July 1, 2002, 12:13 a.m.

Quis hic?

back & forth

Alastair is the former President of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland. Nobody is daft enough to think Alastair is changing the rules for our benefit. Alastair is an experienced litigation Solicitor. Alastair is now heading for South Africa where he hopes to arrive sometime between July and September. Alastair is keen to promote not only the traditional spirit of the instrument [the didgeridoo] but also artists who share this spirit. Alastair is married with 4 children so he has plenty of experience in family problems. Alastair is currently living with the Scottish actress, S*s*n V*dl*r, who is the mother of their daughter, Martha, who was born in February 2000. Alastair is a Greek cultural Historian. His interests are centered around Greek social life and include law, masculinity, sexuality and imperialism. He is also interested in the scars left by the ancient past on the modern world. Alastair is also the editor of the irregular journal Transgressions: A journal of Urban Exploration. Alastair is een hele lieve kat. A truly majestic beast, Alastair is floppy, soft and gently weighted. Alastair is widely acknowledged to be one of the most interesting, innovative and exciting of the current generation of British chefs. Alastair is also a qualified acupuncturist.

Which takes a cue from Judy via Robin.

* * * * *

I'm in mewling agony, since one of my vertebrae seems to be mis-filed and I nobody is around to stomp on my back; they are all either asleep or committing the sex act or both. No! Their committing the sex act will not cure my bad back. It doesn't work like that. My bad back also has nothing to do with today's Canada Day party, hosted by ED.

I am in a curious liminal state of employment: the blue-haired punk-rock office manager from a company with whom I interviewed earlier last week left a message on Friday afternoon to say that she had "good news" and would I please call her? Over the weekend, I left a message for her and haven not heard back. O, you think, wisely, you think, no company would say they had good news for poor little Riatsala and then not hire him! O, but, gentle reader, you don't have my exquisite bad luck. Tomorrow she'll call back to let me know that, although I didn't get the job, they're going to give me a year's worth of free pork products and one of the broken printers off the office floor.

Music: Vivaldi, arias and sinfonias from operas, with Emma Kirkby.
Art: Stanley Morison's The Typographic Book, inspiration to become inexcusably wealthy and shop at places like this. I found the eighteenth-century French printer's ornament at the bottom of this page here.
Reading: Andrey Kurkov Death and the Penguin. Well, no: I just finished it, in fact, and it's still shining and beautiful. Viktor, a writer (of course), has adopted a king penguin named Misha from the zoo, because they can't afford to feed him any more. And then Viktor finds a rather sketchy job writing obituaries for people who aren't dead yet.
If I had a superpower: the ability to clean out my inbox.