Hi ho. Winding down my work day. Thus begins the weekend. Monday will be a very busy day, getting ready for the BoD meeting that evening. I wonder if I should haul my amazon.com delivery home with me tonight? It included Darker Than You Think, by Jack Williamson (a book recommended to me years ago as 'the most frightening thing you'll ever read,' and gosh, I've read some pretty frightening opinion pieces over the years whle trapped waiting for a bus and nothing but the Village Voice to keep me company), and my Learn Vietnamese textbook and tapes. Why vietnamese? Why indeed. A block away from my job is this vietnamese restaurant, Pho Bang. For the most part, their menu consisted of variations on the theme of 'bowl of broth, rice vermicelli, some cut of beef or other, served with bean sprouts, lemon, and basil on the side.' Beef possibilities included 'omosa,' which I found out--too my horror--was tripe, and 'navel,' which I found out--to my horror--was the cow's bellybutton, looking just like a human belly button. But, if I stuck to brisket, it was delish. And they were so nice! I really enjoyed going there. Every day. Day in, day out. And then I noticed something. Every so often I would get the runs. Diarrhea. When you have a 50 minute commute, mostly involving sitting on subway trains, this can be problematic. Application of Ockham's Razor told me that the problem rested with my vietnamese restaurant. Now I'm not one to let something like that stand in the way of a good meal. What's a little E. Coli now and then? That which does not kill me makes my digestive system stronger. And I'll probably be back. But I'm nosing around for another place where I can go get lunch without thinking about it. But anyway, I liked the people so much, and I've always wanted to visit Southeast Asia, that I decided to get some books and tapes, and lunch would afford me an opportunity to practice. Pronunciation is apparently tricky with vietnamese, so even though I'm still planning on pursuing the study, without the daily dose of the language and being corrected on my pronunciation, I probably won't be speaking anything that would get me around Ho Chi Mihn City. Maybe I'll find a night school course. That did the trick with Russian. Blah blah blah. The work week is done. I'm outta here. Doubtful I'll be posting any time over the weekend. Monday I'll report in on Fire Island. Maybe this trip I'll go to the Ice Palace or whatever the hell the place is and go dancing.