he not only overflowed with learning, but stood in the slop

chiliad

There was a chiliad of toddlers milling maybe thirty feet away from my office this morning, most of whom which apparently believed that shrieking was absolutely required.

noisome

I really, really hope that my next dwelling is significantly lower on the noisome scale than my last few have been. Two-abodes-ago was great for a long time, and I'd love to find a place where I can be that happy again.

quail

Is a quail, by nature, likely to quail? Or are they generally, as a species, more sturdy in the face of danger?

---

    It's been raining lately, a lot and often. I love rain. I love the way it feels, the way it looks, the way it sounds. I even love the way other people tend to hate it. This is a satisfying autumn for someone who enjoys the darker weather.
     I finally got a new phone, to replace the one that had lost the ability to ring when I received calls, or to make calls, or to consistently ring when I'd received a voicemail message. The new phone is spectacularly nice, fancy, has skills and abilities well beyond my own human range--and it tickles me to no end that I can set individual ringtones to each of my friends and family. The Mumbler's texts, for instance, arrive to the sound of a revving motorcycle. My young friend from work, "little Red Bull", sets off a boing each time she contacts me. Farmer E's tone is little Ralph Wiggum from The Simpsons. It's the little things that get you through the day, isn't it?

(OK, I'm trying to write an entirely positive post here, but some [bleeping] [bleep] is driving 

v-e-r-y slowly around the neighborhood in his car with no muffler. 

I don't think I've ever wanted to beat someone's windshield with a baseball bat 

quite as much as the last 15 minutes. GAHHH)

    Have you heard about Chicago street photographer Vivian Maier? I saw a piece about her on WTTW (local public television) and was enthralled. There are two new books out about her: Vivian Maier: Street Photographer (edited by John Maloof) and Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows by Richard Cahan and Michael Williams. (The WTTW segment was about Maloof's piece, and about his blog, which eventually became this site.) If you have any interest in photography or Chicago, I think you'd like to know more.
     Today might've been the last wearing of my beloved dirt-brown cargo pants. When I got to work, I had my phone in the left thigh pocket (as usual) and, once I'd opened the office door, put my keys in the right slash pocket--whereupon my pants nearly slid right off. They just don't fit anymore. I thought I used to have hipbones for times like this, but I'm not sure where they went. (To whence they've gone?) Someone asked me why I don't just wear a belt with them--the answer is easy: the belt makes them weigh even more, and they slide off all that much faster. It's pretty sad, really. For now, they'll be retired to the "fat clothes" area of my walk-in closet, which will someday (i.e. before I move) be shuttled off to Goodwill or the like. The best news is that if I'm small enough that my existing clothes are fitting that much differently, then surely something in the didn't-fit-yet region of the walk-in should be ready for wear and can replace the lucky brown cargos in the rotation. W00T!
     Time for sleep. Fingers crossed for a low-drama Tuesday, please!

[the title quotation is by Syndey Smith]