I've been inspired by Grace, so I'm going to blog something. Yeah, it's a lazy numbered blog.

1. I'm a little drunk. Worry not, I'm a 'cheap date' and in possession of a sturdy Irish liver.

2. I did the Sunday grocery shopping early this evening. I was totally freaked out about it, but then I whipped out the old mental shotgun on the way there and I used it to chase the bullshit (parents, etc.) out of my brain. And yeah, I bought some beer while I was in there.

3. I've been writing, but not tonight. I watched (Nerd) TV instead. I saw an interesting show that may shed light on a personal mystery. My sister and I have something that we call the Super Immunity. We call it that because we rarely catch contagious stuff, and when we do, we don't get anywhere near as sick as other people and are still well enough to clean up everybody else's puke (and that we call our 'last man standing' routine - it means care for the sick and clean up their puke and anything else that comes out of them - yeah - children drag home some truly nasty stuff and we're lucky no one has died). Anyway, I saw this show that talked about the medieval plagues and the descendants of those people who survived. It seems a genetic mutation may be largely responsible for the survival of those who lived in the plague infested areas of Europe (even Sweden and Ireland - where most of my genes came from). The mutation was passed down along the Caucasian line and is presently carried by around 10% of that population. The mutation (I think it's more of an adaptation) is found on the CCR5-delta 32 gene. This gene is responsible for allowing certain viruses and bacteria to enter the cells. The mutation does not allow entry for many dangerous diseases, making the carriers of the gene mutation resistant or immune. My sister and I both had all of the recommended vaccinations while growing up, yet we both consistently flunk the Rubella titer test (which means we got the shots, but our immune systems did not create antibodies). This used to disturb us, so we had repeated vaccinations, which our immune systems repeatedly ignored. Now I'm thinking that the Rubella vaccine was ignored by our immune systems because it was never allowed entry into any cells and thus no antibodies were ever needed. Could we be mutants? You can read the basics here if you are interested in learning about the CCR5-delta 32 mutation (or if you're really bored).

4. And now that I've made you yawn, I'm going to go find something else to do

5. ...as soon as I tell you that my mother came over to my house on Saturday to bring me a birthday card (and invite me to church, which then forced me to advise her not to hold her breath) and the whole thing seriously fucked with my head. I am grateful for the fine genetic material (have I mentioned the mitochondrial strand is especially good? Erin Go Bragh!), but I don't like her. Whut. She despised me first. And I was just a little kid. I don't want her.