Some people are just sick.

Now it's the gays, pagans, feminists, and liberals who are responsible for the attacks. At least, according to (guess who) Jerry Falwell....

http://www.washblade.com/national/frames/alt/b2.htm

Right. Off to work.

More on the attacks.

Through all of this, I find myself wanting to cry - not at the events themselves, which are almost too large to encompass, but at the little stories among them. Especially the ones that end well, with someone alive and safe.

Here's another such story, for those who aren't sick of them yet, and for so long as the link is good:

Woman, Dog Guide Blind Man Down 70 WTC Floors

(no subject)

I'm not sure if this link will interest others or not, but I don't want to lose it. This company had offices in the World Trade Center as well as elsewhere, and here, he recounts one of his coworkers' escapes.

(The escaping coworker was not in the offices yet when it happened; and the company has confirmed all its employees' survival - their offices are only on the 29th floor. But the account, even second-hand, of being there.... *shivers*)

(no subject)

Someone (specifically djlavey) said it more clearly than I have yet seen anyone else put it, why attacking Afghanistan broadly to express our displeasure would be a mistake. The entry is here.

Gardens, and days.

It was a so-so work day. Not much accomplished, but some. Got some changes in; convinced one person that he was not going to add features on a whim, but was going to do what he'd been told, and if he had an idea, he would ask. (He decided he was going to display the error messages in his dialog box in color, and wasted a fair bit of time creating an annoying recursion bug and then removing it, when in fact, that doesn't match our standard - and he was hard coding the colors, which also does not match our standard). Ideas are grand. But you don't just side-track into doing them because you'd rather do that than what you're supposed to be doing!

Y. brought his dog in. *sighs* Nice dog, and he doesn't scare the crap out of me, but he is no longer a guide-dog-in-training (he failed out, as many dogs do during the training) and doesn't really belong in an office. The new puppy, whom they are raising for the guide dog program and who should arguably be in the office at times to learn what one is like...we've seen twice since they got him. We've probably seen Darren, the older dog, 10-15 times at least since then...and they didn't have Darren back (he hadn't failed out yet) for the first week or two.

Oh, well. At least he's a fairly tolerable dog, I just shut my office door (I am mildly allergic; and he's a very licky dog, and I prefer clean hands and getting to eat my food myself, oddly enough).

After work I went to the Japanese Gardens. I didn't stay long, but I didn't really want or need to: just wandered in, wandered around, enjoyed the green and the water. I went up to the Pavilion to see the Interiors show (since I had gotten there early, while it was still on), and there was no one there except the lady watching it. I greeted her, and she me, and then I wandered, looking at things. She sort of watched me, but very idly; there was no discussion or anything. I'm not sure if that was politeness (I could, after all, ask if I wanted to know), or simply taking me for someone who wouldn't buy. Either was appropriate; I was contented to just wander and look, and no amount of attention would have caused me to buy any of these things. Quite lovely, but I don't need them.

Then I stepped out the front of the Pavilion (I'd come in the back, by the dry garden). I wanted to see the city, for a bit. And here, of course, there was a reminder: the flag was at half mast. But there was a second one: prayer trees. Three of them, all of them fairly full of prayers (and, from the look of it, drawings; and perhaps other things). They had pens, and slips of paper, there for anyone who wanted them.

There was one person working on one, and a couple sitting off on a bench just watching the skyline. I stepped aside, and looked for a few; and then I stepped down between the trees and left.

I'm kind of glad they were there; it seemed appropriate. But I didn't have anything to put on paper, there or in that fashion.

I tried to get a flag, on my way home, but I didn't try very hard; I don't know, honestly, where would be good. I know there's actually a flag shop somewhere downtown, but I'd imagine they're out by now, since they reportedly had a couple-block line this morning. Heh.

I lit a candle, at seven. And then I had mint chocolate chip ice cream and came here, to write, and elsewhere online, to write and hang out with my friends.

An open letter to a terrorist

Here's a little something I found - posted on the bulletin board on Online Gaming Resource. The person who posted it indicated he received it in email, which gave no attribution of who wrote it. If you know who wrote it, please let me know who so I can give proper attribution!

I think this is a lovely testament to the overall reason why what happened was, at once, a tragedy, and a very stupid miscalculation on the part of whoever acted. Of our strengths. Of our coming together.

I'm not entirely charmed by this piece: the closing lines have a somewhat vengeful tone to them, though they are aimed only at those who actually helped to commit these atrocities.

( Full text. )