Literal Harold and I met yesterday for breakfast at the sunniest diner in the world, within a pancake's flop of where Father Baker remains.
The coffee is as bad as the vibes are good.
Harold made me jealous at one point as he regaled me with stories of his junkets and travelling gigs, one for the NYT to a suthirn state of all places for their 36 Hours Series. I asked him to help me decide about the PhD/Doctor Nance Project but I think the newer, better aim is to be more a photog v. of Literal Harold. I can always just get vanity plates that say DoctorNance... oh, no, too many letters. It'd have to be some ineffective DOCNANC which makes absolutely no sense.
We had planned after this post-industrial townie meet-up to walk in the most excellent of the Middling City's Olmsted Parks, South Park. Magical, with water lilies, vistas, and the pesky golfers are not so plentiful and, as is the wont of public coursers, they do not let out yelps of helpful Fores whilst driving that little ball home.
So we meet over at the park and Literal Harold, upon hearing of my odd bout of heatstroke last week, promised to have a palm frond in hand to fan me.
And I'll be goddamned if he didn't appear from his sensible Chevrolet Classic rental with a faux palm frond fan in hand. I snatched it from him and did my own fanning.
Dined at the favoured Allentown joint last night where there is always a primo selection of Thursday nighters, and vino. Enjoyed lots of sauvignon laughs, even despite the gushing rain that sent most of the diners indoors, me et some al under the tented outdoor cabana bar.
Off to more points above, beyond to make and do.

Love that Sauvignon Blanc.

this just in:
Philip Glass to play Middling City U this September the 18th.

Blogging via the new faster stronger powerbook with the illuminated keyboard. A bonus. What is not the bonus, well, it kind of is a bonus in this mad, real estate-driven world, is that there are many square inches of this machine - not just the 3" on the sides that I expected but the extra of the depth. And Yours Truly truly uses a laptop on her lap's top and this newbie gets rather warm, is rather weighty after a work jag.
Fussed around with Aperture until after a few hours I had selected images in a work folder just fine, could figure out how to place them on their stylin' light table yet could not figure - yet - how to grab each one and wrangle it into client-worthy readiness.
After that this is how YT felt.
Aperture: 1
Me: 0
First stop this fine dewy Middling City morn is a gig on the urban campus of MCU. Second or third stop will be. Quiz.
You have thirty seconds to figure out this answer.
Patient pause.
No.
Third stop is going to be Barnes and Nobility for one of those Aperture Life Raft handbooks, aka the Cliff Notes of Reason - the For Dummies series.
On a not lighter but more cinematic note, saw Johnny in his new movie and, as far as YT is concerned, they could have weed whacked most scenes with Keira and several with Orlando. More Johnny, less puffery.
As Jack/Johnny would say (and the one line in which he used it this time around got a rollicking laugh out of one of the elderly gigantic ladies in attendance at the matinée, armed with - what else - the econo bucket of the stalest, crunchiest popcorn, as she saw the first Johnny Pirate movie and was like so in the knowing) Savvy.

Swaggering Love.

Hot-weather-inspired Middling City parties this weekend - involving margaritas and burritos.
Or is that burritoes.
Let us ask Dan Quayle.
Or not.
Cheryl & Ed had the margarita party and Gary and Michele had the latter. Today had coffee with some gals, not Mexican.
Neither the gals nor the java.
Come to think of it Yours Truly only had one Mexican acquaintance and she came with the X so it's perhaps safe to say YT has no Mexican acquaintaces at this time.
Regarding the Mexican-related hoopla, perhaps in these warm months all denizens of the MC should carry about some Frank's, just in case.
Did not attend the Italian Fest, the Burger Fest. Skipped this year's Taste of Middling City. These are all foodstuff frenzies and why should events be centered mainly on food. Oh, that's right. Take a look around. The adult record-setter of burger eating ate a meager five in five minutes. Couldn't any red-blooded non-corpse of any nationality eat that many. I ask You.
The child in the kid burger eating melee ate fifteen. More like it.
In the review/commentary of the event the Middling City News reportage intern stated or reminded that at the core of eating contests lies this little trick.
One must dip bread into water.
Here YT would like to toss in this fun fact.
The human stomach is about the size of a fist, the size of a grapefruit. Imagine what you put into it during a meal. Or not.
I rest my biologically-revelatory case.
Tomorrow's first gig at the Center of Excellence.
Truly, YT prefers to spend most of her time at Centers of Excellence.
No matter the genre.
Tomorrow, and this is really the grandest fun fact of all, YT receives her new power book. The super-duper-magna-cum-power-loaday model.
The beauty of ordering à la carte online is that one may toss onto the machine what one likes from the vast and stormy (well, in actuality, their crisp menu is not at all stormy as it is all very helpful with links wherever there might need to be some clarity. like epinw) menu. Aperture... pre-installed. And more.
Let us end on my favoured DQ quote: What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is.

Love of Knowledge, big and small.