(no subject)

Okay, Midwestern teams, it's time to stop sucking! When the World Series rolls around at the end of the month, I don't want to have to root for the damn Dodgers or--god help us--the Phillies. I mean, either of these beats the Mets by a mile (I can't thank you enough, Milwaukee, for at least keeping them out of the playoffs), but still, I'd like to be rooting for the NL team for some reason beyond it being merely the NL team.

Going up?

They've been working on the elevator in our main entryway for so long now, no one can remember any more when it was originally scheduled for completion. March? May? In fact, we thought they were all finished until a couple of workmen showed up earlier this week with a lot of shiny metal cladding that they're now screwing into place. At first I was surprised to see the elevator shaft done in black cinder block, but over time I'd grown used to it. After all, when your building is done in an architectural style called "Urban Brutalism", that hardly going to be the ugliest finish in it.

Two of the guys on the project are nothing special, but the third is a sweet little bear-in-training with blond furry arms, a goatee, and a pencil behind his ear. For the past half-hour, he's been standing directly in my line of view, mostly gazing upward at his co-workers and occasionally conveying them tools and supplies. At one point, they asked for a small orange square of something. He waited until no one was on the adjoining stairs and impishly frisbeed it up to them. Now the scaffolding is coming down, so I get to see him clambering over it. Now all we need is for his shift to get caught on it in the process... (So far, the best I've gotten is him limboing under the banister in my general direction--twice!)

The only debate is what booze to drink

Last night we corrected a long-standing oversight by strolling with neighbours spookyfruit and welcomerain to Viet Bistro on Devon for dinner. The good news is that almost all our old favourites from Pasteur--including e.'s beloved bò lục lặc--have snuck back onto the menu. Spooky had the mackerel, Rain the snapper, I the bouillabaisse, and monshu the clay pot chicken, and we were all well-satisfied. The bad news is that we saw only three other diners the entire time we were there. You might say, "Well, Thursday night and all," but more worrying was the beverage situation. No sooner had we sat down when the waitress informed us that there were no specialty martinis because their mixmaster wasn't there and--even more inexplicable--that there was no soda because they were out of CO2. How do you run out of carbonation? What's your possible excuse for not having something that's available in every fast food restaurant everywhere all the time? Worse, the wine list was a shambles. The waitress warned monshu that they were "redoing it" and many things were unavailable, but she let him attempt to order three different wines before he gave up and had her recommend a mediocre white. In short, if you really want to taste their Saigonese duck one more time, don't put it off too long; else you might recreate Spooky's experience of arriving at Pasteur only to find it boarded up.

I'd love to share some of the conversation, but you know Spooky's rule: If you weren't there, then too bad. At least it was about everything but our house and health problems, which was a refreshing change. It wasn't necessary our aim to dodge the debate, but we were all pretty content to forget it was happening. It wouldn't be forgotten, however, though at least it was confined to the next room. Our waitress apologised, but a clutch of college students had arrived with bingo cards printed off of this site. As of the time we left, no one was less than two away from winning and the atmosphere could be politely described as more muted than festive. Better they should've picked a drinking game, I say! But perhaps they weren't all in the mood for screwdrivers.

WotD: swear

1. schwören
2. zweren
3. jurar
4. jurar
5. jurer
6. tyngu
7. mionnaigh
8. 맹세하다 (盟誓하다)
9. 發誓 fāshì

Example sentence: "I swear I didn't know it was loaded!"

1. Ich schwöre, ich hab nicht gewusst, dass es geladen war!
2. Ik zweer, ik wist niet dat het geladen was!
3. Te juro que no supe que estava cargada!
4. Et juro que no he sabut que estava cargada!
5. Moi, je te jure que j'ai su pas qu'il était chargé!
6. Ar fy llw, sa i'n gwybod fod e'n lawn!
7. Dar m'fhocal, ní fheadar go raibh sé lódáilte!