Bring tea for the tillerman, steak for the sun, wine for the woman who make the rain come

So! The talk at the local junior high was super. We had fun, the audience was attentive and engaged, and we hope to do it again sometime.

Once back at the day-job, I spent 'way too much energy trying to track down a solution, which used to exist, but doesn't any more, and nobody knows what the new solution is, except those who profess to believe that the old solution had never existed in the first place, but either hand, you betcha it's not coming out of their budget.

I don't get tired and aggravated with people because of the Big Evils. Done correctly, Big Evils have a certain class to them. What bugs me is the petty crap, coupled with the assumption that because I sit in a secretarial chair I must be an idiot and can thus be lied to with impunity. Man, that corks me off.

Don't tell anybody, 'k?

I ran some errands on the way home. The bank was empty; the grocery store not-so-busy, but the CVS parking lot was crammed with cars. Lots of folks getting toothpaste in their stockings this year.

While at the grocery store -- actually, during the process of returning the grocery cart to the carrel -- my ring got caught in the cart's handle, just for a heartbeat. The ring is now bent, though still wearable, and I count myself fortunate. The last time this happened, I broke my finger and the ring had to be cut off.

Spent the evening so far killing items off the to-do list. I have thus far written to several people whose Fledglings were returned, and answered a couple folks who wrote to me with the news that their copy hasn't arrived yet. Still have a few more of those to clean out, then I can move on to the dishes. I was hoping to get back with Ghost Ship today, but -- at this point, that's not in the cards.

Thirteen more days until winter break.

I can do this.