Hec handled the Natter update, so here's my Bitches report on yesterday evening:

Matilda loved, loved, loved Emmett's play, mostly when Emmett was in it but intermittently the rest of the time too. Every time he appeared she cried out, "Oh, there's EMMETT!" and when he spoke as the voice of the magic toilet (it was that kind of play), she said loudly, "What's Emmett saying?" When he failed, as the Big Bad Wolf, to huff and puff down the toughest pig's house and fell over in a coughing fit, she called encouragingly, "Blow, Emmett! Blow, my brother!" And then when he didn't get up right away she wanted to run to him, and had to be convinced that he was only pretending.

When the two kids playing kids in the "dotty grandpa tells fractured fairy tale to his wee sproggins" framing device got in a shoving match with the kid playing the grandpa, Matilda said with great perturbation, "They're hurting him."

"No, it's all right," I whispered. "They're only pretending."

She frowned and said sternly, "Pretending to hurt him."

I really adore her beyond reason.

She frowned and said sternly, "Pretending to hurt him."

Your daughter is freakish in an awesome way....

Has she ever said what she wants to be when she grows up?

Awww, Matilda. Bless.

I looked around for someone to tell about this, but the only person who seemed to work there was the work-study undergrad who was checking out books, who I know has no power over anything.

Hil, you can also contact the recycling office. They need to know when their bins are moved anyway, so they can find them to empty them.

Matilda is quite awesome.

She frowned and said sternly, "Pretending to hurt him."

Aw, man. Small child morality. Melting, now.

Hee. Loving the Matilda story.

Beth ~ heh - well, I am famous for my detailed knowledge of tarmac surfaces. I have quite literal dreams in this area. Instead of dreaming of seeing 'online' people in person, I mostly dream I'm spending time on messageboards. Odd, because most of my dreams are utterly random. I wake up going "And exactly where was the internal logic to that fictional world, hmm?"

not here writing dissertation not here writing dissertation not here writing dissertation

Oh, another interesting ethnicity form on a job application, this one in New Zealand. The ethnicity options were "European," about five different types of Asian, "Mixed Race," and "Other." I was just staring at that one for a while, thinking, "I'm European? I guess? And do they expect no black people or Middle Eastern people or Native Americans or Hispanic people to apply for this job?"

The form for Cambridge had, I think, different categories for Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi, plus one for Chinese, but nothing that would cover Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, or anywhere else in Asia. But at least that one had a "White, not British or Irish" category where I could put myself.

I'm confused.

Why do they have ethnicity forms to begin with?

Well, most of the ones in the US say that the people doing the hiring don't see them -- they're for the people keeping track of who the university hires. I don't know exactly what they do with them.

Huh. Thanks for answering.