Friday, December 1

1) Yesterday, at a memorial service on campus, I came down with a dry cough that rapidly turned into a cold. I could feel it happening, and of course it's very embarrassing to be the only person coughing in an auditorium full of people honoring the legacy of a dead leader.

1a) I was there early to assist as an usher. These affairs are always interesting in that they bring together the Power Structure of the Past for One Last Appearance. And there they were, all the people who were the Big Deals on Campus when I was in my late 20s and early 30s.

1b) One of my oldest volunteers drove down from a northern state to attend, and the first thing he said to me when we saw each other in the lobby was "Have you been putting on weight?!" I was wearing my best suit (thick, dark gray double-breasted wool, but cut with the shall-we-say highwater profile most fashionable two years ago when I was more established in my relationship with Size 34). This candid question made more than usually discomfited, since earlier that day I discovered a Large Hole at a Most Unfortunate Junction of the suit trousers. #ohdear

2) This morning I knew I would need to stay at home. Bleah.

3) It's been a very long time since I've read so much of a newspaper - two newspapers. So much Boston Globe, so much New York Times. I huddle in my little home aghast and fearful for the future of the nation. I barely have words.

4) The parody WH Advent calendar with Flynn popping out of door number one did remind me that I need to get out my own advent calendar in the cellar.

5) For a/v wallpaper I put on Stage Door, only to realize later that, in a horrible coincidence, it's all about the conniving of a predatory Broadway producer on young actresses.