My halloween costume epic

I wasn't planning on making a Halloween costume this year. While I love costumes, they don't celebrate Halloween in Spain, so it seemed like it would be a bit of a wasted effort, not to mention difficult since I don't have anything to make a costume out of. And then I discovered that the program is hosting a Greek and Roman themed Halloween party. And between Greek and Roman and the need for an affordable costume, I was reminded of the costume that Gentian wore in Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary, which I had decided was cool, but which I probably wouldn't ever actually use: she dressed up as one of Sappho's poems. White garment with the poem written on it, and rents in the fabric for the missing bits of the poem.

Since I don't speak Greek, I decided to do a bi- or tri-lingual poem. I found a translation I liked by a Middlebury prof, and since his translation is technically his intellectual property, I figured that I'd ask before using it in my costume.

( Here's our interaction so far. )

Please note: I didn't actually mention anything about Multimedia or tech stuff in the first e-mail; the only semi-logical explanation I can think of is that he missed the bit about it being a Halloween costume and thought it was for a class.
Or maybe that he has an axe to grind.

So what I'm wondering is:
-Is he this weird in person?
-Is he actually on drugs, or does it just sound like he is?
-How long can we keep up this mercurial conversation that seems to be leaping from conversational topic to conversational topic in a manner similar to that of a flying fox in a forest?

The other thing I was going to say the other day

In response to the writer's block thing about "Would you rather be trapped in an elevator with Eeyore or Tigger?" - totally Eeyore. He's gloomy, yeah, but I can deal with gloomy. Spending any amount of time in a small, enclosed space with Tigger's excessive energy would give me a headache (as in, I wouldn't even want to ride in an elevator with Tigger. He's be literally bouncing off the walls onto me before we even got to the third floor. Spending an indefinite period of time in said small enclosed space with him would severely test the limits of my sanity. I would much rather walk barefoot on broken glass than be stuck in an elevator with Tigger.

Don't get me wrong; I like Tigger. But I think that being trapped in an elevator with him would be considered cruel and unusual punishment.

On advantages of being in Spain

When you get home at 8:30 and night, clean your room, find you How To Vote By Absentee Ballot postcard, and say to yourself, "Drat! I meant to call my local county officials today and try to get a local ballot in addition to a Federal Write-In Ballot," you still can. Like pulsebeat says, I'm in the future. And I can make phone calls to the past. Of course, the disadvantage is that the connection is pretty poor, and the first woman can hardly hear me, and when I call back it's only a little bit better.

But I did manage to get my complaint through. And all I can figure out is: somebody screwed up, big time. (Or the guy at the Voter Office lied to me because he was tired of trying to figure out what I was saying through the breaking up. Which is possible.)
At any rate, he told me that they were sending me a new ballot, with a letter explaining why.

I'm not sure how to count this in the Miriam vs. Bureacracy tally.
Maybe it should just be categorized as: Pennsylvania voting office: Fail.