Dear Deer,
You may not remember me, but we met one evening after dinner. You had hopped into my backyard and were chewing on my rhododendrons. I had stepped outside to refill the bird feeder when our eyes met. I’ve always admired your grace and fortitude. Your ability to leap tall fences and survive harsh weather leaves me without doubt that you are a strong, adaptable animal.

Which brings me to the subject of the 45 tulips that were recently growing in front of my house. I don’t mean to imply that you are responsible for their recent disappearance, but the circumstances give me cause for concern. These tulips were from the Netherlands, brought to me as a gift, carted by hand through customs in an overloaded carry-on. Every day I looked to see how tall they had gotten. As they grew, I sprayed them with liquid capsaicin to make their leaves unpleasant tasting, not because I don’t trust you (because I do, deer) but to prevent any accidents. I didn’t want you to mistake my tulips for, say, the salad bar at Applebee’s.

This morning I woke to discover that all of the tulips had been eaten. Someone (and I don’t necessarily mean you, deer) had chewed them to the ground. If it’s not too much trouble, I wonder if you could describe for me your whereabouts during this event? I happened to notice some unusual footprints in the mud, a product of the rain which also washed off my pepper spray. They look cloven.

Would you mind clearing this incident up? I hate to bother you, but as you can see, the evidence is troubling.

Sincerely yours,
Erica

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I found this list from a year and a half ago. I was half-drunk and coding a webforum for my PHP class. I made a list, oh so long ago. Here it is…

List of things I want to do after graduation:
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• Learn Yiddish
• Finish reading Sophie’s World (Done!)
• Make the webforum decent and secure (
• Overhaul Librarian Avengers (Half-assed overhaul complete)
• Start looking into Art schools and Computer Science departments. (maybe in a few years…)
• Re-dye blue streak in front of hair for Librarian Job Interview Shock Value (Done!)
• Start doing 5k runs again (or 3k…3k is good…)
• Write old friends
• Move to warm place
• Develop a drinking habit
• Read!! Read!! Real books! Things I care about!
• Start buying music again
• Start ballroom/swing dancing again (Done!)
• Visit Erin in San Francisco and Jenny in St. Paul (Too broke. Thanks homeownership.)
• Stay with Jessamyn West for awhile and help with chores
• Plan the next Librarian Avengers ALA party. Book Klezmer band.
• Re-pot my plants
• Build a hive for the honeybee and live alone in the bee-loud glade (Done! Thanks Yeats!)
• Romance my boyfriend (ongoing)
• Buy impractical shoes (Done! ow!)
• Think impractical thoughts
• Raise a dog (soon)
• Rescue an old cat (soon)

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