Poem for Saturday

Love XLIV
By Emily Dickinson

There is a word
Which bears a sword
  Can pierce an armed man.
It hurls its barbed syllables,—
  At once is mute again.
But where it fell
The saved will tell
  On patriotic day,
Some epauletted brother
  Gave his breath away.

Wherever runs the breathless sun,
  Wherever roams the day,
There is its noiseless onset,
  There is its victory!
Behold the keenest marksman!
  The most accomplished shot!
Time's sublimest target
  Is a soul "forgot"!

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I slept absurdly late this morning, feeling like crap -- my immune system seems to go into overdrive these days whenever I have anything medical going on, and my glands felt swollen and my head hurt and my neck felt uncomfortable not from the stitches but from lying in weird positions to try to avoid putting pressure on the stitches. Was still trying to wake up when my mother called and asked if I wanted to run out to A.C. Moore with her to look for picture frames and stuff. While we were there, called, so I told her to come meet us for lunch (well, dessert for her since she had already had lunch) and we all sat around yakking. My only significant acquisitions were three pairs of St. Patrick's Day-themed fuzzy socks and a box of those band-aids that are designed to stay on knuckles, because those seem to be the only ones that stay on my neck without tearing my hair out.

Came home, wrote briefest possible review of "Code of Honor" (best advice: "Don't see this episode!") Read about the lesbian koalas in Australia and -- more significantly as a possible sign of the Apocalypse -- Switzerland accidentally invading Liechtenstein (a story that sounds like something Monty Python would make up, or The Onion, though not quite as funny as "Mason-Dixon Line Renamed IHOP-Waffle House Line," although maybe you have to be American to appreciate that). Got older son's interim grades...let's just say that his English grade at present does not make it any more likely that his video game restrictions will be lifted any time soon, which caused much woe and misery. Had dinner with my parents, came home and half-watched The Rolling Stones Rock & Roll Circus and Van Morrison: Live at Montreux in between PBS pledge drive annoyances.

: Smarter than a...
1. What's your favorite game show to watch? I haven't watched a game show in years. I suppose the one I watched the longest was Wheel of Fortune in high school.
2. What game show would you like to be on? I can't think of any. I mean, if I got invited to be on one without having to do any work and it wasn't something stupid I'd probably do it, but no real urge.
3. Do you know anyone who has been on a game show? My insurance rep won a lot of money on one of those world poker shows but I don't know if that counts.
4. What do you think the worst game show is? Shatner's Show Me the Money had to be close.
5. Bob Barker, Howie Mandel or Alex Trebek? Pat Sajak?

: Weekend
1. What do you like most: Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays (and why)? Usually Saturdays because there's less recovering from school or getting ready for school for the kids, so we can go out longer and do more things.
2. What was the best weekend of your life? Probably Toronto on my honeymoon, coming from Stratford where we had just seen a bunch of Shakespeare, en route to Chicago to find a place to live for grad school. We saw Colm Wilkinson in The Phantom of the Opera and walked all over the city.
3. What weekend of the year is your favorite? Depends on the year! It's usually traveling somewhere, so sometimes it's spring break, sometimes it's summer, sometimes it's around my birthday.
4. Do you have any weekend routines? Sleep as late as possible until must deal with Hebrew school carpools.
5. Describe your ideal Saturday night. Totally depends on my mood. Sometimes it's having theater tickets and a babysitter in New York; sometimes it's staying home watching an old movie.

: What five fannish vids would you make if you could?
I feel like I just did this meme recently and am being redundant, but just in case, plus one new one...
1. A Beautiful Mind, to John Farnham's "Angels"
2. Star Trek: Voyager, to Madonna's "What Can You Lose"
3. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, to Crosby, Stills & Nash's "Southern Cross"
4. Harry Potter, to October Project's "Always a Place"
5. Doctor Who, to Vienna Teng's "Nothing Without You"


A wallaby resting in the sun on a cold day at the National Zoo.


A hippo in the Elephant House, sharing its straw with some little birdies.


One of the giant pandas doing what pandas do best.


A cheetah, looking like it is contemplating doing what cats do best.


And a very sleepy fennec fox. I know how it feels.