in which there are two incredibly ironic - but unrelated - developments.

as previously mentioned, i've been reading The Hobbit to my mother. then a neighbor dropped off a bunch of James Patterson books, and my mother began to devour them, one by one, and then went on to request more of them from the library. she even sought out the rest of the series about a group of genetically-mutated kids who escape from their government captors, which she laid aside at least once (pronouncing it "too weird") and then finally picked up again and finished. and then demanded more.

this is, you understand, her M.O.

so reading of The Hobbit suffered a bit under the brunt of her new Patterson obsession. when she finally had read all of the books of his she'd acquired, she asked me if i felt like reading more Hobbit. i read three more chapters out loud in two days. i went to put the book down, last night, at the point where Bilbo has been konked by a rock during the Battle of Five Armies. she blinked at me and said:

Mom: "He's alive, right? He was just knocked out."
me: "I dunno. That's the next chapter."
Mom: "You could just TELL me." *grabs the book*
me: "You know, you don't have to wait for me to read it out loud... you can just finish it if you want to."

this morning i came downstairs, and before she even said "Good Morning", my mother looked at me and said:

Mom: "OK... Where's Lord of the Rings?"

--

a few days ago - albeit under friendslock - i was dissecting my change of heart of late; my lack of desire to date. i posted one of two emails i had received from a guy who found me through Yahoo personals - really cute letters, the type of communication women get very rarely, but which - did men know - nearly always work. but my gut said "why bother?"

still... because the letters were THAT cute, i added the userid on yahoo chat. last night, i finally caught him online.

would anyone like to take bets as to his profession, and whether or not it requires use of a firearm?

am i by ANY chance wearing some sort of psychic sign - of which i am unaware - that reads, oh i don't know: "Men of Scots heritage who like to play with guns please apply here"?

and yes, for those of you keeping score at home, this would be three in six months.