i was shone upon by a smiling providence this morning. the elements are an international shipment, an empty tank and a trip to the airport. these events came together to land me at a gas station with a white van plastered in slush puppie stickers. o, joy of joys! i asked the scantily-toothed gentleman if he works for slush puppie. he replied in the affirmative boasting a very proud smile of seven pearly yellows. he informed me that he is installing a slush puppie at said gas station, and only a 12 minute drive from my flat.

i was delighted to find that i no longer had to brave the 30 minute drive to escondido for that sumptuous snack. lets hear it for coincidence!

ive come to realize that only math undergrads get really excited about math.

yesterday being 3.14 was nerd day in the college where my office building lies. in order to celebrate nerd day at promptly 1:59 (get it? get it?) the students were invited to start throwing whipped cream pis at some of their favorite TAs for only two bits per pi. for those of you who dont know the old math, thats 25cents. the nerd day coordinator was kind enough to donate the proceeds from each TAs earnings to the hapless victims who didnt know what they were getting themselves into. i was one such victim.

"let he who has no sin cast the first pi"

you see the promotional propagandist literature said something about pis being thrown and garbage bag ponchos being provided. when i arrived at the scene, i saw two of my colleagues being pid and shouting out that no ponchos was the way to go. i couldnt resist the temptation to launch a couple of savory whipped cream lovelies at my colleagues seated upon folding chairs. i asked how close i could get. the response was up to the crack in the pavement. i stepped up to the crack and found that the toe of my shoe was touching the toe of my victims shoe. i took a step back and launched pis gracefully towards their faces and crotches. the appeal is overwhelming.

when it was my turn, i took the seat and my colleagues then took turns hurling pis at me. when it looked as though the math grads had spent all the quarters they possessed i was left to solicit the patronage of passers by. "Hey ugly!" i would call out to get the attention of some guy or gal. "That's right, pretty boy, just keep on walking" i could be heard saying. "OOO, look at me. I'm too cool to throw a pi" or "What's the matter? Daddy's little girl cant afford to throw a pi?" it worked well enough. i managed to stir up a mild enough sense of resentment in some to motivate their patronage. somewhat later, a student in my calculus section showed up. to know this girl you can tell she hasnt been in america for too many years and she really enjoyed the opportunity to do something theyd cut your hand off for in vietnam. she exceeded the crack just a bit and would slap those pis right in my face. she walked away, and then, unable to resist the urge, returned for another round. in one instance she slapped down a dollar bill and carried four pis my way very delicately. one by one she slammed them onto my left ear, right ear, crown and face. she would rub the cream into my pores ever so gently and giggle the way children do all the while. she will fail, and i hope she enjoyed every minute of it.

i am twenty hours and two showers later as i write. i cannot get the faint smell of day old whipped cream to dissipate. soon i will go insane.

well, for those of you who care:

jack johnson is coming to san diego in late april. tickets officially go on sale morrow, but as a special promotion ticket sales began today for ucsd students. i have been saving my nickels and was raring to purchase a pair today. however, i actually managed to win tickets from a local radio show last evening. gotta love it.

you know when youre sitting alone and thinking of your loved ones and the sound of those three little words rings in your ears as you sigh a sigh of loneliness?

"WHAT'S UP DIARRHEA?"

that was my experience yesternight on the bus home. i was sitting there as described and someones cell phone began to ring. it was a pretty loud ring, id like to mention. it turned out to be the bus drivers phone and that was the greeting he delivered to the person on the other side of the fiberoptic exchange.

it really was the capstone to a marvelous day.

yester morning i saw some guy wearing a mexican soccer jersey. the sponsor, whose name was printed square across the center of the front, was Quilnes. anyone remember those old (by old i mean a few years) radio spots for Quilnes. it was a mexican guy talking to a white guy and the mexican is telling him about Quilnes (pronounced keel-ness) beer and the white guy cant pronounce it. anyways, that was a pleasant memory for me. too, i thought it intriguing that beer companies are typical sponsors of the mexican soccer teams.