But on second thought don't tell me, I'm too ill

It wasn't a scheduled Christmas activity, but, somewhere along the lines here bunny_hugger picked up a cold. This was annoying on many levels. For example, it cheated us out of time we might've tended minor post-Christmas chores like getting ornament boxes or containers for our wrapping paper. I did delight her by suggesting we could put the wrapping paper in plastic garbage bags so they didn't roll apart, and when she said they wouldn't entirely fit in the bag I said that was fine because that way we'd know the bag wasn't garbage. Somehow the logic of putting something in garbage bags so we'd know it wasn't garbage tickled her, although I thought it was reasonable enough.

But mostly it was annoying because if she has to be sick, why does she have to be sick when it doesn't get her out of class, and when it just adds to the worry that she won't have everything that needs to be done ready ahead of our planned trip east to see my parents and discover what things are like in their new home.

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My humor blog: it carries on daily! This week I had a special little Ian Shoales week, showcasing several essays from the amphetamined prince of darkness, but I also ran a couple bits that were my own composition. Those include:

• The End Of The Tree, this week's major piece, featuring our pet rabbit and the (doomed) Christmas tree.
• Toying With Me, last week's major piece, and some further description of how the soundtrack to Toys has been popping up all over my life lately.
• Popeye, The Ace Of Space, the cartoon-review feature, about a rare venture into 3-D for Popeye and a rare post-1950 venture into trying a little on Famous Studios's part.
• Statistics Saturday: A List Of Some Things Which Look Considerably More Dignified If Depicted Wearing Glasses, which explains itself.

And the Ian Shoales pieces were:

• The Perfect City, a moment of utopia-construction not much related to his satiric rock-opera novel A Perfect World.
• Temp Work, useful advice for everyone doing the work they don't want to do until they can do the work they want to do.
• Doonesbury, a plea to just let him be news some.
• What I Like, a glimpse into what brings the thing that passes for a smile to Ian Shoales's lips.

Trivia: In 1201 Venice's Great Council pledged to support the Crusade with transport for 4,500 knights and their horses, 9,000 squires, and 20,000 foot soldiers, with food for nine months, at an expense of 84,000 silver marks; Venice also pledged to provide fifty equipped galleys at her own expense, in exchange for receiving half of all conquered territories. Source: A History of Venice, John Julius Norwich.

Currently Reading: Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, January 2015. Editor Sheila Williams.