I've been thinking about boundaries a lot lately, and the phrase "no means no." Our instinctive reaction when we hear any "no" is "But why? I *needed* that." That's not just in a kink context, or a sex context -- it's in every context ( Read more... )

I have been quiet-ish, but I thought I should note I lost 4 lbs in a week, and have been exercising daily, as part of project Excellent Eventual-Preconception Health. I love the fact that there's a gym right downstairs; anecdotally, I notice that the women who are more in shape seem to have an easier time giving birth and pushing through pain, and ( Read more... )

About two weeks ago, M. and I broke up. He chose to dump me by text message ( Read more... )

This rotation officially ends in 2 hours. OB/gyn was clearly the best rotation I've had, despite having worked longish hours. Here's what helped make this rotation awesome ( Read more... )

I went to a suturing class today, after finishing up my final in cancer class. It was mindblowingly awesome how much hand-eye coordination it takes to keep things sterile while working on a banana. Next up: trying to do this while wearing latex gloves and covering the banana in lube, so that it approximates blood ( Read more... )

Today, I came across this fascinating passage from Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius:

Mothers who were less involved with their children's interactions, and were less likely to respond to children's bids for attention and help, had children who were more likely to help, comfort and share with each other, and to engage in more enjoyable ( Read more... )

The Museum of Natural History currently has this bioluminescence exhibit that sort of sucks, but is very educational. Hanging out with an old acquaintance there, we read about anglerfish, which dangle luminescent spiny bits of themselves (the luminescence comes from bacteria) to attract prey ( Read more... )

One day, when osirusbrisbane finishes building that space-time wormhole-ish transporter (because, as page_of_swords aptly points out, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle prevents that Star Trek copying-like version), I will teleport to his hypothetically-by-then already-built yarn-and-games shop, where I will join the legion groups of knitter-and-gamer couples out there. We ( Read more... )

This weekend, I hung out with Jamie, and she introduced me to two awesome two-player games (actually, she introduced me to more, but these are the ones I liked most). The first was Ingenious (which has a cheaper travel version, too). The goal of the game is to advance all of your colored tiles on a hexagonal board; the player with the lowest-placed ( Read more... )

At yesterday's cuddle party, the clarity of the opening welcome circle hit me again. A boundaries workshop, it made me feel completely aware again of where mine were, and of feeling free to cuddle OR NOT with whoever I wanted to ( Read more... )