diff --git a/app/Editor.java b/app/Editor.java
index 487c4f358..28c3463c3 100644
--- a/app/Editor.java
+++ b/app/Editor.java
@@ -2045,7 +2045,7 @@ public class Editor extends JFrame
 
 
   public void error(RunnerException e) {
-    //System.out.println("ERORROOROROR 2");
+    //System.out.println("file and line is " + e.file + " " + e.line);
     if (e.file >= 0) sketch.setCurrent(e.file);
     if (e.line >= 0) highlightLine(e.line);
 
diff --git a/app/Runner.java b/app/Runner.java
index d5b60b9dd..810d744b0 100644
--- a/app/Runner.java
+++ b/app/Runner.java
@@ -460,13 +460,18 @@ java.lang.NullPointerException
       if (!foundMessageSource) {
         //    "     at javatest.<init>(javatest.java:5)"
         // -> "javatest.<init>(javatest.java:5)"
-        int afterAt = s.indexOf("at") + 3;
-        //if (afterAt == -1) {
-        if (afterAt == 2) {  // means indexOf was -1
+        int atIndex = s.indexOf("at ");
+        if (atIndex == -1) {
           //System.err.println(s);  // stop double-printing exceptions
           return;
         }
-        s = s.substring(afterAt + 1);
+        s = s.substring(atIndex + 3);
+
+        // added for 0124 to improve error handling
+        // not highlighting lines if it's in the p5 code
+        if (s.startsWith("processing.")) return;
+        // no highlight if it's java.lang.whatever
+        if (s.startsWith("java.")) return;
 
         //    "javatest.<init>(javatest.java:5)"
         // -> "javatest.<init>" and "(javatest.java:5)"
@@ -520,6 +525,7 @@ java.lang.NullPointerException
             }
 
             if (codeIndex != -1) {
+              //System.out.println("got line num " + lineNumber);
               // in case this was a tab that got embedded into the main .java
               lineNumber -= sketch.code[codeIndex].preprocOffset;
 
diff --git a/core/todo.txt b/core/todo.txt
index 182d1e3a0..5aa8b385e 100644
--- a/core/todo.txt
+++ b/core/todo.txt
@@ -23,6 +23,31 @@ X   also chop off ? from url detritus
 _   http://processing.org/discourse/yabb_beta/YaBB.cgi?board=Syntax;action=display;num=1165174666
 _   http://dev.processing.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=500
 
+point()
+_ gl point stuff is a problem
+_ gl points not working again
+_   need to implement point() as actual gl points
+_   this means adding points to the pipeline
+_ point() doesn't work with some graphics card setups
+_   particularly with opengl and java2d
+_   http://dev.processing.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=121
+_   http://dev.processing.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=269
+_ point() issues
+_   point() being funneled through beginShape is terribly slow
+_     go the other way 'round
+_   sometimes broken, could be a problem with java 1.5? (was using win2k)
+noStroke();
+colorMode(RGB, 100);  
+for(int i=0; i<100; i++) {  
+  for(int j=0; j<100; j++) {  
+    stroke(i, j, 0);  
+    point(i, j);  
+  }  
+}  
+As an aside, set() is at least 10x faster, and 
+perhaps should be used in these examples anyway. 
+_   http://processing.org/discourse/yabb_beta/YaBB.cgi?board=SoftwareBugs;action=display;num=1114204116;start=0
+
 _ backgroundColor to cccccc instead of c0c0c0
 _ Stroking a rect() leaves off the upper right pixel
 _   http://dev.processing.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=501
@@ -159,10 +184,6 @@ _ svg output, make simple version of PGraphicsSVG based on PGraphicsPDF
 _ cameraXYZ doesn't seem to actually be used for anything
 _   since camera functions don't even look at it or set it
 
-_ gl point stuff is a problem
-_   need to implement point() as actual gl points
-_   this means adding points to the pipeline
-
 _ make version of loadbytes that checks length of the stream first
 
 _ saveStrings(filename, strings, count) 
@@ -523,10 +544,6 @@ _   and then does 5 step sizes for each curveto
 
 CORE / PGraphics
 
-_ point() doesn't work with some graphics card setups
-_   particularly with opengl and java2d
-_   http://dev.processing.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=121
-_   http://dev.processing.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=269
 _ cairo tesselation used: 
 _   John Hobby, Practical Segment Intersection with Finite Precision Output. 
 _   Computational Geometry Theory and Application, 13(4), 1999.
@@ -549,21 +566,6 @@ _   don't allow beginShape() if shape is already set
 _     (otherwise will cause some very strange errors)
 _ figure out a good model for adaptive sizing of circles
 _   also goes for arcs, though will be weighted based on arc size
-_ point() issues
-_   point() being funneled through beginShape is terribly slow
-_     go the other way 'round
-_   sometimes broken, could be a problem with java 1.5? (was using win2k)
-noStroke();
-colorMode(RGB, 100);  
-for(int i=0; i<100; i++) {  
-  for(int j=0; j<100; j++) {  
-    stroke(i, j, 0);  
-    point(i, j);  
-  }  
-}  
-As an aside, set() is at least 10x faster, and 
-perhaps should be used in these examples anyway. 
-_   http://processing.org/discourse/yabb_beta/YaBB.cgi?board=SoftwareBugs;action=display;num=1114204116;start=0
 _ lines
 _   z value hack for lines is causing trouble for 2D
 _     http://processing.org/discourse/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=Proce55ing_software_bugs;action=display;num=1089737928;start=0
@@ -820,7 +822,6 @@ _ make a note about the anti-aliasing types in the faq
 _   polygon vs line etc.. may want to enable lines but disable polys
 _ ortho() behaving differently in P3D vs OPENGL
 _   http://dev.processing.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=100
-_ gl points not working again
 _ invocationtargetexception in gl with aioobe:
 _   http://processing.org/discourse/yabb_beta/YaBB.cgi?board=SoftwareBugs;action=display;num=1115185737
 _ resolve ARGB versus RGBA versus just A issues for fonts