A curse upon you, Oliver Cromwell

You have robbed our homes and fortunes
Even drove us from our land
You tried to break our spirit
But you'll never understand
The love of dear old Ireland
That will forge an iron will
As long as there are gallant men
Like young Ned of the hill
The Pogues, "Young Ned Of the Hill"

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Our own personal Fairytale of New York --- the weekend trip to see an exhibit at the Met --- is cancelled, as Spooky has apparently been advised not to fly by her doctors. There's fluid in her abdominal cavity and she goes in for outpatient surgery Friday. Ugh.

So instead we were going to stay at a nice hotel here in town, but since Babydaddy has to work tomorrow, that's out also.

So instead of that, Spooky and I went out to eat at a fine restaurant in Deep Ellum. A four-course meal and a bottle of wine, costing $180 (including a rather lavish lagniappe). Excellent food, really first-rate. Boy, were we full. We stopped off at the Hangout for a few rounds of video gaming and then to bed.

Poor Maddening Angel went in for an MRI and other tests today because of her seizure a while back. It was almost certainly her medication that triggered it, but she might be genetically susceptible to seizures so she's undergoing a battery of tests. They're recording her brainwaves for 72 hours, so she has to walk around with electrodes glued to her head with wires leading down to a little box disguised as a not very stylish purse. Spooky and I drove her to the doctor's and back home.

In other news, I stupidly left my cell phone in the leg pocket of my cargo pants and then put the pants in the washing machine. My phone was submerged for about one minute before I realized where it was, but the damage had been done. I fished the phone out, its little window dead black and filled halfway up with soapy water. As I held it there sadly, it dripping water out of its seams, my mother suggested that I try calling someone to see if it still worked.

So I had to go buy a new goddam phone --- the cheapest model they had, for $130. Cripes. The man at the counter helpfully informed me that if I signed a two-year renewal of my contract, I could have a whopping $30 off the retail price of any phone! Well, that's off. As in sod. I'm going to quit Cingular in May. I hear T-Mobile is good.