Okay, I could accept that we might have missed one year when filing tax returns. But 4? Especially given how much of a big deal we make every year about this? That strikes me as suspicious. If anything, I'm more inclined to believe the MA Dept of Revenue might have deliberately 'lost' our returns. Or is trying to intimidate us into just paying without thinking. Doesn't this go under harrasement or some other crime?

It's not that we don't have the money. Or that we don't have the records to file again (they're only giving us 30 days to file 4 years of returns). But I'm seriously thinking we should have a lawyer look into this, to get them to back off.

Has anyone else ever been audited? How does this compare with your experiences?

So does everyone remember my accident from 6 months ago? Yeah, it happened again. Not to me, but same time, same place, same situation.

That intersection really needs some stoplights.

You'd think it was a great 4th of July. First of all, the weather actually cleared up nicely, not too hot or cold, no rain or thunderstorms, just enough wind to clear away the smoke. And the display was spectacular; I saw two new types and there was a great variety of blues.

The music completely killed it for me. Whoever made the selections this year must have been dead drunk or with no taste at all.

But I want to write this down before I forget it instead.

I've been watching bits and pieces of Code Geass for a while, but I haven't seen the whole series yet. Although it never states it directly, the series implies that the Geass you receive in the contract is directly affected by your own desires. In other words, you get the Geass that you want to have. So I was trying to analyze people's personality based on their Geass.

Lelouch (Absolute Command): A power of the mind rather than his (frail) body. An ability associated with leadership. A desire to be obeyed, stemming from a time when he was powerless to resist other people's demands.

Charles (Memory Rewrite): A desire to forget, to replace one's painful memories with something else. Given the rough childhood Charles seems to have, this could be what he wants most.

Bismark (Precognition): Technically, his greatest wish is to be of use to Charles, but he does that by being the best warrior that he can. A desire to be supreme in battle, to be able to out-think, out-maneuver, out-react his opponent.

CC (Projective Empathy): I haven't watched that episode yet, but I think she states outright that she wants to be loved, and her Geass did make people love her before she got the Code.

Mao (Receptive Telepathy): This is where things get harder. Possibly a desire for the truth, or to know other people. We don't actually know all that much about Mao, so it's hard to guess.

Rolo (Freeze Time): Again, we don't know much about Rolo, but given how young he was when he first became an assassin . . . possibly that feeling you have when something good happens, how you never want that moment to end. Rolo has had very few positive experiences in his life, and the heart asks pleasure first, after all. His desire to hang on to those moments is especially clear given his interactions with Lelouch, and how he tries so hard to keep Lelouch to himself and preserve their time together (to the point of ticking off quite a bit of the audience).

Marianne (Body Surf): This one's the hardest of all. People who bodysurf tend to be driven by one of either two desires. Either the want for immortality or envy of other people. I can't really see Marianne envying other people, so probably the other one, especially given her goals with Charles.

Just for fun, I tried to apply these rules to some other characters in the series.

Rivalz (Instant Supernova!): Because, let's face it, what Rivalz wants the most is for someone *coughMillycough* to pay attention to him.

Euphemia (Poppy Fields): Something very much like Rolo; except maybe more the ability to paralyze people or put them to sleep rather than stopping their perception of time. I do like Euphemia, but sometimes she seems more anti-war than pro-peace. She does try, but it's mostly reactions rather than making up her own mind. So something that would restrain people, but not actually alter their minds.

Schneizel (Invisibility): Not real invisibility, but more the ability to divert attention from himself (the opposite of Rivalz's power). It's not that Schneizel goes out of his way to avoid attention, but I noticed whenever he's making his big moves, he allows one of his other siblings to take the credit, while he operates behind the scenes. He lets Euphemia take control over Area 11 when he would clearly be a better choice, arranges for Odysseus to marry the Tianzi rather than doing so himself, allows Lelouch's coup d'etat to take precedence over his own, he even gets poor Nunally to take the blame for the Damascus, while he prepares his and Cornelia's escape.

(By the by, if any of you read the Elenium or Tamuli by Eddings, Aphrael is where I got the idea for Schneizel's ability.)

Suzaku (Sudden Death): I get the impression that all Suzaku really wants is to die (especially during the 2nd season). It would be bitterly ironic if his Geass granted other people death. (Oh wait, that's already canon!)

Kallen (Neverending Dream): Okay, honestly this has nothing to do with Kallen's personality. But she gets stuck with all the Refrain episodes, so of course she'd have a power that mimics the drug.

Tianzi (Projective Telepathy): I think what the Tianzi wants most is to be listened to. It's a bit like Lelouch, but the Tianzi doesn't necessarily want everyone to obey her. She's a bit too timid for that. But given how the Eunuch Generals treat her, I don't think she's allowed to even hold her own opinion most of the time. (And as much as I love their dynamic, Xingke seems to do the same thing.)

I'd have given Cornelia some form of telekinesis and Diethal Reed psychometry, but those abilities (could potentially) involve inanimate objects and I'm not sure if Geass can actually effect anything outside the mind. Cornelia's ability would be like Euphemia's but more active and protective (forcefields?); Diethal's, like Mao's, would be about discovering the truth. (Diethal does care about the truth, but isn't necessarily interested in reporting it. He would horde it the way a dragon hordes gold.)

(And Xingke's Geass would be . . . to cough up blood! No, but it probably would be health related. I can't think of anything Tianzi-specific that would be a Geass. After all, Lelouch's Geass doesn't really relate to Nunally, even if she's the reason for everything he does.)

Of course, this only applies to the main series. In the Nightmare of Nunally, Geass seems to take the form of what you lack the most (Lelouch lacks physical strength; Nunally lacks sight, mobility and aggression). What you lack could be what you desire, but not always. (When's the next chapter coming out?)

Right, I'm getting loopy, going to sleep now.

The ducks have conquered the sidewalk
The ducks have conquered the grass
The ducks have conquered the sidewalk
New England spring kiss my @$$!

Bring back, bring back
Bring back the sunshine to me, to me
Bring back, bring back
Bring back the sunshine to me

*In high pitched Chipmunk voice*

The snow is falling in droves
The snow is falling in heaps
The snow is falling in droves
Let me just go back to sleep!

*Back to normal voice*

Bring back, bring back
Bring back the sunshine to me, to me
Bring back, bring back
Bring back the sunshine to me

The wind has taken the oak tree
Taken Lynn and Holyoke too
The wind has taken the oak tree
And just sucked me straight up the flue!

Bring back, bring back
Bring back the sunshine to me, to me
Bring back, bring back
Bring back the sunshine to me

The water is up to the window
The water is up to my bed
The water is up to the window
The water is over my he-*glub, blub*

( Read <u>Watchmen</u> last night. Some observations, cut for spoilers. Please excuse all spelling errors; I just woke up. )

And for a final observation that has nothing to do with the book, I realized I do, in fact, have a Boston accent. The amazing thing isn't that I have one, it's the fact I never really noticed for years. Yeah, that was silly, but I'm still sleepy and going back to bed now. Bye everyone!

It would be easier to say that the only one I probably wouldn't commit is lust.

All the time! I'm kind of notorious in my family for doing exactly that.