Items from previous Octobers, continued.

October 22, 1997 [about a month before Lilly was born].

It's snapped cold here lately, or at least very cool. Out in the suburbs it has already been below freezing at night, but not where we live. It's usually warmer in the city in the colder months, and cooler in the hotter months, because of the lake. It may go below freezing in the city tonight or tomorrow night, I hear.

Yuriko went to the doctor today and all is well. Starting next week the baby will be at term, and so far no signs that the baby won't stay put for a while. If (s)he is anything like his or her Dad, (s)he won’t do anything till absolutely necessary. Starting this week, Yuriko's visits to the doctor will be weekly, till it's time. She is of course very big, but we'd like her to get just a little bigger. We're slowly rearranging things in our apartment to accommodate the little one. Might have to pick up the pace this weekend.

Put this one in the People Will Believe Anything File: The LaRouchies are back outside the British consulate on Wednesdays, spewing forth. The consulate happens to be in the Wrigley Building, across the Chicago River from my building. As part of the harangue, one of them wears an evil-looking Queen Elizabeth mask, and goes on about the British Empire -- "the real Evil Empire!" And you thought the Empire was a thing of the past. No, indeed, it seems to have endured in secret, and is really running the world. Hm. Giving up Hong Kong was one hell of a ploy, I'd say... if I were Jiang Zemin I'd be quaking in my boots (or shivering in my Mao jacket). Tony Blair's gonna punch his lights out.

Or do they even wear Mao jackets any more (at state occasions, anyway)? I saw a few myself on the streets in China, but not many. And come to think of it, I read the other day that Castro doesn't smoke Havanas any more. He's blown his chance to be on the cover of Cigar Aficionado, I think. What's the world coming to?!?