Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

Somebody anonymously bought me a year's worth of LiveJournal membership. Whoever that was: thank you.

The Homespun Ceilidh Band won't be on Baltimore WB Channel 54 this week after all, because we weren't able to find overlap between the openings in our schedule and the television station's schedule. But one or more of us should be interviewed on a couple of AM radio stations this week.

The Homespun Ceilidh Band is performing Saturday, 15 March, from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM in Gaithersburg, MD, at the end of the St. Patrick's Day Parade route. Then we're performing again the same day, in Baltimore, at the top of the Baltimore World Trade Center on Pratt St., from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM. I hope some LJ folks and Susboids can show up. If you're an LJ'er whom I haven't met in person yet, say hello. I'll be the guitarist in a kilt with sweat pouring off of me.

I have no idea whether I'll make it to a certain party in between those two gigs on Saturday. I'd like to, but it's going to depend on how exhausted I am after the first gig, and whether we try to do something together as a band in between. No matter how I slice it, it's going to be a busy day. (Sorry, broken_gizmo, I won't be able to tag along with your morning outing...)

My back is not right, but it is feeling better than yesterday. Cold and heat both seem to help some. Yes, I do plan to force myself to actually go see a doctor (*grumble*) as soon as I can verify that my HMO coverage has been reinstated. (There was a little problem with that, you see ...)

A friend from the Left Coast is taking me out to dinner (along with another friend) this evening. Actually, she's from around here, but has been living on the West Coast for a spell now... It's going to be good to see her. I just wish the City Paper Baltimore Dining Guide gave more of a clue as to which restaurants are vegetarian-friendly. (Worst case, I do know a couple we can use as backups. Alas, one of the people who'll be along doesn't care much for Indian food, and that's what I know best in Baltimore so far. We're figuring Tamber's can be our fallback (cute place -- half the menu is Indian, the other half is American Diner -- it's up near Union Memorial Hospital), or I can suggest Paper Moon, if we don't agree on something fancier. What ever happened to Gampy's??? (Hey, any sugggestions?))

My sleep schedule is All Screwed Up lately. Feh.

My youngest brother finally got an email address (at least temporarily). I think my middle brother is supposed to have one too, but if so, I'm not sure he's ever used it.

A bunch of lightbulbs (all requiring a ladder to reach (yes even for me -- this house has high ceilings)) have burned out all within the past week or two. *grrr* Gotta get around to replacing them before the dark areas start connecting to each other. (Just haven't been feeling well enough to deal with it lately.)

I wonder whether I have time for a nap before dinner? I should do dishes, but I don't know about standing up that long right now...

My West Coast friend called and cancelled our dinner plans because she wound up with two flat tires and is getting towed from Bowie to Rockville. I'm guessing that two flats at once, with bent rims (which she mentioned on the phone), means a womdigious pothole.

Which means that in mid-March, the February snow is still having eitful[1] effects on my plans. Rough winter.

Oops. The footnote is longer than the rest of the entry again. I've got to be more careful of that.

[1] "Eit" is a word that originated at MIT and has spread even as its meaning has shifted. (I learned it from Elbows, with its modern meanings.) As a noun, it basically means "a bad/unfortunate thing". As an interjection, it's kind of like "Alas! Woe!" but with possibly more exclamation points (or more likely, a monosyllabic profanity), or can be interpreted as the sound of the universe screwing you over. As a verb, it more or less means "to cause misfortune to". But all of these translations fail to convey all the nuances of "eit" (which shift depending on context and tone of voice), which is why the word gets used despite all of these near synonyms. Hang out with folks who use the word long enough, and you'll soon grok[2] "eit". For what it's worth, the near-antonym of "eit" is "pock", which is the sound of the pinball game of the universe giving you a free ball. I've only ever heard "pock" used as an interjection, or rarely as a noun meaning "an event that made me say 'pock'". And no, I didn't make up either of these words -- ask any of the folks on susboid.

[2] I don't really have to translate "grok", do I? I've never gotten around to reading the novel it's from (uh, Stranger In A Strange Land, right??) but I've been using the word since the 1970s.

Every so often I wonder why it seems like an extra-slow day on LiveJournal, and then many hours later I go to post a comment or something and finally notice that I never logged back in after restarting my browser, so I haven't been seeing all the "friends-only" entries. Whoops.