Well, I'm back on my feet, but I was not fully prepared for how much I've missed.  I'm almost 2 weeks behind in my classes. The Japanese class in particular changed the syllabus shortly after I stopped coming.  I've got much cramming to do.

 I'm just about tapped out thanks to hospital/doctor bills. I've missed 10 days of work in 3 weeks and as a result  I haven't been paid in over a week. I have to come up with summer and fall tuition in 3-4 months...so the kidney stone treatment will have to wait until  the summer. (That's actually no real biggie).

Anyhoo...I'll be occupied with non blog matters until at least sometime this weekend.

In the meantime :

When the girls aren't intact
And they break your impact
That's..ballistics.
When they make people stare
But send you through the air
That's ballistics
If there's one thing that those
In student councils oppose
It's ballistics
But you should still try
To go "Hnnng!" in the sky
Wiiiith...Baliiistiics.

^{Scary Pink Thing  is from Katawa Shoujo.}

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 08:24 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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YAY! IT'S KIDNEY STONES!

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 05:35 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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Posting will remain light to nil for at least the rest of the week.
Reasons are rather graphic and as a courtesy to our readers are below the fold.


In the meantime, here is your Edith Hamilton fix.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 12:53 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Of course even if I had time to spare, I couldn't do anything about the recent release of Katawa Shoujo, as I don't do torrents, and 4-Leaf is not yet offering direct downloads.  However, Brickmuppet Blog, fortuitously,  still retains the services of an EBP* for these situations. He sends us this screen cap from the game.

Not much to go on, but, I'm intrigued.
More on this looming atrocity here.
UPDATE: There is greater detail and inexplicable synchronicity here.
UPDATE: 2 Emi's dialog provides some tangential synchronicity  here.

_{*Emergency Backup Pervert}

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 10:57 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Mom is home and doing better. She starts therapy tomorrow. It is still quite hectic here between that and school starting.

Other than belatedly remembering to pull my endorsement post out of "draft", posting is light. 
Here is Nodoka Manabe as compensation.

^{Art by Ikari Manatsu.. Now go buy K-ON!}

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 04:24 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Yesterday I was still recovering from the Norwalk / food poisoning or whatever the hell it was.  My digestive tract seemed quite empty. More importantly, I was no longer wretching bile and drinking water did not immediately precipitate further wretching.  I got up and tried to get my act together to get to school and buy my books, but it was a chore just to get to the bathroom. Nevertheless, I got into the shower and got a stark lesson in perspective...

Because at that point things went south, way south...

My mom was going to go see my sister, to oogle at her granddaughter and help out around the house. She went into the bedroom to get something and got lost...
...in her bedroom.
My dad found her and after realizing that she was utterly incoherent he called for me in a voice that could chill fire. I staggered out of the shower, threw on some pants and we got her to the car. He took her to the hospital.
A few hours later he called.
She has had strokes...
plural...

It seems now that she has had a series of mini strokes over the last month or so which she had presumably written off as holiday stress. 

I've talked to her twice since then via phone. The first time she was quite incoherent but the second time, her speech, while slurred, was understandable.

I'm taking care of my grandmother who currently cannot go to the loo unassisted and Dad is with Mom. He stopped by last night  to get some of her things. As one can imagine he is quite despondent.

Last night they moved her to a specialist facility at a Hospital way out in Suffolk and although visiting hours had passed they provided my father a bench to spend the night with his wife...which does not bode well.

This morning there was no word but they were still conducting tests.

That is all I know at this time.

I'm rather beside myself at the moment

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 11:45 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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16 pounds in 24 hours.
A couple more quesadeas and I''l be downright svelte.

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Banality is below the fold.
Picture is unrelated.

^{It's from Yotuba@! Go buy Yotsuba@!}

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For some time experts have known that the answer is 42.
Considerable effort has since been put in finding out what the question is.
Now, due to a unique confluence of events, this problem has been solved, albeit only temporarily.
For the next 366 days the question is "How old is the Brickmuppet?"
Now those experts have this brief window of opportunity to find out what all of this means.

^{An expert, hard at work on the problem.}

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 05:10 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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^{Art by Simosi He currently works for Type Moon.  His Doujinshi list is here.}

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas or (whatever holiday you celebrate). Thank you all for stopping by.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 04:33 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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^{K-On! Art by Landlot Tamaki}

Tomorrow is the day that those of us on the UPS morning shift do not leave until the building is completely empty and the drivers don't return until their trucks are as well.

On the home front, my sister is supposed to be providing me with a niece Sunday. This has increased the domestic pandemonium somewhat.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 11:45 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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As are the engine rooms and lazarette.
Boarders have been repelled.
Blogging will resume in the near future.
In the meantime have some Saber.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 04:19 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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My dad has managed to pull a hernia.
My mom is sick.
My grandmother is also sick and can't walk right now.
I need a butler outfit.

Between this and various other issues things have been hectic this week.

One of those issues involved a History paper.
I finished it a day early and saved it with the intent of going over it one last time after sleep to catch any typos.

Three hours prior to the class....

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While I was sick I was alternating between bed, watching volume three of K-On!, playing Portal 2 and.....GHAAAA!!!

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Thursday: I developed a sudden, terrible cold, sore throat fever. So I went to the doctor and got diagnosed with strep. He prescribed antibiotics.

Friday: I was deathly ill.

Saturday: I felt better, with my fever down but my coughing picked up.

Sunday: I was coughing up blood. I found this annoying and went to the hospital where I was diagnosed with bronchitis and prescribed new antibiotics. I was told everything ought to be alright in a day or two.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 10:55 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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My graduation plans were an intricate Jenga game of prerequisites. Graduating next summer would have required several things to break my way, most notably having the required courses available, and of course, money is always an issue. Of course the whole pile of blocks could have been knocked over by an illness, loss of employment......

....or Jury Duty.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 07:53 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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1 Sounds like a grand jury summons.

Take a look at the paperwork they gave you. A -lot- of jury summons include an exemption or at least an offer of postponement for students. See what hoop they need you to jump through for that, then do it; that takes care of it for a while, at which point they'll usually have forgotten about it.

Then just go to Japan if you like. One of the requirements of compulsory juror service is residence in the area, right? If you're moving out of the country, well, you won't be a resident and can't be compelled to do jury duty (in that jurisdiction, anyway, and it's not like you're moving TO any other US jurisdiction, at least until you get back!)

Do you have the paperwork they sent you? It should mention student exemptions.

Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Thu Sep 22 23:55:35 2011 (pWQz4)

2 Yes, check for exemptions.  I'm not sure exactly how it works in the US, but they can't possibly expect you to put your life on hold for two years.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Fri Sep 23 04:24:28 2011 (PiXy!)

3 Echoed.  I know in Texas (considering I'm looking at MY OWN jury summons right now) active students are automatically exempt.  You just check the box and mail the form back.
Of course, this is Texas, where "justice" is a very loosely defined concept.
As far as non-Texans know.
Which is how we like it.

Posted by: Ben at Fri Sep 23 19:41:33 2011 (RalIr)

4 You really can be summoned for service on a grand jury - there aren't many of them so most people won't ever see it, but the reason there aren't so many of them is that they get a lot of service out of the guys that they do pick.

It's not the same courtroom stuff as a regular jury. You're generally just checking prosecutors' work, making sure that they've got enough of a case put together before they actually charge someone. Specifically, you can be absent from it occasionally without inconveniencing everyone; so long as 16 people out of the two dozen or so are there, they can still do business. So if you've got a vacation or a week at work you just can't miss, you can deal. And there's no such thing as being "called up for a trial" - totally different kind of jury service, so you're not going to be waiting around to see if there's a trial.

But check for the student exemption first. I know it's not consistent state to state, for all that it's a federal grand jury; the districts run their stuff differently. And even if there's not an exemption, you can ask for a deferral until you've completed your studies.

Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Sat Sep 24 22:57:09 2011 (GJQTS)

5 The first time I was summoned to jury duty, I was scheduled to show up at the courthouse at the exact same time I was to board a plane for Seattle.  I called them and explained my situation; they were happy to reschedule me.

Of course, they sent me another summons to report three months later... for the second week of December.  This time, they were a less happy to reschedule me.  I explained that I was working retail in the biggest mall in the area and we were somewhat busy at that time.  No dice, they still weren't willing to do it.  Fortunately, I had just sold a computer to one of the sitting judges a couple of weeks earlier.  I mentioned his name and asked them to talk to him for proof of my bona fides.  An hour later, they called back and said that they'd reschedule me for some time in January.

I think they put a black mark in my logbook, though, because I've been summoned for jury duty five times since then.  I'm assuming that I'll get another one in a few months.

Posted by: Wonderduck at Sun Sep 25 01:17:52 2011 (o45Mg)

6 I've been told at school that It is not likely to get a waiver for students. Still, I'm going to try. I wouldn't mind jury duty if it weren't for the very tight school schedule.

If its a grand jury, I ought to be able to work around it,  do my civic duty and not suffer academically. However, the summons mentions both federal grand and petit juries. If it's the latter I'm screwed. OTOH...I'm not at all petite.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sun Sep 25 11:16:16 2011 (EJaOX)

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So this girl asked me...
Where did things go wrong?
And thus a history of banal failure is posted below the fold.

For those uninterested in such matters, here is Kyo-Ani's take on the Sailor Scouts.

^{Actually it's by someone who goes by the handles of Tom and Attopez}

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Today was spent running around getting the last few items secured in the yard and adding to our stockpile of petrol for the generator. This last was a minor adventure as there was no longer any gas to be had in our part of Portsmouth. I went to Newport News and on the way back saw a Hawk on I-164 get thwacked by a car and knocked into the service lane.

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The ground is not supposed to DO that!

UPDATE 17:33: Did a quick check of the house and boat. Damage in Churchland and West Norfolk is almost nil. There may have been some settling. Given Irene's anticipated festivities this weekend,  I hope the flood gates in the tunnels and sea walls aren't out of alignment now. Cell phone service has been very sketchy. After that distraction, I finished getting my grandmother packed and on her way to Raleigh with my uncle to ride out the storm.

UPDATE 17:52:  Chimneys fell and windows broke north of here.

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Been Distracted.
The mosquitoes are abominable this year.
One of the dozens of bites my mom received over the last few days got infected, so she went into the hospital.
She's out now, the arm looks better and she's on antibiotics.

Oh, and my sister just informed me, I'm gonna have a niece.

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