8 April 2002

There is now a Girl Scout badge called "Stress Less." It's got a little hammock embroidered on it, and the Merc had a front-page article on it.

Am I totally off-base in thinking that checking off six boxes to earn a badge about not stressing is maybe the wrong idea? Maybe a bit counterproductive? "I earned my 'Stress Less' badge faster than you did, nyahhhh!" That's not going to help kids who think things like, "What's on my 'to do' list for today? Relax? Okay, I got that done in five minutes, what's next?"

Ah well. Not that I know anything about that....

Anyway, Amber survived her on-call time intact, so Mark and I met her in Berkeley for Thai food. I had a mango puree thing and flying squid. Yep. Flying squid. I'm still not entirely sure what was supposed to be so flying about it. It was squid strips and a light soy-based sauce and a bunch of scallions and onions and a bit of tomato. The squid was kind of tough. But, you know, how often do you get a chance to have flying squid? It's just one of those things you have to try once. (Well, maybe you don't. I did.) This is why I like it when they translate the names of things in restaurants where I don't speak the language -- maybe Amber's dinner's name actually meant "diving beef" and I just didn't know. I'm not sure I'd try diving beef, though. It's just not like flying squid.

Read A Small Personal Voice yesterday, and also Judith Merril's The Tomorrow People. I liked A Small Personal Voice, but I wished it had been more essays and less reviews/interviews. The Tomorrow People was all right, but I prefer Merril's shorter stuff. I fell asleep reading Lloyd Alexander's The Beggar Queen (the last one in the Westmark series). I don't know when I last fell asleep reading. It was awhile ago. My aunt Dor used to try to get me to read when she thought I should go to sleep, figuring that I'd fall asleep that way. I'd finish one book and start into another, and she'd realize that maybe the strategy was flawed and she should just tell me to take a nap if she thought I needed sleep.

Going to be a short entry today. I'm not sure how the day is going to go. Work on the NTMB for sure. Finish The Beggar Queen and read something else. I'm a bit huddle-y -- I have errands that I could do, but I just don't feel like going out further than the mailbox, so I don't think I will. It'll be a work and laundry day, maybe. That'd be all right. And there are plenty of small things that could be done. Take good care of yourselves.

Oh yeah, and it's Kari's birthday, so have fun with that. Tell each other stories. That seems like a good thing to do in honor of a Kari birthhday.