what is the word

Between picking up a copy of Dr. Zhivago last nite & making the yummy soup I mentioned yesterday I stopped at the wine store for the very cheap Shiraz I like to buy (it's so cheap I don't like to drink it, really, but I like to buy it). The very charming man behind the counter was singing a Beatles song.

You say goodbye, I say hello, he sang, ringing me up. Or, wait. Is it "I say goodbye, you say hello?"

That's a tricky one, I said. I think the first way.

You say goodbye, I say hello, he sang. He had a very good singing voice indeed.

Hello, hello! I answered.

I don't know why you say goodbye I say hello, he finished. Yup, that's it.

After that I went to pick up ingredients for the soup. When I came out of the grocery store fat wet snow was already falling. I made the soup in a giant pot. I started out by following the recipe to the letter, as I always do, but then in a burst of rebellion I cut the apple cider vinegar in half & quadrupled the miso. I sliced up some very hot peppers as well & a couple of mushrooms. I was stoned while I was making it so I kept asking Maria if she thought it was ok. If I was cutting the celery too thick, if the flame was high enough, etc. I'm an indecisive person all the time but when I'm stoned it becomes practically paralyzing.

Being stoned always makes everything take longer, too. I've never felt so much like I was slaving over the stove, I told Maria.

The soup turned out delicious & very spicy. We didn't watch all of Dr. Zhivago. I wasn't paying much attention, actually. I was tapping bits & pieces of things into my laptop & text-messaging Melly about Clint Howard & the blizzard in Chicago. I knitted for a minute or two but the yarn I have is wispy & it came apart. I went to Anytime for another pack of cigarettes & I came home again & I read The Basque & Bijou before I turned out the light.

In other news, I have long been fascinated by the poetic possibilities of spam & particularly the strange invented names of spammers. Here is a person who actually saw this possibility through into creation here. The rest of his blog is every bit as fascinating. (Thanks, Stuart, for the link.)