Someone gave me shit!

I come home and there are two bags of it, sitting beside the driveway.

How exciting!

Ahhh… I’m done.

Don’t get me wrong, I love learning and being in school, but I am really tired, and glad for the break.

…till my final.

Finally.

I am really tired of studying Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. And I think Michael is tired of hearing my recite facts about it.

Some of my May flowers–at least until tonight’s frost.

Today, I finally had to admit that I am a chapstick addict.

I have chapstick in every jacket. I carry chapstick in my pants pocket. I usually have chapstick in my backpack.

But today, for multiple reasons, including forgetting, I had no chapstick. None in my coat. None in my pocket. Not even the secondary back-up chapstick in my backpack.

By 1:30 I had to go downstairs and buy chapstick.

I’ve been meaning to post this for awhile:

Monterey Bay Aquarium webcams. Including penguincam and sharkcam.

That makes 33 books so far this year. Not a lot for me, but not too bad considering the fact that I was supposed to be reading journal articles and other such papers for my class, and not reading books for fun.

Twice Upon A Time (1999) edited by Denise Little

Fairy tales seen from another perspective–the wife of the giant from the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. The hunter in the tale of Little Red Riding Hood. The Wolf who appears in multiple tales.

This book is hit and miss. Some of the stories are excellent, others are so-so. The idea of retold fairy tales is an excellent one, unfortunately not all the stories in this collection were able to pull it off as well as it should be done.

Read More about Twice Upon A Time

Friday evening I went to the new Target to get some of my shopping out of the way. (Morgantown is apparently attempting to become the shopping mecca of West Virginia, with shopping centers open or planned for each of our five Interstate exits.)

As I was pushing my cart to towards the back of the store, I heard and odd sound, and then heard it again. It took me a moment to realize the sound was someone calling, “Mom!” and that the call was coming from an eleven or twelve year old girl walking down the aisle towards me. After another moment to realize that a woman who was most likely her mother was walking beside her, helping her push the cart. The I realized that the girl was walking rather oddly.

I panicked and immediately jerked my eyes down to my empty cart. The girl seemed to be blind and deaf. And I had been STARING at her.

Don’t stare at people, it’s rude.

I didn’t meant to stare. I was just trying to figure out what was going on.

But then again… I’ve heard those who are visibly different complain that people won’t look at them—will walk by as if they aren’t there.

So.

Now I desperately wanted to escape—to duck down an aisle, except that I was in the clothing section, and even more embarrassing than getting caught staring, is getting caught looking at cropped tops and short shorts. (I’d never be able to explain that one.)

So I walk past staring blankly at my empty cart, wracked with guilt, feeling like a jerk, all because I don’t know what they hell I’m supposed to do.

I considered what I normally do when I’m out in public: I watch people. I love to watch people. All the body shapes and hair styles and clothing disasters. It’s free entertainment. I watch people and then when they get closer or look as if they might look my way, I glance away at someone or something else. (Because eye contact means I might actually have to talk to someone.)

No help there.

So I still don’t know I’m supposed to do in these situations.

No wonder I don’t go out in public very often.

The article on geek rescue squads is interesting, but I found this paragraph horrifying:

David K. Schoenkin, executive director and asset management consultant at Oppenheimer & Co., recently lost his computer, Palm Pilot and cell phone when he dropped his shoulder bag in a Manhattan street and an 18-wheeler ran over it.

I read it aloud to Gina and she had the same jaw dropping reaction I did.

I can’t decided if it’s the loss of all that data, the amount of money that much equipment represents, or the idea of having start fresh will all those machines at once that is most horrifying.

We’re going to see Mountainstage tonight! Woo hoo!

Edwin McCain
Klezmatics
Vic Chesnutt
Serena Ryder
Jesse Malin

I’m quite looking forward to the Klezmatics, who I believe I’ve heard before on Mountainstage. (That was their first time on Mountainstage. No clue where I’d heard them before.)

I almost hurt something last night, reading Tom’s post on elves.

I was going to say that this is geeky humor, but then I remembered the success of the Lord of the Rings movies, and decided that it really isn’t. Not anymore.