Monday evening things

 * CWF was cancelled tonight. The heat apparently went out at church. This is not good considering the expense of fixing it (and we HAVE to, it's cold now and the Mother's Day Out program needs reliable heat just like we need it on Sundays).

But I admit as I was dragging home, kind of tired and sore from the day, I had wished that maybe I didn't "have" to go and was actually contemplating calling someone and telling them I wouldn't make it. It was cold and very wet today, and trucking across campus I got chilled, and I stayed chilled all afternoon during my lab. 

* So I spent the evening at home. I have pulled out the big corner to corner blanket again and while I'm really not CLOSE to done with it, it feels closer, because the rows are shorter and I decrease at the start of every row. I am hoping the color changes soon; it is less interesting to work on a thing where there's really no change as you go.

*I also set out the bag with the yellow vest (which is just barely started) in it, so I don't forget it tomorrow for the exam I invigilate. 

* I'm almost done with "Double Negative," a mystery novel by an author I'd never heard of (likely the only one he wrote). At this point it's almost a hate-read for me: none of the characters are ones I find sympathetic, the descriptions of university-department interactions are pretty unlike what I know (it feels very 1970s, and while it's an older book, I don't think it goes back that far). There's also only one real female character and she's basically there for sex, so....but I am going to finish it at this point, then it'll go on the "donate or turn in for credit at the used book store" pile. 

The linguistics hook started out interesting but it's now mostly ugly interpersonal politics and I feel like there's too much of that in the world. 

* And a thing I ordered (an early birthday present) came today. This is a "leaf sheep" nudibranch (not an actual sheep, a type of gastropod).

They're interesting because they look weird but also they have the odd habit of something called "kleptoplasty," which means they take ("steal," that's what the klepto part means) the chloroplasts from the algae they eat and store them in their "leaves" (part of the integument) and they can use the photosynthesis of the chloroplasts as an energy source along with the food they eat.

The plushie is way bigger than a real sea slug (they are a few millimeters long) and it's a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be when I ordered it - it's about a foot long and maybe about 8" tall). It's very soft, one of those sort of velour fabrics.

I have not named it yet; I'm leaning towards "Flora" since the "leaves" look a bit like petals and I don't have  a critter named Flora yet