This is how the year ends...

Two thoughts before I nap: (1) people really need to cover their damned noses when they sneeze in airplanes, at least to give the illusion that we're not all breathing each other's recyclables; (2) I wonder if the FDA approving cloned meat for human consumption will convince more people to go vegetarian...

sshhhhhhhh...................

I'm using the computers at Harvard's Houghton Library to make this post. We're camped out in the rare books collection, looking at 17th-century editions of Du Bosc and Scudery. No pens! No folders! No cameras! No food! Be quiet! We handle the old things lovingly, which, really, isn't a bad philosophy for books, life, sex, etc.....

Highlights from yesterday: a yellow curry with mango at Thai Basil on Newbury Street; chocolates and turn-down service at Jurys Boston; the crazy homeless guy talking to the Il Divo poster in Borders; singing "Happy Birthday" into my cellphone as I stood outside on Boylston Street and left a message for Hossy, who is a hossariffic "37" and just might get a souvenir Boston Baked Bean.

Despite what you remember from childhood, it's actually good to get underwear for a gift.

...because I tell ya, the last two times I've been on an extended trip, I've ended up buying extra undies and socks. Look out, Boston lingerie stores!

Actually, it's more like "look out, Boston discount department stores." Lingerie stores make me feel claustrophobic and nauseated. The last time I had to endure Victoria's Secret while the LAW was using a gift certificate, I felt like my flesh was going to POP OUT through my itchy nerve-wracked skin...Thank goodness I could recover in the Mac store down the street.

Yuletide!

I don't have much to say beyond that; Eliot and I are having an antiqued sepia yuletide moment here in front of the Mac. The LAW and I leave for Boston on Tuesday and are in the midst of packing books that we intend to read but know that we won't. Top of my intended-but-probably-won't-be-read list: The Omnivore's Dilemma.

...must....get....one....post....in

....before the internet goes out. Yes, it rained in southern California, which means that the pathetic little phone line that never should've been outside will give up the ghost and we'll be without phone service (and DSL). Our friend and contractor, the fabulous bundle of slightly crazy man-energy (let's call him "Fabio") is fixing it all this morning. Love to Fabio and his magic spool of phone wire.


Of course, internet access is hale and hearty at work, so I suppose I should just get my poop in a pile (as my brother Jim would say) and go in. No rest for the lazy!

Sad, but true

Well, maybe disgusting but true. Here I am, happily past fall quarter: grades turned in, letters of recommendation written. I'm ready to get my brain working in responsible scholarly-essay-generating ways. I think to myself, "hmmm, since the coffee place is closed on campus, maybe I'll just make a pot here in my office." What a good idea! So good an idea, so rare, so fine that the last time I had it (six weeks ago), the coffee was so lovely that I only needed one cup. Then, apparently, I didn't feel the need to dump the last three cups out of the insulated steel carafe. What a surprise for me today! It was almost like kahlua (not in taste--I'm not that stupid--but certainly in color and viscosity).

I wonder how long it'll take to clean this thing with the hand soap in the women's restroom.

I wonder if there's some coffee in the vending machine downstairs.

Nothing says "holidays"....

...like the Gay Men's Chorus from L.A.! Okay, yeah, the picture is crappy. I was trying to be polite with the cellphone (as if that's possible). Best song: "Boogie Woogie Hanukkah." Worst...nothing by the GMC(LA) but the opening act (Vox Femina) had some real snoozers. To be fair, Vox Femina is less a show choir than GMC--and the Romanian tunes were cool...but still--I'll say no more except to plead with my lesbian sisters to STOP MAKING SEASONAL MUSIC THAT INVOKES MOTHER EARTH. Ahem.