Playtime...

for August 11, 2011: It’s National Book Week. The rules: Grab the closest book to you. Go to page 56. Copy the 5th sentence as your status (We’ve done something similar to this before, but it’s always fun, so … why not?)

I had a pile of books on my desk yesterday, but moved them to my bedroom. The only published book within reach now - "published" in contrast to notebooks and apazines - is a wonderful graphic novel called Thor: The World Eaters by Matt Fraction and Pasqual Ferry.

The pages are not numbered - there are no margins - but I turned to page 56, and discovered that it starts with some odd fragmentary sentences - the patter of a con man pulling in his crowd. Taking each word balloon fragment as a sentence, the fifth sentence is:


I hope you all want to play with me.

I find that absolutely delightful.

Soho is Burning...

Why is it that the news items about the riots in the UK make me think of Peter Grant and Ben Aaronovitch's novels?

I'd like to see Peter Grant dealing with the problems, magically.

Friday...

A nice day. Still not feeling lively, but managed not to tax myself. Unlike yesterday, today had some good surprises.

Spent a good part of the afternoon wandering Costco with Lil, on the theory that my new computer has something seriously wrong with it, and it can be exchanged for a similar computer. For $100 more I can get a lot more power with a computer that's discounted for today and tomorrow only ... Hmm. I am, if you're wondering, writing this on my old computer, which really isn't that old, and still works, and I'm so very glad I kept it.

Lil found a dictionary for sale that actually failed to have the word sport in it. What's with that? I'm still wondering why Scrabble wouldn't let me play auditorium.

We treated ourselves to ice cream, afterwards. Costco still has the best ice cream ever. I couldn't even get through a whole cone - Lil now thinks I'm a Skrull impostor - but it was delicious.

We got back to my place and Lil started packing up my computer, when there was a tap on my window. josanpq was in the neighbourhood and dropped by to say hello. I was glad she did, because Lil and maaseru were doing their own thing for dinner. josanpq and I went to the Canal Ritz, where I had pear and goat's cheese pizza and she had a Mediterranean salad. The Canal Ritz was at its most beautiful: sunny but not too hot, a gentle breeze, ducks swimming by... Relaxing and pleasant, just what we both needed.

Now I can relax and read. Tomorrow will be rather busy.