See the three kind gentlemen pick Helga up and put her back together again. See the nice man (handing out fliers on the corner) wipe the blood off her face with a napkin.
See
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
bronxbob350 leave work early to take Helga home. See girasole fuss and provide treats.See Helga's souvenirs: assorted scrapes and bruises, one Very Big Lump on forehead, and some warm & fuzzy feelings toward her fellow New Yorkers.
Round 1: Much time wasted on looking at & test driving new minivans (Honda, Toyota). Turns out "minivans" are now a solid two feet longer than they were back in '93. Barely fits in garage, barely fits in driveway, barely fits in street. These cars are nearly as long as our neighbor's house is wide. Nice & comfy, though. Back to drawing board.
Round 2: Look for smaller car that will fit in driveway, garage, etc., AND comfortably seat 6 or 7 adults. Not possible under the current laws of physics. Compromise on car that will comfortably seat 4 adults and semi-comfortably seat a few more (Kia, Toyota). Could not test-drive either candidate yesterday as needed 6-cylinder models not in stock.
When
bronxbob350 & I tried to leave the Toyota dealership yesterday afternoon, the Voyager died. Cue comedy hour, as Toyota staff worked with our mechanic (by phone) to try & start the durn thing. This included hitting things under the hood with a large hammer, to no avail. 2-1/2 hours sitting in the parking lot playing gin rummy & waiting for a AAA tow, finally got ourselves & car back to our mechanic. (Did I mention that the AC on the Voyager is dead?)Now I have to go parley with my mechanics (great guys) to see if they can make the Voyager last another few weeks. We think it's the starter, but who knows.
Very tired of this, want a new car to magically appear in my driveway now please. Anybody got a magic wand?
Their "hot fudge" is the damndest thing I ever ate. It isn't a viscous liquid, it's a gelatinous solid. It won't drip. You can cut it with a knife. It's also stretchy, has a shiny near-black color and a bit of a chocolate taste. I was so fascinated by the texture that I actually ate the whole thing (except for the parts eaten by
bronxbob350 , for corroboration). No sign of sprouting tentacles yet, just a bit of a bellyache.I don't know whether to blame the allergy meds or too much Disney as a child. I do know it's hard to get back to sleep when you're laughing so hard.
It was pretty tasty too, although it weighed more than anything I've ever made. (It was only 9" across.)
NB to
parisgreen and darth_libris : Most of the recipes I've looked at say you can substitute barley for the wheat berries.Happy Easter, everybody!
And then I had a yummy Italian dinner with the rest of the Yellow Submarine (
bronxbob350 , girasole , and the LJ-less Infomancer) and went back to the Met for a concert of mariachi music.I love this town.
Does anybody out there have any advice or words of encouragement?
Also, my copy of Microsoft got completely screwed a while back, so I've been using OpenOffice which I like just fine. Is there any reason to keep Microsoft Office as well, or can I just ditch the damn thing?
( A few encouraging pictures behind the cut )
This is most of my work for the natural science drawing course I just took, airing after having been sprayed with fixative, which is vile and toxic stuff. This is everything except the final project, which would be fighting me tooth and claw if it had either teeth or claws -- it's a really beautiful trilobite and is just giving me fits. All this has to be handed in on Wednesday so I suspect I won't be seeing the St. Patrick's Day parade live this year.
I really like the sort of Japanese feel of the drawings handing on the clothesline.
You're sick in bed with a cold, there's a ton of snow outside (still falling), and ---
your neighbor with the big-ass snowblower clears your sidewalk!
YES!!!!!!!
(And BIG thanks to whichever member of the Smith clan is responsible.)
UPDATE: I neglected to mention that I'm on foot in this line. Everybody else is in a car.
popfiend , may your birthday be perfect in every way, filled with wifely cuddles (feel better, Lisa!) and friendly good wishes. And may you never run out of tears of joy!I'll stop whining now, I promise. Thanks for listening. I'll feel better as soon as I finish something, anything.
1. I don't generally do memes, and never tag.
2. I've always lived in New York City, which is convenient, because there's no place else I've ever wanted to live.
3. I once snuck into Carnegie Hall to see a James Taylor concert.
4. I love baking; my favorite thing to bake is apple pie.
5. I'm a pure product of the New York City school system, from kindergarten through grad school.
6. I've been to Siberia. And Mongolia. And Patagonia. I like traveling to places that are very different from home.
7. I went to see the Grateful Dead at the Fillmore East just about every time they played there. The trick was to go to the late show, because the Dead would play all night, from about 1 AM until 5 or so.
8. My middle name is Anna; I was named for 1) my mother (Annamarie), my paternal grandmother (Anna), and 3) my maternal grandmother and her eight sisters, all of whom had Anna as a middle name. At least one of my great-grandmothers was named Anna as well.
9. If I could have one talent that I lack, it would be a decent singing voice; I always wanted to be a backup singer for a rock & roll band.
10. I grew up with three family groups: my mother's, my father's, and a large Italian family which had sort of adopted my mother as a child. I liked Grandma Albanese's cooking best.
11. I love to travel, but am really timid about going places by myself for the first time.
12. I started college as a math major, but got over it after just one semester. I graduated with a degree in German, because it was easy for me and I already knew I wanted to become a librarian.
13. I wish I had a time machine, so I could go back and find out what the past was really like. I'm not so interested in traveling to the future, probably the result of watching too many episodes of The Twilight Zone.
14. I've seen The Magnificent Seven so many times that I can still recite the dialogue as I watch it.
15. Mrs. Peel (of the Avengers) is my hero.
16. I think Hugh Jackman is totally hot, but my true love is Denzel Washington.
17. I hate reality TV, except for Ghost Hunters.
18. I love hardware stores, even though I don't know what most of the stuff is. This dates back to when I was a little kid trailing around after my father on Saturday mornings.
19. I've read Moby-Dick three times, only once for school.
20. If I could have any piece of art to hang on my wall, I'd choose either one of those small Rembrandt landscape drawings, or a Joseph Cornell box. I lived about half a mile from Cornell as a child (I had no idea), and am haunted by the likelihood that I passed him on the street or at the local supermarket.
21. My least favorite thing in the entire world is speaking in public.
22. My first language was German, taught to me by my grandmother. I forgot it all when I learned English shortly thereafter, but could always understand what people were saying, so my parents couldn't lapse into old-country talk if they wanted to keep secrets from me.
23. I hate camping. I do not camp. It's my firm belief that the highest achievement of humankind is indoor plumbing.
24. The thing I've never done that I'd most like to is see the northern lights.
25. I really can believe six impossible things before breakfast.
hughcasey , viakradical .When you see this, post your favorite poem.
So here's Especially When the October Wind, by Dylan Thomas
Especially when the October wind With frosty fingers punishes my hair, Caught by the crabbing sun I walk on fire And cast a shadow crab upon the land, By the sea's side, hearing the noise of birds, Hearing the raven cough in winter sticks, My busy heart who shudders as she talks Sheds the syllabic blood and drains her words. Shut, too, in a tower of words, I mark On the horizon walking like the trees The wordy shapes of women, and the rows Of the star-gestured children in the park. Some let me make you of the vowelled beeches, Some of the oaken voices, from the roots Of many a thorny shire tell you notes, Some let me make you of the water's speeches. Behind a post of ferns the wagging clock Tells me the hour's word, the neural meaning Flies on the shafted disk, declaims the morning And tells the windy weather in the cock. Some let me make you of the meadow's signs; The signal grass that tells me all I know Breaks with the wormy winter through the eye. Some let me tell you of the raven's sins. Especially when the October wind (Some let me make you of autumnal spells, The spider-tongued, and the loud hill of Wales) With fists of turnips punishes the land, Some let me make of you the heartless words. The heart is drained that, spelling in the scurry Of chemic blood, warned of the coming fury. By the sea's side hear the dark-vowelled birds.
