Named trinkets

Hello!

Feels like I just came home from Ad Astra, and here it is Tuesday again.

I've been happy all week.

Just before I left, I received my first iPod. It's an 8G Nano Product (red), and I had copied my Holosync in uncondensed audio format to it. Having an audio meditation aid made it possible to travel through delays and arrive in reasonable condition. At some point in the trip, I looked into my purse to get the iPod and thought 'Preciouss!" The name stuck. One ring to scroll them all. Preciouss (sic) it is.

While at the con, I chose to do the neighborly thing, and attend the auction. It's for charity, after all -- in this case, to fund an award for Canadian science fiction. In a brilliant innovation that charity auctioneers everywhere might wish to emulate, three ladies in red dancing dresses presented the items. They did a fantastic job of adding extra interest to the mercenary proceedings.

Midway through the festivities, they brought a costume brooch up for sale -- a gold salamander dotted with orange crystals and with three fiery opalescent ovals following his twisting spine. The lead auctioneer promptly dubbed him "Sparkly Bob". "C'mon," she said, "surely someone can raise the bid on Sparkly Bob."

I'm proud to say I now own Sparkly Bob. I wore him on my brown jacket over a tangerine blouse, with all but his tail emerged from the left chest pocket, and I fancy he was happy there.

May you take pleasure in the gifts that come your way.