Actually, no it isn't. I've got a bunch of stuff going on the next few days.... Tonight I go to London with a few
friends... Tomorrow, there's a barbecue at another friend's place... I only feel like I'm in a rut if I ask myself the
question. So I should probably not do that.
But I do need a haircut...
I'd have lots of cool new stuff on this page, if it weren't for the fact that I want to upgrade my server to OpenBSD.
I've got a lot of stuff on hold for that. I should just do it. No wait! I have to back up the database first. Dammitall.
Thanksgiving was pretty good. With the turkey, etc. My grandmother is transforming from Apologetic Smoker to Beligerant
Smoker. That's disconcerting. She's started taking offence to my running off for a few minutes to breathe and try to
stop my eyes from stinging. We generally get along pretty well, but this sort of thing makes it hard for me to hang
aroud. It doesn't help that, even though she smokes constantly, she insists that she's "cutting back." She's cutting
back in the sense that she can't actually remember the last time she lit up, even if it was five minutes previously.
*sigh*, it's kind of sad.
I'm actually pretty content right now, which means I'm not feeling compelled to write. I figure I should probably take
advantage of the moment and write anyway just to point out that I'm not always depressed and miserable, however much
these pages might suggest otherwise.
Now that it's finally becoming autumn, I'm getting some energy and motivation back. Summer's hard. I don't feel like
doing much of anything. Winter, being winter, just restricts the sorts of things I can do. Unfortunately, spring and
autumn are all too short. I'm thinking of doing some work on my various sites.
For this one, I think I need something off to the side where I can post some of the stupid crap I find online. And also
short snippets of entries just for the heck of it. I like the model I chose for the journal originally--having one entry
in the front that I think is actually worth reading. Something with a little substance, rather than a throw-away blog
entry. I can't say I've been wholly successful, but that's what's supposed to be here.
Then again, I occasionally want to do throw-away blog entries. So I'll see what I can do about that.
So I'm in Zellers today buying socks and underwear because I can't be bothered to do
laundry. I need to get some anyway. Having chosen my purchases, I come up to the counter and I'm standing inline behind
this little girl, maybe 9, who's fumbling with two packs of gum and three quarters.
How much is this," she asks, holding out the gum.
The cashier scans the barcode. "35 cents," she says and hands it back.
"Okay." The girl puts down the packs of gum and they get scanned. She contemplates a package of chocolates by the cash
but decides against them and puts the back.
"That'll be eighty-one cents."
The girl looks down at her quarters. She had obviously reckoned without sales tax. "That's all I've got."
The little girl looks sad, and the cashier looks forlorn. "I don't have six cents," she says.
The little girl is about to give up half her gum.
"Hold on. Let me put these down. I've got six cents," I say.
As I trade a penny and a dime for a nickel, the girl says "Thanks," and disappears.
The cashier and I shrugged at each other and my good deed was rewarded with a 10% discount on my socks and underwear. I
had to smile.