(no subject)

Oh man, do I have news of Giant Marilyn this morning. I have photos, but at the moment no way to get them onto my computer from my camera; I'll post them tonight at home.

Someone taped a giant letter to Santa to Marilyn's leg. It reads:

DEAR SANTA,

For Christmas I would like:

1. More buses & trains
2 Libraries (with librarians)
3. Living wage & pensions for employees
4. 911 dispatchers
5. Affordable utilities
6. Police HQ closures
7. Trauma center on the south side
8. Mental health clinics
9. For at least ONE alderman to GROW A BACKBONE

It's unsigned, but I like to think Giant Marilyn is secretly a radical political agitator.

I've certainly seen worse lists, though I'm not sure if more 911 dispatchers and fewer cops are really requests that work in harmony. Still, overall, bang alongside Giant Marilyn's Letter To Santa.

(no subject)

Coworker: Where would I get a book on woodworking?
Sam: Around here? I dunno. Blick, maybe, on State, near the Sears.
Coworker: Blick? B-L-I-C-K?
Sam: Yep. The one on State, not the one on Michigan, the one on Michigan is smaller.
Coworker: Wait, this website says Dick Blick?
Sam: Yep, that's the one.
Coworker: Why would you name a child Richard if his last name was Blick?
Sam: You'd...have to take that up with Richard's parents. You could also try the Art Institute bookstore. Or, you know, the library.
Coworker: How do you know all this?
Sam: I worked at the front desk for three years. It's not a labor-intensive job, I had a lot of spare time.
Coworker: I was unemployed for a year and I didn't learn anything.
Boss: Yeah, but Sam had to look like he was working.

I love my ducklings.

(no subject)

So I posted this morning about the letter to Santa taped to Giant Marilyn's leg. Just to prove I wasn't messing with you:



(Click to embiggen.)

It's gone now -- I can't imagine it lasted long. It read, as far as I could make out:

DEAR SANTA,
For Christmas I would like:

1. More buses & trains
2. Libraries (with librarians)
3. Living wage & pensions for employees
4. 911 dispatchers
5. Affordable utilities
6. No Police HQ closures
7. Trauma center on the south side
8. Mental health clinics
9. For at least ONE alderman to GROW A BACKBONE

NOTE: I transcribed it before as "Police HQ closures" but it actually reads "No police HQ closures" which does make slightly more immediate sense. My bad, I was reading it off a tiny camera viewscreen.

Anyway, mamculuna suggested perhaps Marilyn should sing it as a verse of "Santa Baby" and...well, it is a musical time of year. By popular request, a rewritten version of the original in comments:

Santa bring me a trauma center on the South Side,
No lie,
been an awful good boy,
Santa baby, so answer 911 tonight

Santa baby, more trains and buses would be nice too,
Light blue?
We'll wait up for them dear,
Santa baby, so answer 911 tonight

Think of all the pensions I've missed,
Think of aldermans that I haven't kissed,
Libraries could be just as good,
If librarians are on my Christmas list

Santa baby, utilities are what I want,
For not a lot,
It's been cold this year
Santa baby, so answer 911 tonight

Santa cutie, our wards could use some low-cost clinics,
Mental health checks,
Sign your 'X' on the line,
Santa cutie, so answer 911 tonight

Santa baby, forgot to mention one little stop:
The cops,
Please don't close their HQs
Santa baby, Chicago's gonna love you tonight...

(no subject)

This was the Great Year of Starting To Read Again. I read a lot of books this year.

In the past five months, I've read twenty-one books, which I feel is pretty good considering that I also changed jobs, had bronchitis twice, and plowed through The Rape of Europa, which is a massive read.

I have to say though, going over the list, it's...dark.

( Twenty-Five Weeks, Twenty-One And A Half Books )

Adding in the first half of the year, and if one counts a bit for books that I got a fair ways into before giving up, I've managed to average a book a week for an entire year. Thirteen Literary Fiction, nine True Crime, seven assorted Nonfiction, five Scifi/Fantasy, four Biography, three Satire, three Thriller, two Popular Fiction, and one book of poetry, plus nine assorted unfinished books.

Not too bad. Especially considering I have three books going at the present -- one actual paper book, and two digital anthologies that I'm slowly working through (the short stories anthology is great, but four hundred pages is SO MANY PAGES).