Thursday, June 30, 2005
I had the worst day ever at work today. It was awful. Too much to do, and people not doing their own work, so I have to take up the slack, and nobody gives me any credit for all the things I do, wah wah wah. I had to go in the bathroom and cry a little after lunch; it was just too much stress for one Meggish to take.
But I wasn't sad and grouchy for long after I got home. I was on the phone with That Girl and Lil Bro, when there was this HUGE noise outside:
screeCRASHcrashcrashshattercrunch
I ran outside, and saw a totally smashed SUV sitting on the sidewalk, and some kind of four-door sedan blocking the intersection (I live almost on a corner, by a stoplight). The sedan had run straight into the SUV, so the whole front was collapsed, and apparently the SUV rolled a couple of times. Lucky for the dumb-butt driving it (who ran the red light), it landed wheels-down. People were showing up from all over, and somebody shouted "call 911!" Since I had my cellphone in my hand, I said "I will!" and called (I totally hung up on That Girl without warning — I wasn't thinking too clearly). My phone screen said "SOS" when it connected, I noticed.
When you call 911 from a cellphone in California, you don't get the local dispatcher, you get the CHP (California Highway Patrol). I had to wait a few minutes, which is why they tell you to call from a land-line if it's really an emergency. Anyway by the time I got through the lady I talked to said there were people on the way, and as I hung up I could hear sirens. One fire truck, one ambulance, and two police cars. Neither of the guys driving had been injured, which is all good. In fact, they got out of their cars just fine and were standing on the sidewalk when all the big vehicles with shiny lights showed up.
So, I got to meet some of the people who live on my block (nobody seems to know anybody else's name, but we have nodding relationships), and hang out with Jody, who is one neighbor I actually know, and do a little civic duty on the side, albeit too late. By the time I went back inside, I was a lot more relaxed and not grouchy at all. Also I talked to Ed, who washes cars at the mechanic's on the corner, and made an appointment to get Whitey a bath. Ed usually parks on the corner, and his car would have been destroyed if it'd been there today. "I'm never parking there again!" he said.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
This is a good story: I came home today, and sat on my bed to read. The bed was wet. Bad sign. Mr. Jupiter had peed on the comforter sometime during the day, I guess. So I hauled off all the sheets and stuff and washed the duvet and its cover (it came out of the wash beautifully — I was terrified it would be lumpy and awful). Later, I was putting the lovely warm, fragrant duvet back into the cover, when Jupiter hopped up onto the duvet and PEED ON IT AGAIN. Right there next to me! It was hilariously awful. I know you can't assign human emotions to animals like that, but damn, cat. What did I do to deserve that?
Sunday, June 26, 2005
(Here is an editorial on the Middle East by a pampered, college-educated liberal who knows a little but not enough of the whole story.)
I can't seem to get this off my mind, so I may as well write something about it. I was thinking the other day about how the U.S. is now all about "spreading democracy" or whatever, and how that, combined with this country's cultural imperialism, seems to be making an effort to "Americanize" the whole world. I thought of Iran, and tried to imagine what it would be like with a totally democratic system. It was hard. Are some countries just not built for America's vision of "democracy"? If you read or watch or listen to the news at all, you'll know that Iran just had a presidential runoff election. The man who won, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is a conservative hard-liner (of the kind that Iran seems to keep churning out). That's mostly what I've been reading in the news: "hard-liner! hard-liner! the reforms are over! nuclear discussions will break down! dark ages are on the way!" And I was troubled.
But then, I was listening to National Pinko Radio (non-denominational deity, bless NPR) and there was a fascinating segment that actually compared the two candidates, rather than relying on overused, jingoistic phrases like "conservative hard-liner" (I did it too, see?) that the mainstream media are using these days to mean "bad" (exept, of course, in our own country). Anyway, it compared Mahmoud whats-his-name with Hashemi Rafsanjani, the guy who ended up losing. Rafsanjani's rich, pro-West, and pro-Big Business. So, awesome, they've got the Fiscal Republican running against the Moral Republican. I'm all in favor of social reform in Iran, but is an elitist, would-be tycoon what the country really needs? Apparently the voters did not think so. Still, the thought of an "ultraconservative" president gives me hives. We'll have to wait and see.
Woo! Look, I have participated in science. You can too, just click the button!
Saturday, June 25, 2005
stormtroopers filking
amid manga-eyed furries
Ah! San Diego
from the Fantagraphics blog, Flog
It's almost that time of year again. I have been reading thousands of comics, web- and non-, and studying photos of my favorite artists so as not to have a repeat of last year, when I may have asked Sam Brown if Sam Brown was around. Then there was the year before, when That Girl and I bought shirts from Jeff Rowland and I had never read his comic and totally got the name of the character on my shirt wrong. That's one of the perils of being famous on the Internets, I guess. It's no good looking at the signage on the table, that'll just tell you that it's the right table. Is that guy Ryan North or some other Canadian? Did I just buy a minicomic from Raina Telgemeier's little sister? What's going on?
Oh and I got a kitten. A KITTEN. His name is Jupiter, and he is a ball of gray fuzz.
Thursday, June 09, 2005
SAW AQUALUNG AGAIN. FAB SHOW. WAVED AT MATT HALES FROM BALCONY. HAD EXCELLENT GIN AND TONIC. RECOMMEND TROUBADOUR AS VENUE. =
=MEG
I studied some neat telegram photos to do that, because I would offer you lot nothing but accuracy. Google-imaging (image-Googling?) "telegram" is something you ought to try. Jason G. took a bunch of photos at the show, and as soon as I can connive them out of him, I will share.
The Troubadour smells a little bit like wood, and a little bit like liquor. It is not unlike a pub in that respect. A pub with good music.
Cary Brothers (there are two of them, and they are not brothers, but one is named Cary) sang first, and I couldn't think of where I recognized him from until Matt & Co. snuck up on stage and they all played "Blue Eyes" very loudly together. And I thought "Aha!" Then Aqualung started in earnest. The songs are so much better live; this time there two whole percussionists (unless you're going to be really picky and count Matt on piano), and they added a definite energy to things. I was a little disappointed that Ben didn't play the pedal steel this time (or "the wah-wah thing," as I like to call it), but he stuck to one guitar and one bass, and mostly hid in the shadows. I did not throw my bra at him, although that was allegedly the plan (see, 'cause Matt's married and has a son, I will lust after his brother). Ben has a website with some fun mp3s of songs he wrote here.
See how I call them by their first names now? We are BFFs.
Friday, June 03, 2005
Sushi for lunch, sushi for dinner. I am a sushi whore!
Anyway, here is my lunch story: Gil, Renée, and Kerry often go to Karuta, which has half-price sushi for lunch. Sometimes I go, but it’s always a little weird because they’re all friends outside of work, so they talk the whole time about people they know and things they do, and I’m pretty much left out. Anyway we usually sit at one of the tables in the back, behind a screen, right? Well the service is always a little slow back there, so today we sat at the bar. And I realized just how loud those three are. “AND THERESA SAID BRIAN WOULDN’T COME OVER BUT THEN HE TOTALLY DID AND I WAS LIKE ‘OMG WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?!’ BUT SHE DIDN’T EVEN APOLOGIZE AND IT WAS REALLY CRAPPY OF HER I THOUGHT.” And it really didn’t help that they’re all from the OC and they think they own the universe, so they were really dismissive to the wait staff. I was really embarrassed.
You know, I had a thought. I should totally go to that place alone sometime. The sushi’s really good, and cheap, and I wouldn’t have to worry about people being jerks.
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
What am I currently doing? I am not working, I can tell you that much. And it's all god-damned McSweeney's fault. I can't stop reading!
*obsesses*
