TGIF

If nothing else, it was Friday.


Today's earrings: hands, basketweave spoons

Bedtime reading: JPod, Douglas Coupland

Turn, Turn, Turn

What I didn't have for dinner: turbot, turkey, and turtle in a turqouise tureen with a turmeric/turnip turnover on the side. Just as well; such a meal could only bring turbulence and turmoil.


Today's earrings: turquoise rounds, turtles

Bedtime reading: The Turquoise Lament. John D. MacDonald

Rising

I have no idea how to cook fish, besides dicing it and tossing it in a chowder. I like chowder, and all, but it seems a shame to do that to good fresh seafood. Perhaps I should look into expanding my horizons a little.


Today's earrings: flies, trout

Bedtime reading: Three Men in a Boat, Jerome K. Jerome

Picnic

Potato salad and a little cold salmon for dinner.


Today's earrings: ants, rocks

Bedtime reading: Have His Carcass, Dorothy L. Sayers

Epistles

Thanks, M, for your solidarity. *hugs & group shaking of fists* I've sent the USPS a lovely letter expressing my slavish desire to assist them in any way in getting D's box o' books to D. I'm postponing promises of extravagant retribution until the next letter.

And, no thanks, random Portuguese dude. I don't want that on a t-shirt.


Today's earrings: bees, typewriter keys

Bedtime reading: The Lost Lions, or, Having Opened the Wrong Envelope; Edward Gorey

books gone missing

The post office lost the box of books I sent D. Partial list of the contents:

Childcraft, 1961 edition. Red & beige hardcovers.
Vol. 1: Poems of Childhood
Vol. 2: Story Telling and Other Poems
Vol. 3: Folk and Fairy Tales
This edition: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260131361756&ih=016&category=279&ssPageName=STORE:PROMOBOX:NEWLIST

Richard Scarry's Busy Busy World, Richard Scarry; Golden Press 1965
Actual item: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220101465945

Fletcher and Zenobia, Victoria Chess, Edward Gorey, Ill; Meredith Press1967
Good condition, w/ dust jacket: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.childscapes.com/jpegs/allnew/7506.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.childscapes.com/bookpages/gorey.html&h=216&w=216&sz=23&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=J3VpnHeW2Q7jcM:&tbnh=107&tbnw=107&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfletcher%2Band%2Bzenobia%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26c2coff%3D1

The Very Fine Clock, Muriel Spark, Edward Gorey, Ill; Knopf 1968
Library binding (no dust jacket): http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n9/n47210.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/muriel-spark/very-fine-clock.htm&h=135&w=182&sz=5&hl=en&start=14&um=1&tbnid=3BmjsQjWHCZoWM:&tbnh=75&tbnw=101&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dthe%2Bvery%2Bfine%2Bclock%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26c2coff%3D1

Bed Bed Bed, They Might Be Giants; Simon & Schuster, 2003
http://www.amazon.com/Bed-They-Might-Be-Giants/dp/0743250249/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-3762973-3081456?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182743886&sr=8-1

The Book That Jack Wrote, Jon Scieszka and DAn Adel; Puffin 1997
http://www.amazon.com/Book-that-Jack-Wrote/dp/0140553851/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-3762973-3081456?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182743952&sr=1-1

Let's Make Rabbits, Leo Lionni; Knopf 2002
http://www.amazon.com/Lets-Make-Rabbits-Board-Book/dp/0375815643/ref=pd_bbs_2/103-3762973-3081456?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182744104&sr=1-2

Plus there was some Milne, but I'm no longer sure which. And there was other stuff I'm not remembering.

I hate the post office.

it seemed like a good idea at the time...

...but I think it just means I haven't been getting enough sleep.


Today's earrings: deer, Inca dudes

Bedtime reading: The Atlantic, July/August 2007

Summertime, summertime

All day, the voices in my head have been singing Gershwin:
Summertime,
And the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin'
And the cotton is high

and then The Jamies:
Its time to head straight for them hills
Its time to live and have some thrills
Come along and have a ball
A regular free-for-all

a dash of the Lovin' Spoonful:
Hot town, summer in the city
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty
Been down, isn't it a pity
Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city

then back to Gershwin:
One of these mornings
You’re goin’ to rise up singing
Then you’ll spread your wings
And you’ll take the sky
But till that morning
There’s a nothin’ can harm you
Don't you cry.

Hope everyone had a good solstice.


Today's earrings: strawberries, peapods

Bedtime reading: The Atlantic, July/August 2007

Hare & tortoise

A Hare jeered at a Tortoise for the slowness of his pace. But he laughed and said that he would run against her and beat her any day she would name. “Come on,” said the Hare; “you shall soon see what my feet are made of.” So it was agreed that they should start at once. The Tortoise went off jogging along, without a moment's stopping, at his usual steady pace. The Hare, treating the whole matter very lightly, said she would first take a little nap, and that she should soon overtake the Tortoise. Meanwhile the Tortoise plodded on, and the Hare oversleeping herself, arrived at the goal, only to see that the Tortoise had got in before her.

- - Townsend & James

I'm wondering if the gendered pronouns in the above are a result of the Greek, or an editorial on the part of the translators.


Today's earrings: bunnies, turtles

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

Worlds of wonder

http://www.thisoldtoy.com/L_FP_set/toy-pages/900-999/979-dumptruckers.html
I never knew these existed. The Fisher-Price universe has endless mystery.

and check this out: http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/


Today's earrings: dragonflies, other dragonflies

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

Lest Levitation Come Upon Us

She learned a lot in the theology stacks. She learned that women are the gateway to Hell. She learned that despite claiming that what they had seen and experienced could not possibly be expressed in words, the mystics went right on and expressed it at extraordinary length. She learned that the Vatican had curious problems, and that it was possible to commit a crime called "fishing in Papal waters." She learned vast amounts about things that not only did not interest her but clearly had not interested those who wrote about them, and it became obvious to her that if all theology were written in Latin it would be no great loss.

- - Suzette Haden Elgin


Today's earrings: spiders, estrogen molecules

Bedtime reading: Perpetual Light, Alan Ryan, ed.

Ocean's 13

Lunch @ Quetzal, followed by a viewing of The Rug in my kitchen and a viewing of Ocean's 13 at the AMC Van Ness. Charming caper flick, unmarred by romance or other extraneous nonsense.

We then trekked out to the untracked Avenues, in search of the Green Apple of delight. Eureka! Rock-star parking, too.

Inside, S & I fell into a discussion of Robertson Davies. I recommended The Lyre of Orpheus, and said I really should get him a copy. "Why not this one?" he asked. Mindful of his impending birthday, I seized upon the suggestion and snatched the book from his hand. He and A went off to feed the meter. M obligingly tagged after me as I looked for Richard Mattheson's I Am Legend (we had seen a trailer for a film version earlier) and bought the Davies.

We met again at the Toy Boat. M had a tuna melt. The rest of us ate sweets. I can report positively on the lemon/white chocolate cheesecake. Then they dropped me at my place and undertook the Crossing to their own places of rest.

Today's book purchase:
JPod, Douglas Coupland (Bloomsbury)
How to Behave, Caroline Tiger (Quirk Books)
Donald has a Difficulty, Peter F. Neumeyer & Edward Gorey (Harry N. Abrams, Inc.)
Donald and the..., Peter F. Neumeyer & Edward Gorey (Harry N. Abrams, Inc.)
The Lyre of Orpheus, Robertson Davies (Penguin)

Today's earrings: angelfish, seashells

Bedtime reading: How to Behave, Caroline Tiger

Reptiles & Samurai

I was in the break room with the newspaper when a coworker walked in, asked what I was reading. The review of the Police show, I told her. She asked if I was a fan. I told her I was a sophmore in high school in 1983, and what choice did I have? I asked what she was doing in '83, and she said she was two years old and not really tuned in to the radio. She wanted to know if I as into "80s music," and I didn't really know what to say to that. It's the music of my youth. Some of it I still love, some of it still sucks. She wanted to know my favorite band of the time. I mentioned Oingo Boingo... and the name rang no bells for her. I told her Elfman wrote the theme for Futurama. [Looked it up - I was wrong. He wrote the Simpsons theme. Sue me.]

Poor girl lacks Boingo, though, and that's just not good. I should bring her some.

Oddly, I was thinking of an Oingo Boingo tune when I put in my earrings this morning:
Reptiles have silly grins
Dark eyes--shiny teeth--some have fins
Samurai they smile never
Serious--pretty swords--very clever


Today's earrings: swords, alligators

Bedtime reading: Hip-Deep in Alligators, Robert Campbell

Cash & carry

Compare & contrast, concerning the import of shoes:
US: http://hotdocs.usitc.gov/docs/tata/hts/bychapter/0701C64.pdf
Canada: http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/general/publications/tariff2007/01-99/ch64ne.pdf
Australia: http://www.customs.gov.au/webdata/resources/tariff/chapter64goods_a.pdf
Ireland: http://www.revenue.ie/pdf/04_12_CETI_06.pdf


Today's earrings: camels, coins

Bedtime reading: "The Mule," Foundation and Empire, Isaac Asimov

TC3

General impressions:
- Almost everyone there is a grown-up, and cooking is their day job. I have high hopes for the quality of the cooking this year. I do wish they'd spent more time talking about the food, though.
- Where's Ted? I was promised Ted.
- That dress Padma was in when she & Tom crashed the party was exactly perfect for her. Much better than the hoochie stuff they had her in last year. The outfit Tom was wearing later, though... a red v-neck under an aloha shirt is not a good look for him.
- They should have sent home the guy with the time-management problem. I think he dodged the bullet by being able to quote Bourdain back at Bourdain.
- Bourdain gives the fabulous prize of a bunch of his own books, and the promise of a drinking bout? Self-promoting bastard.
- The previews had way too much drama and not enough food porn. I want complicated dishes of expensive ingredients, lovingly described and droolingly photographed. I do not want to watch some New Yorker challenge the room to a dick-measuring contest.


Today's earrings: compasses

Bedtime reading: Foundation and Empire, Isaac Asimov

Victory

S's brother's wife had a little boy today. He's all small and scrunchy in the pictures, and very cute. Say it with me: awwww.


Today's earrings: flies, amber

Bedtime reading: Foundation and Empire, Isaac Asimov

em•pire

Pronunciation: (em'pīur; for 8–10 also om-pēr'), [key]
—n.
1. a group of nations or peoples ruled over by an emperor, empress, or other powerful sovereign or government: usually a territory of greater extent than a kingdom, as the former British Empire, French Empire, Russian Empire, Byzantine Empire, or Roman Empire.
2. a government under an emperor or empress.
3. (often cap.) the historical period during which a nation is under such a government: a history of the second French empire.
4. supreme power in governing; imperial power; sovereignty: Austria's failure of empire in central Europe.
5. supreme control; absolute sway: passion's empire over the mind.
6. a powerful and important enterprise or holding of large scope that is controlled by a single person, family, or group of associates: The family's shipping empire was founded 50 years ago.
7. (cap.) a variety of apple somewhat resembling the McIntosh.

—adj.
1. (cap.) characteristic of or developed during the first French Empire, 1804–15.
2. (usually cap.) (of women's attire and coiffures) of the style that prevailed during the first French Empire, in clothing being characterized esp. by décolletage and a high waistline, coming just below the bust, from which the skirt hangs straight and loose.
3. (often cap.) noting or pertaining to the style of architecture, furnishings, and decoration prevailing in France and imitated to a greater or lesser extent in various other countries, c1800–30: characterized by the use of delicate but elaborate ornamentation imitated from Greek and Roman examples or containing classical allusions, as animal forms for the legs of furniture, bas-reliefs of classical figures, motifs of wreaths, torches, caryatids, lyres, and urns and by the occasional use of military and Egyptian motifs and, under the Napoleonic Empire itself, of symbols alluding to Napoleon I, as bees or the letter N.
- Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc.,

Today's earrings: bees, flowers

Bedtime Reading: Foundation and Empire, Isaac Asimov

Pretty colors

Dinner at M's: M has painted her living room a lovely shade of pale taupe, and she wanted to show it off. We had baked chicken, dinosaur polenta, and a really good salad S made with kumquats, gorgonzola, and candied nuts, among other things. I've never had kumquat before. I've been missing out. We played pick-up sticks and hearts. Then S and I hit the North Berkeley Target. Consumerist heaven. Or perhaps, consumerist purgatory. (They were missing several of the items on S's list, and did not carry my brand of shampoo.)

The view, coming back across the bridge at sunset, was spectacular. No fog, and just a few scarlet clouds on the western horizon. The bay sapphire blue. The GG silhouetted in gold. Light enough to see the detail of Coit Tower, and just dark enough to see that it was lit up. Lights in the buildings... and I get to live here.


Today's purchases:
8" fry pan
12 pack Ivory soap w/ aloe
1/2 gallon cranberry juice

Today's earrings: abalone footballs
Bedtime reading: Foundation and Empire, Isaac Asimov

Schadenfreude

is corrosive to the soul. Ill-wishing is not a beneficial practice. And yet... the sight of an spoilt overgrown child being taught that there are people with the power (and the will) to punish her for being disrespectful makes me chuckle.

I am not a good person.


Today's earrings: swords, Celtic knots

Bedtime reading: Foundation, Isaac Asimov

Semi-precious

http://www.kyotouae.com/colorchart/


Today's earrings: sapphires, peridots

Bedtime reading: Foundation, Isaac Asimov

Tempest

Top Chef 2-nite. I still hate Dave, and my precious Tiffani is vindicated! In fairness, I should say that however whiny Dave is, he's whining while doing his best to pull his weight for the team. Not like the morons from S2, who know how limited Ilan is and still stuck him with the duck. And didn't bother to coordinate their menu at all. And didn't even try to talk Marcel out of the pre-puddles he calls foams and gelees. Twerps.


Today's earrings: mice, teapots

Bedtime reading: Foundation, Isaac Asimov

Jury Duty, 2005

A blast from the past, by popular demand:


The setting: one weekday last June, at about 2 in the afternoon, at the corner of 46th & Judah.
The action: sitting at the bus stop waiting for the southbound 18 bus is a young woman with her baby in a sling carrier. Up walks an old guy with a cane and a bunch of grocery bags. He sits down near her and gushes over the baby. Then another old guy walks up and greets Woman w/Baby by name. We’ll call him “Scary Drunk.” He’d spent the morning in the park, drinking either a six-pack or a twelve pack, and there may or may not have been some vodka, too. Woman w/Baby & Scary Drunk have known each other for years, it seems.

Accounts vary, at this point, but Scary Drunk seems to have decided that Cane Guy was bothering Woman w/Baby. Words were exchanged, and then Woman w/Baby got up and walked Scary Drunk out of the bus shelter, where they stood talking.

The bus finally comes around the corner at Lincoln onto 46th, and everyone starts collecting their things and generally rustling about, as people do when they see the bus coming. Cane Guy claims that at this point, Scary Drunk was telling Woman w/Baby that she’d ruined her life by having a kid so young (she’s twenty). So Cane Guy butts in to tell Woman w/Baby again how precious babies are. Scary Drunk tells him to butt out. More, and uglier, words. Scary Drunk makes scary drunken threats. Cane Guy pulls a sword out of the cane and points it at Scary Drunk. Scary Drunk tries to kick it out of his hand, but, being drunk, misses. Cane Guy goes around Scary Drunk, pointing the sword at him all the while, and then Cane Guy gets on the bus. The bus driver tells him to put the sword away.

Scary Drunk gets on the bus right behind Cane Guy. Cane Guy sees Scary Drunk getting on and pulls another knife from a belt sheath. Scary Drunk gets as far as the fare box at the top of the stairs when Cane Guy tries to stick him in the side with the knife. He's not getting much penetration, though, so he switches to an overhand motion, and slices Scary Drunk through the ear, the neck, and the shoulder. At some point, Scary Drunk also picked up a defensive wound on his forearm. Scary Drunk just stands there for a minute as Cane Guy backs off. Woman w/Baby, who was right behind Scary Drunk on the bus stairs, encourages Scary Drunk off the bus and gets him to lie down at the bus stop until the ambulance arrived. (Net injuries were a lot of blood, a few cuts, and a partially collapsed lung.) Bus driver tells Cane Guy that the police have been called & tells him to get off the bus. Other passengers follow Cane Guy off the bus, then follow him home, & point out the apartment to the police.

Cane Guy was claiming self defense. Sadly for him, the bus was equipped with four cameras and a microphone. We, the jury, noted the long list of ways Cane Guy had to get out of the situation that didn’t involve putting Scary Drunk in the hospital, and convicted Cane Guy of assault and battery.

God Bless America

Today in Walgreen's, I saw a little plastic jeep with two little plastic hunters inside and a little plastic deer strapped to the little plastic hood. Press a button, and the deer raises his head and sings "Sweet Home Alabama."

What I don't get - do they really think the target market for this merchandise is going to be shopping for tchotchkes in the Walgreen's at the corner of Bush and Sansome?


Today's earrings: bees, lizards

Bedtime reading: Foundation, Isaac Asimov

Rosewood

So I'm in Stacey's, checking to see if Matt Ruff has a new book out (no) when a guy in a wheelchair speeds by and stops at the reference desk. Dude is mad. He's bitching loudly about the homeless guy. The staff at the reference desk calls for the manager.

(The homeless guy, for those of you who aren't evening regulars at Stacey's, is there every evening. The management at Stacey's lets him keep his cart in a storage closet near the front of the store.)

I've passed up that Tanith Lee I keep passing up and moved on to looking for new titles by Margaret Maron & Nancy Martin (no), and the manager is trying to placate the guy in the wheelchair. Somehow they ended up right next to the mystery section. He's offering to help the guy in the wheelchair get any title he likes. The guy in the wheelchair is talking loudly about how the homeless guy is in the way and junking up the place.

(The homeless guy can be in the way if you want to get a look at the Dan Brown or Agatha Christie at the same time he's pulling his stuff out. And he's obviously a homeless guy, and unaesthetic. I'm not convinced it's a wise business decision to let the guy store his things there - but it's a decision they've long since made.)

The manager is trying to tell the guy in the wheelchair that the homeless guy has been coming in for years, and... I don't know where he was going with that, because the guy in the wheelchair interrupted him to say that he doesn't care; he will be filing suit against Stacey's under the ADA. The manager says he's sorry to hear that. The guy in the wheelchair says again that he's filing suit under the ADA. The manager says again he's sorry to hear that, apologizes that wheelchair guy feels inconvenienced... and walks away. Wheelchair guy is totally sputtering. I brush past him into the next alcove to check whether there's a new Donna Andrews (no), and there's the homeless guy, kinda in the way. I didn't talk to the homeless guy (I never do; I have class issues), but y'know, I suspect that if asked, he'd move his stuff out of my way.

Dude would rather cause a scene and threaten a lawsuit than talk to a homeless guy. I shake my head.


Today's earrings: roses, wood rounds

Bedtime reading: Foundation, Isaac Asimov

Matinee Idylls

M and I played scientist today, and we now have experimental evidence that Spiderman 3 is less fun that watching paint dry.

Other observations:
- Nice effects. Too bad they went on too long.
- The only actor with any subtlety was JK Simmons. A one-dimensional role, and he plays it broad - but he's the one who got some nuance out of the lousy script.
- Stan Lee did a nice cameo.
- Rebound Girl going, "You asked me out to annoy someone else. Get bent." That was nice.
- If they do make another, I hope against hope that "MJ" got some of that space goo on her.
- No final decision has been reached on the taupes, though yellow has been definitely rejected.


Borrowed The Foundation Trilogy from M.


Today's earrings: spiders, men

Bedtime reading: Foundation, Isaac Asimov

Fish & Game

Go fish.


Today's earrings: deer, fish

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