Overall, an excellent day

We rode steam trains through a cloud, then descended into the land of sunshine and brought lunch to the Peregrinators.

Tiger assisted M as she took superannuated fruit from its tree. Then he played trains while she scrubbed. The twins cleansed the kitchen, the guys cleansed the garage, and I got to unpack a lot of books from their boxes and arrange them on shelves. I feel I bagged the best job.

The neighbors brought food. Go, neighbors! The cat emerged from behind the bar to join the feast. He even let me scratch behind his ears. Hello, cat! Then M drove me home. Thanks, M!

Sleep well, everyone.


Today's acquisitions: 1 breadbox
Living in Earnest, Charles E. St. John (Beacon Press, 1916)
Walden, Henry D. Thoreau (Riverside Press, 1889; 2 vols)


Today's earrings: pigs, citrine teardrops

Bedtime reading: Christmas at Candleshoe, Michael Innes

Lumber

Spoke with the Landed Gentry in their new digs this evening. They seemed a bit drained.

The cat came and sat on Landed while were talking. I hope Gentry got the picture...


Today's earrings: bulls, teapots

Bedtime reading: Christmas at Candleshoe, Michael Innes

Eternal vigilance

Today was much better. We made a list of things that I'll have to do later because there isn't time this go-round. Which bodes ill for next week, but makes this week less awful. Plus another editor turned up. No one knew he was coming in today. He'd barely sat down before *poof* I appeared at his desk with an armload of work. I am the Bad Fairy in this scenario.

Even with the shortened checklist and the extra pair of hands, I'll have to work Saturday.


Today's earrings: eyes, liberty dimes

Bedtime reading: Christmas at Candleshoe, Michael Innes

Grinch

The US published this morning, right about on time. It's three reams of paper long, as usual. Five of six copyeditors are on vacation, which I hadn't accounted for. So it's a bit shorthanded in my corner of the world. I got two volunteers and then my boss had me shanghai three other editors into the effort; they were not pleased. Then my boss insisted I rope in the Grinch at the far end of the hall. I girded my loins and went to tell her she was to help with the data entry.

Um, ok, but first she wanted to ask about how there are all these lines missing from our version,* and she's heard all these complaints about it** and when she asked before*** she was told there was no PIB**** and all the lines have to be there for classification***** - it's really really important that all the lines are there****** - and what is going on with all these missing lines? And gee, could I calm down?

I took a deep breath and said, "Fine. But since it is my job to make sure that our book matches the US book exactly, you telling me that this book is systematically riddled with errors is pretty insulting."

At which point she informed me that I just can't take it personally. And doing it by hand the way we do is going to mean there's an error rate.******* And what did I need done again?

I told her, fairly calmly.******** Then I went back to my desk and tried to work while I shook with rage.

I didn't leave until almost seven.


Today's earrings: diamonds, suns

Bedtime reading: Christmas at Candleshoe, Michael Innes
_______________________________
* Say what? My job is to make sure that all the lines are there and complete. What lines are missing, exactly?
** Well, one complaint. From a customer. Well, she'd heard the guy in the office next to hers mention that he'd had a complaint from a customer. When? Oh, a while ago. What lines were missing? Oh, she didn't know. How many? I mean, are we talking about the occasional typo, or something bigger? We do this by hand; there are typos. If it's something bigger, how big and who was it forwarded to for correction? She wasn't sure if that complaint had been forwarded to editorial. So... she's not sure if the example she's built this speech on was a problem worth getting fixed, but she is sure that LINES ARE MISSING.
*** Asked who? Dunno.
**** I have no idea what PIB is, so I can't say whether we have it or not. I think she may have meant QA. Which we have. We call them "proofreaders."
***** Yes, indeedy. All the lines do have to be there for classification. I was first introduced to that concept when I first took the job, several years ago.
****** Yes, I know it's important. It's been mentioned to me several times since I took the job. By this Grinch, among others. She was just as condescendingly explanatory every other time she brought it up, too.
******* I just said that.
******** I did not share with her that the half-hour she'd spent telling me my work sucked was time I was going to be spending at my desk, long after she'd gone home. And that I am really sick of her total disrespect for me, my time, and my work. Because then it would have been an hour or more of my evening flushed down this drain.

Merry Christmas

Brunch at M's. Angry Lemming brought me, I brought cheese, Confused Cricket brought apples & soy sausage, M made spinach quiche and bread pudding. And it was good. Very feasty. Chatted with K&S - they seem to have had a pretty good Christmas. :) AL kicked ass at the Scrabbling, and there was more bread pudding.

Interlude at the Dancing Square. Photographs were taken. The floors came out great, and the walls are a pleasant shade of white. There was a diminishment of objet in the back yard.

Stop on Treasure Island. Dude, excellent view. It was all pink & sunsetish, too.

Dinner at Empress of China: properly made food, with prices pegged to the view & decor. Lots of peacock feathers and a lovely clear look at Coit Tower. Must go back and sit in the bar sometime.


Today's earrings: frogs, theobromine molecules

Bedtime reading: Christmas at Candleshoe, Michael Innes

Christmas Eve

KFOG is doing their best to play four decades of Christmas novelty songs. I was especially partial to the one that had Santa on his Harley, going on a charity run with his Elves. Best Rendition of a Standard goes to Barenaked Ladies for their "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen."

Rest ye merry, everyone.


Today's earrings: reindeer, dragonflies

Bedtime reading: Christmas at Candleshoe, Michael Innes

Across the universe

Not bad. Pretty good, in spots, but uneven. A couple times I was hoping they'd burst into the non-Beatles song that would have been more appropriate (Alice's Restaurant, Sam Stone).

Not quite clear on the reason for the Prudence character. Counterpoint, I guess?


Today's earrings: flies, peas

Bedtime reading: The Cunning Man, Robertson Davies

Fly! Be Free!

Good Solstice, everyone.
Leo
Cancer
Aries
Aquarius

By the way, this is my 200th post.


Today's earrings: bees, crows

Bedtime reading: Longshot, Dick Francis

Rumination

So, looking up. Today felt pretty much like a Thursday. The Looming New Year's Deadline was just a feint on the part of my boss, and I really have until April. The stocking stuffers came. I got a random present in the mail. I have holiday lists from everyone, and have even procured presents for many people. "Bunnies." And once again tonight it was the rabbit's foot episode of Supernatural. Bunnies on my blog are like an omen for that ep, or something.

Still missing Tiger's present, and the Wandering Albatross's present is stuck in Bangkok customs, but it'll shake loose eventually, and Tiger's present will come. They have to. Because it's Christmastime.


Today's earrings: llamas, buffalo

Bedtime reading: Longshot, Dick Francis

Hops

It totally felt like Friday today. And it felt like Friday yesterday, too. But it's not Friday.

I need a bunny.

snorglesnorglesnorgle


Today's earrings: Frogs, kangaroos

Bedtime reading: Longshot, Dick Francis

Trample

Trample: 1382, "to walk heavily," frequentative form of tramp. Transitive sense is first found 1530.

Today's earrings: moose, rhinoceroses

Bedtime reading: Longshot, Dick Francis

Scuttled

Today I was reminded why I never wear the crab earrings. I wear them, and someone gives me a reason to be crabby. It's a jinx.

But then later there were fish cakes & gang panang (hooray!) and that was an up side. Even later, I found this. Try reading it aloud. I only made a dozen mistakes or so, and some of those are words I didn't know in the first place.


Today's earrings: crabs, shells

Bedtime reading: Longshot, Dick Francis

Dinner with a Spanish Mathematician

Consulted reference material (via Pep's blackberry iPhone) in re the relative ages of Stonehenge and the pyramids at Giza. Turns out they are roughly contemporaneous. There was talk of the Easter Island stone dudes, but, as they cannot be easily constructed of shipping boxes, they were of less interest.


Today's earrings: owls, liberty dimes

Bedtime reading: The Great War and Modern Memory, Paul Fussell

Thanks, Uncle Chas

He gave me my first ginger beer. It was way back in the early nineties, the first time I drove across country. I stopped at Chas & Chris's, and they took me in & fed me, let me take a shower, all the good stuff. Chas took me down into the basement and gave me a ginger beer out of an old freezer. That stuff had some kick. It was very unfamiliar-tasting, and I didn't know if liked it. Subsequent experiment has shown that I do like it, a lot.

He was also the first person I ever saw order hot water in a restaurant. Just plain hot water. I was bewildered. Unflavored water with a meal was a brand new concept. We drank milk with meals at home and sodas with meals in restaurants. And hot water? Why would one want that? Entwined with that marvel was another: hot water was not listed on the menu. And they just brought it to him! You can order stuff that's not on the menu!

It was a major step to figuring out that the world I navigated was a box, and that I need not stay in it.


Right now, though, I want cozy.


Today's earrings: sapphires, citrine teardrops

Bedtime reading: The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman

That was sad

Poor Jack, done in by a staph infection.

Poor Steven, done in by his own snobbery. Psst. Steven. Polyester isn't catching.

Chris is fun. Chris is nice to have around. Chris can't seem to design street clothes. Chris will be gone again soon, and Broadway will hire him to costume many fabulous shows. That part's not sad.


Today's earrings: flies, fish

Bedtime reading: The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman

Black Rose

Crows Licorice Flavored Gumdrops

Crows were invented in the 1890's. Originally to be called "Black Rose", the printer misheard the name and printed "Black Crows" on all the wrappers. The name stuck and the sweet, black licorice-flavored gumdrops are as delectable today as they were more than a century ago. 8.5oz theatre sized box measures 6 3/4 x 4 x 1".

Today's earrings: roses, crows

Bedtime reading: The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman

Guidance

It is a far, far better thing to have a firm anchor in nonsense than to put out on the troubled seas of thought.

- - John Kenneth Galbraith


Today's earrings: hands, anchors

Bedtime reading: The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman

I got carolled

They sang:

Words words words,
Words words words wo-ords,
Words words words,
Words words words words.

Very seasonal, I thought.


Today's earrings: compasses

Bedtime reading: The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman

Pretty lights up all over downtown

City sidewalk, busy sidewalks
Dressed in holiday style.
In the air there's
A feeling of Christmas.

Children laughing, people passing,
Meeting smile after smile,
And on every street corner you'll hear:

Silver bells, silver bells,
It's Christmas time in the city.
Ring-a-ling, hear them ring,
Soon it will be Christmas day.

City street lights,
Even stop lights,
Blink a bright red and green,
As the shoppers rush home
With their treasures.

Hear the snow crunch,
See the kids bunch,
This is Santa's big scene,
And above all this bustle you'll hear:

Silver bells, silver bells,
It's Christmas time in the city.
Ring-a-ling, hear them ring,
Soon it will be Christmas day.

- - Ray Evans


Today's earrings: leaves, amber teardrops

Bedtime reading: Through Elegant Eyes, R.A. Lafferty

More delights from the world of reality television

Tiffani won the Top Chef Christmas Special. Finally. This is good.

Erik voted out of Survivor, after Denise makes some decent decisions. Her best shot at this point is to stick with her alliance and hope she gets the last immunity. If she can do that, she can win. Any other path I can see puts her in also-ran territory, so I'm glad she chose to go for the gusto. I didn't like who she chose to take along on the reward. I did like that she took the time to mend fences afterward. If she can get in front of the jury, she has a lock on Peih-Gee's vote.
Courtney shouldn't have shot off her mouth like that.

Yeah, I, too, am good with Victoria staying on Project Runway. I wanted Ricky to go (I hate his hat and his time-management problems).
Elisa seems to have one hell of a resume, like, she's shown at Fashion Week and had her own retrospective and such. I don't know if that's the same as talent, but it is one hell of a resume.


Today's earrings: monkeys, aquamarines

Bedtime reading: Rethinking Thin, Gina Kolata

Not pleased about the outcome of tonight's Project Runway

...but it's not like I can really defend the jacket.

*sigh*


Today's earrings: pigs, citrine teardrops

Bedtime reading: Rethinking Thin, Gina Kolata

Call for holiday wish lists

I want exotic foodstuffs in attractive jars, representational silver earrings, publications about bees, the eye of the needle, and something else I forget, and tchochkes representing fruits and flowers that start with P.
I reserve the right to expand this list at a later date.

What do you want for Christmas?


Today's earrings: tree frogs, fish

Bedtime reading: Rethinking Thin, Gina Kolata

Rock, Paper, Scissors

- - Scott Fraser


Today's earrings: hands, rocks

Bedtime reading: The Cunning Man, Robertson Davies

More cheese

b2 wanted to check out Fancy Restaurant, so we went, had a drink, had the cheese plate. (Always have the cheese plate, my friends.) She was most impressed by the truffled honey.

We agreed that James' ejection was overdue, and worked up some Schadenfreude about it.


Today's earrings: eyes, crows

Bedtime reading: Rethinking Thin, Gina Kolata

This is wrong.

avuncular (adj.)
means “typical of or suitable to an uncle”; it also has figurative senses meaning “kind, indulgent, undemanding, sexless”: His treatment of her was more avuncular than amorous. It’s perhaps a cliché in its most frequent company, avuncular advice. A curiosity: English has no similar adjective to deal with matters or qualities typical of an aunt: auntish and auntlike are about as close as we can come.
- - http://www.bartleby.com/68/54/654.html

[emphasis mine]

Something must be done to redress this intolerably inequitable situation. "Amita" is Latin for aunt. How does "amitous" sound to everyone? "Amitular"?


Today's earrings: owls, estrogen molecules

Bedtime reading: Rethinking Thin, Gina Kolata

Lipids: nourishing the spirit

Stopped on the way home to pick up the Wandering Albatross's Christmas present* and found this. So cute! I went on to dine at Fancy Restaurant, and had the cheese plate. (Always have the cheese plate, my friends.) Included was a section of a "crocodile tear" from Capriole. Utterly swoonworthy. They have sampler boxes. Christmas is coming. I'm just saying.


Today's earrings: tree frogs, circles of tangled green and yellow

Bedtime reading: Rethinking Thin, Gina Kolata
____________________
*He asked for something that starts with the letter V, so he's getting Giant Microbe VD. I don't think this'll spoil the surprise because I don't think he's reading here. But, just to preserve a little mystery in case I'm wrong, I'm not going to say which disease I'm giving him.

So to speak.

Fitness

"Somehow lizards just belong on rocks."
- - Michael Sackett, http://www.letsrockcarvedstone.com/


Today's earrings: lizards, rocks

Bedtime reading: Through Elegant Eyes, R.A. Lafferty

Physics in action

Got myself one of those microwaveable bowl thingies for lunch. As bowls often are, it was round. I added water and put it in the microwave. Because the receptionist (who gets stuck cleaning out the microwave, even though it's not in her job description) wants us to use this plastic half-dome as a splash guard, I put the plastic half-dome on top of the bowl. The half-dome was resting on the bowl, and there was about a half inch gap between the edges of the half-dome and the spinner in the microwave. Anybody want to guess the outcome?

Yes, indeed! After eight minutes, the half-dome was resting on the spinner, the bowl was suctioned to the inside of the half-dome, and there was about a half inch gap between the bottom of the bowl and the spinner in the microwave. And! the plastic bowl had made itself into a smaller plastic bowl. 'twas a cool demonstration of the interaction of pressure and temperature.

Except the part about trying to prise my (boiling) lunch from its pressure-locked prison. I went with sliding the bowl toward the edge of the half-dome until the seal broke. I'm now thinking that sticking the whole thing under a cold water tap would have been a more elegant solution.


Today's earrings: scarabs

Bedtime reading: Through Elegant Eyes, R.A. Lafferty

Lunch at the Westfield Mall

'wichCraft, to be precise. The sandwiches are good, if a bit pricey, and the counter staff were quite nice. After, b2 and I went to Virgin and I got music. One lovely dirt-cheap double cd of Christmas Memories also includes, for reasons which elude me, "Moon River," "From Russia with Love," and "Lily the Pink." ("We'll drink the drink to drink/ To Lily the pink, the pink, the pink/ The saviour of the human race/ She invented medicinal compound/ She was efficacious in every case.")

b2 sought the Patrick Stewart reading of "A Christmas Carol" in vain. I checked out Amazon - it seems to be out of print. But there are some on eBay. Tape or cd? Abridged (white) or Unabridged (red)? Inquiring minds want to know...


Today's purchases:
Christmas Memories Are Made of This, Various artists, Virgin Records 2004
The Best of Dean Martin, Dean Martin, Not Now Music Ltd. 2007
Into the Woods, Various artists, Sony BMG 2007


Today's earrings: compasses

Bedtime reading: Through Elegant Eyes, R.A. Lafferty

I'm Back!

Home - is where I want to be
But I guess I'm already there
I come home - -she lifted up her wings
Guess that this must be the place
I can't tell one from another
Did I find you, or you find me?
There was a time before we were born
If someone asks, this where I'll be . . . where I'll be

- David Byrne

First thing I did was pour water through my nose. :)


Bedtime reading: Through Elegant Eyes, R.A. Lafferty

Where America Greets the World, or

what JFK Airport claims to be on its entry sign. I'm not convinced.

Anyway - here we are, waiting for a plane & watching the moon rise. It's quite full and shiny. I hope everyone enjoyed their Black Friday. :)


Another day without earrings.

Airplane reading: Hogfather, Terry Pratchett; Logorrhea, John Klima, ed.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dude, excellent feasting.


Today's earrings: moose, theobromine molecules

Bedtime reading: Hogfather, Terry Pratchett

Good day

We finished the puzzle; I roasted potatoes; Confused Cricket baked pies. Mmmm, pies.

Sleepy now.


Today's earrings: turtles, other turtles

Bedtime reading: Hogfather, Terry Pratchett

To the Lake House

It's a funny thing - none of us thought we slept well, but we also didn't notice when one of the other three people in the room got up. Perception != reality.

Unfocused sort of day. We accomplished our principal goals but not much else. The Angry Lemming was not feeling his best, and took a nap. Confused Cricket & M looked at art. There was dragon-mask armor for a horse, they said. That sounds cool. I surfed the interwebs. Tiger got a whole bunch of new books and seems very pleased about them. K was peripatetic in extremis, and S was pedagogical. We had a lovely dinner at the lake, and M won the scrabble game. S joins us tomorrow.


Today's earrings: flowers, other flowers

Bedtime reading: Hogfather, Terry Pratchett

***************************************************************

Bwahahhaha! I have hijacked this blog! Bwahahahahha! I am not wearing earrings and the earrings do not wear me! Ha ha! I am full of mirth, just listen to me chortle.


,,,,,and i'm all out of love. I'm so lost without you. I know you were right, believing for so long.

[That was M]

***************************************************************

Oh, the humanity....

[And that was the Angry Lemming]

Greetings from the scenic JFK Comfort Inn!

The travel was filled with minor incidents of annoyance, ending with seeing rather more of Jamaica, Queens, than strictly necessary. However. It's the Season of Thankfulness. I am duly grateful for us all arriving intact in a room with beds.


No earrings today.

Bedtime reading: Logorrhea, John Klima, ed.

It was foggy this morning

On my way to the bus stop this morning I heard yelling. Crossing the street, I saw that a guy was yelling at a little old lady with a cane. (I see her with her husband(?) at that stop pretty often. I don't think they speak any English.) She was trying to pretend the yelly guy wasn't there, her husband was trying to shoo him off, and the guy kept yelling that she was in his way, he was trying to get somewhere, don't get in his way. Then he knocked her down.

He just pushed her over and walked away.

I didn't know what to do. What I did was go over to her and ask if she was ok, which didn't help much. I stayed with her while her husband tried to round up some help from the dry cleaner's shop, but they were too late to do anything besides commiserate. I helped her husband get her back on her feet, and one of the guys from the dry cleaner walked them home.

The bus came, and I went off to see the Dancing Square.

It's an adorable house. Hardwood floors through most of it, and lots of cute period detail. I like the fireplace even better now that I've seen it. (I'm the only one.) I have never seen so many kluges in 3-d format. SO many moving parts - a swing-out spice rack, freestanding shelves in every cabinet, drawers bolted to the bottom of all the flat surfaces... I suspect they were trying to echo the swinging cauldron in the fireplace and the flappy mirror wings in the bathroom. (As with the fireplace, the only one who loves the flappy mirror wings is me.)

Carpets were cast aside. Rooms were redesigned. Color schemes were chosen. Lunch was had. Then we all went home to pack.



A little old lady. With a cane, fercrissake.


Today's earrings: frogs, coins

Bedtime reading: Through Elegant Eyes, R.A. Lafferty

In which I prevail upon the kindness of familiars

Got most of the way through today's work. Got most of today's errands done. Completely forgot to print out a copy of the hotel reservation. Can someone print out a copy of the hotel reservation?

And we must schedule a dramatic reading of that popular epic, Katy and the Big Snow. Sunday, yes? I've got the text; can someone bring the props?

Kisses!


Today's earrings: scarabs

Bedtime reading: The Atlantic, December 2007

A little at sea

After a long and completely unproductive day at work, I went to Stacey's. [New Atlantic time.] I found myself in the basement, holding a bunch of books about trucks and staring at a copy of Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton. I remember staring at that title before. But I can't remember whether I actually bought a copy. So I bought the one in front of me. If they've already got it, I'll keep this copy to enjoy, and as a reminder not to buy it again. Everyone needs the story of the heroic and versatile Katy, right?

In less addle-pated news, I get to take the world-famous guided tour of the fabulous Dancing Square on Sunday! Woo-Hoo!


Today's earrings: compasses

Bedtime Reading: The Atlantic, December 2007

I hear rumors that someone has housekeys.

what you get when you google "cricket lemming": http://www.lemmingscc.co.uk/Home.html

Someone should give me a tour of the Dancing Square, like, this weekend. A girl has needs.


Today's earrings: turtles, other turtles

Bedtime reading: The Open House, Michael Innes

Been feeling out of sorts lately

so I went looking for an external cause. Maybe Mercury in retrograde? No such luck. Uranus is in retrograde, but Uranus spends half of every year in retrograde.

Mars goes retrograde on the 15th. Beware of indigestion, y'all. And "political leaders should also avoid becoming unduly concerned with homeland security and avoid imposing needless restrictions." Who says astrology isn't relevant to everyday concerns?
http://www.astrologycom.com/marsret.html


Today's earrings: hands, liberty dimes

Bedtime reading: Through Elegant Eyes, R.A. Lafferty

Monday.

I'm against it.

But I am in favor of Thanksgiving:



Today's earrings: flowers, brown swirly dots

Bedtime reading: Cinnamon Skin, John D. MacDonald

Friday.

I'm for it.


Today's earrings: moose, theobromine molecules

Bedtime reading: Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman

It's not easy

At work today, Newbie told me that she'd recently made fudge from our family recipe. (Last December, Confused Cricket made fudge that I took in to the office. There was so much rejoicing that I circulated the recipe.) She said it hadn't occurred to her before then that fudge could be home-made; to her it had always been a store-bought treat.

I thought of, but did not share with her, a complementary revelation I had, when I realized that sodas could be purchased in supermarkets and then consumed at home. I suppose I must have been aware of the theoretical possibility before... it had just never come home to me before that I could do that.

Anyway. In our dandy new office configuration, Newbie's pointed straight at the bookcase on my right. Today I was getting some measurable work done, which means I had the tunes cranked, which means I was silently mouthing/emoting "Ballroom Blitz" and "Bat Out Of Hell" and the like smack in the middle of her peripheral vision. Poor Newbie. I hope the fudge recipe makes up for it.


Today's earrings: frogs, peapods

Bedtime reading: The Emerald City of Oz, L. Frank Baum

Election Day

As of this writing, the incumbent mayor, district attorney, and sheriff are winning in landslides.


Today's earrings: mice, men

Bedtime reading: Aesop's Fables, Townsend & James, trans.

No skill required

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dice+monkey


Today's earrings: monkeys, dice

Bedtime reading: Fortune-telling by Dice, David & Julia Line

PST

9am. clock radio went off. lazelazelaze and the announcer went to commercial with, "It's 8:17 here at KGO." Huh? Checked other clocks. Turned out the only one I hadn't re-set was... the clock radio. Oops.

9:20am 8:20am. reset clock radio. Made coffee.

9:15am. called the Wandering Albatross. Turned out to be quarter-past midnight in his time zone; I apologized & hung up.

9:30am-10:15. intermittently tried to call K back.

10:30am. met gang for brunch at Cafe Pretentious. At some point, they'd discontinued table service & failed to circulate the memo. The Angry Lemming heroically hunted down brunch. Go, Lemming! Then we all got epistolatory.

noonish. the gang headed east ISO some great outdoors to inhabit; I went for gelato. mmmmm, gelato.

4:30pm. b2 called; her grandmother died this morning after a long illness.

6pm. Cousin Bruce called. He'll be in town for a bridge tournament 11/22-12/2, could I recommend some restaurants?

8:15pm. Wandering Albatross called. He had changed time zones! I did count right! Anyway, he's home again & pleased about it.


Today's earrings: eyes, teapots

Bedtime reading: Fugitive Colors, Margaret Maron.

Wacky fog effects this morning

I couldn't see two blocks down the street, but look straight up and there was clear blue sky. Very odd.


Today's earrings: lobsters, rocks

Bedtime reading: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

Feast of All Saints

Caught a re-run tonight of the Iron Chef Battle Milk.

Milk: the Logos; the heavenly milk from the mystic bride, the Church; milk is also the simple teaching given to the neophyte before initiation and the wine of the sacrament. Milk and honey, food for the newborn, was given to the newly baptized. In Christian iconography the milk pail, muletra, portrays the spiritual nourishment of Christ and the Church.

- - An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols, J.C. Cooper

Iron Chef Cora won.


Today's earrings: hands, basketweave spoons

Bedtime reading: The Supper of the Lamb, Robert Farrar Capon

Devil with a Blue Dress On

a.k.a. my Halloween costume. It was perhaps a trifle too understated. No one got it, and one person thought the dress was black. Perhaps I should invest in a pair of little red horns on an alice band. And a dress in a lighter shade of blue...

Met a guy today wearing moose headgear and a shirt that said "chocolate." Fell in love on the spot.


Today's earrings: bats, crows

Bedtime reading: "Old Halloweens on the Guna Slopes," R.A. Lafferty

Small earthquake this evening

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/eqinthenews/2007/nc40204628/
Shook just hard enough to get me out of my chair and under a lintel. (I hear lintels are no longer recommended. Feh. What do they know?)


Today's earrings: bunnies, flowers

Bedtime reading: Aesop's Fables, Townsend & James, trans.

What time is it?

There is discord in the chronologous world. Some clocks say Daylight Savings ended yesterday, some say it'll end next week.

No good can come of this.


Today's earrings: amethysts

Bedtime reading: Small Gods, Terry Pratchett

Critical Mass

a.k.a. The Parade of Entitlement, rolled up Sutter Street this evening just after I'd boarded the bus. I wanted to go home. They wanted to bang on the side of the bus and yell "Wooooooo!" while idling by. After ten minutes of waiting for the self-congratulatory bicyclists to allow the bus to leave the curb, I gave up, walked up to California, and caught the cable car.

I'd have more respect for them if their agenda amounted to more than, "Let's block traffic one night a month! It's really fun! We're morally superior! Wooooooo!" But it doesn't. I loathe all the Unique Snowflakes out there tonight, who imagine that the enjoyment they take in frustrating others is proof of their betterness.


Today's earrings: monkeys, coins

Bedtime reading: Small Gods, Terry Pratchett

The Laws of Habit

We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, and never to be undone. Every smallest stroke of virtue or of vice leaves its never-so-little scar. The drunken Rip Van Winkle, in Jefferson's play, excuses himself for every fresh dereliction by saying, "I won't count this time!" Well, he may not count it, and a kind Heaven may not count it; but it is being counted none the less. Down among his nerve-cells and fibres the molecules are counting it, registering and storing it up to be used against him when the next temptation comes. Nothing we ever do is, in strict scientific literalness, wiped out.

- - William James


Today's earrings: spiders, estrogen molecules

Bedtime reading: Small Gods, Terry Pratchett

We are here

Today's earrings: tree frogs, blue & green swirly beads

Bedtime reading: The Atlantic, November 2007

Work Without Hope

All Nature seems at work. Slugs leave their lair--
The bees are stirring--birds are on the wing--
And Winter slumbering in the open air,
Wears on his smiling face a dream of Spring!
And I the while, the sole unbusy thing,
Nor honey make, nor pair, nor build, nor sing.

Yet well I ken the banks where amaranths blow,
Have traced the fount whence streams of nectar flow.
Bloom, O ye amaranths! bloom for whom ye may,
For me ye bloom not! Glide, rich streams, away!
With lips unbrightened, wreathless brow, I stroll:
And would you learn the spells that drowse my soul?
Work without Hope draws nectar in a sieve,
And Hope without an object cannot live.

- - Samuel Taylor Coleridge


Today's purchases: Games, December 2007
The Atlantic, November 2007

Today's earrings: bees, crows
Bedtime reading: The Atlantic, November 2007

Because I have no antelope

M fed us brunch, and they worked out a tentative remodel plan for the kitchen at the Dancing Square. Then, because M is wonderful, she took me shoe shopping. :)


Today's purchases: black waterproof mary janes, navy waterproof mary janes

Today's earrings: deer, buffalo

Bedtime reading: Small Gods, Terry Pratchett

Yum, yum, yum.

Sushi @ Ebisu tonight. :)


Today's earrings: skeletal fish

Bedtime reading: Small Gods, Terry Pratchett

Constellating deep meaning out of simple temporal junction

So last night, I post a bunny for no good reason, and tonight's episode of Supernatural is all about a rabbit's foot. Meaningful coincidence? Does my Dragonfly Future have a lagomorphic tone? And what of the turtles?


Today's earrings: flora, cobwebs

Bedtime reading: Wintersmith, Terry Pratchett

Tortoiseshell & rabbit's foot

Today's earrings: turtles, shells

Bedtime reading: Wintersmith, Terry Pratchett

New computer + empty inbox = paranoia

So if anyone wanted to send me an email, that would be, like, really cool of you. You don't even have to write anything.

kthxbye


Today's earrings: scarabs

Bedtime reading: The Great War and Modern Memory, Paul Fussell


eta: Just found K's wikipedia page. K, did you know you have a wikipedia page?

Stone the Crows

This weekend's events of note:

Confused Cricket and the Angry Lemming made an offer on a house, which was accepted.
B2 turned forty.
IT Elves replaced all the computers at work with smaller, faster models, and at last the Ghanaian Customs website is working properly.

Oh, and Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize. Which just seems... odd. He's EnviroGuy, not PeaceGuy. Jimmy Carter is PeaceGuy, you know?


Today's earrings: diamonds, crows

Bedtime reading: The Great War and Modern Memory, Paul Fussell

It's a jungle out there.

Well, today, more of a rainforest.


Today's earrings: monkeys, alligators

Bedtime reading: Miss Manners' Basic Training, Judith Martin

untested recipe

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/107437


Today's earrings: moose, theobromine molecules

Bedtime reading: The Great War and Modern Memory, Paul Fussell

Finally: Green eggs and ham

Oh, there is joy in Earringville. And in Mudville, too - Mighty Casey has won Fan Favorite and asked Lia to tour Thailand together. It's a good thing.



Today's earrings: pigs, citrine teardrops

Bedtime reading: The Great War and Modern Memory, Paul Fussell

My ship has come in

Or rather, a small padded envelope filled with earrings. There's anchors, crows, monkeys, moose, and pigs. It's the year of the pig, you know.

Fantasy earring combo: apples, faceless men in overcoats and bowler hats. I could probably find the apples... but the little men, I suspect, will prove elusive.

It's started to rain. Sleep well.


Today's earrings: diamonds, dice

Bedtime reading: The Great War and Modern Memory, Paul Fussell

Saline solution

Finally got me a neti pot. Maybe I didn't put in quite enough salt the first time? It stung a little. Mostly it felt weird... but in a good way.

I think I'll go pour some more water through my nose now.


Today's earrings: angelfish, blue & green swirly beads

Bedtime reading: The Great War and Modern Memory, Paul Fussell

A list

Aaron's Beard
absinthe
acanthus
adder's tongue
aerial yam
Afghan yellow rose
agave


Today's earrings: amethysts

Bedtime reading: Amphigorey Again, Edward Gorey

No earrings today

I was halfway to the bus stop when I realized my ears were naked. Oh, no!

Annual review today. My boss says she approves of me.


Bedtime reading: Modesty Blaise: The Gabriel Set-Up, Peter O'Donnell, Jim Holdaway, il

*Waves*

Finally called C. He's out of the hospital. He had gone out to supervise a plant delivery this morning, and was home enjoying lying flat when I talked to him. Pain is not so bad, he says, and he's already eating better than he was before surgery. Dude is a total Zen Master about the whole thing.

I send these healing vibrations in his general direction:

~h~e~a~l~i~n~g~~v~i~b~r~a~t~i~o~n~s~~~h~e~a~l~i~n~g~~v~i~b~r~a~t~i~o~n~s~~~h~e~a~l~i~n~g~~v~i~b~r~a~t~i~o~n~s~~~h~e~a~l~i~n~g~~v~i~b~r~a~t~i~o~n~s~~~h~e~a~l~i~n~g~~v~i~b~r~a~t~i~o~n~s~~~h~e~a~l~i~n~g~~v~i~b~r~a~t~i~o~n~s~~~h~e~a~l~i~n~g~~v~i~b~r~a~t~i~o~n~s~


Today's earrings: scarabs

Bedtime reading: The Atlantic, October 2007

The Past

"Photography preserves moments like flies in amber."
- - Rudolf Arnheim

Kinda scary: http://www.ambericawest.com/fieldguide6.html
http://www.amberworkshop.com/buy_amber_inclusions_insects_and_plants.htm
http://www.mineralminers.com/html/ambmins.stm
but the book's not bad: http://www.wilmccarthy.com/Ffta.htm


Today's earrings: flies, amber

Bedtime reading: Modesty Blaise: The Gabriel Set-Up, Peter O'Donnell, Jim Holdaway, il

The Future

Made my first post to Craigslist, and shifted some plastic stackable desk boxes.
Reserved a hotel room.
Finally brought home the Amazon package that came last week.
Ate soup for dinner.

Contents of package:
A Chronicle and Flora of Niihau, Juliet Rice Wichman & Harold St. John, National Tropical Botanical Garden 1990
How to Disagree Without Being Disagreeable, Suzette Haden Elgin, John Wiley & Sons, Inc 1997
Modesty Blaise: The Gabriel Set-Up, Peter O'Donnell, Jim Holdaway, il. 2004
The Twelve Terrors of Christmas, John Updike, Edward Gorey, il., Pomegranate 2006
Rethinking Thin, Gina Kolata, Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2007
The Reminder, Feist, Cherrytree/Interscope 2007
Kill to Get Crimson, Mark Knopfler, Warner Bros. Records 2007
Drastic Fantastic, KT Tunstall, Virgin 2007


Today's earrings: dragonflies, other dragonflies

Bedtime reading: Modesty Blaise: The Gabriel Set-Up, Peter O'Donnell, Jim Holdaway, il.

Well, that was eventful

Got back to work & found that my stuff had been moved from the conference room to my new desk. Which is my old desk, except not next to the window any more. Instead, I'm right outside my boss's office with a view all the way down the hall. Much hustle & bustle & discovering a lot of the jacks don't work & shifting stuff around.

Go through my email and find out cousin C has cancer. Well, that sucks.

The rest of the day was filled more hustle, more bustle, and a lot more well, damn, that sucks.


Today's earrings: leaves, other leaves

Bedtime reading: Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman

Sick again

Colds suck.

Called in sick

no earrings today

Bedtime reading: Sky Island, L. Frank Baum

Never just one

"Beware of monocausal theories."
- Buchanan Sharp

He was talking about the historiography of the English Revolution at the time, but I have found it good advice in general.


Today's earrings: strawberries, chocolate molecules

Bedtime reading: Sky Island, L. Frank Baum

Perspective

Viewed from the distance of the moon, the astonishing thing about the Earth, catching the breath, is that it is alive. Photographs show the dry, pounded surface of the moon in the foreground, dead as an old bone. Aloft, floating free beneath the moist, gleaming membrane of bright blue sky, is the rising earth, the only exuberant thing in this part of the cosmos. If you could look long enough, you would see the swirling of the great drifts of white cloud, covering and uncovering the half-hidden masses of land. And if you had been looking for a very long, geologic time, you would have seen the continents themselves in motion, drifting apart on their crustal plates, held afloat by the fire beneath. It has the organized, self-contained look of a live creature, full of information, marvelously skilled in handling the sun.

- - Lewis Thomas

Today's earrings: flora, swirly blue-green beads

Bedtime reading: Sky Island, L. Frank Baum

Petting zoo postponed

Finished Making Money. (It doesn't quite have the same plot as Going Postal... well, maybe it does.) Late leaving the house.

Tilden was surrounded by detour signs and policemen repelling traffic. We finally found a chink in their armor and slipped through to an unoccupied picnic table by Anza Lake. Threw sticks in the lake with the daughter of friends of friends. Nice girl.

Someone taught D to say, "Acorns are the future," and he brought this out at the table, to great effect. Somewhat later, when most of the assembled had wandered off to throw more sticks in the lake, I looked up and said, "dragonfly." (There was this dragonfly, you see.) At that moment an acorn fell out of the tree we were sitting under and smacked the table right in front of me. The omens are clear: my future is dragonfly.

On the carousel, M was admonished for riding paparazzi-style. Then we went to have a lovely dinner with T&S and A&S.


There are a lot of Ss in this story. Time I came up with better names for you all. A has called Confused Ground Cricket. Who wants to be the the Fainting Goat? Any takers on Grace Darling or Darling Lily?


Today's earrings: llamas, buffalo

Bedtime reading: Sky Island, L. Frank Baum

Harmonics

The bubble table was up in the Exploratorium.
People were walking around on top of the south tower of the GG bridge.
We looked at pictures of ceremonies and houses while D napped.
I had "ricotta lemon" gelato for dessert. They were kidding with the name - it was really lemon chiffon.


Today's earrings: elephants, ebony teardrops

Bedtime reading: Making Money, Terry Pratchett

Good tunes

Kashmir & Old Time Rock and Roll
Misirlou & Pipeline
Good Morning & Super Heroes...

And crawling on the planets face

Some insects called the human race

Lost in time

And lost in space

And meaning (me-ea-ning)

A pointed out all D's songs end in *beep*beep*beep* - which is by Louis Prima.

Still like that old time rock and roll

Today's earrings: flies, blue-and-green globes

Bedtime reading: Making Money, Terry Pratchett

Company picnic

The weather suddenly got all seasonal, so a bunch of us picnicked in somebody's office. Then we walked over the SFMOMA to look at art.

Best thing is a running electric fan head hanging pendulum-style in the atrium, just above head height. It blows itself to wider and smaller swings, depending on which way the fan twists as it goes. Loved it!

The ring-of-poodles installation wasn't out, and the third floor was closed to hang a show... but that fan was worth the trip.


Today's earrings: ants, basketweave spoons

Bedtime reading: Making Money, Terry Pratchett

It's not an expense, it's an *investment*

This evening in Green Apple, a small child attempted to trifle with my stack o' selections. I told him that the book in his hand was intended for my nephew, and wouldn't he prefer the random book I was holding out to him?
"No," he said.
"Hey! My nephew's a Contrarian, too!" I said.
His mother thought that was cute. More important, her trifling son put D's books down.


Today's acquisitions:
1 tube Grace Fibro-Smile Toothpaste with baking soda, xylitol & flouride Original (No Flavor) For Sensetive Teeth [sic]
Sky Island, L. Frank Baum, Books of Wonder nd (reprint)
Making Money, Terry Pratchett, Harper 2007
Case Study Houses, Elizabeth A. T. Smith, Taschen 2007
Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes, William D. Westervelt, Charles E. Tuttle Company 1964
Rather a lot of children's books
1 complimentary canvas bag with a bright green apple on the side


Today's earrings: diamonds, dice

Bedtime reading: Making Money, Terry Pratchett

Free hand

Today's highlight was discussing my former boss's wedding present with my current boss. I proposed shopping from the registry. She preferred the gift of protein, in mail-order barbecue format. The more we talked, the more adamant she became. I acquiesced, then suggested adding a bottle of champagne for celebratory tone. When we parted, we each had our super-secret spy assignments. She is to find out his first choice of mail-order rib-joints, and I am to take up the collection.


Today's earrings: hands, liberty dimes

Bedtime reading: Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman

A reason to visit LA

I want to see the horned ant exhibit. And get the t-shirt.


Today's earrings: ants, rhinoceroses

Bedtime reading: "Hollywood Chickens," Terry Pratchett

Next week in the conference room

Today we cleared out of our usual workspace... and half the space we were supposed to be temporarily shifting in to wasn't ready. Much doubling up of offices and setting up of tables in hallways. I got one end of the conference room table - looks like there will be five or six of us in there. Not looking forward to it...


Today's earrings: Turtles, other turtles

Bedtime reading: Moving Pictures, Terry Pratchett

Here, lizard, lizard, lizard

Today's earrings: lizards, green eggs

Bedtime reading: The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, Christopher Moore

Concentration

...not something I'm having much luck with today. Odd, since I had a high concentration of dopamine molecules about my person. Might help if I could get some sleep.


Today's earrings: elephants, dopamine molecules

Bedtime reading: The Cunning Man, Robertson Davies

Reorientation

Spent the day vaguely working and desultorily packing up my desk. The place looks rather different with everyone's detritus in boxes rather than scattered about.

A few other familiar things seen from a novel angle:
http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/2007/09/hover-kitteh.html
http://quislibet.livejournal.com/164084.html
http://theodoregray.com/PeriodicTable/


Today's earrings: owls, typewriter keys

Bedtime reading: The Cunning Man, Robertson Davies

The Pied Pepper

This evening I filled Pepper Bunny with mixed peppercorns: black, white, pink, and green. He's the Pied Pepper Bunny. Gerard Manley Hopkins would swoon...


Today's earrings: turquoise, groovy swirly blue & green glass rounds

Bedtime reading: The Cunning Man, Robertson Davies

Piling blocks

While channel-flipping tonight, I ran across a bit of docu about Dale Chihuly's installation in Jerusalem. I was enjoying the Dude! Excellent glass! feeling when they got to the good part. He brought in these massive - looked like about 6'x4'x4' - blocks of ice from Alaska and built a wall of them. Then he got them backlit and let them melt. It took three days.

I am just bowled over. It looked amazing, and there are so many symbolic layers to the thing. I <3 art.


Today's earrings: hands, rocks

Bedtime reading: Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman

Particulates

When I left the house this morning, I was a little bemused that there was fog in the east instead of in the west. It wasn't until this evening until I realized that wasn't fog but a cloud of smoke.

Hope everyone's breathing easily.


Today's earrings: swords, estrogen molecules

Bedtime reading: Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman

Order the cheese tray

Got dinner at my local Fancy Restaurant. Excellent food, which made me all cheerful-like. The headwaiter guy has found his truelove and is beaming happiness in all directions. awwww

Later, Howie was (finally!) eliminated. Good evening all around.


Today's earrings: compasses

Bedtime reading: Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman

WooHoo!

My business cards came in! I'm official!

Just like a real live girl.
["I was going to put "Real Live Girl" under your title, but HR talked me out of it."
- - Guy who ordered the business cards for me]


Today's earrings: fish, aquamarines

Bedtime reading: Fluke, Christopher Moore

Millbrae Art & Wine Fest

Today's earring purchases:
Glass beads (kinda turquoise/river rock looking)
Glass dice
Porcelain jack o'lanterns
Wee paper cranes


Today's earrings: flowers, leaves

Bedtime reading: Risk, Dick Francis

Untoward motion

http://www.phy.ntnu.edu.tw/ntnujava/index.php?topic=24

Crusin' and playin' the radio
With no particular place to go
- - Chuck Berry


Today's purchase:
Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman (Avon)
Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman (William Morrow an imprint of HarperCollins)
Staring at the Sea, The Cure (Elektra/Asylum)


Today's earrings: turquoise, blue glass swirly beads

Bedtime reading: The Gospel of Food, Barry Glassner

Fun With Food

http://www.candyboots.com/wwcards.html
http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/index.html
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_25303,00.html

Some things are just wrong.


Today's earrings: pineapples, peas

Bedtime reading: The Gospel of Food, Barry Glassner

Nice out

Had lunch al fresco today. It was tasty, except for the vast pile of mushrooms that I had to pick off my salad.*


Today's earrings: fire extinguishers, red peppers

Bedtime reading: Hard Row, Margaret Maron
-------------------------------------------------
*With this post I officially join the list of "all-about-me-and-what-I-had-for-lunch" bloggers. Mark your calendars.

Left work early

The system was god-awful slow. I was sitting there fuming about how some programmer somewhere had decided that the best possible use of my time was to sit and wait... and wait... and wait for the screen to refresh. Or worse, that the highly-paid programming team hadn't even thought that much about the end user. Steam was staring to come out of my ears, so I walked out and went to Stacey's. I feel this was an excellent call on my part.

Today's book purchase:
Bad Monkeys, Matt Ruff (HarperCollins)
The Gospel of Food, Barry Glassner (ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins)
Hard Row, Margaret Maron (Warner Books)
The Atlantic, September 2007


Today's earrings: lizards, rocks

Bedtime reading: Hard Row, Margaret Maron

A Limerick

Little Zooks, of whom no one was fond,
They shot toward the roof and beyond;
The infant's trajectory passed him over the rectory,
And into a lily-choked pond.
- - Edward Gorey


Today's earrings: frogs, alligators

Bedtime reading: The Deranged Cousins, Edward Gorey

Shoo-fly pie

http://www.seedsofknowledge.com/shoofly.html


Today's earrings: flies, brown glass beads

Bedtime reading: Sweet and Low, Emma Lathen

Kind Hearts & Coronets

http://baking.about.com/od/piesandfruiteddesserts/ss/strawhearts_6.htm
http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/rolls/peerage/dukes.htm


Today's earrings: strawberries, leaves

Bedtime reading: Gaudy Night, Dorothy L. Sayers

Sting

NOUN:
1. A cutting quality: bite, edge, incisiveness, keenness, sharpness. See SHARP. 2. Informal. A stimulating or intoxicating effect: Informal : punch, wallop. Slang : kick. See DRUGS. 3. A sensation of physical discomfort occurring as the result of disease or injury: ache, pain, pang, prick, prickle, smart, soreness, stab, stitch, throe, twinge. Informal : misery. See PAIN.
VERB:
1. Slang. To get money or something else from by deceitful trickery: bilk, cheat, cozen, defraud, gull, mulct, rook, swindle, victimize. Informal : chisel, flimflam, take, trim. Slang : diddle1, do, gyp, stick. See HONEST. 2. To cause to become sore or inflamed: burn, inflame, irritate. See HELP. 3. To feel or cause to feel a sensation of heat or discomfort: bite, burn, smart. See PAIN.

- - Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition. Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company.


Today's earrings: Sapphires, turtles

Bedtime Reading: Reality and Dreams, Muriel Spark

Not what I'd write on the walls of a restaurant

'A loaf of bread,' the Walrus said,
'Is what we chiefly need:
Pepper and vinegar besides
Are very good indeed --
Now, if you're ready, Oysters dear,
We can begin to feed.'

'But not on us!' the Oysters cried,
Turning a little blue.
'After such kindness, that would be
A dismal thing to do!'
'The night is fine,' the Walrus said,
'Do you admire the view?'
- - Lewis Carroll


Today's earrings: elephants, lockets

Bedtime Reading: American Gods, Neil Gaiman

Maple by mail

Got a thank you note from D today, with a maple sugar leaf enclosed. My, that child is precocious. And mannerly. I feel very fortunate in my nephew.
:)


Today's earrings: spiders, estrogen molecules

Bedtime reading: American Gods, Neil Gaiman

Fubsy in Literature

His spots are the joy of the Leopard: his horns are the Buffalo's pride.
Be clean, for the strength of the hunter is known by the gloss of his hide.
If ye find that the Bullock can toss you, or the heavy-browed Sambhur can gore;
Ye need not stop work to inform us: we knew it ten seasons before.

Oppress not the cubs of the stranger, but hail them as Sister and Brother,
For though they are little and fubsy, it may be the Bear is their mother.
"There is none like to me!" says the Cub in the pride of his earliest kill;
But the jungle is large and the Cub he is small. Let him think and be still.
- Maxims of Baloo [The Jungle Book, Rudyard Kipling]


Today's earrings: bees, typewriter keys

Bedtime reading: American Gods, Neil Gaiman

Stardust

• s/w MS in re: remote diagnosis and proper treatment of the lunatics in our computers.
• laundered. Collected dry cleaning. Sm. hole in the purple cardigan; asked them to clean it anyway - pickup Wed am.
• to EB. Serious traffic in SF. Saw an actual amphibious vehicle driving around Union Square. While walking from NBB to M's, was asked by fellow pedestrians which way was north. Still believe I answered correctly.
• Discussed quilt edging & Halloween costumes w/M.
• Presentation of presents.
• Dinner w/ M, A, S, and Spanish Mathematician.
• To Eville for movie. M parked cleverly. Movie sold out.
• To Andronico's for ice cream and cake. Singing & dancing to Thelma Houston + discussion of standard excellence of in-store soundtrack.
• To M's for Scrabble. M won (observed). Drank float. Was paid a quarter to eat cake.
• Valiant attempt on BB, aborted @ last exit d/t general recognition of ridiculousness of enterprise. (Suspect only 1 or 2 lanes open each way, because, damn.)
• Lots of loungers in Embarcadero Stn; no cabs @ Hilton cab rank. Caught cable car. Per brakeman, concert @ ball park => crowd. ["Rock the Bells": Rage Against the Machine, Public Enemy, and many, many more played the McCovey Cove parking lot.]
• To Cala. Bought crumbled feta for tomorrow's lunch.
• s/w KP. All well in the Far East, though the sub-prime mortgage crisis looms larger there. He was on his way to get a foot massage.
• Off to bed.
  

Today's earrings: diamonds, suns

Bedtime reading: American Gods, Neil Gaiman

Saint of the Day

Though today isn't actually her day: http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintc80.htm


Today's earrings: scarabs

Bedtime reading: Carpe Jugulum, Terry Pratchett

And, for my one hundredth post, something earth-shaking

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/16/BANMRIC93.DTL


Today's earrings: hands, basketweave spoons

Bedtime reading: The Great War and Modern Memory, Paul Fussell

The Waste Land

What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.
- - T.S. Eliot

Today's earrings: camels, lizards

Bedtime reading: The Great War and Modern Memory, Paul Fussell

John Godfrey Saxe's ( 1816-1887) version of the famous Indian legend

It was six men of Indostan,
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.

The First approach'd the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!"

The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, -"Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 'tis mighty clear,
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!"

The Third approach'd the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," -quoth he- "the Elephant
Is very like a snake!"

The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee:"
What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain," -quoth he,-"'
Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!"

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said- "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!"

The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Then, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,"
I see," -quoth he,- "the Elephant
Is very like a rope!"

And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!

MORAL,

So, oft in theologic wars
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean;
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!


Today's earrings: elephants, ebony teardrops

Bedtime reading: Carpe Jugulum, Terry Pratchett

Glistening through a tear of tremulous admiration

Confirmed my hypothesis about the homeless guy in Stacey's - he will move over if asked politely.
I am over-pleased with my new plant dictionary. Inside are gems like

• Boojum tree Idria columnaris
• Darling lily Crinum flaccidum
• Firewheel tree Stenocarpus sinuatus
• Honesty Lunaria annua
• Joker's hat chilli Capsicum baccatum 'Bi-Bell'
• the Larch Larix
• Nodding clubmoss Lycopodiella cernua
• Painted tongue Salpiglossis sinuata
• Rosy posy Rhodohypoxis baurii
• Toadflax Linaria, L. vulgaris
• Velvet prickly pear Opuntia tomentosa
• Zombi palm Zombia antillarum

I'm almost as pleased about the darling lily as I was to find out Grace Darling was a real person.
*gloat*gloat*gloat*


Today's book purchase:
The Penguin Who Knew Too Much, Donna Andrews
Flora's Plant Names; Loretta Barnard, Dannielle Doggett, Fiona Doig, Kate Etherington, eds.
Games Magazine, October 2007

Today's earrings: flies, amber teardrops

Bedtime reading: The Penguin Who Knew Too Much, Donna Andrews

Vertumnus, by Arcimboldo

Today's earrings: eyes, leaves

Bedtime reading: Maskerade, Terry Pratchett

The Blues

468. Blueness. --N. blue &c. adj.; garter-blue; watchet.
[Pigments] ultramarine, smalt, cobalt, cyanogen; Prussian --, syenite-blue; bice, indigo, woad.
lapis lazuli, sapphire, turquoise.
blue-, bluish-ness; bloom.
Adj. blue, azure, cerulean; sky-blue, -coloured, -dyed; nazy-blue, cyanic; bluish; atmospheric, retiring; cold.
-- Mark Peter Roget, M.D., F.R.S., enlarged by John Lewis Roget, M.A., new edition revised and enlarged by Samuel Romilly Roget, M.A. [Edition of 1941]


Today's earrings: sapphires, aquamarines

Bedtime reading: Maskerade, Terry Pratchett

Song of the Turtle

"Will you walk a little faster?" said a whiting to a snail,
"There's a porpoise close behind us, and he's treading on my tail.
See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance!
They are waiting on the shingle - will you come and join the dance?
Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance?
Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance?

"You can really have no notion how delightful it will be
When they take us up and throw us, with the lobsters, out to sea!"
But the snail replied, "Too far, too far!" and gave a look askance -
Said he thanked the whiting kindly, but he would not join the dance.
Would not, could not, would not, could not, would not join the dance.
Would not, could not, would not, could not, could not join the dance.

"What matters it how far we go?" his scaly friend replied,
"There is another shore, you know, upon the other side.
The further off from England the nearer is to France -
Then turn not pale, beloved snail, but come and join the dance.
Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you join the dance?
Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance?
- - Lewis Carroll


Today's earrings: violins, turtles

Bedtime reading: Maskerade, Terry Pratchett

Who needs sleep?

I didn't sleep at all last night. Teach me to read Deborah Tannen at bedtime - pumps my blood pressure right up.

The bus I got on this morning turned around at Union Square.

To my surprise, I had a reasonably productive day at work today. On the way home I stopped @ Crate & Barrel to get some dish scrubbers, and on impulse I went across the street to Macy's. As I went in, I was saying to myself, 'you won't find anything, and you'll just get all het up again. Bittermumblemoan.' To my vast surprise, I found clothes worth buying. Seems a negative attitude produces good results for me.

Then the bus I got on to go home broke down two blocks past Union Square...


Today's earrings: abalone footballs

Bedtime reading: Maskerade, Terry Pratchett

Back to Work

The eggs on my boss's windowsill have hatched into two wee pigeons. One is about twice the size of the other. Both are sort of damp-looking. They'll fly off soon and never call, never write, and what else could I expect after I missed most of their childhood?


Today's earrings: hands, typewriter keys

Bedtime reading: Talking From 9 to 5, Deborah Tannen, Ph.D.

Picnic on the beach!

We got sandwiches & went out to the Great Highway and lunched on the beach. I taught D to say "I dipped my toes in the water." He was fascinated by a giant cargo ship heading out to sea. After lunch, we encouraged D to run circles around us.

Then we went to look at the giant metal dinosaurs in Half Moon Bay. They are most excellent. Some of them harbor birds' nests.

We drove on to San Jose and dropped off K&S&D at their hotel. M and I headed back to her place so I could raid her refrigerator. We did rock/paper/scissors for the most desirable items; I won the avocado and lost the spready cheeses. She was walking me to the BART station when I fell down and scraped my knee. Embarassing, but not otherwise very damaging. I placed my feet very carefully the rest of the way home.


Today's earrings: mice, dopamine molecules

Bedtime reading: Rats, Lice and History; Hans Zinsser

Places to go

I fell in behind a guy with a beard going up the stairs at Embarcadero Station. We both got on the cable car.

The cable car conductor told me I was sitting there so peaceful, he wondered... He said he didn't think I was just getting off work, and I wasn't coming from the bars, and he knew I wasn't a tourist [I used a fast pass], so he wondered. I told him I'd come from my brother-in-law's birthday dinner, which we'd capped off with a game of Scrabble. "I knew it was something nice," he said. I don't know that I'm comfortable being so patently respectable.

I got off at the market, and I found myself following the same guy with the beard across the street and into the store. He grabbed a basket; I grabbed a basket. We were both heading for the produce section when he suddenly, with a backward glance, peeled off at the bakery counter. I think he thought I was following him. Maybe I'm not so patently respectable after all. :)


Today's earrings: compasses

Bedtime reading: Howl's Moving Castle, Diana Wynn Jones

Missing Audrey II

The original plan for today was to go see a rare bloom. Instead, we got some Chinese, and then we took a straw poll, which resulted in a change of plan. A&I went went shopping for dinner, and the rest of the crew headed for the steam trains.

I made my debut at the Berkeley Bowl today. There were many people there. Many, many people. And vegetables. Lots of vegetables. Then we went to Trader Joe's. Fewer people, fewer vegetables.

We got back to M's, and found a Scrabble game in progress. Turns out D had fallen asleep on the way to the trains, so they'd gone for root beer float makings. We gave them chocolate. :)

A started cooking while I got in on the next round of Scrabble. I won. Sorta. My big play was an 80-point bingo that M found for me.

T&S turned up, and we had a lovely evening. Good food. Fun people. T&S invited us all for Thanksgiving this year. I had pretty much planned on going east.

A brought me home. Thanks, A!


Today's earrings: flies, dragonflies

Bedtime reading: Howl's Moving Castle, Diana Wynn Jones

Home Again

It's deliciously cool outside. mmmm, fog.


Today's earrings: would have been compasses, but for the metal detectors

Bedtime reading: Logorrhea, John Klima, ed.

Vacation: All I Ever Wanted

Today I got to meet the shopping carts with the built-in cars. OMG, bestest thing ever. I got pictures. :)

Other than that, I mostly flollopped about while K&S thought deep thoughts. Oh, and I had breakfast with D, and helped read him bedtime stories. So cute!

I shall relay the alternate venue selection to S. (Thanks M!)


Today's earrings: bees, peas

Bedtime reading: Children: The Challenge, Rudolf Dreikurs and Vicki Soltz

This boat and all who sail in her

K made banana muffinlets first thing this morning. mmmm, banana.

R stopped by midday. The leg that was bitten by the leech yesterday was swelling. K gave him some literature on the symptoms of scary infections and sent him home, in hopes of scaring his folks into going to the emergency room.

Laxity...laziness...indolence...

K & I went to visit a neighbor who has a small boat and no clue. K got the sail rigged (lateen, not fore-and-aft, so it took an extra minute to figure out & set up), gave a quick lesson in which way to turn the tiller and how to sheet in, urged them to keep the centerboard down, and launched the neighbor's niece & nephew in the newly-christened boat, Fred. Fortunately, they also took the paddle, George, with them.

We came home. Made & ate guacamole. Finished a crossword puzzle.

D woke up from his nap, and S took him by R's. Shortly thereafter, got a call from S. The swelling wasn't going down, and R couldn't really walk. R's parents were taking him to the emergency room. Could K bring by the crutches from the upstairs closet? So we took them by. D busied himself moving a mound of dirt for R's father while we talked on their lawn. After sufficient dirt had been moved, we came home. Had dinner. Retired, exhausted.


Today's earrings: turtles, other turtles

Bedtime reading: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling

Potluck Picnic

Today was the Annual Meeting of the H's Lake Society. S went, and talked about sterile fish and speed limits. We all tagged along after for the potluck. The food was good. Even better: a rolling-down hill close a hand. K&D rolled down it. R, who seems to want to be Bill Irwin when he grows up, rolled down with acrobatic & pratfall embellishments. I taught him the Interrupting Starfish. More important, I got pictures. :)

By the time we got home I was melting, so I stayed in the house with the ceiling fan. The menfolk went to watch horses jump, and later visited the frogs [brek-kek-kek-kek, brek-kek-kek] up at the Gardens.

We grilled dinner out back. Fortunately, we got everything in before the skies opened up. There was thunder and lightning, and lots of rain all falling at once.


Today's earrings: scarabs

Bedtime reading: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J. K. Rowling

My nephew: Even cuter than a wee froggy on a lilypad

Slept in.

In the afternoon, went to the tiny local zoo w/ S&D. That zoo has two emu. We saw one of the emu lunching on tree. Elsewhere, there were several red pandas flolloping about. In another elsewhere, an otter. He was lively.

Then we went to the Wethersfield Gardens. Strong recommend, d/t
a) excellent views, plus a bunch of Formal Vistas
b) peacocks, in both white and technicolor.
c) great big huge hedges
d) perfect places to have tea
e) frogs in the water features. Ribbit!

K&S each took a spin in Deadwood, while I daintily sipped lemonade and read HP on the lawn. D was immersed in earth-moving endeavors (he's moving the mulch from the place mid-lawn that used to hold a tree to the place under the kitchen window that now holds lavender).

Homemade pizza for dinner, plus G&N+G-A turned up. (A is studying German, in Germany.)

D turns out to be a contrarian. Ask a question, and his first response will be "no." Ask again, and the answer tends to be different. I'm trying to teach him to say "contrarian." I'd appreciate everyone's help with this.

S says he'd like to be taken to the Blue Nile for his birthday.


Today's earrings: little flowers, floral deco triangles

Bedtime reading: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling

Busy busy day

K&D&me went to story hour at the library, and checked out some books
...to a coffee shop for muffins
...to a totally excellent playground, with a cannon, and a digging device, and a train, and a really tall spiral slide, and shady swings
...to the supermarket for fruit and cheese, and also sausages and other good stuff
...to the window store for screens, where we met two mellow dogs lying in the shade, who rolled over to have their bellies scratched
...home for lunch on the lawn
...and then K&me took a nap.

S&D went to the beach and to drop off books at another library, and when they came home, D took a nap.
K&S went for a swim in the lake.
D woke up, and we all changed for K's birthday dinner. The food was delicious. There were basil mashed potatoes, and it was good.
S&D got up and walked around some - they went to the little library across the street from the restaurant that's open until 9. After dinner, we went back and checked out more books.

I have a sunburn, and wish to begin experimenting with adding basil to my potatoes.


Today's earrings: strawberries, citrine teardrops

Bedtime reading: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J. K. Rowling

Arrived!

I'm at K&S's. Got here, took a nap, had dinner, read to Daniel with sound effects, discussed the deplorable state of sport in the world, going to bed.

It's been a full day.


Today's earrings: no earrings, d/t metal detectors.

Bedtime reading: Children: the Challenge, Rudolf Dreikurs & Vicki Soltz

Happy Harry Potterday

Today's purchases:

• 1 set housekeys
• 2 pairs black cloth mary janes
• 20 yds brown 3/8" curtain cord
• Games, September 2007
• wordless diagrams, Nigel Holmes
• The American Way of Death Revisited, Jessica Mitford
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling
• 3 scrumptious cheeses
• 2 links chicken-basil sausage
• 1 herb slab

And now, if you'll excuse me, I have some reading to do.


Today's earrings: spiders, green webs

Bedtime reading: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling

Little earthquake

Not so very little, really. Thank heavens for the California Building Code.

Another interrupted night's sleep. d/t my accumulating sleep deprivation, I believe the fates are conspiring against me. Be good to get some rest...


Today's earrings: compasses

Bedtime reading: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling

Gruß aus Kalifornia!

The tourists on the bus today were kind of cute. Pleasant, bewildered, and anxiously reading every street sign, even though they had at least another mile to travel. I hope they enjoy their stay.

There was a manic local standing right next to the driver who was less cute. It only took six stops of constant yammer for the driver to tell him to get off the bus. Fortunately for everyone, he did.


Today's earrings: flowers, peapods

Bedtime reading: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling

Not working

The busy bees with the typewriters keys were supposed to ensure a productive day. That didn't happen. I did get through everything I planned to get through... it just took until 7pm.

Between the long day and Top Chef I decided to treat myself to the pretentious restaurant across the street. That was a good call. They deep-fry garlic slices in with the fries. Plus, the nice wait staff bought me a drink with my nummy chocolate dessert. Thank you, nice wait staff!

Not pleased that they booted Lia tonight on Top Chef. I like her.


Today's earrings: bees, typewriter keys

Bedtime reading: Logorrhea, John Klima, ed.

Google foul

I chose my earrings sort of randomly this morning, figuring I could come up with a decent rationalization by tonight. I was vaguely thinking some kind of amphibious superheroine. Fifteen hours later I'm sitting here feeling insufficiently rationalized, so I googled. Bad move. All the deformed frog websites came up, and some of them had pictures.

*shudder*


Today's earrings: frogs, estrogen molecules

Bedtime reading: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J. K. Rowling

Death warmed over

Just plain insomnia last night... damn, I'm tired. I'm turning this off, going to bed, and hoping for the best.

Sweet dreams, everyone.


Today's earrings: scarabs

Bedtime reading: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J. K. Rowling

Bastille Day

Happy Anniversary to K&SC!

SD's birthday revels here - Ethiopian for dinner, chocolate dinosaur cupcakes for dessert, and the new Potter movie to round off the evening. I shared around the Interrupting Starfish bit. SD followed up with the Incognito Starfish, the Celebrating Starfish, the One-Armed Starfish of Derision, and the Morphing Starfish (becomes the Jellyfish of Doooom). Dude is creative.

We ended the evening beheading chocolate dinosaurs. Many happy returns of the day. :)


Today's earrings: strawberries, chocolate

Bedtime reading: Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett

A little shut-eye

3:30 in the morning the phone rings. They wanted to talk to Erica.

There is no Erica here.

I have gotten calls for Erica before. From what those people said, they're just calling every E. Mylast in the area code, hoping that I'm the right one. My feeling on the matter is that if you don't know someone well enough to have their current phone number, you don't know them well enough to call at 3:30 in the morning. But hey, standards differ.

I wish Erica's friends and family would never call me again, though.


Today's earrings: eyes, alien eyeballs

Bedtime reading: Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett