one of our heads is destined for tinfoil

At 8 o'clock I left to pick up Khrissi the Cat from her Big Girl surgery to drive her back to her dad. I've never met a cat who made *no sound at all ever* going to and from the clinic. Maybe she's deaf?

Then I was dropping off spay/neuter transport fliers at my old job, hoping to spread the word. I chatted a bit with everyone and was made very aware of the dangers of false nostalgia as I really really missed the place and everyone who worked there. I still miss them.

Next I go to other town over to get trained on a Meals on Wheels route. My trainer is a great lady. She was kind, and funny, and likes to listen to Christian talk radio at sounds of 11, and asked if my husband and I had any children. Did I mention she was funny?

Then I go to work and magically find almost every book I was asked to look for. Ever had that feeling you've seen a book on the shelf with your mind's eye even when the rest of you hasn't been able to locate it, so you keep checking the shelf, and around it, and viola! I even found a missing Spanish video for kids that was put in the wrong VHS box. I should play the lottery.

But the coolest, the bestest thing ever, was a 15-minute phone interview with Lois Gibbs for an article I'm writing. For me it was like being able to talk to Lincoln, or God, or Sarah Waters, or Joyce Carol Oates, or maybe all 4 in a hastily-conceived genetic experiment in Roger Corman's lab. I did my best to keep it together and to do all the fangirl squeeing on the phone to Vali. *pant pant*

It was like, for 13 hours, I got to live the life of a politician or something. I even got to provide aid and comfort (in the form of tissues to mop up copious tears and snot) to a toddler who decided to take a flying leap out of his chair and land on his head. Poor kid, his head was already ginormous and this won't help.

I think it's as good a time as any to say I'm going to take a wee break from the online journaling for a while. I'm not sad, or disappearing --hardly, on Twitter you can't get me to shut up-- it's just that I've got a lot of stuff that I'm thinking about and doing, and right now because I'm busy I don't usually comment on people's entries and I'm not really involved in that way, so hen I do summon the courage write it sounds like I'm grandstanding. It embarrasses me, but this is really how I'm muddling along day to day.

So I'll be around in the comments, but I'm officially giving myself a vacation from something I feel I "should" do. That way I'll enjoy it more when or if I come back to it.

Yesterday I felt guilty for not posting for a month.

I have two notebooks-- one for story notes, one for memos-- and I have a phone where I plug in my appointments. And a day planner for books and stuff I did or ate that day. And a Twitter account.

Why so quiet, Mary?

June was really uneven. The first two weeks were unbelievably busy and stressful-- sending in the 501(c)(3) nonprofit paperwork to the IRS, doing the first spay/neuter transports with South Suburban, the first informational booth of our group with a local animal-shelter fundraiser -- and the second half I was on vacation. I worked on the garden and an article for la_smartie's website, and on the nonprofit website. One afternoon I read all day and watched the sun go across the windows while Casey slept in her favorite chair.

Yesterday I visited our local Meals on Wheels program in my capacity as a United Way Allocations Volunteer. Ooo, don't I talk posh! In other words, I visit organizations that receive United Way funds, learn about their services, and recommend that UW give thems lottss and lottz of monies. And it's win-win because I get to visit places I wouldn't normally get to see and recommend their services to patrons.

And they fed us, too-- I'm vegan, but I was able to partake in a surprisingly healthy amount. I had pasta with liberal amounts of peas and pearl onions, a green salad with cherry tomatoes, and grapes. In other words, better fare than I've had from the restaurant literally next door to the joint. And while I'm not so naive as to think they'd serve the people who'd recommend their funding a load of slop, I thought it was nice that it wasn't cooked in a load of butter and salt. Moral of the story: restaurant food is gross, don't eat it if you value your life.

I'm reading Laika, but may have to stop before I'm due to give it back to its owner on Sunday as I'm having a really hard time with it. I mean, I knew I would, but sometimes I want nothing more on this Earth than a sweet doggie to take care of and to dig up all my plants. Gentle animals don't do well with humans as a rule. Wah.

I'm trying to read The Maltese Falcon for mystery book group w/o much success, partly because I've seen the movie remake of this and it was called Lethal Weapon and ol' Mel dialed back some of the homophobia for the 80s. Yeah yeah I know, different time, blah blah, I still don't like it. Why is Dashiell Hammett literature but Agatha Christie is just a crackin' good read? Yeah, I know why, too.

Well, Vali and I are back from Wiscon, and I have to say that I had a good time meeting people-- in particular Roxann, Jonquil, Ellen Fremedon, Geekturnedvamp and Unusualmusic. (I'm sure I've forgotten someone, I'm sorry.) However, as I become more and more introverted, I find that crowds of people exhaust me more quickly than they used to. I'm more in my element working in the garden all morning and then retiring to read the rest of the afternoon, maybe tea, a little biscuit...

Anyhoo, some highlights:

Meeting jonquil face to face at last and seeing her and violetisblue has got to be a high point. She's absolutely lovely and fun to be with and is dangerous to my wallet. Seriously, she's got the qualities of the best salespeople I've seen-- namely, that they convince you that you are smart and lovely and smell nice and you simply cannot live without lemon ginger soap. Because you can't, you know. Same goes for raspberry bushes and some pretty purple thing whose name escapes me that I bought at the farmer's market. I finally got them in the ground today right before I had to rush off to a United Way meeting with Meals on Wheels, but that's the subject of another journal entry.

Watching people fangirl violetisblue made me prouder than anything. (OMGWTF you wrote "Nothing But Flowers!" *happy squee*)That's my girl. <3

Farmer's Market! See the bit above about raspberry bushes and pretty purple things. We also had strange and mysterious juices of the fruits besides oranges, and fresh radishes and homemade rosemary bread. Nom.

Having sushi with mscherbatskaya and than having violetisblue take me out for black raspberry sorbet.

Going shopping at American Apparel with violetisblue and finding out that yes, I can fit into their XL clothes quite comfortably. Vali and I could've blown off the whole afternoon shopping (and we will someday soon after our bank accounts recover). I see pretty clothes and tea in our future, yes.

Oh yes, there was a con going on in there somewhere, let me see...

Geeking out with violetisblue, ellen_fremedon and mscherbatskaya about Doctor Who and zombies and any subject under the sun in our hotel room.

And I went to the panel on Public Libraries and Sci-Fi, which I thought was very interesting but not for the reasons the panelists intended. I especially enjoyed disagreeing with Farah Mendelsohn about books generally being more valuable than whatever the latest DRM-not-free e-reader nightmare that some company's trying to make a buck on until one of the moderators told me in so many words to shut my lip. Funny, she didn't ask the guy behind me who shouted at Ms. Mendelsohn that HE WASN'T DONE WITH HIS POINT YET. To which I thought oooooooooo, aren't *we* a big boy.

But getting back to my point, I think that somewhere in library school it's become hip to think of us librarians as almost post-book, beyond book. (I remember, as I fell into that trap for a while myself.) "We have more than just books!" Well, sure we do, usually, but aren't books important? So many frazzled kids and adults who would do a lot better to slow down and read a fucking book. Although, as Farah Mendelsohn pointed out, she reads two books a day, so books don't slow her down all that much.

I went to one other panel, the one on getting it wrong gracefully, where Roxann introduced us to the phrase "dueling fail," re: foc_u, which got a big laugh. Personally, I can't wait until verb_noire starts publishing paper books, because I will be at Baker & Taylor in a hot second to buy their stuff. I always like the arguments that black people don't read sci-fi. No, you dummy, it's because you aren't publishing any black sci-fi writers. So that's why I think it's nifty that verb_noire is picking up their dropped balls. Huhuhuhuh, she said--


And now, pictures!


Best license plate ever. violetisblue pointed it out to me. <3 <3 <3



Jonquil's fleurs.



The best dressed lady at the dessert bar. (Vegan desserts so that I weren't left out! <3)



...and the super-stylin' lady from the side.

*****
So next year, ya'll will have to come to the con held at our house, as I have far too much weeding to get done.

I forgot I had to work the evening shift.

I forgot the bingo cards and library card registration for the senior outreach program. The "Sign up for library cards and play bingo to win prizes" program. (At least I remembered the prizes.)

And then I forgot my bag while I was there. With my wallet and all that good stuff that normally goes into your bag. I won't be able to get it until tomorrow morning.

I feel very nervous and vulnerable without my wallet.

ETA: My supervisor gave me time off the desk to go and retrieve it. <3

Tonight I will try not to walk into walls or drive off any bridges.

Time 1, meeting with someone who I want to be on the executive committee of the nonprofit I started, saying in essence that the hours are really long but the pay is nonexistent and

Time 2, chasing timewasting bastards out of the computer room at closing time. Yes yes, it's not fair at all, clear out the lot of you.

It turns out that no, you can't substitute vegan soy creamer for soymilk and not have a cupcake that flies apart when you touch it.

>.>

Still, even a hot mess of a cupcake still tastes pretty good.

Read The Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters for mystery book discussion. I really didn't like it until I imagined Amelia and Emerson as "Bella and Edward Travel To Teh Pyramids & Wrote Doawn Wat They Did Thar," and after that it was a pretty fun ride. You know, with how Emerson must not like her because he's so OMG MEEN to her and all that. Except I don't think Bella would be allowed anywhere near the Pyramids because she'd probably trip over a ledge and break Egypt or something.

Written in 1975, and the world didn't end then, either.

Happy jonquil birthday day!



Have a smug Casey picture on me. (Taken today)

<3

Although Vali and I aren't particularly religious, we enjoy exchanging cards at Easter. We're easy marks for any card with baby animals on them, what can we say?-- and Vali likes to draw cartoons in mine.

This last card had a skit called "Wait, It's Dark!" The joke depended on knowing the Court Theater's most recent production, who Mr. Smartypants, Howard, Vince, Casey, Cutie, and certain shelter cats are, and why this is all funny. Trust me when I say it was.

<3