intuitive. To be honest, it looks far better than the book cataloguing software I purchased a few months ago. Could be wrong though, so I have sent a query to the site contact asking for specific clarification about whether their software could me the particular requirements I'm looking for. But I thought I would also post about it here in case anyone on who stops by my thread has knowledge about this or a similar product, they could offer advice to me about? (Didn't want to annoy anyone by resurrecting my original thread about this from several weeks ago.) Any and All comments are welcome!

Okay, I promise I'll be good now.

Agreed, non-fiction doesn't seem to get the same kind of attention fiction does. Perhaps because the most likely to chat online are a younger crowd, hence it feels a little too much like schoolwork? Pardon the rather sweeping generalization here, but I'm just putting out ideas, though I have seen a number of people say just that about themselves online. Maybe they don't realize that non-fiction doesn't have to read like a textbook? Then again, I've also met folks who refuse to read fiction as it's "all trash" they say. I've heard this kind of book snobbery from all levels of the age spectrum. I actually find it far more annoying than those that shy away from non-fiction, as I've also noticed a disturbing trend that such people are generally the most close-minded and judgemental of others.

Welcome! Worms definitely abound here so there's bound to something you will like.

Favourites are always the best place to go! Kind of like comfort food. Salt, fats and sugar for the eyes.

Ooh, from the little sn*t monster yet! Pardon my language, but really what else would you call him?

Re Poe: Yup, it's a big one! I will get around to posting the details about these at some point so you can check. Re Gellhorn: I'd never actually heard of her before but I kept seeing this book put on sale repeatedly so finally gave it a gander at the store, and got sucked in rather quickly. And yes, I do like reading about the lives of authors so welcome all recommendations. I will definitely look into "Between the Sheets" so thanks for that one! Janet, hopeless romantic is one way to put it. Womanizing lecher is another...

Given what you're last few months have been like, I'd be proud of being able focus on reading at all. Don't beat yourself up, it happens to everyone. I've been trying, emphasis on the "trying," to focus on one book at a time for more than a nanosecond. Have managed to get through a few novels in a fantasy series I've had for several years. Not sure if I've mentioned it before or not, but it's the Recluse Saga by L.E. Modesitt Jr. Still working on others I've started in the last couple of months, but hey, at least I'm finishing something. Pats self on back...

You're welcome! You have my sympathies, I've been trying to organize both my physical "real" and virtual collections for a very long time. For physical collection it's a matter of them getting shuffled all over the house to make room for other people's garbage, er, stuff. For the virtual/digital ones, it's a matter of being not interrupted every ten minutes and/or having finding out my computer has acquired yet another virus. Hope you have better luck. If you have one, I strongly recommend retreating to your own personal cave where none can enter when tackling your non-fiction.

Hey now, in my own defense it's the hubby who's the Star Wars freak. I just, unfortunately I might add, know way more about it than I ever wanted to. Still, squirrels dueling with light sabers is just too cute not to like! Or throwing lighting, or whatever it is, out of their teeny little paws.