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Friday, October 10th, 2003
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10:59 am - The Orgy of Minas Tirith, Part Three!
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10:36 am - Poem for Friday and Friday Five
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( Minor Miracle )
Friday Five:
1. Do you watch sports? If so, which ones?
Baseball, some football, some ice skating, some college basketball during the playoffs. Minor league baseball is my favorite to watch live. Football is my favorite on television.
2. What/who are your favorite sports teams and/or favorite athletes?
I grew up a fan of the Washington Redskins. Yes, they should change their name -- I still can't believe that public sentiment forced the Bullets to become the Wizards but the Redskins are still running around. Art Monk was my all-time favorite Redskins player. Since DC has no baseball team, I grew up rooting for the Orioles but had no real passion for a baseball team until we moved to Chicago and could see Comiskey Field from our 31st floor window. There were a lot of players I loved on that early 1990s team -- Robin Ventura, Frank Thomas -- but my very favorite was Bo Jackson, who arrived in Chicago after his career-ending football injury, hit a home run in his first at bat, and went and finished college after he left sports. Also, it was impossible to live in Chicago in that era without being in love with both Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, but to pretend that I seriously followed basketball before the championship series would be a lie. Martina Navratilova was one of my heoines growing up. Like all skating fans of my era, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean will never have any peers in my mind.
3. Are there any sports you hate?
Boxing.
4. Have you ever been to a sports event?
Pro football, basketball, baseball, soccer, hockey and tennis; college football, basketball, baseball and track (the Penn Relays); high school football and basketball; numerous skating exhibitions and pro competitions; gymnastics exhibitions; I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting.
5. Do/did you play any sports (in school or other)? How long did you play?
Nope. Am armchair quarterback.
Josh Lyman
Who is your West Wing boyfriend?
brought to you by Quizilla
I gacked this quiz from  musesfool, who wants my answer and she can have him. I wanted Charlie. Would be content with Sam for a few weeks. Would happily take Leo if he weren't such a bad long-term bet. Find myself attracted to Bartlet, which does not please me for a host of reasons. But Josh? Is the kind of guy I avoided in college. And screwing a stereotypical obnoxious power-crazed utterly intolerable feminist doesn't make you one, buddy.
current mood:  busy
current music: One Dream, October Project
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(4 romances | come sail away)
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| Thursday, October 9th, 2003
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10:36 am - Poem for Thursday and  wednesday100
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( The Pomegranate )
That poem makes me think of last night's West Wing for some reason. Martin Sheen made me cry again, dammit, even though I was somewhat bored with the episode -- bored enough to think Enterprise was actually pretty good -- and the Josh/Amyness made me run screaming into the kitchen for some candy corn. If I cannot have Josh/Sam or Josh/Donna or Josh/Leo or Josh/CJ or Josh/anybodybutamyplease, can I have Josh/celibate?
I should note that because I review Enterprise and watch TWW right afterwards, I cannot see Smallville on the night it airs, and will always be a day behind on comments and will undoubtedly never get back to remarks on my Friends' pages about the episodes. Apologies, and if you're only here for the minimal SV and want to un-Friend I won't take it at all personally.
Speaking of Enterprise: "Impulse" Review
Speaking of wednesday100, two for the island challenge: Secluded and Chloe's Career (one Clex, one Chloe)
My husband had an early meeting and I feel like I have already been awake for far too many hours, though I have accomplished far too little, as well. Much of the news yesterday slipped by me. Cubs: waah. Red Sox: yaay! Arnold: it's done, my ranting isn't going to change anything so those of us not in the state of California might as well wait and see what he does, since I doubt reading suggestions and diatribes from out-of-state citizens will be first on his agenda.
I had other Serious Things to say but I've forgotten them, as I am trying to juggle work and vacuuming. Instead, this news, and let it be a warning to all of you, heh heh heh:
Zap! You're a THUNDERSTORM. Your temper
comes fast and does maximum damage when
it does. Often you begin to grumble before you let your
anger out. Those who know you know to get the hell out of your
way when you start to get upset.
What DIRE WEATHER FORECAST do you turn into when you're angry
brought to you by Quizilla
current mood: busy
current music: Dishwasher running in the kitchen
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(come sail away)
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| Wednesday, October 8th, 2003
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7:10 pm - FICLET: Season of Wonder (LOTR, A/F&E;/F, NC17)
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10:30 am - Poem for Wednesday
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( Fog )
This morning when I walked my kids to school we couldn't see twenty feet in front of us. It's fading slowly now, though not really burning off; it's chilly and gray, and for the first time I'm noticing all the yellow and red leaves in the woods behind the house. I love this weather.
The truth meme answers:
1) In eighth grade home ec class, I burned instant pudding.
True. I can't cook to save my life, though I do have an excuse for this one. Our entire class was making some kind of pastry with pudding for the filling. Every other group was given the kind of Jell-O pudding that has to be cooked. So I was watching the group next to ours, and rather than looking at the box in my hand to see the directions, I just started doing what they were doing. My teacher was very apologetic for having given us instant pudding when it started to smoke.
2) I have never finished reading Atlas Shrugged.
True. I have read Atlas Shrugged four times but I have never gotten through John Galt's speech. And I'm an unabashed Ayn Rand fan; sexual politics and social insanity aside, I think she's a really compelling writer. I'd love to know other people's strategies for staying awake during the 60+ page lecture, becuase I've always had to skip straight to the rest of the story.
3) My first 9-5 job, during the summer in high school, was as a file clerk in a law firm.
False. Though not, as ashinae guessed, because such jobs are hard to come by; there were several high school students working in that collection firm all three summers when I worked there, trudging from the sorting room to the enormous file room where we put away several hundred cases an hour. My very first job was in a travel agency, and after three straight days of doing nothing but ripping up old tickets, my hands blue and bleeding from the paper cuts and the carbon copies, I said the hell with this and ended up at the law firm.
4) In a stage production of How To Eat Like A Child, I played the bratty younger sister.
True. I'm not even 5' tall; in nearly every play I've done, I've been cast as the bratty kid or the old lady. Hence the brevity of my acting career; typecast at a young age.
5) I once won $1000 in a college essay writing contest.
True. The Rose Foundation Award for Undergraduate Research at the University of Pennsylvania. The foundation stipulated that the thesis advisor got 1/5 of the award, so I nabbed my prof $200 and she was very grateful. I bought a car stereo and my first sleep sofa with that money.
I got several reminders yesterday that people suck. (No, I don't mean Arnold, though yeah, that does suck; after this nation elected Bush, however, nothing surprises me, and by the standards for impeachment established by Republicans during the Clinton Administration it should be easy enough to get rid of him if he misbehaves.) I just mean people you thought you knew, could count on in a crisis or call friends.
And fandom (especially RPF) is insane. Though this is not news. I'm going to do my work and go back to fantasyland, where at least the characters mostly play nicely.
current mood:  angry
current music: Who Makes You Feel, Dido
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(4 romances | come sail away)
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| Tuesday, October 7th, 2003
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4:57 pm - FIC: Salve (LOTR, A/B, NC17, 3/3)
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Title: Salve
Authors: ashinae and cruisedirector
Rating: NC17
Pairing: A/B
Summary: Aragorn and Boromir share secrets.
Warnings: Slash. Sappiness. Infidelity to Tolkien canon.
Disclaimer: We don't own the characters; they just tell us what they want to do.
Notes: Sequel to "Remedy" and "Alleviation". There are at least two more parts to this story, possibly more, but they can be read alone.
( Salve )
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(31 romances | come sail away)
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11:23 am - Poem for Tuesday
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( To Autumn )
Fic rec: seleneheart's The Elder Son. Aragorn/Boromir with a fantastic twist that she makes utterly plausible. I love that.
That meme in which I tell you five things about me, one of which is not true...see if you can guess which...
1) In eighth grade home ec class, I burned instant pudding.
2) I have never finished reading Atlas Shrugged.
3) My first 9-5 job, during the summer in high school, was as a file clerk in a law firm.
4) In a stage production of How To Eat Like A Child, I played the bratty younger sister.
5) I once won $1000 in a college essay writing contest.
current mood:  amused
current music: Line On You, Scandal
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(12 romances | come sail away)
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| Monday, October 6th, 2003
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9:55 pm - Atonement and trek100
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...well, for a little while anyway. Then I came home and wrote more smut. Good thing that was not on my list of things to avoid in the new year.
Had a nice day, actually; since the senior rabbis are busy in the main sanctuary all day, unlike Rosh Hashanah where the afternoon family service is held in the main sanctuary with all four rabbis, both cantors, the full choir and the temple president making an annual boring speech, the Yom Kippur family service is in the side sanctuary, where the chairs aren't as comfortable and the ark isn't as fancy but we got a female rabbi and a female cantor, plus a choir consisting of the Hebrew school music teacher with her guitar and a group of fifth-through-eighth graders. The service was relatively short, with lots of singing, Avinu Malkenu mostly in English, "sermon" a parable in which the cantor and rabbi dressed up as a king and a peasant and used plastic fruit and stuff as props. Very participatory. Nicely done.
Then for dinner (to break the fast, except that we didn't) we went to the home of one of my parents' oldest friends, where we saw a whole bunch of old family friends (including some serious Trekkies and LOTR fans) and ate really good whitefish and lox. So I am full and content.
Happy belated birthday viva_gloria -- I was not online in time to say so on the day, but I hope it was great!
Does anyone know what happened to colleenkane? Have e-mailed but can't find her anywhere. Cee, sweetie, if you are avoiding people I totally understand, just drop a note someplace so we know you are all right, okay?
trek100, for the love slave challenge: "Expunge" and "Weak", the former DS9 (Kira/Odo), the latter Voyager (J/C, C/7).
And another absolutely-no-surprise-here:
be sorted @ nimbo.net
current mood:  content
current music: Red Sox winning!
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(13 romances | come sail away)
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1:06 am - Poem for Yom Kippur
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( We Remember Them )
I'm posting tonight as I do not expect to have time in the morning before services. (Yes, I know that technically I should not be on the computer at all, but I turned my lights on when I got home from dinner and it's all downhill from there, you know?) I did spend half an hour trying to track down the names of the authors of this poem, which I mistakenly believed to be a translation of Psalm 113; it's in our synagogue's self-printed services for children every year but uncredited; I had to do some hunting a few years ago to find out that Debbie Friedman wrote "L'chi Lach," too. In the course of this hunting I discovered many wonderful poems and readings, like the ones at Ritualwell, so it's not as though I wasn't thinking about spiritual matters.
Spent today with my husband's parents, hiking the gold mine trail at Great Falls, then having dinner with my parents at their house. Everyone was much distracted by Redskins game with Terrible Horrible Ending...ah well, the Red Sox won, the Cubs won, we have to look at the positives. My younger son, to annoy both grandfathers, announced that he is rooting for the Yankees. He took much grief about this. I loathe and despise the Yankees but I rather admire his orneriness.
And how did I spend the hours after Kol Nidre when the kids were in bed? Watching Bob Roberts. I haven't seen it since Bush took office. I am terrified at how much more relevant and believable it seems now than it did when I first saw it in the theater. And Alan Rickman totally freakin' rocks my world. But that thought could lead to sinful ones, so I had better say goodnight.
current mood:  tired
current music: Silence, not even crickets
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(come sail away)
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| Sunday, October 5th, 2003
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12:46 pm - FIC: Kingship (LOTR, Aragorn and Theoden, PG)
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Title: Kingship
Author: cruisedirector
Rating: PG13
Summary: Théoden makes Aragorn think about what it means to be a king.
Disclaimer: The characters belong to J.R.R. Tolkien. This is entirely set within Peter Jackson's movie universe.
( Kingship )
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(21 romances | come sail away)
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9:59 am - Poem for Sunday
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( Eyl khanun )
Three big articles to write, in-laws coming for lunch, early dinner with parents tonight and then Yom Kippur. Yesterday we took the kids to a birthday party at the home of my oldest friend, whose older son is the same age as my younger one; it was very low-key, kickball and scavenger hunts and pizza, and the kids had a great time. She and I rarely manage to see each other, between our kids and work and everything else -- she's a pediatrician with three children and a lot of local family -- so birthday parties tend to be our regular meetings along with their yearly Superbowl party. We all had a really nice time.
Last night I watched the extended Dawson's Creek finale on DVD. I had no idea that a certain character made an appearance, not having read any reviews of the extended cut -- I was going to buy it no matter what, that's how much I love that show *g* -- so I was pleasantly delighted, and there were a couple of extended scenes that I really loved, as well as the two shattering ones involving Jen and Jack and Doug and Jack. I don't understand how I can feel such nostalgia for a show whose flaws I could enumerate weekly while it was on the air.
Have written Theoden fic for ringprov, may post later if I'm sure I've worked out the tense problems. Meanwhile must feed my kids breakfast since they have finally stopped playing GameCube (Sunday mornings one of their few uninterrupted times for that). Off to work...
current mood:  rushed
current music: I Will Be There For You, Jessica Andrews
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(6 romances | come sail away)
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| Saturday, October 4th, 2003
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12:08 pm - Poem for Saturday
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12:07 pm - FIC: Festivity (LOTR, A/F, NC17)
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Title: Festivity
Authors: cruisedirector and ashinae
Fandom: Lord of the Rings
Rating: NC17
Summary: In the middle of a council, Elessar requests a private meeting with his Steward.
Pairing: Aragorn/Faramir; implied Aragorn/Arwen, Faramir/Eowyn, Arwen/Eowyn, Aragorn/Eowyn, Arwen/Faramir and various multiples.
Warning: Polyamory (see above).
Disclaimer: The characters belong to J.R.R. Tolkien.
Notes: I suspect that this is set in the same universe as "Cloaked By Snowfall", though it is not necessary to have read that to read this.
( Festivity )
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(48 romances | come sail away)
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| Friday, October 3rd, 2003
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11:58 pm - hp100
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9:07 pm - Fannish Five
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fannish5:
1. What was your first fandom?
Star Trek. Grew up watching it. Had no idea other people didn't take the books out of the library and beg their mothers to let them buy them.
2. Are you still interested in your first fandom or are you so over it?
I am in a rather weird situation here, since I sort of became a professional Trekkie and went to work for trektoday after working at anotheruniverse.com and before that running Kate Mulgrew's official fan club. Yet the original series can still thrill me. I would have to say that I will never be over it and while I sometimes feel oversaturated, I am still interested. *g*
3. What was your first zine/fic fandom?
I wrote Trek fanfic before I knew there was a name for it. Bought Spockanalia in a reprint edition at my first convention (in high school, probably with vertigo66) after reading about it in Star Trek Lives!.
4. What was your first online fandom?
Deep Space Nine.
5. What was your first livejournal fandom?
Lord of the Rings. I got an LJ code from divineway, whom I was introduced to via a mutual friend from Voyager fandom as a fan of Sean Bean. I'd already written a little LOTR fic, but had never visited LiveJournal until I was led to the fan fiction here.
This is mostly very, very cool. But coffee? Well. Okay. I mean, it's a lot easier to avoid than hailstones or tornadoes, right?
Tomorrow: Work, soccer, Hebrew school, folding laundry and similar excitement. Sunday: family stuff and Yom Kippur in the evening. What am I forgetting to do?
current mood:  calm
current music: Cubs/Braves
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(6 romances | come sail away)
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10:57 am - Poem for Friday and Friday Five
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( You Worry Too Much )
Something I loathe: being lectured by immature amateur critics on the politically incorrect politics of my fiction. Twice now it has happened that I have written a drabble for a drabble community and gotten not appropriate critical story feedback ("It sounded to me like you were saying ___, which I found troubling") but a lecture on the "obvious" moral judgments I was making. Have we reached a point where we cannot even fictionalize our own experiences with polyamory, abortion, alcohol, etc., and acknowledge that these can be troubling, fraught issues no matter how in favor we are of letting people make their own choices, without inviting a rant from the Tyrannical Left for not prefacing our exposition with an unequivocal statement of moral support for those whose experiences or beliefs differ?
On a related subject, and feel free to disagree but this IS politics, not fiction: He apologized. I'm not excusing him, and we can loathe his behavior as well as suspect that on some level he has not changed in his attitudes towards individual women (though truly I will always put a politician's legislative agenda above his personal behavior; I'd rather certain prominent Republicans groped my breasts and voted pro-gay, pro-choice than spent all their time trying to make all my reproductive and sexual options illegal). But when was the last time any Republican acknowledged that he behaved wrongfully and apologized in public, rather than passing off his behavior as youthful indiscretion, lies and exaggerations or consensual within his own parameters?
If Clarence Thomas had apologized to Anita Hill, had said that he grew up in an era of different standards of appropriate behavior and whatnot, I would have said fine, you're still a conservative jerk whom I don't want on the Supreme Court but at least I think you understand the issues involved in harrassment cases. Instead we have a guy whom I believe to be a liar as well as a harrasser of women and a conservative jerk whom I don't want on the Supreme Court. Obviously Schwarzenegger has a ridiculously inflated ego, serious judgment issues and a disturbing lack of respect for a woman's right to refuse unwanted advances, but on a sliding scale of Republicans and some Democrats whose behavior toward women I find disturbing and dangerous, he's...well, a moderate. And I think that in office he is more likely to improve than to degenerate a la certain other California public officials and their interns, though perhaps this is naive of me.
Friday Five, prepare for boredom:
1. What vehicle do you drive?
An iris-colored (hey, that's what the manufacturer says) Plymouth Voyager mini-van. The smallest model.
2. How long have you had it?
Um, six or seven years?
3. What is the coolest feature on your vehicle?
It has given me no grief and has schlepped many, many children to many, many events at Hebrew school, soccer, softball, the JCC, friends' houses, etc.
4. What is the most annoying thing about your vehicle?
No automatic door locks. Also, I don't think they make alternative-fuel minivans.
5. If money were no object, what vehicle would you be driving right now?
Probably something very similar only more environmentally friendly, with automatic window and door features and one of those built-in VCRs for travel. I am very, very uninteresting when it comes to transportation.
current mood:  aggravated
current music: Change the World, Eric Clapton
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(31 romances | come sail away)
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| Thursday, October 2nd, 2003
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11:58 pm - Lewis and Clark
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No, not the explorers, the OTHER ones. I saw them today (delayed, as I have to review Enterprise at the appropriate hour). I don't have anything profound to say, or even any quality drooling that hasn't already been posted so delightfully by ingrid_m and others. Just want to reiterate my love for Lex, Clark aka Kal-El, Oedipus Tyrannus and all involved father figures. And HELEN! And Clarkissoverygay!
Had lovely salmon caesar salad with perkypaduan (who had quiche, not being a Real Man), then tracked down a Spiced Pumpkin Yankee Candle now that it is October and a gorgeous cool night perfect for burning a candle in a big glass jar. Have somehow wound up back on the Trek book reviewer list, as they sent me a pile of Signature Editions after NOT sending me the Voyager relaunch books and other things I might actually have reviewed.
Speaking of Trek, as a public service announcement, I would like to alert those of you whom I know from Back Then that totallykate now has a LiveJournal, run by the same lovely ex-KMAS board member who runs the web site. I still take no responsibility for anything stupid Kate says about women, feminists, starship captains, lesbians, Hepburn or anything else. *g*
I think I got the below from thalassatx. This was my answer and it's sadly true, though when I looked at all the results, I was a bit sorry not to be the big yellow cat, since I have one of those...
You are a tabby cat. The total home-body. You'd be content just to stay at home all day and not get up from the couch. You lazy sloth! Try and make a movement every now and then, or someone might decide to bury you in the back yard!
What color of cat are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
current mood: tired
current music: Newzzzz
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(7 romances | come sail away)
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11:22 am - Poem for Thursday and wednesday100
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| Wednesday, October 1st, 2003
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1:26 pm - GIP and Spam
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10:57 am - Poem for Wednesday
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accomplished
,
?
indescribable