eWalden

So, I'm at work scrubbing the floors (it's amazing what kind of "jack-of-all-trade" work you get yourself into when you enter the food service industry), and I realize that in a lot of ways, I am similar to Henry David Thoreau. We are, for example, both highly opinionated, and prefer the be surrounded by the majesty of nature (although still within easy reach of the conveniences of society), both have transcendental leanings, and neither of us are particularly good writers. Good enough, but not profound. Better at coming up with ideas, I suppose, than writing them down.

There are a few differences between us, however. For instance, Thoreau did not have the Internet. The only thing preventing me from living in the Internet, on the other hand, is the fact that there's no way I know of for a physical entity to manifest in any meaningful way within a construct composed entirely of data. Oh well.

Also, from accounts I've heard and one portrait I've seen, Thoreau was supposed to have been an ugly, ugly man. Others have affirmed for me that I am at least average-looking...although I'll admit that I'm more than a little skeptical of those who claim that I'm particularly good-looking.

Oh yes, and also, I don't have an unrequited crush on Ralph Waldo Emerson's wife. Zing!

PLUR!

Montgomery is a fantastic middle name

I think that every great villain should have a middle name. Either that, or just a single-word name, like the Shadow, or the Operative.

My mum got her new apple computer set up and operational, and it seems like it's going to work out very well for her. I hope so, at least. I love my mother, but she's not the most tech-savvy person in the world, so it could be a little while before she figures out the most optimal way to use it. And unfortunately, I won't be there to help her out - first off, I'm away at school instead of living at home right now, and second, I've been using PCs for most of my life! I don't really get into this ridiculous "Mac v. PC" debate that people seem willing to kill over (figuratively speaking) - I'm fairly comfortable with the idea of using both systems. In practice, though, I'm almost exclusively a PC-user, so I have only very rudamentary knowledge of how a Mac is supposed to run. Or what it's supposed to do, rather. Or...oh, you know what I mean. I'm not "good" at Macs because I don't use them often enough.

The symphony last night was wonderful and fantastic and absolutely amazing. As predicted, Mendelssohn's piano concerto was the highlight piece (although it was really Brahms' 3rd symphony that got all the hype), and I was on the edge of my seat for most of the performance. The soloist was sooooo good! Samantha and I grabbed a bite at Macaroni Grill beforehand, too, and it was quite good, I thought. We were lucky to be able to get seats with only a short wait on a Saturday evening. I need to keep check on things like that, though. I love doing nice things for people I like, but I need to keep a watchful eye on my bank account, especially this week. Illness kept me off work a lot more than I expected it to, which means that my next paycheck is likely to look pretty small compared to usual. That's especially a concern this close to the holiday season, and also looking forward to the spring semester and the expenses that'll come up then (esp. textbooks and graduation stuff).

And thus we approach the end of my ramblings for the evening. Have a good week, and if you celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you have a good one! If you don't, I hope you have a good Thursday. And if you hate Thanksgiving, I hope you get a chance to break into your neighbors' house, steal their food, kill their pet cat, and roll their bedsheets in smallpox!

PLUR!

Best Ruined Surprise Ever

I was really looking forward to this weekend - I had big plans for Friday about how I was going to go to work and then rush back and change into my fabulous outfit for the Coming Out Ball (tagline: "Come As You Aren't"). Then I got sick. I had a touch of it on Wednesday, an it just got worse, peaking sometime late on Thursday and early Friday. So, I missed work, and I missed the dance. That was rather disappointing.

Then, probably about 5:30, when I'm just sitting around trying to breathe (it's hard to do when you're congested, you know) and watching some people play D&D, I get a call from Samantha. She's at Chick-Fil-A, and she wants to know where I am. She's such a sweetheat - not knowing that I was too ill to go in, she decided that she's come by and surprise me at work. But I wasn't there so it completely ruined her surprise! I felt bad about that, of course, and especially about the bit where I didn't go in because I was sick. I made sure to tell her, but she didn't care, and came across the way to campus just to see me.

We sat around and just talked for a while (it was very nice), until it got a bit later, and then she kind of forced me to eat something. I mean, you know how it is when you're sick - your body just don't feel like eating, even if you know in your mind that you ought to be hungry. It had been about 7 hours since I'd eaten last, so we ended up going to the Chinese place across the street, and then just spending a little more time together. It was a fantastic time.

After that, I went back to the suite, and me and Shope and Jerry watched a couple episodes or Fawlty Towers, talked about geeky stuff for just a little while, and then I kind of kicked them out so I could try to get a good night's rest. It took me a long time before I could actually get to sleep, but when I did I slept pretty well, and now I'm feeling well enough to go in to work.

And on that note, I must be off to work now.

PLUR!