a funny thing happened on the way to the admin building

the setting:
a pretty fall friday on the U of C quads. what appear to be the remnants of an RSO fair scattered around, including about 2000 balloons.
the cast: lelimonster and his three young chargers, ages 9, 11, and 13, on their way to visit the mom in the admin building (babysitting [manny?] FTW!). later, Sharlene Holly and eddie from downstairs.
enter lelz with kids:

kids: oooo balloons!!!

lelz: who wants a balloon?

kids: meeeeeee

lelz to only person sitting at any tables anymore: hey mind if we take a couple?

random person: here's my really sharp key go ahead!

lelz: here ya go kids!

enter eddie: hi lelz, nice balloons.
(they chat for a bit - kids play with balloons - lelz ties youngest's balloon to her wrist)
enter Sharlene Holly
(angry) SH: excuse me, do you work for ORCSA?
lelz: uh oh
SH: are those your balloons?
lelz: um
SH: did you steal those balloons?
lelz: no
SH: are you affiliated with the university?
lelz: i work for the hospital
SH: what's your name?
lelz: etc
SH (into microphone): will someone with paper write down (name) + neurology?
lelz: sigh
sh: i'm going to call your supervisor and explain to them that you defaced university property. i would never want to set such an example for children. i would never let you near my own kids.

kids offer balloons back to SH.
SH: no, i would never take balloons from a child!
turns back to lelz

SH: BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH
eddie: lady, you're crazy!
kids laugh
eddie continues. sh continues ranting, stalks away angrily.

duration of encounter: 5 minutes
CURTAIN!

so....
in classic LPM style, the email i just sent. we'll have a vote (in the comments, sivooplay):
1. email makes matters worse
2. email results in apology from all sides and warm feelings
3. email gets LPM fired
4. email is ignored.

the email:

Hi Sharlene,
I sometimes make people angry unintentionally, but I really wish I didn't.
Maybe you don't remember, but we crossed paths over 6 helium balloons in the middle of the quads last Friday. I know you were in "event" mode, so I don't hold your actions against you (very much). Still, I feel bad about our interaction - in attempting to ridicule me in front of the kids, although you ended up making yourself look much worse, you also confused the kids, and it was already a stressful day.
Stressful because their mother, who works closely with a very important man in the administration and a former boss of yours, was trying to get a lot done at once and also have a couple minutes to say hi with her kids. She is recently divorced. They were so happy to have a few balloons.
Your actions were, in their mother's words, completely out of line.
So, to conclude, I didn't mean to make you mad then or now. I want to be up front and give you your chance at satisfaction, either by a civilized conversation (hopefully), or by carrying your threat out against me. I didn't lie to you that day, which was what I explained to the children after you stalked away. Lying in any situation, even when confronted by an angry person of authority, is not acceptable. Taking a few balloons, especially when given explicit permission by the only person around (even if slightly misguided), is not a big deal.
Respectfully,
Eli Albert, BA 2010

leli-pie

it's a pale morning in the bao. the cats are having a tiff - gabe makes a hissing mew, and vlad makes a mewing hiss. i shit you not. 1 huge cup of coffee brewed strong, and reach for the oatmeal - empty. so instead i defrost a wholewheat pita and microwave it with almond butter, apple chutney, and an egg. i shit you knot.
the acid jazz streams out over my speakers like a cold front over boston before it collides with the rap from the radio in daryl's room - when i stand next to the bathroom in the hall i find myself in a neutral zone where the relative strength and distance cancels out, and i get hip-hop jazz, or acid rap, like in the eye of a storm.
my head perks up a bit as caffeine floods my veins, and i open the physics problem set. about ten seconds later, someone standing within 50 meters of the baohaus would have heard a dire curse, a string of consonants and glottal stops unknown to the present age, and the snap of a textbook slamming shut. it can wait till tomorrow.
so now it's 11:30 which means about 12 hours until the party tonight which means about 5 "solids" if you use leli's system of time management which takes into account not only the solid chunk of time needed to accomplish some difficult task or set of tasks but also the extra framing time needed to reconfigure brain function for each new setting. it's kind of like the kuiper belt, it's kind of like vomit streaming down my face at 2 in the horse's ass, it's kind of like reconnecting with a memory so old and essential that in retrospect you realize it was there all along, pulling on your hair and scratching your nether regions, only you didn't know it cuz you thought it was a wedgie but really it's just a thing, and an outdated thing at that. anyways the pale morning sez: you can't spell "transcendence" without "dance" and you can't buy you love without money, but you can definnately make leli-pie without oats.