Mouth Destroyer

Back in Philly: Sunday was wonderful with Bella's birth family over for sausages and beer. The kids were in great form: Isaac matching cousin Clayton jump for jump, little cousin Macey finally walking and making the most of her mobility... and Bella. Oh Bella.

My enduring vision of Bella this Sunday: She snuck a plastic bag out of the house and walked to the sandbox, where she filled it with sand and some other things. She took a stick and tied the bag to the end, and slung it over her shoulder, like an old fashioned hobo or runaway. For a good 10 min, she just padded around with that stick/bag, not really telling anyone what was up, with her "serene/mysterious" look on. Then she approached Kaitie: "Would you like a sand pile on your hand?" Well of course.

Bella set the stick down, untied the bag, and produced a small plastic cup, scooped sand into it, then placed the cup upside down on Kaitie's palm. She then pulled out a small plastic hammer and tap-tap-tap-tap, and pulled up the glass. Voila, a well packed cone of sand in Kaitie's palm. Then she carefully slid the glass back over the cone, and had Kaitie flip her hand so that no sand would spill. It all went back into the bag, the bag was retied to the stick, and she slung it back over her shoulder, back on the prowl. Over the next 45 minutes, all of us got to enjoy Sand in the Hand. Bella was very serious throughout, and looked pleased every time the cone held form.

I just need to say that the whole experience was so amazingly "Bella".

The flight out today was uneventful. There are 3 "regulars" on the flight - Mister Slick is pretty friendly, but never gets bumped to first class. Mister Owl jokes around with Mister Slick, but declines the nod with anyone else. Cranky Coach is a young guy - early 30's, prematurely bald, clearly very into sports, and even though we've been on the same flight a dozen times, will return every nod or wave with a blank stare.

Work keeps getting stranger: You all know I'm somewhat underutilized. Well my boss today was excitedly telling me about two new people who will be joining my team. Tomorrow. To do things... that I was sort of thinking I might be doing, sort of. I'm very puzzled, actually, but he seems so happy and enthusiastic. We went on an adventure today too - we walked together clear across campus to deliver a manila envelope. And we got all the way to the office, and the person was IN the office, but we decided to drop the envelope with the secretary.

Halfway, we encountered a motorized revolving door that let my boss through, but not me. He went through, and it stopped. he pushed a button to have it go, and I'd walk in, and it would stop, trapping me in the glass cage. Then it would slowly back up, to release me. We tried variations on this 10 times, and every time, it sensed my presence and declined to let me through, but only after teasing me. He'd hit the button and the door would be swinging like a fan, but the second I got it, ERRRRRT. Must have had a soul detector. Still, it gave me a chance to do my "The Needs of the Many Outweigh the Needs of the Few" Spock death scene from Star Trek Wrath of Khan. Eventually, I just took the unlocked normal door RIGHT NEXT to the rotating door. We had a good laugh.

Dinner tonight was a horrible horrible disappointment: Went back to the Szechuan Tasty House, got the dumplings, and wanted a non-deep fried chicken dish, perhaps with peapods. They brought something out which looked good and the first few bites were good, but then I hit a burst of MSG: I felt my tongue get encased with a cool, lime-y, chemically flavor, and nothing tasted right. Also, my vision blurred slightly. That was 3 hours ago, and I still can't taste anything. I'm sorry Tasty House, but as much as I love your dumplings, I will not be revisiting.

I walked the city for a while (safely) wondering if I would start hallucinating.... but I think I'm ok (assuming there really ARE tiny green dancing men in my room... they showed ID). I'm drinking a LOT of water, however.

I'll be visiting Jersey later this week. They seem excited. And that's the update for now!