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Friday, Apr. 19, 2002 / 11:43 a.m. ~More Incredibly Boring Preparations For the Big March/Rally/Roadtrip~ Asking to leave work early is like asking to jab needles in D., the Supervisor�s, eyes. "Excuse me, D., may I jab these needles into your eyes?"� "Do you really need to?". "Couldn�t you jab them later?" Okay, it�s not a good example. "Excuse me, D., would you mind terribly if I asked you once, in four months, no, wait, a hell of a lot longer, maybe once in 8 months, maybe a whole year, if I might leave early to go pick up my car?"� "Do you really need to?". "Couldn�t you leave at 5:30 instead of 5:00?". Sigh. Quincey gave me a ride to get my car yesterday, at 5:30, and the window indeed rolls down and up again, but it sounds kinda crinky, kinda crickety or something, so I�m extra careful with it, for now. $60 paid by my friend, Tarzhay Visa, and when the grease monkey took the card he held it so carefully between his index finger and thumb, said, "I�m a mess", and I said, "Well, you�re a mechanic, you�re supposed to be a mess, it means you�ve been working.", and he said, "I reckon." That�s how they talk around here. They use words like "reckon". He was cute. With window rolled down, I drove to Wal Mart and stood in front of the notebooks for a long time, finally chose one I�m not terribly excited about, it�s too tall, but at $1.67 it�s not like it was a huge investment. Then I stood in front of the portable CD players for a while. Too many choices, and unlike a Circuit City or whatever, there are no sales people hovering, anxious for a commission. When I asked one woman what she thought she shrugged, opened the locked case for me to look at a high end unit. Unit. Is that what they�re called? (I even asked one person which of two seemed to weigh more, concerned about weight for my pack, and she said, "Do you mean which is heavier?"� Um, yeah, smart cookie, that one - she chose the Sony as being lighter than the RCA) RCA, Sony, Philips, how do you know what to buy? I was thinking about Broken-Glass saying she found the very idea of "brand loyalty" distasteful, not that that was her exact adjective, but something like it, yet I�ve had my Sony Walkman cassette player/AM/FM radio for years! Like since 1983 or so. And it�s only just now starting to malfunction. There�s a problem with the headset jack, or jack hole, or something, I have to twist it a lot to make sure I pick up both channels. Annoying. But my point is, Sony is the granddaddy of the personal stereo, right?? I don�t know, but am I right? So, after almost choosing the RCA because of it�s "jogproof" claim, I decided I may never take it jogging, or bicycling, as I used to with my Sony, I may never ride my bike again, and if I do I may not take it, and I didn�t like the cosmetics on the RCA. I finally decided I really wanted not just a CD player, but a radio too, and the RCA with the CD player and radio was ugly! This is important, to me. My brother thought I was crazy all those years ago for choosing my Kenwood receiver because it has this matte black finish, but hey, I�m still living with it, after almost 20 years, and I wouldn�t have it any other way. So, yeah, screw the RCA, I went with the tried and true Sony, the CD player with AM/FM, and it works, and I�m very excited. I also got some cool extra headphones, which aren�t really "head" phones, they�re these earpieces, like skateboarders and probably snowboarders wear, really low profile, just hook over the ear and an earpiece fits in the ear. And they�re electric blue. $10. The Walkman? Um� I�m afraid to say what I paid, I�m afraid it�s cheaper someplace else, and if it is, I don�t want to know. Suffice to say, I spent more than I wanted to. (okay, it was $70, is that good?) Which reminds me, isn�t it amazing how a person can walk into a store, be there for just a few minutes, and walk out so much poorer? How is that possible? And all transactions can be done on paper so it doesn�t hurt at all, it feels like nothing at all. Shopping. How do people do it all the time? Too many choices, too much money, it blows me away every time. I�m basically ready to go. I�m going to pack my backpack after work, just throw stuff from my purse into it, load up my trail mix, my Walkman and some CDs, extra batteries, my water bottle, I guess some extra socks, underwear and an extra shirt. And I dug out my raincoat. This is late in the entry to be saying this, but I just remembered� whoever put that link in my guestbook, the one to the weather report for D.C� That was so cool!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!! The funny thing is, last night I was just about to post an entry asking if anyone knows what the weather is supposed to be this weekend, but then I thought, that�s silly, I can do a search online and find a site, but then I checked my email, saw someone had signed my guestbook, and there was a link to the weather in D.C. Very cool, very appreciated. I do hope it doesn�t rain, but I�ll take my raincoat, mostly to cover my backpack. The women here at work brought in a little potluck today, and I didn�t contribute, monetarily or otherwise, so they just insisted I eat anyway. Penelope asked me point blank why I wasn�t eating, sort of forced me to tell her that I don�t eat breakfast, it�s too early for me (just barely 10:00 a.m.), I didn�t give Delaney money for her chicken, and I wasn�t going to participate. "Let me get you a plate", says Delaney, and before I know it I�m eating one of her highly seasoned chicken strips, oohhhhhing and ahhhhing all the way. Yes, good, thank you, I didn�t contribute, but thank you for forcing me to eat. Last night�s "Survivor" is a blur to me now. I was choosing CDs to take on the trip, testing out the new Walkman every commercial break, and found that while I watched the show I wasn�t paying attention, I�d catch myself in the middle of this internal monologue, going through my list of things to do, making sure, make sure, and who is that TV chef who says that? I think it�s Martin Yan, isn�t that his name? As he chops and stirs, folds, whatever, he says, "Make Sure", I�m thinking I�m right about this. Oh, N and G totally know something is up! No doubt in their little minds. They always pick up on my vibe, and my vibe right now is, "Make Sure", so I�m scurrying more than I normally would, and I fed them extra this morning, I never feed them in the morning, but I wanted their bellies to get used to being too full. Pet Smart didn�t have an automatic feeder. The sales guy who helped me was so funny � I told him I saw it online, this feeder with a built-in timer, and he said if I saw it online I should buy it online, and when I said I thought it was Petco, he asked me if I knew if there is a Petco nearby and I said, "I�m supposed to ask YOU that.", so we laughed, and he was no help at all, but he was awfully nice and laughed at my jokes, and I�ll have to leave piles of food out for the girls and they�ll not ration themselves, they�ll simply eat it at once, and waddle to the nearest cozy spot and not move until I get back, except to excrete what they�ve eaten, in the litter box. Joy. Hey, I�m not an irresponsible pet owner, if I had a friend I trusted who lived nearby and could come over and feed them and scoop the box, don�t you think I�d ask that person to do so? I don�t trust a stranger. Whatever. Why am I defending myself? We�ve done this before, the girls and I, we�ve been here, done this. Now I have the taste of peppery iceberg lettuce in my mouth, and that highly seasoned chicken strip, and no toothbrush. Lunch will consist of me depositing my paycheck in the ATM, getting cash and rushing home for a quick PBJ and some QT with the girls, maybe obsessing a bit more about what to take, or starting on packing my pack. Do I sound like a total nut? Getting on a bus with a bunch of mostly strangers, riding up to D.C. for hours and hours and hours, getting off, hanging out, marching, rallying, etc., etc., getting back on the bus, riding back for hours and hours and hours, is a pretty big deal. One wants to be as prepared for anything as is possible. Here�s another sigh� This must be totally boring for a stranger to read. Good thing I�m not all worried about my "audience", eh? Guess what else? I shaved my pits this morning! It feels weird. Cost of the War in Iraq
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