Three questions for spring

1. Don't the redbuds seem awfully late this year? Most of them are just starting to come into bloom; I don't remember seeing any budding before last Friday. By this point, if something's not sprouting or blossoming, I assume it didn't make it through last winter. Not only are the lilies-of-the-valley and peonies up, but the periwinkle is already flowering!
2. Which is stupider: Sunshine delays or gaper blocks?
3. What are you doing for Mayday?

Wabbit Twouble

The sign by the bunny now reads:

All That Easter Candy... I'M STUFFED!

"I want to see people and I want to see life"

After sounding me out last night to make sure I didn't have another game session scheduled for then, Monshu suggested we go out this weekend. "Just the two of us," he said, after briefly reviewing the lamitude of our gay friends.

"That's okay," I replied, "I'm sure you'll find a way to be disappointed anyway." When he reacted, I said, "It seems like when we go out, you have these unspoken expectations. I don't know what you're expecting, but it never seems to happen." He admitted that was true and we spent some time getting to the bottom of them.

It appears what he wants is:

1. To go out for a drink someplace gay
2. To be around lively people who he finds attractive (i.e. not bears)
3. Not to actually speak to or interact with these people in any way, since all know how dumb conventionally attractive people are

Simple, really. He mentioned Sidetrack, but I may suggest someplace with a dancefloor. That way, at least I can have some fun while he does his "distant...but cuddly" solitary people-watching thing.

"He's considered a genius in Iraq"

Years ago now I stumbled across the official Bud Spencer homepage. I don't remember how I got there, all I remember is the amusement at discovering the popularity of some big Italian bear actor I'd never seen or heard of before. Alas, "Budworld" seems not to exist any more, but at the time, it had an online form for requesting a personalised postcard from Bud himself, so I sent one to my buddy ottr4bear. Since this is the wondrous age of the web, a Google search reveals no shortage of unofficial sites dedicated to him. (Most in Italian or German, though here's one also in English.)

I hadn't really thought about any of this until today when I read a travelogue from a reporter who claims (with a degree of credibility worthy of Roland Hedley) that Bud Spencer is the most popular actor in Iraq. "Equal famous to George Bush!" says his interpreter. There's something oddly appropriate about that, given than Iraq is a land so bear-rich I can hardly watch any reportage of crowd scenes from there without salivating. In fact, if I were to set out acquiring my own harem, I think it would draw disproportionately from the area bounded by Turkey and the Levant on the west, Armenia and Afghanistan on the north and east.