Almost Done, Almost Starting.

Your Sis had a light day at school, but parent conferences continue. One student decided to writer her final research paper as an expanded outline, and no adult could explain it. If she had decided to write it in Mandarin, they couldn't be more surprised.

Today's conference concerns a failed paper that discarded all citations. That's technically plagiarism, and that's an automatic zero. The child, I'm told, had a tantrum, a literal tantrum, over the grade, and his helicopter mom wants to talk about whatever can be done to allow her golden child to pass the paper. She's a parent infamous through the school for her dotage, and there's no telling how tenacious she'll be. Your Sister worries about meetings with such parents, and I try to reassure her by reminding her that the parent can be given a first-class ticket in my sun rocket.

I ran again last night, and it hurt. I ran too fast, and it was too hot, and it had been too long since I last ran. Wah.

Your Sister was to go visit her college buddy across the border tomorrow. I was invited, but Your Sister vetoed so she could have alone time with her. But she didn't tell the friend, and a recent phone message suggests she bought theatre tickets and restaurant reservations for me too. I assume the tickets are for my old theatre's current production of Carousel, one of those big musicals, and I wouldn't mind seeing it. But as I type, I'm not planning on going. I have to let the womenfolk straighten it out.

I do have a theatre meeting tomorrow so the summer slate can be nailed down. I have to inform the committee that my mom actress is officially out of the one-act, and that complicates matters. With so many planned shows, who is left to take that role? Also, that means we have to practically start from scratch for rehearsals, and that feels like the choriest chore that ever chored. I dread this. I think it's a lot to ask for a cast to go through rehearsals and performances for the same show twice in three months' time. If there's an opportunity to back out, I'll take it. But we have the longest one-act out of all the suggested plays, and we would anchor each night of performances. They need our show.

In the News
This from the AP:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An 88-year-old white supremacist has been charged with murder for killing the security guard who had opened the door to let him into the U.S. Holocaust Memorial and Museum, officials said Thursday.

Security Guard Stephen T. Johns was shot to death Wednesday by Holocaust denier James von Brunn, who had left his car in a lane of traffic outside an entrance to the museum before walking in with a concealed rifle, District Police Chief Cathy Lanier said at a news conference.

Von Brunn, who once tried to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve, started shooting immediately, exchanging fire with guards who shot and critically injured him, stopping him from entering the museum and hurting anyone else, Lanier said.

In his car, officers found a notebook with a handwritten note saying, "You want my weapons - this is how you'll get them. The Holocaust is a lie. Obama was created by Jews," according to a court affidavit.

The museum was closed and flags flew at half-staff Thursday in honor of Johns, 39. Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty said quick work by law enforcement "literally saved the lives of countless people."

That Homeland Security Domestic Terrorism report is looking more correct every week.

I clearly recall our trip to that museum. The patrol dogs and the metal detectors were impressive enough, but Your Sister had to drink from her water bottle to prove she wasn't carrying acid. A representative of a security guard union says the guard should have been given a bulletproof vest. I'm not sure how effective they are against rifles such as the shooter carried.

This is the third politically motivated shooting in a month, along with the Army recruiters killed in Arkansas, and the abortion provider in Kansas. This latest shooter is yet another true believer who accepted the unfounded rumor that the new administration was trying to guns. Then again, he was a rabid ass, and he shrugged off logic long ago. Given his previous arrests, I wonder if he was legal to have guns. And, if so, how.

News Picture of the Day
Also from the AP wire:

A supporter of leading challenger and reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, wearing a cape of the party's color green, joins thousands of supporters from both political groupings as they roam the streets at night amidst a festive atmosphere, in Valiasr square in central Tehran, Iran, late at night on Wednesday, June 10, 2009. Iranians go to the polls on Friday, June 12, 2009 after a hotly contested election campaign pitting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad against leading challenger and reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, amongst others. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)