I highly suggest S’s post on hair, for today’s viewing pleasure.

It had both Gina and me giggling.

Am I hiding from reality by burying myself in fiction?

Yup.

Just so you know.

Gorgeous weather for gardening. This weekend I mulched and weeded, after looking to see what seeds came up and which didn’t, bought some more seeds, and now have pots and planters all over the place.

Okay, I also bought a new azalea and a cold hardy pansy. (Yes, the azalea looks a lot like the one I got last spring. That’s because I killed the one I got last spring, so I’m trying again.)

But really, the weather’s gorgeous, how can I resist? (Temperatures were in the high 70s, low 80s for the second day in a row.)

As far as spam goes, I have to admit that I kinda like this name: Moose C. Triviality.

China’s break-dancing grandmother

I just realized it’s been a long time since I mentioned the fact that West Virginians can go to the WV State police site and view the list of sex offenders living in their area. If you know someone with children, you may want to pass this information along to them.

First Flower Pr0n on the year!

Unlike my father and grandfather, I’ve never been a huge fan of daffodils. (They were my grandfather’s favorite flower.) However I’m starting to see the attraction. The yellow I’m still not as thrilled about, but I think the other two are quite pretty.

I also like the snowrops, however they are much smaller in real life than in the picture.

There’s been a lot of mourning recently. People mourning Terri Schiavo’s death, her life, the death of the pope. But how sorrowful can the death of a stranger make you?

Mourning is accompanied by grief–the kind of loss that drives the breath from your body. Grief lasts more than a day, more than a week. It’s an acknowledgement of something very important in your life that you have lost.

But you can also mourn for something you’ve never had. For something you always wanted but have never been able to obtain. Grief happens when you finally learn that you won’t be able to achieve your desire.

But that kind of grief is hard. If you lose a loved one–that’s something people can understand. It’s tangible. It’s comprehensible. It’s something everyone has experienced. But this other kind of grief–it’s strange.

There are no words or phrases that come to mind.

No words of explanation or comfort, except “I’m sorry.”

Carpe Jugulum (1998) Terry Pratchett

I’m not quite sure what it is, but I found this book disappointing. Don’t get me wrong, there were places where I laughed out loud–it just seemed like those places were farther apart than usual.

Read More about Carpe Jugulum

Jingo (1997) Terry Pratchett

What surprised me most about this book was that it was written in 1997.

A new island has risen between Ankh Morpork and Klatch, and war seems to be the only way to determine who really owns the island.

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Oh, but there’s no global warming…

I have to say that as far as weeks go, I think I’d prefer to spend the rest of this one… elsewhere.

It might just be me, but I find it horribly rude to show up more than an hour late for a class. Especailly if you’re going to disrupt everything with your entrance.

And I thought 15 minutes late was bad…

ADDENDUM the First (Wednesday)
The stupid woman who was more than an hour late Tuesday, showed up 15 minutes late for today’s class. And again interrupted the whole class with her tardiness. Apparently she’s prepetually rude.

The Hounds of the Mórrigan (1985) Pat O’Shea

I really like this book.

I can’t remember precisely when I bought it, or precisely when I read it for the first time, but I do remember that it rekindled my love of folktales and folklore.

Read More about The Hounds of the Mórrigan

Look! Stupidity!

No, really. I hate it. Despise it.

As I was leaving work a woman behind me was exclaiming about how happy she was it was daylight savings time. I wanted to turn around an kick her in the shins.

I lose an hours of sleep, spend all day Sunday worrying that I won’t wake up on time Monday morning, and then Monday morning comes and… it’s Monday. Today was like the death of a thousand papercuts. Lots of tiny nasty little things all piled on one another.

I may have made chocolate-chocolate chip biscotti yesterday, but this feels like a bittersweet brownie with vanilla ice cream and fresh whipped cream kinda day.