A Tonga da Mironga do Kabulete...or not

ALPHA     Well, my prediction about the dangerousness of Uruguay came true; they tied Brazil in their semifinal game, but Brazil came through with the penalty kicks 5-3, so the final is set for Sunday: Brazil, my favorite country in the world, vs. Argentina, a country I've come to have a great (if distant) sympathy for, considering my favorite writer (Cortazar) and my favorite band (Bersuit) are from there, and that they've been having a tough time lately. So I don't know who to root for. But it doesn't matter, as my wife's birthday is Sunday, so I probably will not be watching the final game on Univision.

BETA     If you do prayers or magical thinking or good thoughts or any of that stuff, please direct them to my co-worker Tom, who we just found out this week has a brain tumor. We've already lost another co-worker to cancer last year, and another guy killed himself at work a couple of years ago. We're starting to feel a little cursed.

GAMMA     I'm thinking of giving up reviewing. (See DELTA.)

DELTA      I'm thinking of trying again to actually be a writer. (See GAMMA.)Watch this space for details.

WHATEVER COMES NEXT     hmm. interesting.