Weeeeeeell....

We had a very nice visit from halfelf and hammergrrl, and also wggthegnoll. An hour after they left, I was in a cab on my way to the ER, with my 3rd kidney stone in 7 years.

Home now, with a prescription for percocet. Yay!

I still intend to show halfelf and hammergrrl around tomorrow, though I won't be in the office. Maybe we can all ride into Toronto in their rental car.

"It's the Red Queen, you know what I mean!"

I shook off the effects of the kidney stone this afternoon, and took halfelf and hammergrrl around Toronto for a few hours. I realized as we were walking that I actually seem to know a great deal of touristy, trivia information about nearly every block, particularly around Queen West.

Secondly, on Yonge Street near the Hairy Tarantula, we saw an actual game of Three Card Monte. Cardboard box, bent cards, dealer and mark, and a little knot of people around. It was heart-warming. I felt like asking if they'd received a grant from some obscure Ministry responsible for preserving the traditional Grifter's Way of Life.

I also felt like tilting my fedora at a jaunty angle and bustling over and saying:
"I ain't the sort of palooka who is going to fall for any dandified, out-of-town Jasper and his fast hands, and here is a sawbuck, sir, to prove it!"


Instead we went to the Hairy Tarantula, and then BMV, and World's Biggest, and thence to Active Surplus!