Blah.

If anybody wants to go check out some Jane Austen dancing this Wednesday, let me know. Odds are I won't go by myself, but if anyone's interested in going, I'd be up for it. I've been to a few of the Germantown Country Dancers' events, good times. :)

7/15 - Jane Austen Madness!!! Joanna Reiner with Tanya Rotenberg, Liz
Snowdon, Claude Epstein & Kim Fedchak
This night will feature dances from Jane's lifetime. We
expect visitors from the Philadelphia chapter of the Jane Austen
Society of North America. The evening will be very beginner-friendly,
and a great time to bring your friends and come out and support the
dance!
http://dancewithjaneausten.com/

Are you going?

Are you skipping it this year?






I haven't decided yet. May head down for Saturday (as I have work on Friday), maybe just to call people and say "hey meet me outside so I can say Hi for a bit, don't have a badge".

My computer seems to be back in the land of the living. >.>

It's been giving me Blue Screens of Death since yesterday whenever I attempted to wake it up/etc.
I think my brother figured out that it's because of a bad stick of RAM, because the virus scan came up clear. (My Dad had sworn it must have been a virus, because the computer downstairs was also having problems with a BSOD.)

I've been feeling quite antisocial and lethargic this past weekend. Hoping I can just blame it on PMS and be done with it. I'd post about my week, but I really don't feel like it.
And knowing my luck I'd start and my computer would crash again. I really do need to back up all my pics and stuff, I've been lazy about it for the past year or so.

It's summertime. Already. My room is TOO WARM. *melts* It needs to cool down a bit, I do want to enjoy the view out of my open window for a little while before Dad decides to stuff the airconditioner back into it.

I have a headache.

Friday apparently the 'experienced' dancing class was canceled, so we ended up just wandering around the mall for a bit. I got a new orchestra concert top and a bracelet. And I got to try out the Indian food place that I hadn't really even realized was there. Bit expensive, but pretty good. I might haveta drag people there from work to see what they think.

Saturday I met up with my mother briefly at UD's Ag Day. I had some not-so-wonderful UD ice cream, and looked around at some plants.
Started driving, and Lizzy and Dave joined the party.
We all got to Stu's on time, which is apparently miraculous.
Wandered around Annapolis for a bit. It's nice there. I think I'll haveta go back sometime and wander around into more of the little shops (it's like Main Street here only much more alive), and go for a boat ride. I like going on boats. ^_^ I need to look into seeing if there are any up here around Wilmington, since I'm being a tourist closer to home this summer.
We had foooood, and ice cream. And then were chased away by the lightning, which entertained me out of the corner of my eye all the way home.
Thanks for having us all over, Stuuuuuuu!


Today I had ambitions of getting my Dad to help me get deer fencing up. I had wanted to put the fencing up BEFORE putting plants in, but he wants to fix the garden before putting the fencing up.
And I just got frustrated in general, because everything to him is always, "OH, look how crappy our lives are, and I shoulda done this that and the other and we SHOULD do that but it will take 15 BILLION dollars because if you do one thing you're going to have to redo the WHOLE THING." (OK, hyperbole a bit there. Maybe not a billion dollars.)
He's just so pessimistic ALL THE FREAKING TIME, it makes me angry and depressed.
I did haul all my crap out of the living room (with the exception of the stuff that the cancer pickup people are coming for) and into my room, which is now driving me nuts but perhaps MAYBE we will regain some semblance of a living room this way. Leading by example, right? I don't think it will work. But at any rate, at least I'll have all of my belongings together so that I can get rid of them/live with them in a small space in preparation of getting OUT of this miserable place.
And then, I'm coming to the conclusion that it's not necessarily the PLACE that is miserable, it's that I feel trapped. It is the way it is, and has always been, and I don't have permission to try to make things better, and when I ask I'm always shot down. It's ugly, dirty, and full of clutter (that "we might want to use someday").

And I'm not sure I should waste my time/money/effort on fixing it up, when I don't want to stay here forever and no one else cares. Which is the same attitude that my father has, actually, which is part of the problem.
I don't want to get myself into debt. If I go do that, though, I'll have more options.

I have a headache.

Lessee, brief rundown cuz I'm tired:

Friday -
randomly felt like painting my nails. whee. and wearing a shirt I've never had an excuse to wear since I bought it. Make fun of me all you want for dressing up to Halo. :P
Rocked out on the rockband, and didn't break the pedal this time! woo.
Got home around 3:30am.

Saturday - went down to the Bel Air Japanese group Meet-up movie showing, watched "Okuribito". I classify it as sad, although I suppose "bittersweet" is more appropriate. Anything that makes me cry more than smile I classify as sad. *shrugs* I did like it though. The main character did a good job of acting like he was playing the cello. ^^; Apparently the event organizer's business bought the set-up for "educational purposes" (i.e. so we could watch japanese movies there). 42" tv, I want one! o.O Movie was japanese with japanese subtitles (because some people can't speak for beans but have taught themselves to read. o.O) I understood quite a bit of it, though I spaced out a lot cuz I was tired.

Visited the zoo, where I saw Jess, Miah, Cassy, Buddy, Angie and Andy. I was a vulture and picked the turkey off the bones while I was there. ^^; I was hungry!

Visited Redner's and bought foooood.
Headed down to Meghan's for the BBQ FIRE! ^_^ YAY soda and smores. and fire. Good to see peoples again. :) Random trip to the dog food aisle in the grocery store so that we could make more fire happen. It's really a good thing Sheena told us about that! ^^

Headed home from there late.

Sunday - went shoe shopping. My bank's systems were down, which was horribly unfortunate for me, as I couldn't use my debit card OR my checkbook, and I had no other means with which to buy the shoes which I intended to wear out of the store. Horribly embarrassing. Oh well. They put them on hold for me, and off I went to Sam's senior recital.
Apparently his viola shattered two weeks ago. The viola he has now "to try out" sounded great, though, and you really wouldn't know he's only had it for two weeks. The second half of his recital was his compositions - the finale being a surprise piece for quartet entitled "Pachabel's Divorce". We cracked up. :)
Good to see everyone again, albeit pretty awkward. I have yet to figure out why I suck at being social, but then there are exceptions. Perhaps I will figure out this mystery before I die. Perhaps not.

After that attempted to remove some money from my checking account - this time with success. BOUGHT SHOES. argh. Also went to the store to buy cupcake ingredients.

Attempted to make cupcakes in ice cream cones.
Discovered that if you overfill them, they will overflow as they bake and expand, oozing down the sides of the cone, making the cone crumple, warp, and fall over.
End result - my brother got one perfectly shaped ice cream cone cupcake, a dozen deformed ones and a bunch of chocolate birthday turds that were left on the baking tray. (And, "Well, now we know that ice cream cones crap delicious.")

He took the car to randomly drive to Philly to get a cheesesteak at 9pm or so, and I watched a kickass episode of Mythbusters where they DESTROYED THINGS. It was amazing. Dropping cars from helicopters, and smooshing them with rockets?! GOOD TV, right there.

I did laundry and took a nap, went to work; went exploring after work, although I really was feeling lethargic and depressed and just drove around instead of bothering to get out of the car to explore. Alexander Technique class, and Scottish dancing.

And now I'm here. And I have to go to bed so I can get up and go back to work. -.-

10 years since Columbine, huh? How come we only remember things when they hit big milestone anniversaries? NHS was in the news last week or the week before, student with a gun in his(?) backpack. "for his protection". Guess I'm really glad I got out when I did. o.O

I SURVIVED!!!

First day of my period
kinda overslept
PEOPLE R DUMB
copy machine broke
no food (only cake... "from the IRS"... it wasn't completely a lie)
lots of improperly done paperwork (not my fault!)
headache
rain + headache
last day of taxes, extensions filed! woooo!

I survived!

All downhill from here.

Oh, and The Chair Guy came in to look at my chair, since the knob to adjust the back height has been mysteriously missing since it came back from being repaired. He said they don't even MAKE chairs with that anymore, and that probably I'd just need a new one. He said an average office chair is lucky to get seven years of use, and mine is over fifteen years old.
He needs to come back and tell the BOSS that. FOR REAL.

Dad took the car through inspection. woo.
I'm gonna go pass out now.

Friday night I ended up fighting with my computer and then falling asleep waiting for it to update.

Saturday I went to work, worked six hours. (I usually only work M-F, but it's crazy now!)
Came home and went to Dover to go check out the Dover dancers. Of course, got horribly lost on the way there, because rte 8 confuses me. And I took 15 when I shouldn't have. :P
Anyway. They were quite happy to see us. (I dragged along proctorsilex, cuz he seems to be one of the few that's up for dancing.) They had a decent turnout, but they were just THRILLED to have some young people who were experienced dancers. (Haha, we're "experienced dancers" now!) I did get confused by the 'contrary corners' figure in the last dance we did, but other than that it wasn't too hard. Much easier than Scottish, for the most part. Reels are called "hay"s, "because people yell at you, 'hey!'" (which, of course, made me think of Navi). Rights+Lefts is 'changes of hand' or something like that. Figure 8s are still figure 8s, casting is still casting. There was a new figure called 'box the knot', which sorta reminded me of something from contra, but I haven't done a lot of contra dancing either. I think there's some nuances that are different, etiquette-wise. The ladies who I gather were more experienced/"proper" made points of acting snobby when they danced, and made sure to keep their arms down straight in the circles, where in Scottish we're always supposed to have our arms bent. *shrugs* Their dances are only once a month. They dress up in historical costumes to do demonstrations, and they were talking to us a bit about that too. (Again with the recruiting, lol). Cosplayers that dance, say what?! LOL. Check out their website, it has pictures. I'm just looking at those and thinking... that's summertime. Dancing, in that? *heat stroke*. They one lady did say that she'd definitely have some clothes that would fit me if I'd be interested in doing a demonstration and borrowing some to start.

Of course, I know very little about history. They were talking about which period dress/music they use (One set I was in started a discussion about the waltz-tempo music we had for one dance, debating whether it sounded "late 16th" or some such. I'm clueless!).
It might be a good opportunity to learn, but I'm not certain I care that much. ^^;
Seems to me to be right up tristjessa's alley, with the costumes. Although I could be wrong. ^^;

If anyone'd like to come with to one of their events, let me know. They're only once a month or so.


I tried to stop by and visit dusti3unny since I was in the area, but she wasn't home. :( I might have had the wrong apartment building, though, but they weren't home either. Oh well, I tried.

I need to go bother my brother to find out what mishap he had in the garage yesterday. I hear it involved his car falling off the jack that he'd had it up on. o.O

You ever just know that something's going to happen? (Or not going to happen?)

Seems to happen to me all the time. Not sure if it's just that I pay attention more, or what. It creeps me out sometimes, in a giddy "I can't BELIEVE that", somewhat dejavu kind of way.

ANYway.

I'm going to try and start keeping track of what dances we do at dance class on Mondays. Just for the helluvit. ^_^;
So, tonight's class started out with two couples and eventually made it up to three:
Watson's Reel
The Wee Cooper O' Fife
Lammermuir Hills
Whigmaleeries (apparently translates as "odd thoughts", or, for the hard of hearing, aardvarks)
Neidpath Castle
Flowers of Edinburgh


Yes, JUST to really annoy the spellcheck. ^.~

I got to see the shiny lights up close in my rear view mirror.

APPARENTLY the 'tag light' is out on our car. How very nice of the police officer to pull me over and give me a warning for that. (I was a nervous wreck when I saw that he was pulling ME over, because I was pretty sure I hadn't done anything wrong.) Hurrah for me knowing where the registration was in the car and having my wallet handy.

Actually, it's probably a good thing that the silly little light was out, because that reminded me that we need to take the car through inspection before the 30th, and probably *I* will be the one stuck doing it because my Dad's out of town quite a bit this month.
Better to get a warning for a burned out light than for having expired tags. o.O



Thanks to Meghan and Liz for feeding me smores. ^_^

I'm kinda sleepy.

Today felt like Christmas or my birthday or some other holiday where I get presents.
I got home, and in the mail had come a package from Japan, AND two books I got on paperbackswap. ^___^

When my homestay family sent me an email asking if they sent me money if I could send them easter candy, I responded that I'd rather have some cute bento boxes. ^^; (If you look at your 'friends of friends' page and see a whole bunch of stuff from the bentolunch community, that's probably cuz I have it friended.) I definitely DIDN'T expect to get anything so soon, so I was very surprised! There's a little one (which I shall deem "snack size" because it looks the perfect size for snacks to take to work!) came with a little insulated lunch bag that all has "I love Smile Pig!" on it. I'm not really sure that I do actually love this "Smile Pig", but it should be good for some "... wtf? ??" stares. The other one is the same size as the one I have now, only it's green (yay for it not being pink, somehow I'm acquiring an awful lot of hot pink food containers) and says "You can find happiness when you hear the rhythm of the clover." in various fonts, and it has a little bag that it goes inside.


Yesterday I walked over to the grocery store to acquire lunch food, instead of "going out" to get something. I ended up buying myself a bag of mixed greens, a bottle of salad dressing, a pear (not ripe, which was unfortunately crunchy but still yummy), and a bag of rolls (I really only wanted one, but the kind I wanted only came in a bag). Since I'm a packrat and had apparently hoarded a plastic take-out salad container at work, today it looked like I'd gone out to get a salad, when really all I did was walk to the fridge. ^_^ Much cheaper. It'll do for tomorrow too.
I was looking forward to the bento boxes because I figure if I pack them, then I'm more likely to eat my lunch instead of opt not to. And if I had more than one, then I can pack them ahead of time so I don't haveta worry about it when I'm in a hurry.

Not like I have the problem of not eating, as I'm still overweight; it's just that when I'm hungry, and don't have any of my own food with me, I eat whatever people bring in to the office. (This week alone there's been donuts for two days and cookies for two days.) When I start deciding that another cookie is a really, really good idea, now I know that I'm just hungry, and that's why I can't seem to stay away from them.


PBS tells me "It's Hans Christian Andersen's birthday (1805)."

I woke up this morning with a headache for no good reason.

People came in sick the past few days to work, and I've been sneezing all afternoon. Thanks.

I was pondering going to the music workshop this afternoon, but don't really feel like it. Had wanted to go to the Ceilidh dance too, but I'm not sure I really feel like it.
I kinda just wanna go hibernate.

I really should go run some errands though.

[edit] So I just spent almost $25 on Easter Candy. ^^;; But I used a gift card from Christmas, so there! LoL. I couldn't decide what to get, or not to get... there's so many choices! My homestay family asked for "chocolate eggs". I ended up deciding that I need to send them what we'd typically get in an Easter basket here, including peeps(which I hate, btw), jellybeans, and chocolate bunnies. You can't have Zombie Jesus day without a chocolate rabbit!
Now I might have to go decide what I need to eat, otherwise shipping may be expensive. Tai gui le!

I mopped the laundry room floor By accident. while I did laundry!

Also, I have provided more incentive for my brother to finish HIS laundry and not leave it sitting around on the floor!

Go ME!

hahahahaha.

My fishy died. :'(

He came home with me from college, so he was 3-4 years old.

argh.

It looks like I'm going to drop ~$50 on a new shoulder rest.

I think I'll try one of those Bonmusica ones. Classmate of mine had one in college, and loved it; I tried his but found it horribly uncomfortable... but if it's really as adjustable as it claims to be, maybe it'll work better than my crappy old Kun.

I hadn't realized how expensive these things have gotten... but then again, I use it just about every day and if it lasts for a few years, then it's worth it. My poor old kun sure has taken a beating.

Field trips!

So, for the past few years, I've been going travelling every other summer. (DEAL with it, spellcheck!)

For lack of money/adventures abroad this year, I want to be a tourist at home.

Any ideas on local places to go that are worth seeing?
Particularly day trips, since I don't have any vacation time from work, really.

I do need to go up to visit Karla sometime this summer, but other than that idea I have very little planned.


Also it's been forever since I've been camping, so I might look into that too.

Anyone up for some weekend adventures?

Seriously. If you have anywhere around that you've been "meaning to" go check out and keep putting it off and it sounds neat, let me know!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Other news: today at work I was pretty chill.
I went to the gym at lunch and did another pilates class. Who knew the floor and gravity alone could make me ache like that? I definitely need to keep going to those classes, though. It feels so great to stretch out for an hour in the middle of a day of staring at a computer screen, and it's helping strengthen the muscles I need to use to have better posture.

Also, and this one is a long shot - does anyone have any TNT ("tried and true") methods of keeping deer away? Last year we planted half a dozen tomato plants, and got 0 tomatoes. Not ONE. Because of all the deer eating EVERYTHING. I would like to plant stuff in the garden this year, but there's not much point if the deer are just going to eat everything in sight. (They even ate the petunias in the hanging basket on the deck!)

Seems to be a weekly thing, LJ now. I just skimmed the friends page a bit, which I haven't done in a month!
And holyshit am I behind in reading! Tarragon chapter 40?!!?
I do have to say, Meghan, since I've been struggling to find my rhythm with this whole having a job thing and trying to grow up and figure out how to get one of these "lives" I hear people going on about, I really have a greater appreciation of how you can go to work AND write (and publish!) books. You're amazing. I drive an hour to work, work for eight or nine hours, drive an hour home, and then who knows what I do with myself before I have to go to sleep and do it all over again. Been trying to get my routines down so I have less to worry about; saying 'so I have more time to do things' doesn't make any sense when you think about it.

I saw Watchmen. I may need to read the book now. Hurray for the four-legged chickens. Maybe it's just cuz I haven't been to the movies in a while, but I appreciated the sound. (Not the sound of four-legged chickens, the sounds of the movie, lol!) Liz, if you happen to go see that movie, let me know what you think.

This past week has flown by! And actually I'm losing an hour almost as I type this, lol. Silly daylight savings time. I think it'll be easier for me to get out of bed when it's not dark when I have to get up, but we shall see.
Monday it snowed. It was windy. I shoveled the driveway... twice, and then Dad drove me to work. They did order us pizza, so I got lunch, yay. Dance was canceled. And I still wish to put two ls in cancelled.
Tuesday - work, orchestra rehearsal.
Wed - work, went to the gym.
Thurs - work, made pie. Or that might have been Wed, I forget. Either way, I made two pumpkin pies, and apparently they taste like pie! YAY! Success. *evil cackle*
Friday - work, had lunch with Emily T and chatted about music stuff. I'm super excited at the idea of having a group to play chamber music with again, and I'm really hoping that it'll work out.
And of course I had received the email about the Agents meeting, so I went down to Halo. Thanks Lizzy! I'd missed everybody, it was good to see everyone* again. :) I really do need to get out more. *ok, ok, NOT everyone, but more people than I see sitting around at home!
Today I was a bum all morning, and this evening I went up to KoP to see Watchmen with Proctor and some of his friends. Little by little, I WILL start being able to talk to people I don't already know. I have to practice at work, too. Whoever heard of a receptionist that doesn't like to talk? >.>

I just rearranged some things on my shelves. Guymelefs look happy on top of the TV.
And now I'm rambling, and should really go take a nap.
But maybe I'll watch an episode of Mononoke first.
へ　へ
の　の
　も
へ


じ！

I do miss having a billion LJ icons, but I'm not on here enough anymore to pay for them. Otherwise that would be one. :)

I'm alive. Hi!
Haven't checked the internets in a long while.
Made some pointless comments on the skit document.

I realized at the dance the other weekend, as I heard people talking about anime, that I really haven't been watching anything recent. Finally got through most of my VHS tapes though in the past few weeks. Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, Witch Hunter Robin, DBZ, SailorMoon, Gundam Wing, Dragonball, Ronin Warriors, Last Exile, Crest of the Stars. Lots of randomness and Toonami. All gone!

I've been attempting to get the vids from katsucon off the camcorder and onto my computer, while taking breaks from playing Lunar 2, which I really need to return to Lizzy. Although I've had it for two years, so apparently she's not in a rush to have it back. xD
My computer, though, has been acting up. Blue screen of death. Guess it's just because I haven't been using it very much lately.

Anywho, finally got caught up on my email, more or less.
I've been trying to get my room back under control, and get rid of more stuff. I've just been feeling kinda trapped under all this stuff that I've just always had, just cuz it's there. So far I have one corner kinda under control.

Still doing to Scottish dance class on Mondays.
Orchestra Tuesdays.
still trying to figure out the whole 'plan for eating' thing. And I've spent a pathetic amount of my weekend cleaning... but if I keep on top of it instead of going two months without cleaning at all, then maybe it won't take me as long next time. Because if I don't vacuum or clean the tub, it doesn't get done. *shrugs* And I will develop an OCD yet! lol.

I need to get myself to bed, because I'll probably have to get up in the morning and shovel snow before I go to work. Not like I have any vacation time or anything, and I expect that they'll still be working tomorrow even if we do get more accumulation. Tis the busy season. Actually I think most everyone was probably in the office yesterday and today as well. We'll see what kind of messes I get back to tomorrow. :)
Oh, they've mostly remedied the interior decorator's Ugly Things by making them disappear... but there's one papermache deer that had been on the boss's table in the hall. It had gone away, apparently, but now it's back.... and covered in fake grass. I saw it from down the hall, and my brain went,
"?!?!!!
...
!!! Llama!!! *runs in excitement*"
and then immediately it went... "Chi-chi-chi-CHIA!"
I couldn't vocalize too much of that, though, because the interior designer happened to be watching me from the doorway, and I do NOT want to piss her off. xD I'm already staring at a painting that I suspect may be her rendition of the depths of hell, I don't want to make her redesign around me. :)

Wow but dancing is FUN!

I find it hilarious that I had so much fun with the contra (?) dance at the English-Scottish ball last night, the one that was right before tea that involved a lot of 'swinging' (basically just spinning around)! ^_^ The funny part is that my right leg is really sore today, because when you spin you keep your weight just on one leg and use the other one to spin you around. I'm super out of shape.

Lots of people there, too. I need to get a dress to dance in. Out of all those skirts I have, I don't really like any of them for dancing. I wonder if Ladrinne would work? LoL!


I have been seriously slacking with the computer-related stuffs lately. I've been trying to get my room back under control, since I have too much crap and it just gets turned into a disaster whenever I'm sick, which I was last week.
Prairie Home Companion mentioned something on their "Ruth the Reference Librarian" segment that guys are like viruses, there'll always be another one to catch.... apparently I'm just a helluva lot better at catching viruses. :P

Oh, and I definitely got chosen as a juror, and had to sit there with a cold on the first day of my period and listen to all this testimony and stuff. I was not a happy camper. We did get "free" lunch on Thursday and Friday, and I did make it to work for about two hours each of those days. So now I won't have to do that again for a while, right? Especially because I would have been making more money if I actually was at work instead of jury duty. Oh well. Someday I will have vacation time to use. Possibly.

Is it really 9 already? eep.

First off, got my little bro set up on the gallery on Tora Meghan's site. He's promised not to wreak havoc or anything, so if he gives you any trouble, Meghan, let me know! ^.~
Three people at work have stopped to comment on my desktop, which is now the Halo Kitty humanplushies lined up. :D Now they shall begin to learn how crazy I am... in very small increments, when it is too busy for them to fire me. :)
(Oh, also exciting news - the sign is up behind my desk, all spiffy and held onto the wall by 3M; I got a loaner chair while they get mine fixed, and I LUV IT, at least it's a ton better than that old crappy one I "complain about a lot" (you would too if you sit in it 40 hrs/week!); finally they came in to fix the wobbly-threatening-to-collapse-on-you-really-heavy-conference table, and put my desk together properly. FUN TIMES!)

I went to Happy Harry's (Walgreens for you non-Delawareans) and got 75% off V-day candy and a neti pot. I'd heard things about them, and how great they are.
Oh, did I mention I have the plague? I'm not sure if it's work plague or con plague - someone came into work the other day with strep. Thanks.
I'm pretty sure that my sore throat is just from the postnasal drip, though. After the three-week cold of doom last month, NOT doin that again. So I bought a watering can for my sinuses.

You know when you're really sick, and all stuffed up, and that glorious moment when your DayQuil finally kicks in and your nose starts to run like a faucet and you go through half a box of tissues but can kinda breathe again?
That's what the nose-watering-can did. Only in ~30 seconds.
Yeah, it's kinda gross to think about salt water going in one nostril and coming out the other, but you know what? Last month, having my sinuses full of SICKNESS and it just being STUCK there was even more disgusting.
And if it helps the postnasal drip go away, that'd be great. Cuz I think I OD'd on cough drops this morning, and felt pretty awful. (Note to self - do not go to work and eat half a dozen Halls in the course of 45 mins on an empty stomach. Menthol not = breakfast of champs.)
ANYway.

Gotta go take a nap so I can get up and go find the federal courthouse tomorrow morning.

Oh, also of note, apparently I lost a step-uncle I didn't know existed, and gained a canine relative I also didn't know existed. Damned good thing I check my email occasionally, otherwise I wouldn't recognize my own family. *rolls eyes*