Time Out of Mind

I'm starting to have doubts in re. the competence of my
allergist's office staff. The new vial of allergy serum I got in
yesterday's mail has an expiration date of February 30, '08.

Hoplophobia

At one of the last RiverCons, several years ago, I had an interesting encounter with someone who actively promoted irrationality in regard to a knife.

I was on an elevator crowded with non-fen women and children; part of a softball tournament, IIRC. One of the kids had pushed every single button, making for a long ride. I don’t recall him being punished, or the child's mother even protesting this. Anyway, I was taking a bread knife to the con suite to cut the sourdough bread I had dropped off there earlier. I didn't want anyone - me included - to bump into it, so I was holding it up, flat against my chest. One of the women glared at me and snarlingly chastised me for having a knife out in the open like that, where it could frighten someone, and "Why don't you hide it?"

I realized she wouldn't accept that I was holding it up to avoid hurting anyone. So I calmly said, in a slightly sinister voice, "Then it would be a _concealed_ weapon." She did her best to move away from me in the sardinized situation.