burning like matchsticks in the face of the darkness

"Tanglewood Tree" by Tracy Grammer and Dave Carter

I thought I had this on mp3 (and had in my head it was from mjules) but can't find it now...

When I was walking to CWM last night, it started raining heavily enough that I actually took my umbrella out of my bag and put it up.  After a few minutes I realized that it had stopped raining.  This morning, as I was walking to the T, I remembered that I had left my umbrella drying in the entryway of our house.

Around 9:30 tonight, I was starting up College Ave. from Davis T and saw the sky light up and thought, "Yay, heat lightening."  I had also noticed earlier that it didn't feel as cool as I had expected and that that was likely due to the humidity.  It did not occur to me that this combination might result in rain until the rain drop started actually falling.

Yeah I could have gone back to Davis T and wait for a 96 bus, but why would I do that?  As the rain got harder, it also occurred to me that I could call my housemate who has a car, but that seemed silly.  I was only 20 minutes from home, and the rain yesterday only lasted a few minutes.  The rain, of course, got harder, and I would have liked to have had an umbrella.  I passed the Powder House rotary and the wind picked up.  I could barely see (admittedly part of this is that I wear glasses) and then hey, look, a tree branch, which then went across the road and came close to hitting a passing car.  I was feeling cold, which was the only part that really bothered me -- that and the fact that the wind actually felt strong enough to worry me.  I was absolutely soaked through, but not actually uncomfortable (mostly just mildly concerned about the paper and electronic goods contents of my bag).  And then the rain began to let up, and I contentedly walked the rest of the way home, feet squelching.

I came home and Melissa informed me that she had wondered if I was out in the rain and considered calling me [to offer to come get me in her car], but figured my response would just be, "Why are you calling me in the rain?"  :)

Walking up and down College Ave. last night between 6 and 7pm, it was raining increasingly heavily but not enough for me to take my umbrella out of my purse (I'm weird). I accepted a ride home after group, in part because I wanted to just put my laundry in the dryer and go to bed (though it turned out that my housemate had done laundry while I was at group, so I had to wait for the drier when I got home -- hence my still being up at close to midnight) and also because it was raining significantly and I decided I'd gotten wet enough that evening.

This morning it was still raining significantly, and there were lots of puddles, but it didn't feel excessive. I was actually surprised to find myself being able to wring out the cuffs of my hoodie waiting at street crossings -- and when I got to the gym I realized I'd forgotten how non-waterproof my backpack is (I'm overnighting at Norwood tonight, hence an overnight bag), which was a bit unfortunate.

There was almost no one at the gym, and I figured it was just people being lazy on a rainy Friday near the end of the semester. And then Channel 5 was talking about how the governor had declared a State of Emergency and people should not go outside. (I think this was for north and west of the city where there's ice, and debris -- but it was still weird to hear.) They also said that Soldiers Field Rd. at Western Ave. was shut down, which felt a little surreal.

When I left the gym around 9am the rain had basically totally stopped (as this morning's weather.com hour-by-hour had predicted).

I washed dishes this morning -- and when I was taking my housemate's dishes out of the drainer I saw a layer of grit on them -- which I had seen on the dish drainer a few days before.  I investigated, and it turns out that the cupboard above, the side isn't fully attached so grit from the bottom shelf falls onto the dish drainer when you move stuff in the cupboard.  So I did some cleaning of that shelf.

I went to CHPC and chatted with people during Coffee Hour.

I bought a travel alarm clock (and batteries).

I did laundry.

Ari called (as planned).  I talked about work at great length, since apparently that's what I do.  Eventually we got to talking fandom, though -- and tagging!

My phone died after like two hours (boo).

While I was on the phone with Ari, it started thundering loudly.  I had looked at weather.com that morning but had apparently completely missed the obvious predictions of thunderstorms.  When I left for church around 4:30, it was still raining heavily.  I still haven't found my black umbrella, so I took my purple umbrella (a gift from Mrs. King summer of '99?).  I pressed the button to open it (my black one is manual) and it popped open but then made a bad popping sound, and the umbrella wouldn't stay open, so I just held it open.  Before I even got to the bridge, it was starting to come down a little so I let it fold in and figured I'd just open it up again -- except then I couldn't get it open at all.  Yeah, that was fun.  So I walked all the remaining way to church with no umbrella.  (My phone was still charging in my room, and I didn't really want to call the Collective or anyone to ask for a ride anyway.)  I was soaked by the time I got to the church, but I actually felt fine -- even as the evening progressed and I started to dry.

CWM included a film screening -- Fish Can't Fly (about people who went through ex-gay ministries).  *shrugs*  I'm stoked for Boy I Am (scroll down here for info) the Sunday I'm back (Aug. 24)

I came home and called back my brother.

Have I packed?  Yeah, no.  Packing tomorrow morning is looking really appealing.  [Edit: Yeah, I am totally going to bed and packing in the morning.]

***

I'll likely be online tomorrow morning before I leave, but I don't expect to be online while I'm abroad (and I'm not bringing my cell phone).

( the skeleton itinerary, in case anyone cares )

( gym )

***

Maybe 4pm-ish today I was coming back to my desk and saw how dark the sky had gotten out the window.  About 5:20pm I was at Harvard T Station and it was thundering and lightning but not actually raining.  I would have loved to walk all the way home, but I needed to do laundry before the laundromat closed, plus I had a headache which I suspected was due at least in part to hunger, so I opted for the T.  Ten minutes later, I disembarked at Davis and the Spare Change guy informed me that it was raining buckets out.  I had an umbrella so I was fine.  Yeah I got soggy, but I was planning to put those pants in the laundry anyway.  I changed my clothes (my shirt was actually remarkably dry) and ate some food and by the time I went to the laundromat the rain had mostly let up.  60F ftw!

[Edit: Talking to Katie on Wednesday, apparently it had been really coming down for a bit -- like low-visibility, near-hail, etc.]

---

"Joy Sadhana is a daily practice in the observation of joy."
-mylittleredgirl [more info]

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
-from "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing" (Words: Ro­bert Ro­bin­son)

Five good things about today:
1. I have an Ari (long-distance, but still).
2. Greg finally downloaded Firefox and I got to offer helpful pointers -- like how to keyboard command between tabs, and that you can set your "homepage" to be multiple tabs.
3. Kara bumped into me at lunch and thanked me for the informational e-mail I'd sent her weeks ago (she's been swamped, hence the delay), which was a pleasant surprise.
4. Chatting with mjules.
5. It rained!
Bonus: I forgot to mention... we have a bucket of ice with the coffee now. (I don't drink coffee, iced or otherwise, but other people care, and I like making my people happy.) I hadn't gotten any response to my messages, so I was totally surprised to see. I noticed it when we came back from lunch, and MaryAlice was like, "Yeah, they've been bringing that with the coffee." I thought, "I've only been gone two days, and I really don't think we'd had any before I left."
And Bonus 2: I bumped into Becca C-T on the T home, as I sometimes do, and we were talking, and she was like, "We're not facebook friends are we? I had just assumed we were. We should remedy that."

Three things I did well today:
1. I used my GoodReads librarian status for someone other than myself :)
2. I called Mamma Maria again and actually got a copy of the receipt this time.
3. I did laundry (which is up to $2/load) and bought groceries (including aloe lotion).

Two things I am looking forward to (doing [better]) tomorrow:
["anything that you're looking forward to, that means you're facing tomorrow with joy, not trepidation," as Ari says]
1. Rest and Bread service
2. Eh, I have a bunch of to-do items I think I can actually accomplish or at least make a dent in.

( gym )

There were no major stressors at work, for which I was grateful.  (I restrained myself from checking my e-mail over the weekend, which probably kept my anxiety on an even keel.)

Good things about today:
* Ben volunteered to help select the menu for Friday's event and it looks like we've gotten that all squared away nicely.
* I have "magic touch" Microsoft conversion skillz.
* Ranjan gave me a box of handcrafted artisan chocolate (Moonstruck Chocolatier) as a thank you for my help with Recruiting.

I stopped at Tags on the way home to pick up some stuff for the apartment since OriginalRoomie's moving and taking some stuff with her and dude... I never did the full home furnishings quest since I was moving into a place people already lived, but I was really surprised and impressed at how much stuff they have.  Note to self.

(Sidestory: Greg went to IKEA yesterday -- since apparently that's what people do with their Memorial Day holiday -- and got a couple bookshelves.  He was proud of himself for literally thinking outside the box to get them up the stairs: he opened the boxes and brought them up shelf by shelf.)

As I was walking up Holland St. it started to rain -- just enough that I could tell it was rain and not the wind blowing droplets off the tree leaves.  After I'd passed the Teele Square intersection it started raining more heavily which of course I was thrilled by.  Then it started coming down heavily enough for me to feel uncomfortable, so I actually put my umbrella up -- and by the time I got to the gas station it had stopped.

OriginalRoomie's mom went into my room while I was out and closed my windows 'cause of the rain, which is kind of sweet though my father will attest that I insisted on his leaving my bedroom windows open even when the rain was literally blowing onto my bed.
I don't like other people seeing my current bedroom, because it's such a disaster... which leads to interesting thinky thoughts about performativity and trusting people.

Later, she knocked on my door 'cause a broker was showing the apartment to a woman (which OR's mom seemed wicked almost flustered by and I was like: chill, the landlord told me he'd be showing the place to brokers and stuff and even if this were total news to me, it's not your problem).  I was happy to talk to the woman, but zomg, would OR's mom stop talking?  Yes you told us already that OR doesn't have a car so when you visit you get a rental and you coordinate with the gals downstairs about driveway usage and do a "flip flop" when necessary -- and good grief, you'd think she was trying to sell the place, volunteering information like the laundromat nearby and stuff.  (Not that I'm trying to not-sell the woman on the place, since I'm fairly certain I'll be moving out, so I don't have a vested interest and I like being nice and helpful.  But if I were visiting someone and another person came to check out at the apartment I would just stay out of the way.)  Hey mom, think we could arrange for her to call grandma every day? ;)

musesfool busted out her iPod oracle.  I got:

With the way that you left me
I can hardly contain
The hurt and the anger
And the joy of the pain
Black Coffee in Bed - Squeeze

victoria goes, "Um. Sorry?"  Honestly?  I had cracked up laughing when I read it.  I mean, okay, my question was about what the future was going to look like re: a particular relationship, so that's kind of depressing, but still, it is rather fitting.

I wrested two giant staples out of the DeathStar Stapler this morning.  I feel I fulfilled my butch cred quota for the day.

I was in the mood for pasta at lunch, but it is risotto this week.  However, the GlobalVegetarian was Greek, so I got spanikopita (and other stuff), which was exciting -- and more filling than I was expecting (I worried I hadn't gotten enough food, but I ended up not actually finishing all of it until later in the afternoon).

Supposedly it was like 71F when I left work.  Regardless, it felt warmer than I was expecting and also warmer than I really wanted it to be.  As I approached Teele Square, it started sprinkling rain a little bit.  \o/
A little after six I was sitting in front of my computer and could smell that rain-on-ground smell, and I looked over and indeed there was all this rain on my windowpane.  I was a little worried I would get soaked on my way to the MFA (I like the rain, but having to sit somewhere being soggy is not fun), but it was just barely sprinkling when I left again a little before 7 and was sunny, so it had that sort of summer feel that I like.  Waiting for the Green Line around 10, it barely started to sprinkle again, and walking home it was sprinkling a little harder and I actually ran part of the way just 'cause I felt like it.

I (finally) finished reading last week's Economist -- and then started on this week's.

***

( gym )

On CNN's This American Morning, they had the electoral map from 2004 and talked about which states might flip given an Obama v. McCain contest, which was interesting.  Hey look, a Wikipedia entry on swing states.

They also talked about Democratic fears that fears that Obama v. McCain will be like unto McGovern v. Nixon.  ( Read more... )

***

Last night, mjules linked me to an AP article on U.S. paper currency and the blind -- which also got talked about on CNN This American Morning.

While the government has been fighting to overturn the lower court ruling, it has been taking some steps toward modifying U.S. currency for the visually impaired. The most recent currency redesign of the $5 bill introduced in March features a giant "5" printed in purple on one side of the bill to help those with vision problems distinguish the bill.

Indeed, Treasury has previously considered making different sizes of bills but ran into opposition from makers of vending and change machines. Government lawyers raised this issue in court, saying it could cost billions to redesign vending machines. But the court said such data are murky, especially since one proposed solution would be to leave $1 bills unchanged.

***

monkeycrackmary linked to scans_daily post for Robin #174.  zomg!  I really haven't been following this issue 'cause it's not my fandom at all, but I know enough of the background.

***

Another round of Things You Might Not Know About LJ But Should:

The Date Out of Order function.
You don't need to actually change the date, just click "Date out of order" and it won't show up on anybody's flist, but it'll show up on the main page of that journal.

Who can create polls.
# Paid, Plus and Permanent Users: You can create polls in your own journal and any communities (whether Basic or Paid) where you have posting access.
# Basic Users: You can only vote in polls, with one exception. If you maintain a Paid or Permanent community, you can post polls in that community.

I left the house around 7:10 this morning and by about 7:25 (partway down Holland St.) it was seriously raining.  As Katie and I crossed the bridge on the way to work, we were like, "Was that lightning?" and then we heard thunder, so yeah.

( gym )

"Joy Sadhana is a daily practice in the observation of joy." -mylittleredgirl [more info]
This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
-Psalm 118:24

Five good things about today:
1. Eric reminded me that The Sarah Connor Chronicles start this weekend -- Pilot: Sunday @ 8pm ET, Episode 2: Monday @ 9pm ET (on FOX).  [I still haven't sorted my videotaping situation -- had let it languish due to the strike -- so do I peace out of CWM dinner relatively quickly on Sunday?]
2. Pasta for lunch.
3. Wendy Wasserstein's Third
4. Ian.
5. The scheduling conflicts I caught today got resolved by the end of the workday today.  W00t!

Three things I did well today:
1. I caught a bunch of scheduling conflicts.  Okay, I should have caught them yesterday, but they're still a couple weeks off, so the day delay is not a big deal.
2. Successfully executed a social outing.
3. I provided guest parking passes for a needy friend :)

Two things I am looking forward to (doing [better]) tomorrow:
1. Doing some errands.
2. Getting some sleep.

It has been a less than stellar morning, but looking out the window and unexpectedly seeing rain falling filled me with such joy.

I woke up around 6:20 Friday morning -- which I do sometimes, even though now I don't need to get up until around 7 -- and I hadn't been getting enough sleep (due to the whole hot weather thing) so I definitely went back to sleep.  Got up to find someone was taking a shower.  And soon saw OriginalRoomie waiting to take a shower as well.  Dude.  Almost never is anyone even up when I get up.  Sigh.  I actually still got to work early.  My biggest complaint really was that I needed to use the toilet (and when living with near-strangers one really can't do that bathroom sharing thing I've gotten so used to from living with family).

Mary Alice and I had lunch outside again [the temp was off at a job interview].  It was hazy but a comfortable level of warm and humid.  Shortly after we came back inside, there was thunder and dark skies.  And it was very much raining when I left.  I was very glad my sandals wrapped around the ankle 'cause I think flip flops would have slid off my feet about a million times.  Sam has the entry on the weather that day, though I don't think it ever got that bad over at my end of town.

I made myself a veggie burger and french fries when I got home.  I'm unused to the smell of gas.  [This apartment has a gas stove, which I haven't had since we moved off of West St. the year I turned 11.]

I was feeling really tired, so around 7:30pm I lay down -- not actually really wanting to sleep much 'cause I thought that would screw up my sleep schedule (as late day naps sometimes do).  I woke up around 11?  I changed out of my clothes and went back to bed -- not wanting to wake myself up much.  I woke up a number of times in the morning and finally got up around 8:20 I think?  Yeah, apparently I needed sleep.

Saturday I went grocery shopping.  Stonyfield yogurt has pectin, which I momentarily couldn't remember what it was, but I bought the yogurt anyway and whee, it's a fruit bit.  "Pectin is widely used in the food industry as a gelling agent to impart a gelled texture to foods"
And they have the banilla yogurt that Smith sometimes had on the salad bar.  Now if only there were yellow bananas.  (The grocery store has green ones which seem to mostly skip the yellow stage on their way to brown in my kitchen.)

Sidenote: Those of you who live with people, how do you do the dishes?  Every time I wash some of OriginalRoomie's dishes when I do the dishes she thanks me, and today I said that I just figure I'll wash whatever dishes are in the sink, that I'm not invested in washing only the dishes I got dirty.  I'm sure I'm influenced by having lived with family for the past year -- where food, dishes, etc. are all communal -- and I'm trying not to begrudge her her method of letting the dishes pile up for a few days (and then soaking them in a sinkful of soapy water -- but not rinsing/soaking anything when she puts it in the sink originally) but I just get weirded by this compartmentalizing.

My new bag came today.  So many pockets.  And with actual closures (one of my big complaints about my Ten Thousand Villages bag).  I still need to set up my laundry bag which arrived earlier this week.  [Should probably go do that now.  Edit: Oops, need a Phillips screwdriver and I already gave OriginalRoomie hers back -- and she's out now.  Sigh; that's what I get for being lazy and putting this off.]

We showed the apartment again today.  Sabeena(?).  I was wearing my Smith: A Tradition Of Women In Exciting Positions t-shirt, so I learned that she graduated MHC 3yrs ago (B.A. in film and comp sci, now doing graduate work in comp sci at Tufts, and testing phones for Nokia).  Her current sublet(?) apparently runs through the end of August, so if she did take it we would have to eat the cost of August's rent (which we would have to do anyway if we don't get anyone ... and OriginalRoomie had already mentioned to me earlier today how she can't afford that).  I offered to eat the cost 'cause having lived rent-free for a year but been working full-time most of that time I can v. much afford it (and would rather eat the cost for one month knowing someone was coming after a month than eat it for an indefinite period of time).  I could have sworn OtherRoomie had said she'd be moving out July 1, though, and when I talked to the landlord when I filled out the rental application back in April he had talked about a "July-July lease," so I'm confused by the idea that we would only have to cover August's rent, but honestly, I can pay for two months so whatever.
Erica, assuming this girl doesn't take it I am in all seriousness offering you the third room in my Davis Square apartment if you are at all interested.

I was realizing this afternoon that I was actually comfortable in the apartment all day (wearing t-shirt, jeans, flip-flops).  Rock on.

P.S. Cat!!!
[And yes, it is all about mixing in milk -- or something like it -- while mashing the potatoes and then stirring with a fork.  Thanks, y'all.]

*

executrix on the Joss' birthday screening of Serenity (which I didn't go to in my city):

I'm really excited, even though I don't even like the damn movie all that much because in our small and embattled fandom we Browncoats ("the fandom other fans are afraid of") enjoy opportunities to gather and moil about. And that is what I think capital-F Fandom is all about--as the operatic bit of As You Like It goes where they all stand around in a circle and talk about how being in love is to be all made of sighs and devotion even though they're all in love with the wrong person.

[emphasis in original]