Areas of Unrest

30 January 2000 - Pieces of Eight

QOTD: "A witty saying proves nothing." - Voltaire

Reading: Elizabeth Ehrlich, Miriam's Kitchen

Listening to: The Old Blind Dogs, The World's Room

Eight Things I Am Afraid Of

1. Heights
2. Bridges, especially drawbridges, and especially if I am walking over them
3. Sunflowers
4. That I won't recognize somebody I am meeting in a public place, even if I've known them forever
5. Going blind
6. Driving behind a car carrier
7. That other people will find out I'm not as cool as they think I am
8. Being dependent

Eight Places I Want to Travel To

1. Mongolia
2. Samarkand and Bukhara
3. Tristan da Cunha
4. The Galapagos Islands
5. Mayotte
6. Churchill, Manitoba
7. The Faroe Islands
8. Timbuktu

Eight Things I Want to Learn How to Do

1. Speak Spanish well
2. Play the didgeridu
3. Sail
4. Bind books
5. Do some sort of martial arts, probably krav maga
6. Whistle
7. Write cgi scripts
8. Ride a horse

Eight Things I Have to Do But Don't Particularly Want To

1. Get the car smog-checked
2. Make a dentist appointment
3. Do laundry
4. Finish putting photos in albums (after buying more albums)
5. Do my taxes
6. Clean off my desk
7. Answer about 150 email messages
8. Write my budget for next month

Eight Things I Actually Did This Past Week

1. After two days of playing telephone tag, I managed to get together with my brother briefly when he was at LAX for his return flight after a conference here. I made him sign up for frequent flyer miles and the gate agent asked him how he wanted his mail addressed - "Mister, Doctor, or His Highness."
2. I got a minor reprieve on a horrible task at work. It's still a horrible task, but I'm not saddled with having to deal with my government counterpart on it being a guy I think is a complete flake.
3. I saw "Topsy-Turvy" and mostly enjoyed it. The plot is pretty thin. As I summarized it to some friends, it amounts to Sullivan wants to write something serious and Gilbert is a curmudgeon. But the music is pleasant and there were enough laughs to keep me happy.
4. While I was in Santa Monica for the movie, I did a bit of shopping. I discovered that Tudor House sells Schweppes bitter lemon, though not at a price I am willing to pay. I also bought a few CDs at H.E.A.R. Music. In addition to the newest from the Old Blind Dogs, I got the E.P. of "The Sweetest Day" from Control Freq, and Songman by Nomad (didgeridu stuff). And I found a T-shirt I'd been looking for at the new Discovery Channel store.
5. I heard Barry tell the whole story of J.J.'s adoption at Bards. He's now proven he can make me cry as well as laugh.
6. I put about 200 photos in albums. I might have done more but I ran out of albums and, as I have probably kvetched about before, I am fussy about photo albums, making them a major pain to buy. I've looked at three of the usual places so far, with no luck.
7. I finally finished the sweater I knitted for Martha's baby. The knitting itself has been done for months, but it took me this long to get around to sewing the eyes onto the owls in the pattern and doing the side and arm seams.
8. I spent this afternoon at Lonny and Lauren's playing games and ignoring the Superbowl. I arrived in time to take a turn at Jenga. We had to play a second game of Jenga so Gene could participate when he arrived. (Lonny lost once and John lost once). We played a few rounds of Before I Kill You, Mister Bond, which went over reasonably well. Then we made one of our sporadic attempts at Arkham Horror, but we lost horribly as too many gates appeared on the board. My investigator spent most of the game in the hospital after being attacked by mean flying creatures and finally died in one of the other dimensions at the hands (or claws) or a werewolf. We also played a game each of Acquire and of Naval War. I managed not to win anything, but it was still fun.