rinue | Spinning Plates

There's always a moment of terror when eating at the ISH cafeteria. It's not the staff, who are kind and personable, or the food, which is banal but perfectly acceptable. No, it's the trays, which are nearly frictionless, making the checkout-to-table walk an exercise not unlike balancing a dictionary on one's head. The tray is even molded with a crosshatch pattern that looks specially designed to prevent this problem, but which instead allows plate and glass to hover on some kind of air cushion. I keep thinking about semiconductors.

I've been reading (and in some cases, rereading) Malcolm Gladwell's back archives lately, because I have a longstanding geek crush on Malcolm Gladwell which may supersede even my longstanding geek crush on Henry Jenkins. What can I say; I go for well-spoken men who are compassionate, curious, passionately interested in knowing all the whys and hows, and able to be at home within a daunting range of subcultures. (This last one is why I've never cared one way or the other about Jon Stewart.)

In any case, this article gave me new respect for ketchup, traditionally my most neglected condiment, behind even mayonnaise. (I'm pretty much a mustard and hot sauce girl. Ahhh Texas.) So I went through four packets of ketchup at dinner, and now my throat hurts. These may or may not be related.

You may have noticed that I'm talking a lot about dinner. This is because nothing really happened today. I was supposed to go to a party at Hena's, but she got sick and had to call things off at the last minute. So I wound up sitting around reading A Clash of Kings and browsing Amazon for Ciro birthday presents.

Ciro decreed some months ago that his birthday celebrations would henceforth comprise three days instead of one, such that the reveling will commence the day previous and not conclude until the end of the day following. I couldn't come up with a good argument against this, mainly because it's not founded on anything but whimsy, and therefore has no logical underpinnings to undermine. This means I have to front at least three presents. I am wearing my Chanukka socks to keep things in perspective. Note that although I seem to be complaining, I think the three-day birthday idea is great, especially for those of us who don't tend to get federal holidays or even proper weekends.

Anyway, this was probably the most online shopping I've ever done. Not the most online buying, but the browsing around. I'm not a browser - at least not online. I don't know where to start. But I developed techniques and strategies and found cool stuff. I'm feeling accomplished for having overcome, though I was flustered and forgot to buy things through Reflection's Edge, even though I am constantly reminding people to make Amazon buys through Reflection's Edge.

You: How will Romie cap off this day of non-stop excitement?

Me: I'm trying to divine that my own self. Possibly I will make a thrilling journey to Tesco's to buy some dark chocolate KitKats, which are on sale. Possibly I will watch The Hustler. More likely, I will play solitaire and write bits of things which I will forget about immediately, find later, and then forget about again. This is my usual pattern. As a final note, my cell phone has magnetized the bobby pins in my purse. The paper clips, being insulated, are still fine.