for clarification
i've had more than one person comment here, through email, and via IM on the normality of people talking to themselves. so let me just say for the record (and this is directed to no one in particular) that in general, there's nothing wrong with talking to yourself. i do. most people i know do. in fact, people that say they don't are either lying or have split personalities. having said that i think we've all seen at least one person chattering away to themselves and instinctively knew they had a less than firm grasp on reality. there's an obvious difference. the houseguest talks to herself in the "i should have my own padded cell" way.