Oh dear. I was walking across the mall today on the way to the bus stop, reading my shiny new withdrawn library copy of Going Postal, when a fairly inoffensive looking man in a wool coat smiled at me and said, "Socialism! Have you given any thought to socialist theories?" and I grinned back gleefully and said "Socialism! Yep, that's it exactly!" and waved happily at him as I continued by.

It wasn't until I was halfway up the hill that I realized that a.) the book was positioned in such a way that he could not possibly have seen the title; b.) even if he had, and he'd read it, not everyone thinks Yay! Socialism! the second they see a novel about how a hardened criminal finds love and personal fulfillment by revitalizing a defunct government service, and succeds in nationalizing a decadent, corrupt capitalist monopoly with the help of the anger of the honest working-man and the benevolent support of a strong central government*; and c) he was holding a clipboard and a stack of pamphlets.

Well, goldarn it. I would totally have been up for a half-hour or so of standing in the cold talking socialism, too. No wonder I never get invites to any of the real bohemian gatherings. :(

*He even rescued the cat!

I just sent myself 200mb of Christmas mp3s by Megaupload (mostly because I couldn't stand being without "The Red Baron's Christmas" on my main computer any longer) so, according to custom, here's the download link if you'd like to see what's in there: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=F6R50S18

(And yes, I promise this is the right archive this time!)

(Also, do you like my new seasonal icons? I like them very much.

Especially because the Grinch is not green!!!!!)