my mom called last night while i was at mcelroys with rob, ryan, and shaun.  she and my dad are off visiting relatives, and i’m – ahem – supposed to be watering their plants.

mom:  hi! where are you?
me:     at a bar.
mom:  oh. the harp?
me:     no, mcelroys. i gotta go, okay? lemme talk to you later.
mom:  grandma says to have one for her.
me:     what.
mom:  so did they fix the porch roof at the harp?
me:     no. they took it off.
mom:  really?  so what do people do?
me:     they sit outside and drink beer under the stars. mom, i gotta go! i’m at a bar!
mom:  but you need shelter! what if it rains?
me:     you go inside! or you stay outside and get wet and let your drinks get watered down!
mom:  oh. okay.

the entire time i was on the phone with her, rob and ryan and shaun were laughing at me, and saying, “hi, dr. headley!” and “she can’t hear you nod,” because apparently i was nodding on the phone.  i can’t be the only one who does that, can i?  anyway, we downed one for proud mary, who comes to visit and makes the upstairs bathroom smell like a biker bar for all her clandestine cigarette smoking.  she’s one crazy lady, my grandma.

also, japanese text when you don’t have the text display support installed looks, i think, like extraterrestrial math: ™Ç±ÇÎÇ?ÇÒÇ™AìñÉy[ÉWÇÃÉ oÉi[Ç?ÏÇ ¡ÇƒÇ?ÇæÇ?ǢNjǵÇ?BÉäÉ ìÉNÇ¢Ç?Çæ ǢǃǢÇÈ ï ?AÇÊÇÎǵÇØÇÍnjǮégÇ¢â ?Ç?Ç ¢B™¶Ç±ÇÃÉz[ÉÄÉy[ÉWÇ…åf?ǵÇ?Ç?Ç?ǃÇÃì‡ó eÇÃñ?ífï°ªAì]?Ç?ã÷Ç?Ç‹Ç?B