A couple nights ago at Charlie�s, while some random loud band was playing (not bad), I overheard (eavesdropped on) a conversation that reminded me why I love this town. Punk rock/rock �n roll burly boys with tattoos and fists in the air both cook and love great food. Par example:

I had the fucking tartare at insert loud guitar. It was awesome!

But the atmosphere was insert loud guitar.

Yah, dood, there was a fly in my beer.

insert loud guitar

I wore this shirt to work one day that said Mommy�s Little Monster on the front and insert loud guitar, and my sous-chef said, �You can�t wear a shirt that says,� insert loud guitar, �fuck off� on it.

Loud but inarticulate utterances came from the sleeved boys.

insert loud guitar.

Later I got the back-story: he works at a place called Tremont 647 and the chef�s name is Andy Husbands. Brent said Husbands has tattoos of ears of corn on his back and there was a beefcake-ish photo spread of him in some magazine recently, where he�s all spread out and showing his tats. Love it.

Must go hand in revised proposal. And then off to therapy. And thank God for therapy today because I barely slept a wink all night. More of my transformation through cleansed doors of perception and all that later.

Oh I just did a stoopit thing. I, with no sleep, just emailed a whole group of humans in response to an email that Kristin sent me about having a birthday party for me on Saturday. There was nothing really bad, except that I told her I kept typing �Cunthia� instead of �Cynthia.� But Cyn has a sense of humor and the Y and U are so close on the keyboard, blah de blah. Oh my Christ.

Word of the Day for Wednesday September 11, 2002

recrimination rih-krim-uh-NAY-shuhn, noun:

1. The act of returning one charge or accusation with another.

2. An accusation brought by the accused against the accuser; a counter accusation.

Others have written about the epidemic of partisanship and lack of character in our government's elected branches and the cycle of recrimination and disaffection it has created. --Edward Lazarus, [1]Closed Chambers

This news has broken the compulsive back-and-forth of our recriminations, I thought. --Tim Parks, [2]Destiny

There right and wrong fought their battle with furious bitterness, and with a heat of wrath and recrimination which is as pitiful as it is fascinating to behold. --Gamaliel Bradford, �John Brown,� [3]The Atlantic, November 1922

Its aim is to... encourage a no blame culture that will enable staff to report their concerns without fear of recrimination.

--David Batty, "Double act to head patient safety agency," [4]The Guardian, September 12, 2001

Although Ernest Hemingway is dead so are Gertrude Stein and Scott Fitzgerald. Since they cannot defend themselves against his defamation of character in "A Moveable Feast," his death need not shield him from recrimination. --Brooks Atkinson, "Gertrude Stein and Scott Fitzgerald Are Defended Against Hemingway's Attack," [5]New York Times, July 7, 1964

Recrimination is from Medieval Latin recriminatio, from the past participle of recriminare, from Latin re-, "back, again" + criminari, "to accuse," from crimen, �accusation, charge, crime.� The related verb is [6]recriminate