Awkward

I deal with a certain level of awkwardness every day. Huzzah for CS grad school. It has taught me that often, silence is the best response.

Just now, in the lab, with awkward coworker P.:

P: Hello, beautiful girl.
L: Hello, P.
P: (laughs at my curtness) You are a mathematician, no?
L: They tell me so.
P: Do you know anything about representation theory?
L: (apologetic shrug) No.

pause

P: You have very beautiful eyes, you know?
L: Thank you.
P: I am not trying to hit on you.
L: I know.
P: You do?
L: ...
P. hovers as if to say something, then thinks better of it and walks away.


This post's theme word: pretermit, "to let pass without mention," or "to suspend or to leave undone. "

Visual haiku

Every once in a while, I am confronted with a small, self-contained visual statement. It is often puzzling in origin or intent. I think of these as visual haiku. Today, while watching the Santa parade from my apartment window, this floated by:
It is a Pepsi can, suspended from two balloons. It was slowly rising and nearly neutrally buoyant. I have no idea where it came from, or why. Thoughts?


This post's theme word: clerihew, "a witty satiric verse containing two rhymed couplets and mentioning a famous person."