I can't get something in the mail to her in time, and it has to be from the both of us (I'm not sure why, but it has been thus for forever--the kids give presents to either parents as a unit, and the parents give gifts as a unit to either of us--this means more work for my mother and sister generally, but I'm not averse to pitching in if I can get inspiration to crowd out insecurity. And, seriously, what do I draw???)

Speaking of poetry, I watched a high school poetry competition yesterday on HBO, and I was pretty fucking impressed. It was a national competition--Bay Area, New York, and maybe Santa Fe and one more place, and these 16 to 18 year olds were giving this shit their all. Not much in the way of celebratory or happy poetry, but I guess that's not your muse at 17. Interestingly, one of the teams deliberately threw the competition--scores are between 8 and 10--you get 8 points for showing up, apparently so that they feel good about themselves, and Denver (oh, hey, maybe that's the missing team, huh?) had a poem explaining how they didn't need mollycoddling and fake padding for their egos, so give us a seven. It wasn't the best poem of the night, but it was the most successful--they got three sevens and three tens, and since they saved it for the last round they lost.

They looked genuinely happy with that (and the standing O), and I was pretty impressed. The rest of the poems were about pain and anger and generally made me feel bad. They made me feel, so that was good, but still don't want to be bummed out and angered repeatedly by high schoolers.

And ding ding ding! Woo nurse is anti vax. We have a bingo folks. You can all go home.

Oy, you should at least win a stuffed penguin or something for the bingo. Some sort of skee-ball prize equivalent.

Timelies all!

Malice is done. Good convention. Sleepy now.

Several people I went to high school with are posting photos of their children dressed for prom. How are we old enough for that?

We're not. My sister was just visiting for lunch and we went to see a friend of hers from high school and he showed us prom pictures of his daughter. But that cannot be right.

Also, um, she decreed that it was Cinco de Mayo so we were having mexican food and a margarita. Food was okay. Margarita was both strong and kinda awesome. Now I want a nap.

And to know how doves survive evolution. They build the flimsiest nests in the worst locations.

Woo nurse is anti vax.

That is appalling. Not surprising, but appalling.

I can't tell if you just won or lost this round of Woo Bingo.

We're not.

Thank you! Of course I'm completely ignoring the classmate who has posted photos of a grandchild.

I can't tell if you just won or lost this round of Woo Bingo.

I think she won, since Woo!Nurse is still giving her her meds. Anti-vax people seriously annoy me.

Our homecoming princess got knocked up on prom night; her child will be 23 this year. If I'd been less lucky...(cause you know I didn't use contraception every time at 17.)

We spent Friday evening with some family friends - their daughter and CJ are best buddies. The family is pretty conservative and very religious but aren't pushy about either so we get along fine. While the kids were watching Doctor Who, I was chatting with the mom, M. Somehow during our conversation, M told me that she put her daughter on the pill for the summer so that she could control her periods around their vacations, especially their trip to Hawaii. But once school starts, she will take her off the pill.

I just...it seems so...just weird.

And to know how doves survive evolution. They build the flimsiest nests in the worst locations.

The white tern lays its eggs in the forks of branches, or perhaps a particularly large knothole. For example: [link] Another one: [link]

The next time you say, "It was the least I could do", think of the white tern.

And yet they are not extinct...

Today has been A Day. I am now sitting and about to eat dinner and watch some Parks and Rec, and I could just fall asleep right here. Except there's laundry to fold and the dishwasher to unload & load, cats to feed, etc. etc. etc.

Question: I forgot I had a half a burrito in the fridge since Tuesday, and just discovered it today. To eat or not to eat? The outside is a bit soggy but everything looks & smells OK. It's black beans, brown rice, spinach, artichoke hearts, sprouts, corn... that may be it.