Nick just left, after a delightful 2-day xmas visit. The best part was the morning he got here, when Gwen’s parents also stopped by and we all had a mini-pre-xmas proxyish xmas morning. It was almost like being part of a big family. Maybe it wasn’t completely ‘almost’ either. Gwen’s parents finally got to meet Nick, who’ll be a best man at the wedding, so that felt good all around too. Still many presents to open but so far we’re up to: Jerry and Renee gave us a set of wine glasses and the …

Some recent pictures without, alas, any explanations whatsoever.

I kind of have a crush on that one model, I think.

It think that it’s important to sometimes remember to not be afraid to take as much time as you need to do something the way that you want to do it.

It’s true: I actually think in deeply-nested infinitives and nominative sub-clauses. I blame John Meny (pronounced like the opposite of Few) who was my first English teacher, and, at the same time (but during a different class period) also my first Latin teacher. He was also the first adult who treated me like an equal, or was at least the first to do so in a way that …

Today is exploding in my face. A moment of nova in the darkness, though: Darin’s my boss, Jeff’s his partner, and Jeff calls about three times a day to talk to and bitch to Darin. I answer the phones, so I talk to Jeff a lot, but I still don’t really know him that well. Anyway, he really touched me just now when he called, and asked me, “Are you having a good day?” and I answered, “Bah. What could possibly be good about it?”, to which Jeff replied, “Well…you for one thing.”

Back to the …

I have never heard anyone praise the ingenuity that went into or the convenience that comes out of: door locks that when you turn them one way, admit the key holder but remain locked after closing, and then, when you turn them another way, or turn them a second time in the same direction as the first, unlock completely. Simple + brilliant = simply brilliant.

One crisp new dollar bill to whoever can tell me the name of this kind of lock. I’d also be grateful for any kind of pointer toward any kind of information regarding 20th century …

I submit to you:

If we all started to become afraid that everyone else was afraid that America is a ticking time-bomb of self-destructive fury, cradled in the hands of a complete and utter madman, would any of us dare to admit it? And if we couldn’t bring it up (for fear of making the very situation we fear most, actually REAL (instead of just feared-but-not-yet-known-to-be-real) merely by virtue of our having brought it up), how could we ever hope to do anything about it?

Has George W. Bush slain American democracy? Or did he merely hasten the …

A man I’ve never seen before walks onto the stage, one man in a lone spotlight, everything else dark. He quiets the applause with a gesture, leans into the mic, and says, “Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for coming tonight. It’s really, really wonderful to see all these faces here tonight. Now, I know you all came here for a laugh, or…I hope you did.” He pauses, his eager audience laughs. “But I hate to have to break it to you. I’m not going to be funny tonight.” Pauses, the audience offers an over-the-top as-seen-on-tv …

Fuck waiting for xmas. Fuck my goddamn amazon wishlist. This is what I want, and I want it immediately.

Other great gift ideas at web zen.

Me: “Honey?”

Gwen: “Hmmm?”

Me: “I was thinking. Let’s say it turned out that Matthias Thorn was my secret identity, and that in quote-unquote real life I was actually a supervillain —”

Gwen: “You better n—”

Me: “A supervillain named George. W. Bush.”

Long thoughtful pause.

Me: “I was thinking about this last night, if I was secretly W, and I asked myself, ‘Would Gwen still love me?’ And I didn’t know. Would you? If I was also George W. Bush?”

Gwen: “I think I would have a problem hanging out with you on a social basis. But I would still love …

While many claim that Boston driving requires a perfect mixture of recklessness and vindicativeness, it simply isn’t so. Even though I don’t drive, I have been able to infer the following Boston rules of the road:

* If you hear an ambulance siren, accelerate and try to outrun it: NEVER pull over to the side of the road. You’ve got just as much of a right to the road as those friggin’ ambulances, buddy.

* Pedestrians deserve whatever they get. After all, there’s nothin’ stoppin’ ‘em from drivin’ a cah just like everbody else, goddammit.

* You will be rewarded …