I was in the market for a new bra, because it seemed as though I'd accidentally stuffed one of the three bras I can actually tolerate into the bag of clothes we gave to the Salvation Army this weekend. This is bad on two levels: Not only is it difficult to find a really good bra these days that doesn't cost, like, 50 large, all I could think about was how donating a dirty, threadbare bra to charity was going to redound poorly to my karma.

Anyhow, I found a bra for seven bucks that seemed okay at the time, but it's not so great. On the plus side, I found the bra I thought I'd donated underneath a big pile of other bedroom detritus. Would I have found the bra had I gone to the Elephant Walk? Who's to say?

(Some people have bad luck with elephant-related things.)

Anyhow, as great as the Elephant Walk may be, it can't compare to one of my favorite childhood memories. Like the other six, this one is fuzzy, but I think it's from when I was about six or seven. The train passed through my town, and the tracks were just across the street from my house, and down a hill. You could watch the trains from the trestle bridge, if so desired. One spring day, my father came running into the house and said, "Come! We gotta hurry!" And so we ran across the street, the one that I wasn't allowed to cross without an adult (because it meant certain death), and over to the train tracks.

The circus train was passing through. And from the trestle bridge, we watched the cars as they passed by. Mostly all I could see were brief flashes of animal fur and performers lying on their beds, but then the elephant car passed by, and I saw a single trunk, uncurled and waving around in the air, through a window in the top of the car. It was way better than any of the circuses I'd been dragged to by Aunt Linda.

Speaking of elephants, and Vin Diesel (bear with me): Vin's been coming up a lot lately in our household. It began the other night when he appeared on Daily Show. First of all, I had no idea how short he is. Second of all, after seeing the Daily Show appearance, N has finally conceded that yes, Vin is, in fact, gay. And he gives me a lot of flak because I happen to believe that everyone is gay.

And if that wasn't enough, now there's the matter of him wanting to do the three-part Hannibal biopic. In a dead language. Bring out the Joan Crawford postcards and the candy dishes folks. (Also, that's the elephant reference.)

Final Vin Diesel appearance: Today N and I had the following conversation.

N: Huh. Vin Diesel's gonna be on Fresh Air.

Me: Fresh Air? Really? [He must really be gay.]

N: Oh, no wait. It's Pete Dinklage.