Queens of the Stone Age are holed up in Rancho de la Luna studios in Joshua Tree, California, working on the follow-up to 2002's Songs for the Deaf. Garbage's Shirley Manson and the Distillers' Brody Dalle sing backup on an untitled song, and ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons recorded a jam session with the band. The album is expected out sometime next year.

I shiver with anticipation.

Bringing back the Jheri curl, and angry about the teasing.

Another bad hair day.

Not a good look.

Stinkeye.

You want some?

Lay off o' the 'nip, dude.

This always cracks me up.

This could have been my mother. Their situations are not all that different. I'm not sure how, but she was usually on medication. She also went into the hospital several times when she had her "spells." I guess her brother, who now refuses to respond to me, helped her out. She also lived with an elderly man and helped his family to take care of him. She was lucky in that respect.

I went for the 1st fitting of my bridesmaid dress. It actually looks really good on me. The only undergarments required are underwear and a strapless bra (which may not actually be needed, but I'm gonna wear it to avoid floppage). No pantyhose since I'm wearing strappy shoes. Woo! And low heels at that! I wore very high heels (though chunky so I wasn't wobbling) when I was a bridesmaid in Jen's wedding and my feet were killing me. The only thing is that this dress has cost me a total of $289. I mean, it's a very nice dress that I could wear again if there was ever an event (yeah, right). Unlike that green monstrosity I wore last time, which I ended up taking to the consignment shop. Now I just have to figure out what to do with my hair. I'm not used to doing anything with it other than keeping it clean and conditioned.

I've been dwelling on the fact that Jeff and I have never taken an actual vacation. I'm getting depressed about it while hearing that my stepmother is going on a cruise this month, and has been to FL twice this year. And my brother takes too many vacations to count. And Jen mentioned that she and Doug may be going to TN for the weekend. Fuck. And every time I ask Jeff about it, whether about what he'll do on his vacation or when he wants to go to TN or if he thinks Chuck will keep Filo for us, I get nothing or "I don't know." Bah.