You know,

normally when people's childhood fantasies start coming true, it's rather different than this... see, when I was a kid I had lots and LOTS of Breyer model horses. Loved 'em. Loved the idea of horses. Never got to ride 'em except maybe once or twice until I was twelve and we moved away from New York City, so the model horses were all I could get. I played with mine, though, didn't just collect 'em, and inevitably they broke. An awful lot of my horses had legs broken off at the pastern or front knee. I couldn't bear throwing them away - I played with my favourites a lot and that meant the ones most likely to break were the ones I liked best - so I built them prosthetics out of cardboard and LOTS of Scotch tape, and the horses spent their time running around on 'robotic' legs but otherwise being quite happy with their lot.

So you can imagine my surprise when, of all the games I played in childhood, that one turned out to be the one that became reality thanks to a news article from Reuters:

Barnaby The Horse Gets An Artificial Leg

Today's pulp survival tip is # 43. Get your priorities straight. 1. Saving the world 2. Saving a loved one 3. Your own survival 4. Personal vengeance 5. Treasure is about right.

YKYATMFYMW*

(*You Know You've Absorbed Too Much From Your Movies When)... your natural reaction to picking up a 6' long, inch-across curtain rod for tab top curtains is to twirl it in both hands and wonder if it'd grow longer or shorter were you to yell 'change!' at it - and how many monsters you could beat up with it.

( Okay, now the explanation. )

Slight ethical dilemma:

Three+ years ago I was in a car accident. The insurance company said I wasn't at fault even though it involved rear ending someone, because they only got rear-ended when someone else spun into traffic from the oncoming lanes... anyway, two years after the accident, just before the statute expired, the person I hit filed suit against me, the person who spun in front of her, the person who hit the person who spun in front of her, and 'John Does 1 through 10'. The case finally goes to trial tomorrow.

I had arranged for time off because the notice came in the mail saying the trial date was tomorrow. I phoned the lawyers today. The lawyers said they're filing for an adjournment 'cos the physician involved in the case is on vacation, and that they won't need me in the room until they phone me or mail me and specifically say so.

Boss says I can come in if they file for adjournment, or I can stay home, either way but I gotta let her know. She says I need to get caught up quickly on all the stuff I missed while on flood duty, but the thing is that I've already caught up on that stuff, except for one item which was dropped in my lap this afternoon. Do I tell the boss I'm coming in, or do I tell her I"m staying home? I already arranged for the time off. I'll get the time off back if I come in to work. I was assuming I'd be out of the office tomorrow thanks to Stupid Woman (the only decent thing about this stupid legal case is that every time the suit calls for me to be somewhere, I do my legal duty and then find myself with some extra time away from the office). I have this profound urge to go into Manhattan again, but it wouldn't hurt to get more work done...

Mind you it's almost time to go home for the evening anyway, but still.