Happy Halloween!

I was the Devil With the Blue Dress On again. And when I took off the horns, I was the Devil in Disguise.

Love that costume.


Today's earrings: diamonds, brooms

Bedtime reading: Clouds of Witness, Dorothy L. Sayers

I signed a lot of paper

...but forgot to call the phone company.


Today's earrings: cups, chickens

Bedtime reading: Clouds of Witness, Dorothy L. Sayers

Proposed schedule for the week

Tonight I call the phone company.
Tomorrow morning at 9 I go to the title people and sign papers.
Friday I give them lots of money.
Saturday & Sunday I work on re-arranging my worldly goods into four piles: Toss, Give, Move (store), Move (live with).
Monday I fret.
Tuesday they give me keys.


Today's earrings: deer, shells

Bedtime reading: Clouds of Witness, Dorothy L. Sayers

cloud trees

Flame trees look like this:

and cloud trees look like this:

It's a standard topiary design.

Today's earrings: leaves, trees

Bedtime reading: Clouds of Witness, Dorothy L. Sayers

Post #700

Talked to the loan officer today, and this time I asked what the words mean. She was very reassuring. All is well, all is good. Except, I talked to my broker today, and it takes three days to settle up after a sale. Oops. I should have put in the sell orders last week. Except, one of my stocks bounced $30/share over the weekend. My vast ignorance of all things financial has gained me an unexpected profit, but also delayed closing by almost a week.


Today's earrings: flowers, other flowers

Bedtime reading: Clouds of Witness, Dorothy L. Sayers

Links du jour

Where the hell is Matt?

Overton window


Today's earrings: turtles, peppers

Bedtiem reading: Clouds of Witness, Dorothy L. Sayers

1 bookcase emptied

Well, just a small one.


Today's earrings: rockets, anchors

Bedtime reading: Clouds of Witness, Dorothy L. Sayers

Did you know

You can get a poison ring on Amazon?

No good can come of it.


Today's earrings: amethysts

Bedtime reading: Strong Poison, Dorothy L. Sayers

No news

Thanks for the luck-wishes. :)


Today's earrings: pigs, citrine teardrops

Bedtime reading: Strong Poison, Dorothy L. Sayers

In which we discover that my priorities are not all one might hope.

Yesterday, I checked the real estate section on Craigslist (as I do on a Sunday) and found a posting for that apartment I wanted so badly and couldn't get financing for. It's been relisted. I was having trouble breathing, so I called M and said "ohmygodohmygodohmygod" for a while. She was very soothing. With her help, I managed to read the post carefully enough to figure out that there's no lottery this time: the first application complete with mortgage pre-approval gets the apartment. Which means... ohmygod... I have a credit card... this could work... OH NO WHAT IF SOMEONE ELSE GETS THERE FIRST! M did that soothing thing some more. I called the selling agent, and he said yes, I'd have to complete a new application. He also pointed me to the list of approved lenders and the list of additional hoops I'd need to jump through. I tried calling a couple of the lenders, just in case, but it was still Sunday. This morning I tried again, but didn't get far. I joined the crew at M's, and we headed off to Walnut Creek.

Maggie's memorial was packed. The parking lot was full, the big banquet hall was full - we brought in extra tables, and there were still people sitting in chairs lined up against the walls. T spoke, Maggie's friends and coworkers and neighbors and fellow travelers spoke, and everybody told lovely stories of Maggie being fun and happy and kind with a cigarette in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. Nice lady, our cousin.

After, I went home and got a banker on the phone. She was a little dubious about my shortness of credit, but not discouraging. I also made an appointment to jump through some of those other hoops. I'm not trying to be zen, because, well, yeah. Instead I'm going with a "magical thinking has no effect on outcome" stance. Either I can get financing, or I can't; either I will be the one to submit the first complete application, or I won't. I have taken all the actions that I can take for right now. And the rest of it I can't control.

But wish me luck anyway.


Today's earrings: scarabs

Bedtime reading: Strong Poison, Dorothy L. Sayers

Survivor just gets better and better

So, there was this crowd of pretty young people who just loved each other because they were each cooler and smarter and prettier than the next. They allied with each other, and also a couple of token old guys who happened to be on their tribe at the time. They were sure they would control the game right to the end, because they were just! that! awesome!

As of tonight, the In Crowd is sitting in the jury box. All that's left of their alliance in the game is the token old guy they had been planning to ditch first after all of their non-allies were gone. The Last of the Pretty People stood around all episode whining that she is so much smarter than the people who were about to vote her out. Had she not spent the previous month being rude to them, she might have been able to find an angle to work, but she'd painted herself into a corner. Meanwhile, Token Old Guy came up with a half-decent bluff that almost worked to keep her in the game. Unfortunately for her, the other players could count...


Today's earrings: bulls, flowers

Bedtime reading: Busman's Honeymoon, Dorothy L. Sayers

Top Chef

Awful challenge. I hope they gave the chefs a little more guidance than we got to see, because I hear that live tv thing is a lot harder than it looks. Mostly I'm just glad Jamie didn't have to leave. I want Jamie to win.


Today's earrings: amethysts

Bedtime reading: Busman's Honeymoon, Dorothy L. Sayers

Helpful tip

The Cal Marching Band played at medium volume drowns out a grackle-voiced coworker more effectively than AC/DC played at high volume.


Today's earrings: pines, shells

Bedtime reading: Busman's Honeymoon, Dorothy L. Sayers

Her reply

If all the world and love were young,
And truth in every shepherd's tongue,
These pretty pleasures might me move
To live with thee and be thy Love.
But Time drives flocks from field to fold;
When rivers rage and rocks grow cold;
And Philomel becometh dumb;
The rest complains of cares to come.
The flowers do fade, and wanton fields
To wayward Winter reckoning yields:
A honey tongue, a heart of gall,
Is fancy's spring, but sorrow's fall.
Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses,
Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies,
Soon break, soon wither—soon forgotten,
In folly ripe, in reason rotten.
Thy belt of straw and ivy-buds,
Thy coral clasps and amber studs,—
All these in me no means can move
To come to thee and be thy Love.
But could youth last, and love still breed,
Had joys no date, nor age no need,
Then these delights my mind might move
To live with thee and be thy Love.

- - Sir Walter Raleigh


Today's earrings: flies, fish

Bedtime reading: Busman's Honeymoon, Dorothy L. Sayers

Breathe

Breathe, breathe in the air
Dont be afraid to care
Leave but dont leave me
Look around and chose your own ground
For long you live and high you fly
And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
And all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be

Run, rabbit, run
Dig that hole, forget the sun,
when at last the work is done
Dont sit down, its time to dig another one
For long you live and high you fly
But only if you ride the tide
balanced on the biggest wave
You race toward an early grave
- - Gilmour, Waters, & Wright

Today's earrings: scarabs

Bedtime reading: Busman's Honeymoon, Dorothy L. Sayers

Fine night

b2 and I met as usual to drink wine and discuss Survivor. (Excellent episode last night, by the way. A bad person met his comeuppance. It was marvelous.) I had with me a 1,000 piece puzzle of Hicks' Peaceable Kingdom, borrowed from a coworker for a Thanksgiving puzzle, and she had a cake box of food from that afternoon's office party. She suggested stopping by her office later and collecting more of the leftovers after drinks. A lot of food, she said. So we did.

She wasn't exaggerating - even figuring in the entire office's lunch on Monday, there was a hell of a lot of extra food. Mixed veg, mashed potatoes, rice, ham, even pumpkin pie. And also plastic clamshells. Inspired, we assembled some meals from the leftovers and added plastic forks, napkins, and sodas. We gave away three on the way from b2's office to her parking garage, and I gave away the rest near my place after she dropped me off.

Nothing like the warm glow of being generous with someone else's food.


Today's earrings: moose, chocolate molecules

Bedtime reading: Busman's Honeymoon, Dorothy L. Sayers

Committee meeting

I came in, sat down. The office troll came in and sat down directly across from me, and spent the next hour trying to catch my eye while I did my best to only look at him when there was a reason.

Y'know, it's funny... I've heard various women say that as they got older, men ignored them more. For me, as I get older and more apt to ignore people I don't want to deal with, I've found that (some) men get all affronted if I ignore them. They don't want to talk to me, as far as I can tell. They just expect me to acknowledge them. Make eye contact, something. And if I don't - if I sit in the laundromat with my eyes glued to my book and don't look up as they walk by - they act out. They intrude on my peripheral vision. They make noise, and get progressively louder if I don't look up right away. Some have intruded on my space. They let me know that they are ENTITLED to my attention. Funny, huh?


Today's earrings: hands, peppers

Bedtime reading: Busman's Honeymoon, Dorothy L. Sayers

I'm proud of myself. Sort of.

The office troll was at my desk on legitimate business. Then he veered off into something irrelevant, and then something revolting. I said, twice, "I don't want to hear this." He just kept talking. I turned to my computer, put on my headphones, and cranked up the music. He went away soon after.

I can't believe I did something that rude. Usually I say I don't want to hear it and he just keeps talking anyway and I don't want to be rude so I end up listening to him with a tight uncomfortable little smile... which is why I avoid conversations with him if at all possible. This time I said I didn't want to hear it and I enforced that. Go, me! But wow, was I rude.


Today's earrings: elephants, ebony drops

Bedtime reading: Busman's Honeymoon, Dorothy L. Sayers

The Knitters are playing Slim's in January

Who's with me?


Today's earrings: squirrels, teaspoons

Bedtime reading: Busman's Honeymoon, Dorothy L. Sayers

[/Prop8]

What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side
It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
- - Stephen Stills

We met in front of the Asian Art Museum. Lots of people wandering about with signs and a few in costume. M had brought sign-making materials and bagels. I applied sunscreen. We crossed the street into the plaza and found a tree under which to sit. We couldn't really hear the speakers, but clapped along when the crowd up in front cheered. Someone stopped by to tell us that Cinemark Theaters had given money to the Yes on 8 campaign, and would we join in not supporting them? Sure, no problem. There were people with kids, people with dogs, people just going to and fro: very family picnic. Except for the people in wedding dresses and rainbow hoopskirts - that was more like Pride.

After a while we realized that the people going to and fro were performing a promenade around the victory garden in the center of the plaza. We essayed a circumperambulation and discovered a whole lot more people with signs, a pretzel vendor, and a little dance party in one corner (the Jackson Five, being played from bike-mounted speakers). I got flapped in the face by a rainbow flag; it was almost as transcendent as being Touched by His Noodly Appendage. We also found that we could hear the people on stage better the closer we got to the Civic. I attribute that to Bill Graham's influence.

After a certain amount of unintentional walking around and standing in line for change, we were on the Muni platform on the outbound side, waiting for the N train.
An announcement: Fare jumper! Coming down the staircase!

[I turned to look at the staircase.]

Wearing a jean jacket!

[I spotted the guy in the jean jacket as he cussed and started back up the staircase.]

Now he’s come back up the staircase!

[“Ooh! Public shaming!” said M. “If he comes back down, we can all point at him!” I replied.]

Finally the N train turned up and we headed out toward the park. Around Church Street, the woman in the wheelchair got off, and a one-toothed man got the seat set back down and sat on it, right next to Cricket. He chatted with her as he pulled out tobacco and paper and rolled his own. One-Toothed Man had some serious rolling skills – he put together a very tidy cigarette on his lap, in a moving vehicle. We got off at 9th street and walked down to Bistro 9. I had the hummus. Mmmm, hummus. It went well with the peppers off of M’s salad.

We headed off to the DeYoung and saw the Maya Lin exhibit. The sculpted atlases were very cool, and I’d kind of like to have a pin river on one of my walls. We visited the Hearth of Doom, and also dragged Cricket and Lemming to look at the huge painting of the “Polynesian” scene with all the Ancient Greek details. As antidote, we took in the Yves Saint Laurent retrospective. I want the beige Mondrian dress. We ascended the tower for a good gawk at the city. It was a beautiful day for a gawk, too. The Marin Headlands were clear as a bell; the strait was a lovely dark shade of blue you usually only see in movies. Out front we miraculously caught a cab, who whisked us (as only cabbies can) to Montgomery Station, where we parted.


Today's earrings: owls, estrogen molecules

Bedtime reading: Busman’s Honeymoon, Dorothy L. Sayers