Reading: The same. Don't expect anything new for the next few days.

Learning: About Bobofett.

Listening: Roxy Music Avalon (because of Bobofett).

Viewing: Crisp weather in Denver, finally, and only if 50 degrees can be crisp.

Moving: Step.

18 November 1999: Catch-up

Nothing yet, just a hello. I dropped off film; I did some book-aunt Christmas shopping; I neglected to go to Walgreen's for OBs; I had a veggie wrap sandwich and Ferrucci for lunch. An ordinary day.

An extraordinary day: Word has finally done something I can't understand. As I searched a document for .0, Word stumbled across the text string a few places in a table. Except there was nothing there. Except there clearly was, because I could shift-scroll to select. An activated cursor was invisible in the cells of the table. Its margins were sensible and no weird tabs were set. The color of the font was black. I have no idea. So I deleted all the seemingly empty rows. I'm not here to feel inadequate.

Inadequate no, stupid yes. Chatting with someone at the water fountain, I leaned forward to take a drink. The water arched much higher than it had any reason to and hit me in the eye socket and glasses. I came up grinning and took off my glasses to dry them on my shirt. Laughter came from down the hall as well as from my conversant and me. "Who is that?" I asked, blind as a vole. If I were going to be laughed at (and I deserved to be) I wanted to be laughed at by someone with a sense of humor. He had one, imitating me as a drowned Mr. Magoo.

I dropped off the disposable cameras at Wolf Camera, which was stupid since no disposable shot is worth that much. And I popped into T.J. Maxx, just in case, and bought some Christmas presents for my ever-expanding passel of nieces and nephews. No one is pregnant right now, no one has been for four whole months for the first time in three years! T.J. Maxx is not the best place to be a Book Aunt. The week after Thanksgiving I'll go to Tattered Cover.

Coming back, I rode up the elevator with a coworker who had scampered out for lunch. She had a handful of change in her hand and said, as if to herself, "Nice tree." I did my best imitation of a cockatiel who's heard a scary noise: very tall, very erect, very aware, twitchy with attention. She grinned, knowing how I feel about Connecticut. She gave me the quarter. Yea! I've been waiting for it. This one is by far the best yet. A horse for Delaware, Washington crossing the Delaware for New Jersey, a peach for Georgia, and oh, such an original state outline for Pennsylvania. But a Charter Oak--now that's a coin. Except now it reminds me of Sethe's chokecherry tree.

I still haven't written up vacation entries, because I'm a schmuck. Boston and CLH were fun; RDC and I haven't slept in a twin bed for almost seven years; my mother was tolerable; my grandmother is ill; the wedding was weird; the reception was great; his aunt and uncle were tolerable; his grandfather is declining; TJZ's house is unlocatable by normal means; HEBD's hair is to her waist and her braid thrice as thick as mine; ZBD continues the loveliest child I have ever known; RDC's grandfather's assisted living place seems okay and doesn't reek of pee; my grandmother belongs in one; I said hi to my beach; our evening at Charenton was wonderful and our bedroom heated; UConn is much altered but just the same; NKW is so tall I gaped; AEW is about as interesting as a three-month-old baby can be; ABW still giggles; finding Logan wasn't as much of a nightmare as I anticipated; and anyone who complains about DIA is whacked because the plane landed at 8:35, we disembarked at 8:39, our bags were waiting for us at the carousel, a parking shuttle arrived at the island when we did, and we were home by 9:19.

But "That '70s Show" had the new show on at 7:00 Tuesday and I taped a repeat at 7:30. I hate that.