24 April 1998: Slit Skirts

Friday, 24 April 1998:

Slit Skirts

Tonight I saw not one, not two, but three women wearing ankle-length, tight black skirts with a thigh-high slit in them - a cut I normally associate with slinky, sequined dresses you see vamps wearing in films. Now, one instance might have just turned my head (and each woman was, I assure you, of head-turning stature), but three? Is this a new fashion trend? I hardly remember ever seeing any women wearing this kind of skirt, in my experience. And two of them were wearing sweatshirts on top.

Okay, this is a tempest in a teapot, but is struck me as odd and worth some idle thought on my walk home from the coffee shop. It reminds me of some of the strange goings on in the novel Bellwether.

Training this morning went fairly well - which should not be construed so as to imply that I want to do this on a regular basis. I had to wake up early for it, and felt quite wiped out afterwards, from the early rise, from being on my feet for four hours, and from just the mental exertion of the training. No, not my cup of tea.

However, the lunch we got afterwards was extremely yummy - high-quality sandwich meats and cheeses on very yummy croissants. I had two. And a half.

But yes, I did go bicycling tonight. Not as far as yesterday - my body started complaining (probably due to the shortened sleep last night) sooner than usual, so I turned back. It was a nice ride, though; I put on shorts (for the first time this year) and the wind was mild.

I could have smacked the couple who were biking on the wrong side of the street at one point, though!

I'm about halfway through The Family Tree, and it is a peculiar book. I'll probably try to finish it tomorrow afternoon. I find myself somewhat dissatisfied with the inclusion of overt magic (as opposed to covert "What the heck is going on" strangeness which isn't fully explained; I find that more palatable); I had a similar problem with Gibbon's Decline and Fall. It will be interesting to see her at WisCon next month.

Can we talk baseball? The Red Sox are having a tremendous run lately, with a 5-game winning streak and having won 12 of their last 13. Unfortunately, the hated Yankees are having a similar run of dominance. On the other hand, the Red Sox have been beating up on teams like Cleveland and Seattle, while New York has spent more time playing Detroit and Toronto. Hopefully the Yanks will have a harder time with the better teams, while the Sox will play well against the lesser teams.

The Brewers are leading their division in the NL Central, have the second-best record in baseball (behind San Diego), and the NL Central overall - expected to be baseball's weakest division - has four teams over .500 (there are only two other NL teams over .500 - Atlanta and San Diego). The AL East is the only other division with a majority of teams over .500. It's hard to credit, but the Brewers have been getting terrific pitching and timely hitting. The question is whether they can keep it up. It has made baseball more exciting around here, though.

In my fantasy league, I'm currently dead last. However, I think my team can turn it around. I have a number of players who are under-performing, and a few other problems I think I can fill. My team is perhaps too troubled to dream of winning this year, but hey, dreaming's free, right?

I'm listening to the late Brewers game on the radio right now. They're down 4-2 in the fifth. I'm sure you can dredge up the final score from somewhere once it's posted, if you care.

Michael Rawdon (Contact)