rorqual

the lines were not too long at the Lutheran church I vote at, and mostly consisted of oldsters and a smattering of students. I am guessing that was mainly due to where I live ( fancy neighborhood next to a college) as well as the time of day. The lady I checked in with said it had been mad busy since they opened (well, maybe not in those words), which I was happy to hear. It was a nice walk, too - almost enough to make me become a Lutheran.

Now i am unapologetically taking up the couch seating area at the asian place/hipster tea shop a block down from the church, and wondering why we didn't have these things when I was a student here. I am having peppermint hot chocolate (some hand-crafted nonsense), paired with a very, very tasty shrimp and chicken wonton soup. The salty and the sweet are an interesting combo.

It's probably just as well this place wasn't here before. I would easily have wasted all my book money. Instead, I got a degree.

I got my practice ballot in the mail today, and I have to say it's a phenominally useful thing. Because not only do I get to vote for President (which I think we all knew was going to be on there), but there are two constitutional amendments (one of which takes two pages to write out in full), a charter amendment (they want to create a Department of General Services, but I think that's too vague - I'd prefer a Department of A Specific Service), and fifteen bond issues. And, of course, my district congressional rep, and no more than eight circuit court judges. Considering there are only eight judges on the ballot...man, I hate votes like that.

As a daughter of someone who actually wrote a portion of the Maryland Constitution (it's true! My dad wrote the language for an amendment regarding property taxes - like, a million years ago, and I don't know if it's still even there, but nevertheless), I love this level of democracy - I think the local level is the place where a small group actually can make a difference. However, I love it in concept - I am not particularly involved in anything myself. But I'm glad that people are. I'm a democratic philosophy free-rider.

Sat next to a guy in Starbucks this morning (this time, I swear I was there because I was waiting for my tire to get changed - I had a purpose!) who I think was in the getting-to-know you stage with his mail-order bride. I'm not saying an attractive woman with an Eastern European accent, talking to a plain guy, is necessarily a mail-order bride. I'm just saying.

Tire got fixed, fancy groceries got bought, and when I made it home through the rainy afternoon, tea was made. Now I'll go figure out which of my many crappy running backs to start tomorrow, and watch much, much too much tv. Ahh. I am lacking some things in life, I will admit - but leek and potato soup, with sourdough bread with butter, on a rainy day, makes up for a multitiude of ills.

Came home, got directly into the tub. Very luxurious hot bath, followed by lovely orange-scented lotioning, and other girlie nonsense. Also, reading a book and listening to Marketplace. Otto amused himself by climbing up on the stepstool I had my towel on, and threatening to throw himself into the bath. That would have ended poorly for both of us, so I dissuaded him.

Also, played around with dress for wedding (note: Not Wedding Dress). Straps are a tad too long and threaten to make the dress unfit for polite company. Perhaps can fix it with staples.

Now: takeout food, indlugent TV, and general laxness.

Also: I'd forgotten I knew what Bretton Woods was until tonight. Proud of me, kyriotate?

Was a good girl today, as I am wont to be on Sundays. Went and ran errands, including a trip to the local hardware store, which reminded me how much I love hardware stores. By which I mean, neighborhood stores with people in them who actually know what they are talking about, and also a guy who will sharpen my mower, and also a dog. It reminds me of the hardware store I used to go to with my dad, back when I was wee. Bought many treats, including pansies (pansies!), and some herbicide, which I am going to use to kill the vine which is growing up from my neighbor's yard and into my upstairs window. Contemplated a blue floral screwdriver, but I already have enough screwdrivers.

Came home, mowed the lawn, herbicided a bunch of stuff, and repotted the pansies. Washed hands inbetween herbiciding and potting, but I doubt that will keep the pansies alive for long; I am hard on plants. But I love pansies (I say this every year, right here in this LJ) - they are so happy! Untill they die.

Took nice hot bath afterwards, and listened to Marketplace Money. Then messed around with Facebook for a bit (don't tell them I'm over 30). kyriotate, please tell me how to get my LJ feed going over there, as I refuse to update two things. Odd foreign person - tell me how to find you, I used your name and got too many options. As should surprise nobody, I am not using my real name for this (don't tell them that, either), so if you get mysterious friend requests...that's me, being a moron on the internets. Maybe I'll put my LJ pic up as an identifier.

Now: tea, NCIS, internets
Later: tea, NYT, maybe taking self to dinner
Tomorrow: holiday!

ps: what should I be for halloween?
pps: anybody want a free air conditioner?

I think the praying mantis is my favorite bug. Sure, I like ladybugs as much as the next girl; butterflies are pretty, and I have a particular fondness for the daddy longlegs. But a praying mantis is the only bug I feel I can have a conversation with, as I just did when I found one outside when I was mowing. I think it's because they have a head, and they look at you when you're talking to them. They seem more like people; you can have an exchange with them in a reasonable fashion, and then you can both go on your ways. Or, in this case, I can then terrify the mantis by showing it to the ferrets. Who did not care one bit; they'd much rather play with the roomba. Children of the 21st Century, my ferrets.

Earlier: mowing, Starbucks, harassing bugs
Now: chai, mopping, NPR
Later: laundry, football, NYT, NCIS
At all times: lovely October day

This morning, as I pulled away from the house, I heard a crunching noise, as if I'd driven over a tin can. But there is a lot of crap in the road outside, so I paid it no mind.

Tonight, I realized iSobel was gone.

I have looked everywhere, but she is nowhere. I can remember checking her this morning, so I had her first thing. She does not answer when I call her.

I can only presume the worst.

She was code-locked, but it's a whopping four digits, so if I didn't drive over her, she might be accessed by nefarious people. I turned off service - but if anyone gets any weird phone calls, sorry.

Yes, I changed all my passwords.

the mall starbucks is in total disarray. No newspapers, boxes of supplies everywhere, people ordering the wrong drinks and requiring detailed explanations. Plus i'm still getting used to my new contacts, so I'm seeing things sort of weirdly. Overall, it's peculiar here. But it smells better than my hipster starbucks, which always smells a bit like scorched grounds. Hmph.

The good news is, the plumbers opened the wall and replaced the leaky pipe. The bad news is, they found a smaller leaky pipe, which requires more wall removal to fix. The good news is, the guy who will do the wall repairs came today to give an estimate, and will come back tomorrow for the additonal work. The bad news is, this of course will all now cost even more. The good news is, they did block the bottom of each hole with board, so the ferrets don't escape. There's no bad news there.

So, I am taking a nice hot bath, to make up of the lack of a nice hot shower, and generally trying not to worry. It's quite chilly out tonight, which is lovely, and makes the nice bath even better. Then I will have tea and watch some tv, and tomorrow is Friday! That is good news.

Oh, also there are dusty plumber footprints all over my house. Looks like I know what I'm doing this weekend!

ps to foreigners: I am bad, and book package is not ready to mail Saturday....:(

I'm on Brigit again, in the kitchen, so I can stir my oatmeal. It was so cold last night that my heat came on (I never turned the automatic thermostat off, and I didn't think it was cold enough yet to kick it on). And Monday is officially the first day of fall. So, I am making oatmeal, and thinking about candles and fall plants and what I will wear for Halloween. I am also listening to Leonard Nimoy on the radio, on Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me. And he is awesome. I did not know that.

Once oatmeal is done, I'll do household things, and watch some of my ridiculous backlog of NCIS reruns. I can't explain it. But it makes me happy.

At home, in between my two trips to DC today (well, DC-adjacent). First, for ferret vet trip (more shots), then to see friends. Ferret vet trip again a disaster; they got pre-treated to try and stop any allergic reaction, and it worked, in that their reactions were not that bad, but they still had them. Butters became extremely floppy and is still not quite himself - it's a cute, but alarming, way to be sick. Otto was just...sick, like, the regular way. But nobody died, and they are off the hook from getting distemper shots ever again (reactions often increase in severity over time, so there's no point in risking further ones when these guys never see other ferrets).

Hopefully, trip to friends will not involve anyone passing out or throwing up. *crosses fingers*

I have started using Twitter, though I am not sure how long that will last. I know I am only talking to one person there (well, and some guy from Minnesota who started following me for No Good Reason), as opposed to the, what, six people who read this LJ? I don't want to use my best material on such a wee audience, though the ability to say a tiny little thing is sort of nice. We'll see.

I know some of you have things like facebook, as well as LJ - how do you balance between what you do on each? Or do you find that you pretty much only use one? I like the simplicity of LJ, and don't really want to go deal with facebook as well. Though I suppose I could just get an account; I only have a myspace account to comment on a friend. Then I have to aggregate all my stuff in one place...man, this is why I don't have friends. It's just too hard!