The group birthday card

Arriving a bit after the day itself (9/6), a big (two 8 x 12 panels) greeting attached to the handle to the front door of my apartment. Signed by many of the other residents at Avant. None of whom I have met by name (though we might have exchanged friendly hellos in the elevator). But a sweet gesture towards someone who sticks out as wildly different from the rest — gay spice, as one of the staff calls it. I’ve mounted it temporarily with artist’s tape on the open door of the linen closet, so I can see it from the worktable where I labor with computer. Meanwhile, life is a mixture of great stuff (two days of morning blood pressure right in my target zone) and endless hassles over ordinary software that evilly refuses to work the way it’s supposed to. (I’m having a bunch of t-shirts — mostly very pointed — designed according to my specifications, and this has not gone well, several times, notably with a company I used years ago that now seems incapable of handling the fact that my…