Oh, damn, Sue. I'm so sorry about your mom and all the stress of you having to deal with it, and the universe piling a weird-tasting quesadilla on top of that is just incredibly petty and mean.

That highway sign is pretty useful, but, really, there are X's EVERYWHERE, because of all the exits. I found myself really really stuck on I-5 at a much earlier point in the alphabet, because we'd go for incredibly long stretches without a junction to another highway.

And it's worth noting that there weren't even any Americans at the Waltz Riot -- the Frenchmen and the Spaniards started a rumble over whose turn it was to play which waltz, all the women waited a half hour or so for the punching and chair-breaking to end, and finally the women threw up their hands, said a collective "Fuck this noise" (colloquial 18th century French translation, please, megan walker?) and walked out, where they found a number of Americans lounging around outside looking for fun, and everyone scampered off to everyone's mutual satisfaction.

Except the Frenchmen and Spaniards, who ended up with no musicians, no partners, and nothing to sit on as they licked their wounds.

It's so thoroughly and completely my favorite riot ever. (And, Nora, if you want to e me your address, I can see if our copy is anywhere at hand and lend it to you.)

I'm sorry for everyone else's shitty days. Mine has been mostly tolerable, but I'm feeling weirdly headachey in a strange unfamiliar way, like someone keeps inflating and deflating a helium balloon inside my head and I keep wanting to fall over. It doesn't hurt, exactly, but it's not what you'd call pleasant.

Ooh, JZ, I may take you up on that!

That highway sign is pretty useful, but, really, there are X's EVERYWHERE, because of all the exits.

Ooh, in our game, the word has to start with the letter. So Ped Xing can pass, but eXit, not so much.

That highway sign is pretty useful, but, really, there are X's EVERYWHERE, because of all the exits.

Yeah, X is not one of the difficult letters. K, OTOH, is damn near impossible. (J is tricky too, but sooner or later Junction will show up.)

Ooh, in our game, the word has to start with the letter. So Ped Xing can pass, but eXit, not so much.

That version would make me insane(r).

K, OTOH, is damn near impossible.

I don't know about other states, but in California (and, I now know from experience, Oregon) speed limit signs on tricky/steep/winding/whatnot bits of road will usually be followed by another sign announcing a lower limit for trucks with trailers. TrucKs, baby!

And I just had to stop myself from writing another three or four paragraphs on strategies for sniffing out all the other uncommon letters. Possibly this last road trip was a little too long.

K, OTOH, is damn near impossible.

Not on trips to Canada, though.

We never used to play games like that. We used to play spot the liscense plate, though. Mostly the game was "how to keep Sue sitting on the floor for the whole ride." (It was the 70s, when the cars were big.)

K, OTOH, is damn near impossible.

Trucks are a good source for cutesy spellings that can give you a K when you need one.

On a highway instead of a freeway, county roads are a jackpot.

I think that the American ones are bison, and the African and Asian ones are buffalo, but I can't remember what makes the difference. The ones that we get the milk from for buffalo mozzarella are buffalo, not bison, I think.

There are a few differences between the two families, but the one I like best is that buffalo have horns that touch at the base (making an impressive head-plate on cape buffalo), while a bison's horns are completely separate from one another. (Asian) Buffalo are domesticated, so that'd be where the mil is most likely to come from. Anyone out there milking African cape buffalo - kudos, you lactose loving lunatic.

FedEx came this morning and delivered a box. I just opened it to discover 4 ARCs from Random House. Did I enter an online contest and forget about it?

I had to bring the laptop home in order to bring things back online once the emergency work was done on the machines. So came home, admired the work on my doors, swam, did an hour's worth of work, totally screwed something up and said fuckit. Then I applied stripper.

I'm kind of annoyed.

And now I want to paint my beautiful easily opening and closing doors! LIKE I HAVE TIME FOR MORE PROJECTS. But the deck door looks grey in comparison to the fresh white framing (I want it a certain blue), and I've wanted to paint the basement door purple once it was all patched up with new hardware. And gee, should really rescreen the basement screen door (it swings! And has handles!) and that too needs painting (ooh, maybe red!) And I need to do one more coat on the framing anyway (because of the weather, there was only time for one, so she left me the paint, and will just add it to the invoice.)

AND WHEN DO YOU HAVE THE TIME SARA.