Thirty days hath September, April...drat, it’s that time again.

This morning I attended the honours thesis defence of my daughter’s friend Ed. He had sent out a rather hilarious email to certain of his acquaintances asking them to come to his defence, citing ten reasons why they should do so:

10. Past-Master Ed’s defence is a mandatory AMOBSO activity for all initiates under the 3rd level in the Greater Rites of Aza-Th0th.
9. Last chance to display your hung-over look this semester.
8. It sure beats going to shul.
7. C’mon... I’ll give you free Kool-Aid & a haircut.
6. Saturday morning cartoons aren’t what they used to be.
5. I t’s the first day of the Roman festival of Floralia, the celebration of Spring, and you need to brush up on your apotropaic rites (don’t we all?).
4. Some of you owe me money.
3. This could be your only opportunity this year to hear about a wide range of topics including: Assyr0-Babyl0nian dem0nology, Egyptian dem0onology, Persian dem0nology & Israelite dem0nology.
2. I’m buying doughnuts (seriously).
1. The annual refugee sponsorship garage sale takes place at the arena on the same auspicious day.

Spread the word (although not too loudly) & bring friends (but not too many: we’re trying to keep it small). Free exorcism on presentation of this coupon. (One exorcism per customer. Not valid with any other offer.)

It was pretty interesting. The two profs who grilled him (Drs. M and W) were both extremely impressed with the young man’s work, and kept saying so. Their questions were pretty nit picky. And yes, he had provided doughnuts.

After that I rushed into Sh’brooke to pick up my watch from the jeweller before he closed at noon. It was still too big, so he had to remove another link from the bracelet as his wife busied herself removing all the jewellery from the display cases, putting everything in the safe. I suppose it’s necessary, it just seemed rather tedious, because when they open again on Monday morning, she’ll have to replace everything. Anyway, the watch was finally to my satisfaction (I’m extremely satisfied with it) and I was able to hop in the car and scoot back to campus to find and retrieve my daughter, whom I had abandoned while the religion guys were still bickering about an omnipotent god who is still nonetheless bound by the rules of logic.

As mentioned in Ed’s email, the annual refugee sponsorship garage sale was taking place, and that’s where I found her (and him too, and also ran into all sorts of people [including neighbours] whom I rarely talk to anymore), among the rows of tables of junk: donated furniture, clothing, dishes, toasters, coffee makers, furniture, mattresses, et cetera ad infinitum. I bought two cylindrical tins which will be perfect for keeping loose tea in (both unfortunately with a Christmas theme, but they stay in the breadbox and no one sees them in there) and Little Princess came away with a super soaker that actually had water in it, which meant that I got squirted by her on our way out the door.

One of my neighbours, the music teacher at the high school and the father of one of Buddy Boy’s best friends, a really fine baritone who bemoans the fact that he has nowhere really to sing, was very enthusiastic when I told him I was no longer with the UpIands group and desired to form a quartet or otherwise small ensemble of my own. I could ask Dr. M (mentioned above) who is a very fine tenor, but it still leaves me wanting an alto, and I would want someone who not only sings well, but also can sightread. We shall see.

Anyway, taxes are due on Monday and I haven’t even cracked open my forms yet. Eep!

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