"Do I have to do everything myself?"

Victoriana Strikes Back

In C.S. Lewis' Pilgrim's Regress, the hero finds himself in a "laboratory" that really seems to be a bar with perpetual open mike, listening to a middle-aged woman dressed as a child playing a toy harp and singing a "neo-romantic" song. Then:

"I hope you liked it," said Gus to John.
"Well," began John doubtfully, for he hardly knew what to say: but he got no further, for at that moment he had a very great surprise. Victoriana . . . walked up to him and slapped him in the face twice, as hard as she could . . .
"You may persecute me as much as you like," said Victoriana to John. "No doubt to see me thus with my back to the wall, wakes the hunting lust in you. You will always follow the cry of the majority. But I will fight to the end. So there," and she began to cry.
"I am extremely sorry," said John. "But --"
"And I know it was a good song," sobbed Victoriana, "because all great singers are persecuted in their lifetime -- and I'm per-persecuted -- and therefore I must be a great singer."

Poor Victoriana, stuck for all time in what Lewis calls the Silly Twenties, has no Human Rights Commission to run to, where she can have John up for "creating a poisoned atmosphere" and "exposing her to hatred and contempt" just because she's no good at what she does.

BTW, here's why I was trying to write with ketchup

This post -- you can see I caught on eventually.

Have to admit . . .

I know I own this Awful Library Book.

What do I have to say for myself? Well, I bought it secondhand, and I've never let it tempt me to do anything more than a trim. On myself.

And it does contain some very good advice: Never cut your hair when you're angry.

It was a blur

My attempts to get a decent photo of a cheap ring (to go with the story of the man who says the cops lost his expensive one when he spent the night in jail).

Much more luck with this:

Ketchup was wasted in the taking of this photograph

Never mind why for the moment, but today I figured I needed a photo of a message written in ketchup on a countertop to go with an assigned post of mine.

I learned that ketchup writing is much easier with one of those tiny fast-food packs than it is with a squeeze bottle. Who would've guessed?

This is the best I could do with the bottle.

Quick Takes

• I, too, was "sickly pale before it was cool".
• "Don't send your husband to the grocery store" says the link that took me to this -- but I say the lesson is "Don't number your grocery list".
• I'm afraid to look, but I think I own a copy of this book. I paid about $2 for it and have never used it.
  
• I know it's thecomedynetwork DOT C A -- but do they have to sort their video clips in order of how many times they mention Canada? I was perfectly happy with the most recent at the top.
• Dressed in the dark? Big deal. I do my hair in the dark.