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the latest waddle:

good morning, wordpress - 10:36 a.m. , 2009-07-03

elaborate murder attempt - 2:56 p.m. , 2009-07-01

building a tractor in the basement - 10:42 a.m. , 2009-06-19

ask no questions tell just a few lies - 3:17 p.m. , 2009-06-09

my long lasting flavor really lasts long - 1:10 p.m. , 2009-06-04


2002-01-31 ... 12:29 p.m.

I am reading and editing a whole pile of clinical psychiatry research articles, in the context of work, and this one article keeps distinguishing between depression and "normal sadness." Normal sadness. (There I go with the Kurt Vonnegut-esque echolalia stylings again.) (Warning: that link leads to a somewhat creepy page. Don't go there if you are currently experiencing anything above and beyond Normal Sadness.)

Has anyone read this book? I think the Booklist review comes closest to the truth, but parts of the story (not even so much plot elements or characters, but certain phrases and images) struck some bizarre (diminished seventh) chord in me that I'd like to think about some more.

WELL, MIMI SMARTYPANTS, WHAT'S STOPPING YOU? GO AHEAD AND THINK!

Thank you, I will.

In case you give a flying fuck about the weather in a place where You (possibly) Aren't, I just thought I'd mention that Chicago has been positively flattened by a skyfull dumptruck of classic, wet, heavy, Platonic-ideal snow. It's the perfect consistency for forts or snow phalluses. It made getting to work an adventure. The snow came pretty much out of nowhere (wasn't it light-jacket weather just a week ago?). Tom Skilling must be pretty tingly and vibrant right about now.

For those of you who are not familiar, Tom Skilling is a local weather guy here in Chicago. Excuse me, not just a weather guy but a METEOROLOGIST. He has a weather segment on this local news that goes on forever, with an avalanche of data. Dew points. Barometer readings. Whole-country weather system maps. Tom Skilling is visibly excited on the air when he does the weather (no, not in a tented-pants sort of way, just in a bulgy-eyes sweaty-forehead manic sort of way. Get your mind out of the gutter.) Tom Skilling probably wishes the weather segment was four times as long. I like to picture Tom Skilling staying up all night surfing weather websites and monitoring the Current Situation with regard to weather. I like to picture Tom Skilling screaming, "BUT I HAVE DATA!" when anyone at the station dares to suggest cutting a minute or two out of his weather segment.

And in case Tom Skilling, who is a real person, ever goes ego-surfing and Googles himself, and finds this page instead: We love you Tommy. Don't sue.

I HAD NOTHING TO SAY AND I WAS SAYING IT AND IT BECAME A WEBLOG:

Maybe you could read this poem by James Tate. This poem likes to surprise you. Who could eat liverwurst at a time like this?

Or, maybe you were wondering how many people there are in the world. The answer is: a lot. Oh baby, I'm sorry if that number frightened you. Shhh. It's okay. We won't speak of it again.

Unless you secretly are me (are you me? That's going to cause problems come tax time), you won't enjoy this freshman-seminar syllabus nearly as much as I do.

---mimi "untraceable, untranslatable" smartypants

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