Went to church

St. Boniface. Pretty little church. They opened with "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today," and after the end of the service, the organist played the "Hallelujah Chorus." Sadly, no one but me stuck around to sing, and I tend to get lost in the more involved sections without a leader to follow. But i still got to sing along, which is much of the point.

I do need to stop going to Catholic churches, though. The order of service just feels off to me. Protestant4evah, I guess.

M brought K/S/D back, and we went for Indian food. The camping trip was most eventful.


Today's earrings: dragonflies, other dragonflies

Bedtime reading: Passage, Connie Willis

Played legos with Tiger

Plus, Seder @ M's. Turns out my earrings were thematically appropriate.


Today's earrings: frogs, dragonflies

Bedtiem reading: Passage, Connie Willis

Ephemera

http://iparrizar.mnstate.edu/~juan/fm_astronomy.php


Today's earrings: dragonflies, other dragonflies

Bedtime reading: Death's Half Acre, Margaret Maron

Sunbird

"Sunbird" is Mr. Gaiman's attempt at a Lafferty story. He doesn't do too badly, either. It's just... R.A. Lafferty wouldn't have his characters go haring off to Cairo, Egypt. A big part of Lafferty's ethos is that the exciting, exotic stuff all happens within streetcar distance of Tulsa, OK. His characters may visit other planets, but they don't see any need to visit parts of this world much beyond Ponca City. Sending them to Cairo, Illinois would have been a stretch. Lafferty would have sent his characters to an aptly-named neighborhood or suburb of Tulsa. (And if there isn't one, he'd have fudged up a folk etymology that made it aptly-named. He did that sometimes.)

The plot, though, and the underlying gimmick - those are very Laffertian.


Today's earrings: dragonflies, other dragonflies

Bedtime reading: Fragile Things, Neil Gaiman

Summer day

We had a lovely brunch, and then we played Scrabble. I won, by a few measly points, because M got stuck with the Q.

After, we got the fabric for my Halloween costume. I'ts going to be good.


Today's earrings: dragonflies, other dragonfiles

Bedtime reading: To Say Nothing of the Dog, Connie Willis

Monday, Monday

Monday Monday, so good to me,
Monday Monday, it was all I hoped it would be
Oh Monday morning, Monday morning couldn't guarantee
That Monday evening you would still be here with me.

- - John Phillips

Today's earrings: flowers, dragonflies

Bedtime reading: Stardust, Neil Gaiman

A good time was had by all

Brunch! There was quiche, and mimosas, and bread pudding. I brought cheese. :)

After yummy food & considerable mimosery, presents were opened. S got a target bag, Cricket got some pretty dresses and some fraction of a drill, Angry Lemming got the remainder of the drill and a remote-controlled indoor/outdoor mechanical dragonfly.

While the dragonfly charged up we watched Act I of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Then we tested the dragonfly, indoors and out. After that, AL conquered the world, and we watched the remainder of Dr. Horrible. 'Twas a sad and tragic ending. I just hope the DVDs are out by Christmas.

The By-Now-Quite-Benevolent Lemming gave me a lift into the city and switched monitors with me. I did not convince him to take any games away, but give me time...


Today's earrings: pineapples, dragonflies

Bedtime reading: The Appleby File, Michael Innes

An Ordinary Day, With Lunch

M and the Cricket came and had lunch with me today. They should come have lunch with me more often. It'd be fun.


Today's earrings: hands, dragonflies

Bedtime reading: Truckers, Terry Pratchett

Got a note today from Tiger

He thanked me for his Christmas present, and his papa's present, but he didn't say whether his mom had gotten hers. I hope she did.

And, did you know? he's got ice skates. That kid is awesome.


Today's earrings: dragonflies, other dragonflies

Bedtime reading: Space Chantey, R.A. Lafferty

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

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.

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

Hither & thither

I do not understand the commercial in which the people are in the forest kicking trees until the guy in the Pippi Longstocking wig raises the cry for better hamburgers. It makes no sense. And if it was meant to have made no sense, I'd think they'd have had a kangaroo hop by, just for accent.

Another commercial I saw this evening, for map software for your phone, or some such. Anyway, it was set at a gas station in the countryside, and the little example text was "El Toro Road." I used to work at a gas station on El Toro Road. There was no countryside there.

I have bought the cheese. The cheese does not buy me.

Borrowed The Great War and Modern Memory by Paul Fussell from my boss
Lent my boss The Black Death: A Turning Point in History?, William W. Bowsky, ed.


Today's earrings: dragonflies, other dragonflies

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

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.