Café Philos: an internet café

Last Friday, my trusty computer encountered a software problem it could not for the life of it fathom. It's response was to lock itself into a sort of meaningless endless loop -- strangely reminiscent of the Bush policy in Iraq. Thus, after years of faithful service in the cause of inane writing, it died an ignoble death. C'est la vie.

I am now working on a "borrowed" computer. "Borrowed" must be placed in quotation marks because the computer I'm working on was found in the possession of a young woman whom I used to nanny when she was a young girl. She herself no longer has a use for this computer, having upgraded to a newer model, so she has graciously "loaned" it to me on an unconditional, permanent basis. All those years of taking her to the mall when she was too young to go alone finally paid off.

That's her in the cowboy hat. Isn't she beautiful? And what a reflective, thoughtful look! You just can't nanny a kid for a few years without coming to think they're one of the best kids on earth. At least, I can't.

Just for the record, I wrote the following for her when she was 12:

All I need is you today
And this morning's sun.
Show me now your silver dolphins
Then let's have some fun.

We'll go find some skates forgotten
And turn them into new.
Then we'll drink raspberry juice
And stay out past curfew.

Leah, won't you bite that woman
So I can speak with her
(Oh, nevermind, she's not the kind
To ever appreciate us).

Yes, I see the frozen dancer
Make of glass and gold:
But let's buy cigarettes --
I know just where they're sold.

My god you're strong when you're determined --
You dragged me half a block:
Just don't drop that dancer:
You know that's Aaron's job.

All I need is you today
And this morning's sun.
Show me now your silver dolphins
Then let's have some fun.


Fortunately, she's forgotten the bad poetry I inflicted on her -- otherwise she surely would not have given me this computer.