Doings

It's kind of weird to be back in some ways. If I ignore the abomination in my former bedroom, the house is pretty much as it always was. Ned is still delicious. The garden has sprouted a few more flowers, but the view from the living room is the same. Sigh...

Anyway, what HAVE I been up to? There's been lunching. With Kosal and Tracy.




There've been mature experiments with very strong magnets.






There's been Beast Grooming.



I've also been eating pizza, drinking wine, getting hugs, driving around, looking after kids, ferrying mothers around, booking myself in for minor surgery, doing laundry, shaking rugs, having dinners, planning lunches, walking down by the sea, enjoying the sun.

God knows how I used to do all this stuff AND work. It's almost impossible!

Spring Has Sprung

New Zealand is frikking cold. Good thing I packed long-sleeved shirts!

It's weird to be surrounded by Kiwi accents again. I don't feel as special! But it's marvellous to be surrounded by decent coffee again, so there's a silver lining...

Today I had brunch with Kosal and did a bit of shopping (her, not me) but it was so cold I'm glad to be back inside with Ned. Who, in case there was any doubt, is DELICIOUS.

Sneaky Like a Weasel

I'm in New Zealand! I came back for a surprise visit to Tracy, since it was her 30th yesterday. I THINK she was surprised...

Anyway, I'll be home for about a month, and would love to see you, if you're in Wellington!

First impressions of home: Wellington totally rocks. It's gorgeous and full of beautiful people.

Deedly Dee

I was on the T yesterday, and there was this older man who was talking to himself, and barely holding onto a Dunkin' Donuts cup full of some sort of very smelly pink alcohol. All of a sudden, he leans forward to the man sitting in front of him, and asks him if he's minding his business (or something like that) and the guy says "yeah I'm minding my business, are you?" and the drunk must have mentioned something about the guy's mother because the next thing we know this teeny tiny little Irishman wearing a bright green jacket with IRELAND across the front leaps onto his seat and starts screaming that he's going to fucking kill him and NOBODY TALKS ABOUT HIS MOTHER!

He wanted the drunk to get off at the next stop for a fight. It was very exciting. Sure did shut that drunk guy up though. All of a sudden he had nothing to say, and a deep and abiding interest in his own shoes.

I think that was my first experience of a true Southie.

Elections

So, things are heating up here in the last push to the November 4th election. I think McCain's a little desperate, and definitely coming across like a silly old man. But that might just be my pinko-liberal-leftist-hippy-queer lovin'-communist side talking. Go Obama!

I registered to vote today, which involved a hike and a half to the Somerville town hall. I was expecting all kinds of hassles after the shit-fight that has been my experience with the Registry of Motor Vehicles (Dear RMV Staff: drop dead.) but to my total surprise, the town hall folk were fantastic. Friendly, helpful, in possession of working pens, not at all smug when people didn't have the right paperwork; merely generous in their giving of useful advice.

I can't have been in there for more than 10 minutes, and just like that, I was registered and done.

Everywhere I go, people seem to be discussing politics. Or the economy. Little old ladies tsking about such a young man being up for president, students recounting parts of The Daily Show (it's actually a much more credible source of accurate and impartial news reports than most of the TV channels) to each other and sniggering about the weird moose lady from Alaska. Drooling paste-eaters still marking 'undecided' on their various bureaucratic forms. JEEBUS! You've had 2 freaking years to pick a damn side!

Everyone is worried about the economy, and sniveling at the potential changes to their hedonistic lifestyles. "Oh, woe is me! I won't be able to afford a pedicure every week, and a brand-new SUV!" "My stocks are so low, I'm not going to be able to retire at 35!"

I'm waiting to see what it looks like when it's all settled. To be honest, since I am an unemployed bum with no prospects, no investments, no savings, no car and no assets of any kind except for what I grew myself ;), I don't feel all that involved. We'll see.

27 8x10 Colour Glossy Prints With Circles and Arrows and a Paragraph on the Back of Each One, Explaining What Each One Was...

So, today I was cruising down Washington Street on my way back from an agency interview, and I came across a whole city block of downtown Boston cordoned off by the police.

And I do mean with that yellow tape you see in the movies, with Boston Police Department - Do Not Cross written on it.

There were 2 police cars, a van, a cop on a bike (!!) and around 12 police officers. I had a good rubber-neck, but there was nothing to see within the cordoned area.

Then I heard a passerby ask one of the cops what was going on. The cop replied "fight".

Okay, here's where I have to snigger. A 'fight'?? There was no blood, no ambulance, no sign of some sort of stand-off, no participants in said fight anywhere to be seen.

Could this be a case of American paranoia, or is the Boston City Police Department just bored as hell and dying to try out some of their fancy cop equipment?

Scared

I just paid my last month's rent and security deposit, plus my outstanding phone bill. I now have f*ck all money left.

And those useless temp agencies have only found me 4 days work in the last 2 weeks.

I'm scared.