December 05, 2001, 5:38 p.m.

And we love these Dogs, that loll on the lawns here in Galesburg.

back & forth

A good rehearsal tonight, at HD's, where, since we hadn't met for a good two weeks, everything seemed fresher and perkier. I also (.i.) took a nap and (.ii.) played some Scarlatti this afternoon after work. Scarlatti -- Domenico, the one who went to Spain to teach keyboard skills to the heaviest princess in Europe and who wrote 550 sonatas to pass the time -- is actually a highly complex form of cocaine without all that nasty killing you or giving you nosebleeds nonsense. I can sit down with a volume of Scarlatti and play for hours without noticing the passage of time, and, when I eventually stand up at the end of the volume, I feel like somebody's just given me a long hug and a really great cup of coffee. Everybody can now say "awwww" in unison, now.

I finally mailed my dad's birthday present today. His birthday was November 16th. I bought him a lovely illustrated travel book on Yemen, since, when he was living in the UAE he was keen on the idea of taking a week to explore a place less affected by either Western influence or the recent mainstreaming of Arab cultures which more developed countries have suffered. What with one thing, another, and my mother's probably-not-unreasonable (for once) conviction that getting kidnapped at the point of an ancient Soviet rifle was not a great holiday plan, we never went to Yemen. (OK: first off, we're talking about the only country on the Arabian peninsula to attempt free multi-party elections. Second, the current democracy is in part heir to the only Arab Marxist state in history. Third, they have a national drug, called qat. Fourth, used to be Arabia Felix, source of spices and incense. See arab.net for more info) Anyway, virtual Yemen for dad. I really ought to have made a multi-sensory care package for him by including some sand, the sight of a Soviet rifle and a half-pound of my favorite Yemeni Sanani coffee, but I hadn't thought of it until just now. I picked up a sheet of the beautiful Eid stamps while I was in the post office -- the US mail has just (September 1st, curiously enough) issued their first ever Muslim-themed holiday stamp to commemorate the two Eids; you may see it, close to the bottom of the page, here.] It would be really nice if a lot of people started using it, wink wink.

Drank myself silly with SLB last night. Silly to the point of kissing her in the middle of our favorite bar, at which we are once again regulars, despite not being able to smoke there. We talked about sex, of course. A little bit about religion, but mostly about sex. You know what we both hate? When people can bring us off despite ourselves: when there's absolutely nothing sexy about what's going on except that they're the right buttons to press. Don't you hate that? It's like when that stupid boy can always make you laugh, even when you're absolutely furious at him. We hate that. Sadly, it was a bad kiss. She was trying, I suppose, to defend my osculatory honor against DS's allegations that I was a bad kisser (which spurious claims I was reporting to her in the midst of a long discussion of Relationships where the Sex Just Didn't Work) but I was a little too taken aback to really do a good job, so the jury's still out. You're all welcome to try me out, though.

For readers not in Boston, it's been praeternaturally warm here; tonight I shall be taking my bed in the ancient costume of the Nude Patrol. See you in Slumberland, mesdemoiselles.