On the topic of friends
To get semi-gushy for a bit: I'd like to thank everyone who stuck around with me last weekend through all the stuff with my niece's temporary vanishment. I never lost my cool, and think all the reassurance I got through AIM, telephone, and even this thingy here helped. I felt a little silly about it the next day, but, really, it was the first time I had gone through anything at all like that. the end.