I was about nine or ten, and Mom was driving me to town. We were driving along and singing with the radio, as we usually did, when she laughed at the lyrics I was singing that I had apparently made up. It was a Cathedrals song, and I can only remember one line--the wrong way and the right way. I was singing "a fire in the weather makes a little poor child come alive." She said the actual lyrics were "a fire in the winter," but I didn't believe her, and as a matter of fact, I'm still not sure I do.

For some reason, that one line kept running through my head this morning as I was waking up. I haven't heard the song in 15 years, probably, but that line has been stuck in my head all day. I tried Google, but I can't find it based on either the correct or incorrect lyrics. I'm starting to think we both made it up. It's driving me crazy that I can't find it anywhere, that I can't remember the title, and that I might never really know the actual lyrics. Besides, having one fuzzy line of a song stuck in my head is only adding to the fun of my bored-to-death-with-being-home-sick week.

And now I'm thinking maybe "little poor child" should be "little cold child." Then again, "little frozen child" would make the most sense, but it definitely doesn't fit the music (which you can't hear, because it apparently only exists in my head). And if I had a little cold child that was barely alive, I think I'd try a hot bathtub before I dumped him in a fire. I think this might be the beginning of lunacy.

Labels: family

Toby has always been my favorite character from The Office, and last night he proved himself to me in the whoever/whomever exchange.

Michael (to Ryan): It’s whoever, not whomever.
Ryan: No, it’s whomever.
Michael: No, whomever is never actually right.
Jim: Sometimes it’s right.
Creed: Michael is right. It’s a made-up word used to trick students.
Andy: Actually, whomever is the formal version of the word.
Oscar: Obviously it’s a real word, but I don’t know when to use it correctly.
Michael: Not a native speaker.
Kevin: I know what’s right, but I’m not gonna say because you’re all jerks who didn’t come to see my band last night.
Michael: Do you really know which one is correct?
Kevin: I don’t know.
Pam: It’s whom when it’s the object of the sentence and who when it is the subject.
Phyllis: That sounds right.
Michael: Well, it sounds right, but is it?
Stanley: How did Ryan use it? As an object?
Ryan: I used it as an object.
Kelly: Ryan used me as an object.
Pam: How did he use it again?
Toby: Ryan wanted Michael, the subject, to explain the computer system, the object, to whomever, meaning us, the indirect object, which is the correct usage of the word.
Michael: No one asks you anything ever, so whomever’s name is Toby, why don’t you take a letter opener and stick it in your skull.

Labels: grammar, tv

I finally finished reading the last chapter of the chemistry book that's been eating my brain away at work lately. There's actually a picture of Humpty Dumpty in that ridiculous book.

Emily's wedding is this weekend. I can't believe it's here! I've had a thousand things to do, but I'm starting to feel ready. In the spirit of timeliness, I burned myself with the curling iron on Sunday and have a nice hickey-looking mark on my neck.

Check out this right brain/left brain test. I can only see her spinning clockwise, but most of my friends think she's spinning counterclockwise. We were all looking at the same screen this morning trying to decide which of us were crazy.

Hey, I think fall might really be here!

Labels: friends, work