Happy Birthday, Tiger!

Tiger is three today. WooHoo!


Today's earrings: diamonds, dice

Bedtime reading: Life on the Mississippi, Mark Twain

For the birds

Buford Strange was already at the North Paragon, and with him were Adrian Montaigne and Vincent Rue.

"I have already ordered for ourselves and for yourself, Christopher," Buford said. "It is sheldrake, and I hope that you like it. They will not prepare it for fewer than four persons. 'We can't go around killing quarter ducks,' they say."

- - R.A. Lafferty, "Days of Grass, Days of Straw"


Today's earrings: owls, crows

Bedtime reading: The Gay Phoenix, Michael Innes

Been a Long, Long Time

....When only a few billion cosmic cycles had been completed, there was a gash in the clock-rock that you could hide a horse in. The little bird made very many journeys back to sharpen its beak. And Pithekos Pete, the most rapid of the monkeys, had now random-written The Tempest, complete and perfect. They shook hands all around, monkeys and angel. It was something of a moment.

The moment did not last. Pete, instead of pecking at furious random to produce the rest of the plays, wrote his own improved version of The Tempest. Boshel was furious.

"But it's better, Bosh," Pete protested. "And I have some ideas about stagecraft that will really set this thing up...."

- - R.A. Lafferty


Today's earrings: monkeys, typewriter keys

Bedtime reading: Ringing Changes, R.A. Lafferty

Now I want to try the lobster corndogs

They have a tasting menu Thursdays. But they're in the Marina. Is it worth it?


Today's earrings: olive shells

Bedtime reading: Murder Melts in Your Mouth, Nancy Martin

Webs to weave

Slow system at work today. While waiting for pages to reload,* I amused myself checking Wikipedia's info on my own areas of professional competence. They're a little... off. I'm sorely tempted to re-write them...


Today's earrings: spiders, estrogen molecules

Bedtime reading: Caught in the Web of Words, K.M. Elisabeth Murray


*Note to programmers: please don't write data entry portals in html. Rate of entry should be limited by the typist's speed, not by how much pretty graphical crap needs to be refreshed every time the typist hits enter.

Measure

There's a place for us,
Somewhere a place for us.
Peace and quiet and open air
Wait for us
Somewhere.

There's a time for us,
Some day a time for us,
Time together with time spare,
Time to learn, time to care,
Some day!

- - Stephen Sondheim


Today's earrings: compasses

Bedtime reading: Calendar, David Ewing Duncan

A-a-a-a-a-le-lu-u-jah

I attended Easter service at First Congregational. This was the first official service in the new building. (They'd been holding "one hour tours" of the sanctuary every Sunday morning while waiting for the use permit to come through.) A guy I ride the bus with was there. I finally got to meet his partner. We sang "Christ the Lord is Risen Today," which made me happy. At the end we sang the Hallelujah Chorus, which made me very happy.

After church I took the #1 bus out to the Legion of Honor. I admired the view, which is seriously admirable. Also toured the museum. Their permanent collection is on a par with the DeYoung's, except the Legion has Rodins instead of that fascinatingly awful fireplace.

Hoping you all had a lovely Vernal Festival.


Today's earrings: bunnies, green eggs

Bedtime reading: The Man Who Would be King and Other Stories, Rudyard Kipling

Fish on Friday

Good Friday to all, and to all a good night. :)


Today's earrings: fish, other fish

Bedtime reading: The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, Terry Pratchett

No Survivor tonight

I'm feeling fairly bereft at the moment.


Today's earrings: flies, amber

Bedtime reading: The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, Terry Pratchett

Protest Day

A police motorcade passed my bus this morning on the way to work. I understand many people got arrested.


Today's earrings: hands, basketweave spoons

Bedtime reading: The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, Terry Pratchett

Saving

The individual serves the industrial system not by supplying it with savings and the resulting capital; he serves it by consuming its products.

- - J.K. Galbraith


Today's earrings: squirrels, dimes

Bedtime reading: The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, Terry Pratchett

Sanctity

I hope you all had a lovely St. Gertrude's Day.


Today's earrings: flowers, other flowers

Bedtime reading: The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, Terry Pratchett

I'm a walking folio

Met the Landed Gentry for bookshopping & dinner. We had triple chocolate for dessert, so I sang on the way home. Sugar makes me sing. And recite poetry. I guess that's not so different than without the sugar...

Today's acquisitions:
Dictionary of Symbols, Carl G. Liungman; W.W. Norton & Co., 1994
The Herder Dictionary of Symbols, Boris Matthews, trans; Chiron Publications, 2008
Eadward Muybridge, Paul Hill; Phaidon, 2001
Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Charlotte & Peter Fiell; Taschen, 2004
L. Frank Baum, Creator of Oz, Katharine M. Rogers; Da Capo Press, 2003
Games Magazine, May 2008
The Playground, Tony Bennett; Sony Music, 1998
West Side Story, Original Broadway cast; Sony BMG Music Entertainment, 2007
Forever Blue, Chris Isaak; Reprise Records, 1995
One brass clock
One tote bag.

Today's earrings: leaves, typewriter keys

Bedtime reading: The Three-Martini Playdate, Christie Mellor

Speed

Reluctantly crouched at the starting line
Engines pumping and thumping in time
The green light flashes, the flags go up
Churning and burning they yearn for the cup

They deftly manuver and muscle for rank
Fuels burning fast on an empty tank
Reckless and wild, they pour through the turns
Their prowess is potent and secretly stern

As they speed through the finish, the flags go down
The fans get up and they get out of town
The arena is empty except for one man
Still driving and striving as fast as he can

The sun has gone down and the moon has come up
Not long ago somebody left with the cup
But he's driving and striving an hugging the turns
And thinking of someone for who he still burns

- - John McCrea


Today's earrings: coffee cups, hummingbirds

Bedtime reading: Owl's Well That Ends Well, Donna Andrews

Poor Jonathan

He was seriously annoying me, but I hate seeing him forced to withdraw on a medical. He wanted so much to play... Chet quitting in the same episode was just galling.


Today's earrings: flies, alligators

Bedtime reading: Owl's Well That Ends Well, Donna Andrews

Return of the cooks

The squirrelly guy is annoying me.

I count seven New Yorkers, four San Franciscan, two each from Chicago and Atlanta, and one Angelena. No one's currently working in Vegas. hmmmm.

I predict trouble between the couple. The judges will like one of them better, and the other contestants will not be supportive. I do hope they come out the other side still wanting to be together.


Today's earrings: pigs, peas

Bedtime reading: Owl's Well That Ends Well, Donna Andrews

Prosperity

Main Entry:	prosperity
Part of Speech:	noun
Definition:	good fortune
Synonyms:	abundance, accomplishment, advantage, affluence, arrival, benefit, boom, boomlet, clover, do, ease*, easy street*, exorbitance, expansion, flying colors*, fortune, go, good, good times, gravy train*, growth, increase, inflation, interest, luxury, opulence, plenteousness, plenty, prosperousness, riches, success, successfulness, thriving, velvet, victory, wealth, welfare, well-being
Antonyms:	failure, hardship
Source:	Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1) Copyright © 2008 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved. * = informal or slang

Today's earrings: flowers, coins

Bedtime reading: Owl's Well That Ends Well, Donna Andrews

Pretty good day

I hit Green Apple after work, and discovered
:) - a present for Tiger
:) - Pomegranate has reissued the Fantod Deck
:) - they had penicillin in stock
:( - you have to spend $150 to get a free bag. No free bag for me.

Then there were pot stickers. :)


Today's acquisitions: Life on the Mississippi; Mark Twain; Bantam, 1990
Winnie Ille Pu; A.A. Milne, Alexander Lenard, trans.; Penguin, 1991
Men and Gods; Rex Warner, trans., Edward Gorey, il.; New York Review of Books, 2007
The Fantod Pack, Interpreted by Madame Groeda Weyrd; Edward Gorey; Pomegranate, 2007
The Culture of Fear; Barry Glassner; Basic Books, 1999
The Three-Martini Playdate; Christie Mellor; Chronicle Books, 2004
How To; Jennifer McKnight-Trontz; Chronicle Books, 2004

[some presents]

Today's earrings: mice, men

Bedtime reading: Owl's Well That Ends Well, Donna Andrews

Spring Forward

Brunch @ M's. Afterward, there was a little light shopping.


Today's earrings: scarabs

Bedtime reading: Owl's Well That Ends Well, Donna Andrews

I found you guys a game to play

http://www.travelpod.com/traveler-iq


Today's earrings: coffee cups, crows

Bedtime reading: Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon, Donna Andrews

I wish you all watched Survivor

...because then I could just say, "OMG! Tracy totally rules! Cirie too!" and you'd know what I was talking about. I love those two. I want one of them to win.


Today's earrings: pineapples, peas

Bedtime reading: Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon, Donna Andrews

Not pleased

The wrong one won Project Runway. And Muni has proposed changing the bus routes I take to work.

I'm going to go wallow in pointless aggrievedness now.


Today's earrings: sapphires, flowers

Bedtime reading: Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon, Donna Andrews

The Trees Under the Protection of the Gods

THE GODS, according to an ancient legend, made choice of certain trees to be under their special protection. Jupiter chose the oak, Venus the myrtle, Apollo the laurel, Cybele the pine, and Hercules the poplar. Minerva, wondering why they had preferred trees not yielding fruit, inquired the reason for their choice. Jupiter replied, “It is lest we should seem to covet the honor for the fruit.” But said Minerva, “Let anyone say what he will the olive is more dear to me on account of its fruit.” Then said Jupiter, “My daughter, you are rightly called wise; for unless what we do is useful, the glory of it is vain.”

- Aesop; George Tyler Townsend, trans.


Today's earrings: squirrels, leaves

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

Honey in the Rock

I've got a home in that rock don't you see
I've got a home in that rock don't you see
I've got a home in that rock just beyond the mountain top
I've got a home in that rock don't you see

Chorus
Oh there's honey in the rock for me
There's honey in the rock for me
There's honey in the rock just beyond the mountain top
Oh there's honey in the rock for me

God gave Noah the rainbow sign don't you see,
God gave Noah the rainbow sign don't you see,
God gave Noah the rainbow sign, no more water but the fire next time
God gave Noah the rainbow sign don't you see

Oh, I'm climbing up the King's highway,
Oh, I'm climbing up the King's highway,
Got old Satan on my track, never think of lookin' back
Oh, I'm climbing up the King's highway

Today's earrings: bees, rocks

Bedtime reading: "Grasshoppers and Wild Honey," R.A. Lafferty