Evening in ... well, not Paris

What I've done today, work version:

1. Cataloged 5 books on CD.
2. Demand order cards are filed.
3. Rested my head on my desk about 12 times.
4. Answered about 3 dozen reference questions.
5. Complained. A lot.
6. Filled out my timesheet. Incorrectly, as it turns out.
7. Organized myself for next week's marathon trip to the system HQ: Mon.=cat. training, Tues. a.m.=cat. meeting
8. Left early (2:15ish). Without fixing my timesheet.

What I've done today, home version:

1. Dozed. Before I left for work a little; more in the afternoon.
2. Felt sorry for myself. How I know: my eyes leaked while I was trying to sleep off my "weird head." When I stopped dozing, I had sore, damp eye creases. Great.
3. Organized Sparky's sleepover for tomorrow night.
4. Read. Too much.
5. Did dishes.
6. Baked sweetbread.
7. Reminded Sparky to clean the guinea pig cage. He was supposed to do it last night, but...well that's another story.
8. Vacated the immediate area while Sparky practiced his clarinet. The best choice I made all day, so far.
9. Ate Del Monte jarred Bartlett pears, because I'm sick. But they taste like they've been soaking in alcohol. Odd.
10. Updated my book blog, and tweaked it.
11. Updated this blog.
12. Tried, cursorily, to figure out why my memes blog is laid out so funky on my home computer when it looks fine everywhere else I see it. Gave up, after some desultory swearing. Can't be bothered.
13. Missed the library Xmas party at the boss' house. Thank God.

What's up next:

1. More sweetbread baking.
2. More dishes.
3. Long bath.
4. Bed, possibly by 10?

Thoughts: Pear juice reminds me of Irkutsk. It was the only juice my shopping group could find to buy in the state store the day we boarded the train to Beijing. We'd been warned that there was no guarantee of either the presence or edibility of food on the train, so we were all out shopping for foodstuffs that would stay 'good' for 2-3 days. All I could find was pear juice, in bottles like orange squash or wine, and sweetish yeast bread. The juice was NOT depulped. I kind of don't think anyone drank much of it; it was pretty disgusting-looking. It definitely tasted all right, though. Other groups found proper water and regular juices, and the train ended up having somewhat decent food. Except they ran out of non-alcoholic beverages in the dining car as we crossing Mongolia, which meant I had to drink Chinese beer with my Mongolia stew. Anyway, that was the "Chinese train:" we had hot thermoses in our compartments every morning, a really hard-working steward who cleaned the bathroom and kept the heat going for the duration, and apparently a crew of cooks who actually cooked. Not so on the train back to Irkutsk, when we had a babushka, no thermos, scudgy compartments that might have been clean sometime in Brezhnev's term of office, questionable food (even fewer beverage choices), no heat and positively disgusting bathroom facilities. Our rebellion? A church service in one of the compartments: about 18 people crammed onto the four bunks and Doug (shoot, what was his name??) doing a 5-minute sermon followed by two or three songs. Then we went and played poker.

Which is where The Beast is tonight: playing poker for God. Heh. {wave at Dad} It's a $30 per stake game, probably about 10 guys, with the top three taking home $30, $20, and $10 (or something like that). The rest of the money in the pot goes to the church building fund. Do the ends justify the means? I don't know--don't honestly care tonight--the one definite positive is that The Beast is having fun doing guy stuff. He doesn't get time enough to do that normally, so I'm all for it. I'm supposed to be sorting Christmas presents. Obviously not happening. (Doubly so since I reread that 'graph and it asked if the ends justified the end--brain rot)

Time to go make the donu....er, bread. I probably won't be back here till Tuesday, or possibly Wednesday.
{shrug}