mmmm. Last night was fun—spent most of it over at the wondergeeks' consoling a group of geeks who had had a Very Bad Day[tm]. I'm saddened to report that Kat's day was made worse today by the death of her grandfather down in New Orleans.

Kiddo, I know you read this. It hurts me to see you go through this. I went through the same thing in '96, down to very nearly the exact same circumstances, and it took a long time to heal. The first six months were hellish; the loss of my grandfather was an empty void in my soul that I felt from the moment I opened my eyes in the morning (on really bad days, even before then) and didn't go away until I went to sleep that night. The next six months weren't as bad; by that time I was learning how to live with grief.