Two Days Ago

The advantage of being a fast walker is that you make it to Customs before the rest of your plane. It's quick, and the agents tend to be in decent moods.

Agent: You're going mostly for business. What's your business.

Me: I'm going to the Special Librarians' Association conference.

A: You're a librarian then. Okay. I have two points to cover. First. Who invented the Dewey Decimal System.

M: Uh, Melvil Dewey.

[And here I must interrupt the dialogue to say that I was really worried about getting it right, like he might not let me in if I got it wrong, and all this because my brain snapped "Herman Dewey" up first. But then I realized that my customs agent had not one clue what the right answer was anyway. He just looked nonplussed when I came up with an answer at all.]

A: Second. I've been wanting to do this for a long time. (leans over the counter, purses his lips, holds a finger up.) SHHHHHHHHH!

M: (takes a step back)

A: (stamp, stamp) Okay. Head on.

And he didn't even ask me about fruit. Turns out, I had checked "No, I am *not* bringing fruit into the United States" on my form and then forgot to throw my apples away. I'm going to head back to the hotel right now and eat my illicit Canadian fruit.

Tonight? Dinner at a veggie restaurant, a drop-in yoga class, a trip to Red Emma's bookstore and cafe (a real cafe! oh! bliss!) and then maybe to see a punk show. Or I may be responsible again and skip the music, since I'm going to go to a talk called "Competencies: Knowledge Sharing" tomorrow at 7:30 in the am. Fascinating.

Highlights of one day ago? Having the cute girl in the thrift store (where I bought my third seashell patterned wrap skirt) tell me I should go to Michigan's Womyn's Fest.

I also stepped on a cat in a health food store. I stepped back from the dried fruit, and heard a screaming yowl. Looked around, though "Oooh, that poor kitty. Some clumsy schmuck." Then saw a frenzied movement slightly behind me and realized that I had stepped squarely and hard on the store cat's back paw. A downfall of wearing stompy boots. The owner was philosophic: "It is our responsibility to watch out for the cat, and it is the cat's responsibility to watch out for us."

Highlight of today: very cute girl who made me think I should go shave my legs. But there are hundreds of people here, so I'm not likely to see her again.

Hmm, no highlights from the program itself. Strange, that.