burning like matchsticks in the face of the darkness

It is in the 60s.  Sitting down in short-sleeves with my window open i have goosebumps.  I love this.  I will put on a sweatshirt, but i will not close the window.  Weather like this?  Reminds me why it is good to be alive.  I want to rhapsodize about the hope this gives me, the looking-forward joy, in complete denial about the dog days of August through which i will surely suffer, but since some of you actually don't like the cold weather, i'll refrain.

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hedy took me, the Bad English Major ^TM, to see a play her h.s. English teacher did about Longfellow's daughter.

We drove out to Quincy Adams and took the Red Line out to Harvard.  I had my mom's T-Pass -- yay for 'Sundays a guest rides free.'  There were a couple people ahead of us buying tokens, and we were hardly in a hurry, so we just waited in line, and when we got to the front i showed my T-Pass and gestured to Heather.  The woman in the booth emphatically told me that i should never have to wait in line when i had a T-Pass, that i should just walk up to the front side window and show my T-Pass and walk through with my partnter.  I was near dead with laughter before i was even through the turnstile.  And oh so glad that i was with someone to whom i wouldn't have to explain why i was giggling.  Lo we are 12.

We ate lunch at Veggie Planet at Club Passim, which made me think of Bob Franke and then oh the complicated JBCC drama.  Everything has memories attached to it now.  T-stations, streets, etc. conjure up anecdotes, incidents, seasons...

While i waited outside the bathroom for Heather, i skimmed a 20 Question Social Justice quiz on the wall.

Q: "The richest 1% make as much money as the total income of the x% poorest?"
Me, knowing how these questions work: Some huge percentage like 50%.
A: 57%

Q:  "What are [insert about a dozen USA state names which i didn't read thoroughly]?"
Me: South of the Mason-Dixon line?
A: "The total population of these states is the number of US citizens living below the poverty line."
Me: Wow that was a supremely poorly worded question.  And here i was expecting something like, "execute the most (ethnic minority) criminals."

Q #20: "How much does the average American spend on soft drinks every day?"
Me: Some huge number like $5.
A: 60 cents
Me: ... ?  That's like, one soft drink every other day.  Are these 1950s numbers or something, and i'm supposed to be told how much more we spend now?  No, the citation is from 2005.  And there's a MLK quotation following, but i'm guessing that's unrelated.

I am such a Smithie in that i know exactly where social justice questions are going, and such a bad Smithie in my reactions thereto.

For the hell of it, i just Googled, and lo, it is all over the place.  Here is one, if you wanna check it out.

Anyway, the Longfellow play was quite good.  I know almost nothing about or by Longfellow, but this made me actually interested to read some of his poetry.  The character of Longfellow's eldest daughter (for whom Longfellow Hall at Harvard Radcliffe [which she helped found] is named /trivia) talked about her father and about poetry about doing noble things and about writing to her brother during the war and all the while i had pogrebin's Walking Shadow fic bouncing through my head, which added a rather darker element to it all.

Heather is amazing at remembering the names of people in my life and what they're doing.  I know because she asks about them.  I suck at this handy aid to conversation-making and am well-impressed.

The cell phone bill arriving yesterday threw me into a panic about the fact that i have little money and no income.  I'll spare you the lengthy babble version of said panic.

This is my life.

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meme from ahlksey

1) Go to my User Info page.
2) Pick one person on my friends list you're curious about.
3) Comment with their username.
4) I will tell you a bit about them.
5) Now post this in your journal, see who is curious about whom.