The Urban Pantheist

You wouldn't think I would need to make a post like this, since I literally take a picture every day and say something about my life. But 3:00 doesn't tell the whole story, and it doesn't get off my chest what I need to right now, I guess.

Thursday was the Bowling for Rhinos event, the second one that I presided over as President (presidents preside, I suppose) of the local AAZK chapter. Initially we were worried because we only had spots for 40 bowlers, then we had problems filling even that many (we had about twice as many last year). Anyway, what ended up being a bigger issue was that the location was in Boston proper, meaning bad traffic and bad parking situations all around. People spent a lot of time in traffic and circling the block, so getting going was rough.

But once the event was rolling it kind of ran itself. The other AAZK officers snapped into their roles and made me feel like I didn't have to worry about every little thing. I delegated. I trusted. I circulated and saw that people were happy. I even bowled.

Friday Kikipuff called me and asked if we could get a beer after work. I went to the bank and deposited over 2000 dollars from the bowling event. Then I went to the other bank and checked my personal bank balance, discovering that I was overdrawn. Kikipuff bought me dinner and a couple beers, and I circled the drain of despondency that money troubles always drag me to. She offered to lend me money, I refused.

Kiki was going out with friends later, but wanted to hang out a little while longer, so we went to a second hand shop across the street. We flipped through CDs--an activity that I find at once comforting and depressing. I hadn't done it for years, but found that many of the same titles were in the racks. (Poor Frente!) The records were even worse, but I did come across Gordon Lightfoot's Sundown, and showed it to Kiki. She didn't really know who he was, and I don't know why I showed it to her, saying "the title track is a really catchy soft rock tune."

That night the dogs woke me up three times (to get drinks of water, and to pee). One of the times I decided to use the unexpected awake time to learn all about Gordon Lightfoot. I listened to the song "Sundown," and got it in my head for about 36 straight hours.

Saturday Alex came over, offered to lend me money--I refused. We had a nice time playing with the dogs and hovering around the fire, and talking about movie night this coming Tuesday (Pacific Rim, if we can get a copy, otherwise I'm making everyone watch Snakes on a Plane). I borrowed 30 dollars from Alexis.

That night was a housewarming party, I bought a pumpkin pie with my borrowed money, drank other peoples' beer, sat around another fire with Kiki, and made her listen to Sundown. On the way home (about 25 miles) my low fuel light came on.

For a while this morning I was sulking about being broke, thinking about begging on LiveJournal, selling things and putting out a paypal button or something. I was worried that some autopay thing would go through and hit me for another overdraft fee. I asked Alexis to paypal me some money so my account could absorb such a thing.

Today I noticed a leak around one of our toilets, said it was probably the wax seal around the drain pipe (I'd seen this happen with plumbing at work). Alexis googled it, watched a youtube video of the repair, and said, "we can fix this ourselves." I said "Are you fucking kidding me?" I'm a big proponent of paying specialists to do specialized work, but obviously was in no position to argue, what with having no money. She went to the store (with my car, getting me enough gas to last until next payday) and got a wax seal. She did all the work except moving the toilet, which I did. We put it all together and it still leaked a little. She took it apart again, then googled the problem, and decided we needed a wax-free seal thing (a big rubber thing that sticks to the underside of the toilet.

Alexis had had it with the store--already too much xmas shit and xmas shoppers. I volunteered to go buy the thing (it somehow felt good to buy something) and then we set upon fixing it again. Once it was all back together the last nut wouldn't screw onto the last bolt, even though we'd done it twice before. We gave up on it. The toilet isn't leaking. Alexis made shepherd's pie, and eating that and writing this has made me feel a little better about having no money.

The previous two days were cold. Before this when people would say "it's cold" I would reply, "not yet, but it's getting there!" But this was definitely cold. I know I complain a lot, but it annoys me when people complain about it being cold before the cold actually gets here. It went down near the single digits (Fahrenheit) overnight, and was like 12 degrees when we walked the dogs in the morning yesterday. It's 17 degrees now. I did a lot of outdoor work yesterday morning, and it was plenty uncomfortable.

I don't know if my Muddy River picture from yesterday conveyed "cold" but that's what it was about. The exhaust from the MATEP tower was pouring out as a huge cloud. Likewise, when I went past the BostonEdison plant:




Today we're going to go look at a new (used) car for me. I'm not really looking forward to it, but it's gotta happen. Then we go to g_weir's house for some Rock Band, then the snow comes. They keep updating the snow prediction to be more apocalyptic. States southeast of us are supposed to get whomped, and the Boston area isn't supposed to get out with less than 3 inches, probably much more.
Just in time for the first day of winter (sometime this week).

Needless to say, we've been looking at San Diego real estate on Trulia.

The happy thing meme has been helpful. It's a good exercise to think about what made you happy in a given day. Sometimes it's something obvious, usually not; often when I think of it, it makes me happy all over again. I haven't been keeping track of how many days I'm doing it or how many I'm supposed to do. I think I'll just keep on doing it until entropy takes over, like every other running project I've done in this journal.

For my happy thing for Friday, I'm going to have to go with the easy rapport I have with my coworker Courtney. I think the people you work with accounts for workplace happiness far more than the actual work you do, at least for me. ( Possible complaining hidden behind Lj cut )

For Saturday, my happy thing will have to be audacian's wedding. It was wonderful to be at a celebration of love. Alexis was the official photographer, I was her unofficial assistant. Mainly that meant staying out of the way most of the time, helping when possible (find which two batteries still have any charge left) and trying not to make a total ass of myself. ( Self criticism verges on complaint )

I'm looking forward to today's happy thing! It might be the party for Jim at Alex's house in Cambridge, or it could be the wise decision to stay home and not try to drive in a snowstorm three days in a row. I'll let you know.

Yesterday we had a perfect first snow. Why was it perfect? It came the first week of December (not October) on a day I wasn't working, it was light and fluffy and picturesque, and it was gone by the afternoon. It was replaced with bitter cold. I've promised not to complain about the weather. Is calling 14 degrees f "bitter" a complaint? I think it's a reasonable objective description. Unless the soles of your feet are covered with thick white fur, 14 degrees is just plain bitter, baby.

Suffice it to say, this is New England, and on Wednesday it will be 60 degrees and pouring rain.

I posted to damnportlanders earlier, explaining that it got this cold "several times per winter" in Boston (I was saying that people say that it gets cold in Portland, and asking if it got THAT cold). Alexis took major umbrage at the word "several."
( click to read more about Boston weather )

Went home sick again today--I would have stayed home altogether but I had a whole lot to get done at work right away. Mostly I feel better, but occasionally I feel the knife go into my gut, and every hour and a half or so I feel it twist. At least the fever is gone, and the need to sleep the day away.

In weather news, this February in Boston was the coldest, wettest, and snowiest on record. I don't know how the talking heads can avoid saying "shittiest," since that's a more economical use of words that rings true to the mood of the season. The other day my boss said "I'm tired of winter and ready for spring." I said "Well, only two more months to go." She explained that she considered March to be spring. I censored myself heavily, finally telling her that hers was an admirable attitude, keeping to myself that she was clearly delusional and setting herself up for a deep April leafless gray freezing-rain drenched depression.

Is anything happening for leap day? This only happens once every four years! I can't believe I didn't have anything planned for it. With the knife twisting again, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it anyway.

I was going to ask for your help in choosing a screencap for my review of The Call of Cthulhu, but I've made my choice. That doesn't mean I can't share them with you though:( Read more... )

Woke up this morning to discover that I should have left for work 5 minutes earlier. Got downstairs to find the car (and the rest of the world) covered with snow. Half-melted snow was still falling, making a mockery of my hatless state. At work I tried to bust my hump to make up for the shortcomings revealed at my 3 month review. The power kept going out, making many opportunities for creative decision making (mop the floor in the dark or go read safety information by window light?) It rained halfheartedly most of the day, and began enthusiastically snowing again about an hour before my shift was up.

Just got back from walking the dogs around the neighborhood. The timing of the snowfalls was such that no one really did a good job shoveling, and now the lack of effort is frozen into place. Every sidewalk and road surface varies from crusty to slick, usually some combination of both. Great slush puddles emphasize the shortcomings of drainage at curbcuts. Walking on this stuff requires a lot of work and the right equipment--an urban hiking enthusiast would refer to tonight's course as "technical."

I have little interest in doing all over again tomorrow, but that's what's gotta happen. Only five more months of winter to go!

On this day in 365 Urban Species: Common goldeneye. Coincidentally, I'm helping to care for a goldeneye at work these days. (A Barrow's, not a common. Cute little guy.)

What part of being soaked to the skin with ice water makes people like living in New England in the winter?

I now have Gmail, which I'm sure will make my life richer and more fulfilling, once I'm able to use it. It seems that our computer, which seemed new and state of the art oh so recently, doesn't have the oomph. (these technical terms give me a headache.) Apparently, the solution is to buy a 140 dollar doodad that increases our computer's smarts. I'm not sure if we are jumping through this particular hoop because we use a Mac (which seems to be the computer equivalent of being a vegetarian: sure you feel better, but you can't get 90% of what everyone else is having), or if it's just part of the "put a couple hundred bucks into new computer crap" program that the computer industry is running. (Which, I assume, is borrowed from the very successful "automobile maintenance" scam that the car companies use to enslave us all.)

Consume for progress!!