Straight No Chaser

Little Nerdy Kids

to anyone who contributed, thanks for the trophy. i really do appreciate it.

to elaborate on my earlier statement about my job kicking ass, i will add that it kicks major ass. academic summer camp for bright kids: perfect. perfect perfect perfect. it is nerd paradise; the students arriving tomorrow are the kind of kids who wear taped glasses and t-shirts with nature scenes and stonewashed pants just a little too short, and who will undoubtedly complain, at every juncture, about having to put down their pencils or books and go outside.

they are an absolutely wonderful archetype, and i get to meet them tomorrow, and i can't wait. sooo excited.

contest stuff. i just drew up the calendar, minus aaron and myself because i don't know when she wants to go, and, that concrete step completed, i'm starting to look forward to it again. it'll mean stepping out of my comfort zone, because a solid half of the people who played last time were my friends, and these ones, these round-two contestants, i don't know many of them. which also, hopefully, means more objectivity; i won't have previous entries to which to compare their efforts. i'll have to take every entry at face value, outside of a broader context.

i don't want fighting. i hope the phrase "swiftly disqualified" sticks with people, because cattiness gives me a headache. i just want everyone to have fun and write some damn good entries. that's all.

i wish katrina could play. aaron too.

on the way to training yesterday, i saw, posted on the site of the street, a giant billboard advertising a jacques brel revue next week in town. jacques brel!! remarkable because, before cappucine submitted her favorite song entry, i had never heard of jacques brel; i was shocked to find him on itunes; once i'd listened to the song, i figured he was someone with a scattered and predominantly french-speaking cult following. but no, days later he shows up in suburban olney, maryland, splat on the side of the street i just happened to take to work, yesterday, because the traffic was too bad on my normal route.

the other strange thing i saw, same street on the way home, was a dead doe with a half-birthed baby poking from her backside, and buzzards eating both of them.

my new favorite snack is parmesan goldfish with broccoli florets.

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