Tales from the Steppes

2004-09-17

10:36 a.m.
These fragile bodies of touch and taste

I went to see the Blue Duke yesterday and he looked pretty good. Loopy on drugs, but good. He even smiled and laughed a little. He gave me the Look when I told him his fan club was worried about him. You know the Look - the eyebrows are pulled down and raised at the same time, the eyes indicate you have said something particularly suspect, the mouth is slightly smiling. Not an unfriendly look but it lets you know your reasoning is faulty. Heh.

Yesterday was Vanfest 2004. Sparsely attended, but it went well. We had a 1988 Dodge Caravan with nearly 250,000 miles on it that we were giving away. Before anyone protests that they might have wanted the Crapmobile, as we so fondly called it, understand that it had no current registration and needs immediate work. So I put an ad on Craigslist to give it away, thinking someone would just want it for parts. Not so! I got many many responses from people with sad stories about why they needed it. Now I am not Oprah. It is not that I am not moved by their tales; it is more that I was not going to run a Saddest Story contest. So I said that anyone that wanted it could show up yesterday evening at 6pm (as this was the first time I had available) and whoever wanted it could have it. I kept a log of who contacted me when and was prepared to use that if two or more people wanted it.

Apparently, this was not acceptable to many people. They did not want to show up unless they were guaranteed the car. I got pestered with calls about exactly where people were on the list and who else was coming. The winner(?) was the only person that showed up - a woman named Chastity. This young lady was unemployed, in her 20's and has 5 children. Hrrrrm. Perhaps this was not the best name her parents could have chosen. But who am I to sit in judgement? I am just glad it went to someone who needs it and will get some use out of it.

The flogging has already started for the school year. This week I have had at least one commitment every single night. Sometimes I need to be in two or three places. For example, EM has ballet this afternoon, which I will leave work early to get her too. But then I have to sprint back to get MM to Cub Scouts. I am also supposed to be working at race packet pick up for the Kensington 8k. The question, as always, is when.