Those numbers and letters for the booms always manage to confuse me. I think it is the same issue I have with street names - I can always remember Mulberry Street, but call it 22nd Street and forget it. Literally, I forget it :)

So, I am thinking those number-letter-something-or-another big booms you mentioned must be the professional style ones that burst high in the sky? They are illegal here as well but apparently it is not enforced in any way here. I see them frequently in the distance, but only the week of the holiday. That stuff is really expensive to be blowing off for the heck of it in May or June. Those crazies - it takes all kinds.

I know what you mean. It takes me twice as long to write with any noise because of distraction. I think the human brain inately likes to avoid work, even when it is work we enjoy. Maybe its an instinctive effort to conserve energy...or maybe brains are just lazy :)

Poor Stinky. I believe in the law of the opposites. It is often the opposite of what we think that happens in the end.