Tuesday(s)

Today is an actual work day in Elbonia. By late yesterday afternoon, all the bosses have gotten a clue about things that were supposed to happen last week, so today they charge hither and thither trying to make their unwilling subjects perform various onerous duties. Since no one has an "it is Monday for Higher Power's sake!" excuse today, and it is still too early in the week for kids to get sick (thus granting sickness leave to their parents), people actually do have to work. It is depressing. Even local weather detects Tuesdays, and rains most often on them*.

To prove my thesis, today I phoned to my colleagues working in the wonderful country of Jerka Jerkastan (which is about three and a half hours ahead in time, and thus perfect for finding out about weather, but not far enough that it could be used to find out the winning lottery numbers), well known for its nice and sunny climate, amazing beaches that go on forever, and local inhabitants who are almost as religious and almost as well armed as average North Dakotans. I asked my colleagues questions about the weather, and of course, it is raining there too. They said that it was raining there for the whole last week, and that it felt like a really really long Tuesday. Not even the occasional rocket (launched by the well meaning locals who sincerely believe that this is the fastest way to find out the Truth about their religion) could dispel the gloom of the long, dark, world-wide Tuesday, they complained.

Them being true Elbonians, rain did not stop them from a having a traditional light lunch.

*When it doesn't fall on Rain God (Rob McKenna), of course.

Friends

We all do weird things for our friends. For example, we wake up at 2 a.m. in the middle of North Dakota winter, ride out 40 miles to the nearest "Danger: Moose Crossing" sign and then proceed to take it off with your trusty Swiss knife, all the while contemplating the joys of -40C local temperature, just because your crazy Russian friend has his birthday tomorrow, and you know he appreciates little things like that.

Since I am going to do similar things for my friends here in the wonderful Klein bottle space of blogosphere, and because taking signs off the Internet highway can be dangerous, I decided to take liberty with their names and just plain invent them all over again. Also, I am not going to be consistent with them, since lying is difficult enough without trying to remember exactly what we lied about and when and to whom. So, hello to Mary Shelly, Strom, Big Ktulu, Princess K, Bloodhimir, Amandanmanregge, Gorak, Tsushima, Monacococo, Red Dwarf, Mika the Coyotte, Bukva the Terrible and the rest of the vociferous and highly brain endowed bunch that I am privileged to know and call friends.