mrissa | Hallmark strikes again

As if Valentine cards didn't cause me enough eye-rolling! (Yah, I know, but my family likes to exchange them, so I do.) I came upon a new category of annoying Valentine card today. It said, "Sometimes I think you only love me for my body." Then you would open it to read, "Then I laugh and laugh and have another doughnut."

Good. "I will now denigrate my body under the guise of praising your depth! Have a great holiday!" "I stink, but you're stuck with me. Happy Valentine's Day!" Oh, hurrah. Sign me up.

Here are some more cool people. This set is the ones I met in Boston, plus Sonya, who came late to the meme.

yhlee came clear the heck out of her way to see us at WorldCon, and I'm really glad she did, even though she seemed overwhelmed by even the last remnant sof con-ness. Yoon's lj presence is so distinctive and strong (spork spork!) that it was good to have a physical person to attach it to. Yoon always seems to have something to say about what she's reading, online or on paper, and I like that a lot. She also gives really detailed critiques. You get to watch her enjoying your book; you get to watch which bits she liked best and which made her nervous and so on. And they're the right bits. That's very neat. Also, Yoon has been making major strides in dealing with a fairly nasty health problem lately (mostly friendlocked), and I think all of her friends are extremely proud of her for that. I know I am.

palinade seems like she's always making something, and so far it's always been something cool. The creative impulse just seems to flow and flow from Jenni, but she doesn't play the tormented artiste. She has fun with her creativity. That's very cool. One of the things I noticed about Jenni in Boston is that she has standards. She won't say you're her best friend if she doesn't feel she knows you very well. She understands the importance of making social connections and spending time with people, but she won't laud something or someone she doesn't respect even if it would be the easy way out. You can feel confident that Jenni won't give meaningless compliments, so the ones she does give feel more meaningful.

mkille is one of the few people I know who can talk theology with me without getting bored or freaking out at my crazy hippie Haugean notions. We don't always agree, but when we don't, he always makes it clear that he's thinking about my points, that it's not just getting into knee-jerk reactions. He loves his wife and kid in very concrete, tangible ways, and he manages to deal with R. (the toddler -- although possibly also with

onehipmama!) with reason, respect, and a healthy portion of silliness. Sometimes his southern extravagance takes me by surprise, but his thoughtfulness -- in both senses, consideration and thinky-ness -- never does.

ladysea already got a little of her praise without asking for it when I was talking about

songwind and

mnfiddledragon a few entries back: she's part of raising some awesome kids to be very comfortable with themselves and in their home, and that's very, very neat. I also like her animal photos, her kid photos, the way she sings the "riding on the horsey" song with the Spud, and the fact that I never know what she's going to pop up doing next. Pottery? Lampwork glass beads? Okay then! Wow! Sonya has also negotiated the boundary between "letting a new friend get to know you better" and "providing TMI" with as much grace as I've ever seen it done -- or else her boundaries line up pretty darn well with mine, hard to say which. But either way, it works!