Amaryllis sillyramA

Received a flyer today for an APL seminar by Robin Shandas:

Whew!

Still enjoying myself mightily in the RPG parody Kingdom of Loathing. Here is the funny item description of the day:

This is a partially rewinged dewinged stab bat. Have you heard my new band, the Partially Rewinged Dewinged Stab Bats?

But then, maybe you had to be there.

What a beautiful day!

A perfect day for a little hand-to-hand with the dandelions. They’ve been taking over in the back garden — I swear there weren’t any out there a few weeks ago, and now they’re everywhere! I must have popped off 5 gallons’ worth of heads. (Yes, mostly just heads, I only had an hour or so.)

And in front, the clematis on the fence is covered in fat little buds! Last year it only had a few dozen blooms, so the huge number this year is quite a surprise. I love clematis.

Tonight I went to see Ayun Halliday doing a reading from her new book job hopper. It was great. Last time I went to anything reading-y was a few years ago (when the Found Magazine folks came through town). So it’s not often I drag myself out of my routine for something like this. Ah, but it was just great. And meeting her after, oh I was so nervous, could almost not talk at all, nearly lost it in fact. Because she is a fearless writer and I admire her so much.

Then, to help myself stop shaking, I went downstairs and picked out a new fountain pen — a nifty transparent one from Lamy. Yay!

Today is one of those days when it’s really hard for me to not hate the patrons. I’m not even in a bad mood. I just keep having this hating feeling when a patron is near. Sometimes I call them names under my breath.

..ok, I just helped a patron (albeit one who wasn’t outwardly STUPID) and that phrase (“sometimes I call them names under my breath”) kept me amused enough to distract me from the hating.

If it weren’t for Dilbert, I might never have noticed the hating-the-patrons problem:

PHB: Our new strategy is to make defective products and charge for technical support.
PHB (wicked grin): Heh-heh…our user manual is totally incomprehensible. We didn’t plan it that way – we were LUCKY!
Dilbert: I’m so proud to be here.
PHB: It all came together when I realized I hate our customers.

I still think that’s hilariously funny.
Even if it does — perhaps — slightly — put me in league with the Pointy Haired Boss.