Hi, James!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

AH>  I can locate a word in a standard desk dictionary
AH>  in eleven seconds... I had one of my students time
AH>  me once... and I already knew the publication date
AH>  of this book.  :-)

JB>  ...But what if you didn't know the spelling? 


           You got the first four letters right!  As I used to tell my
students, that's enough to locate a word in the dictionary.  When one of
them said it took too long I lent him my watch & asked him to choose a
word at random.  Afterwards I smiled sweetly & reminded him I'd been
practising longer than he had....  :-))



JB>  Pardon me, but a friend convinced me to sit on a drum
JB>  throne Saturday. He actually only needed to provide a
JB>  setup, a bass player, and pick up a guitar. I just had
JB>  a sneeze that plucked the sciatic, and my eyes are watering.


           While sitting on (essentially) a small stool you had a sneeze?? 
Yes, I reckon that could be problematic.  It's a reflex over which you have
little or no control... the whole body tenses up... and you have to
maintain your balance! Nora has had a few bumps & bruises to her left
arm as a result of sneezing.  :-(



JB>  I'll try not to be disjointed.


           (Pun alert!)  No problem... if you were, I didn't notice. 
Dallas & I have other modem buddies who write in a
stream-of-consciousness fashion....  :-)



JB>  "Onward and awkward!" P-|


           Uh-huh.  That's my motto... [grin].



AH>  I gather you lost both him & your father within about
AH>  a year...

JB>  Someone's been taking notes. 


           Nah, just connecting dots & re-reading old messages... [chuckle].



JB>  Dad was a rabblerouser, and two of his best buddies
JB>  followed him into this endeavour, and my "Uncle" did
JB>  so *exactly* two weeks short of dad's 'anniversary'.


           Often people who are close seem to die within a short time.  A
friend of ours died about two years ago... then both of his parents died
just recently.



JB>  When we were finished making noise last week, the other
JB>  two were trying to practice their "black" humour.


           I hear you.  I've made comments like "You know your kid is
really off treatment when you forget to take the fever thermometer on a
camping trip & find you don't need it."  That actually happened to
us.  Other oncology parents think such wisecracks are hilarious, probably
because they've had similar experiences. The majority of folks give me
strange looks & imagine I'm off my rocker....  :-)



JB>  My "Uncle" worked for the mortuary, sold memorial stones,
JB>  and was trained in butchery and taxidermy. That shut the
JB>  topic up in a hurry. 


           So he lived in a small town?  They *are* related occupations....  ;-)



JB>  At the end of the eulogy, what can we do but laugh at
JB>  the good, and cry for the bad.


           Yup....  :-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+