1176
To: [a local mail-list]Subject: The slipper that went to sea
The gutter at the crossing from Sinclair Library to the bus stop was a raging river yesterday afternoon, too wide to jump. When I waded into it the current knocked off one of my slippers and it went sailing rapidly down to a storm drain where it vanished, presumably off to the ocean.
Felt like a total idiot hobbling through Ala Moana wearing only one slipper and was grateful Long's has them very near the entrance (and doesn't ban barefoot shoppers).
The highlight (or is that "lowlight") of the second day in the new year. The first day was gloomy and wet but the second was just plain awful. There were several heavy downpours in the morning but near mid-day it started to pour again and didn't stop for hours, not even slowing occasionally. I gave up around four o'clock, improvised a poncho from a garbage bag and headed for the bus stop. The sidewalks were ankle-deep in water but I had rolled up my pant legs and aside from becoming half barefoot managed to get to the mall only slightly soggy. Even the ordinarily sheltered "rainy day bench" wasn't, so I had to join refugees from the park who were sitting in Philo Walk, sharing a bench with the Duchess who wasn't happy about it, turned her back and went into her stooped sleeping position.
In the morning one of the large trees beside Hamilton Library evidently lost its grip in the drenched soil and fell into the street. Had there been stronger wind I'm sure there would have been more trees down, but that one was the only permanent damage on campus from the storm.
It was supposed to continue all weekend but mercifully went on its way more quickly than predicted. I hadn't been able to feed the kittens on Friday so gave them a double helping on Saturday. Lady Grey is still missing. Either something has happened to her or she's gone off to another location to produce a second litter. We were joined by a stranger on Saturday who looks very much like the kittens and has no notch-in-ear. I wonder if it's the father. He waited until they finished eating before going for the leftovers. When Andrew saw that, he returned to eat more as well. The stranger didn't return on Sunday.
I spent the final hours of 2003 and the first hours of 2004 sleeping a few inches from Mondo, wished him a happy new year when I arrived, the first time we've spoken since his return to the Black Hole. I told myself to stop wishing he'd get a haircut. Being less attractive makes him a better sleeping companion, after all.
1177
Elizabeth Hardwick is quoted as having said about Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook: "The Golden Notebook is Doris Lessing's most important work and has left its mark upon the ideas and feelings of a whole generation of women."Amazing it didn't turn them into a bunch of lemmings, rushing off to find the nearest seaside cliff.
Rather stupidly, I still now and then feel slightly guilty for reading so much light fiction, so I always seize something a little more substantial which appears on the bargain shelves. No problem here, the Lessing book is very definitely heavyweight.
A few times I've thought while reading it, or should I say whilst, "much ado about nothing", but perhaps more apt is the way the Pink Floyd summed it up in one phrase: hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way.
It's NSO Week on campus. New Student Orientation. So we get guided groups of the young people who will be arriving next week to launch their "college education". I've spotted one handsome prince already. Just as well, since the original Freshman of the Year hasn't been seen at all. Either he's a Business Admin student, a vicinity of campus I don't visit, or he dropped out.
The Freshman/Sophomore/Junior/Senior of the Year (in years gone past) continues his brilliant career (although that's not a photo which explains his long-held title).
The rains have gone. The weather has been sunny and warm, beautiful, without a doubt the main reason I am grateful to live in these islands, especially in January.
The daily soap opera provided by Mother Nature in the Secluded Grove is often frustrating. Andrew and Thimble arrive, a chorus of plaintive meows begging for their lunch. They like to eat almost all of it, then take a break and return awhile later to finish it. But these wretched fat spotted-neck doves have discovered their leftovers as a prime source. They hang about like vultures, even venture rather dangerously close while waiting for the felines to depart. Eventually the furry ones do and then those stupid birds move in. The frantic way they go about eating the leftovers sprays it around, so if I continue to sit on my favorite bench I am apt to be rained with bits of cat food. Considering how much time the felines spend lusting after those birds down in the grove, I think they could at least defend their food.
Fool Moon in Hawaii, keep on shinin' ....
1178
I was relieved when someone told me in the game that the Sleeptalker had been in when I wasn't there. He disappeared for so long after his second court date that I feared he was in jail. But no, he's evidently back with his Chinatown Patron, came into the game on Wednesday. Mostly silent, very sullen when not, but on Thursday he was in a more lively mood. He said he was going away again, might be away for "a couple of months". Back to Waianae? Who knows.I was likewise relieved to finish that Lessing book, almost gave up on it several times. Then, perusing the bargain shelves, I decided to re-read Tom Wolfe's A Man in Full and much enjoyed it. As I've said before, a lousy memory is a blessing when it comes to reading because I'd forgotten most of the details, had entirely forgotten one sub-plot. But then, memory or not, Wolfe is a man whose books are worth reading twice.
I've been in one of those "what a boring routine" moods when just shaving and brushing teeth each morning seems such a useless chore. Shall I become one of these old men who are so stinky and dirty that no one wants to get near them?
1179
'Tis the season to raise prices. Although nothing like the jump in transportation costs last year, the mailbox fee went up, beer jumped by eleven cents a bottle (even more at some stores) and now the discount store has raised the price of a pack of cigarettes. Meanwhile, the annual "Cost of Living Adjustment" to Social Security is 2.1 percent. So foodstamps dropped two dollars. Thanks a lot.I continue to wallow in a state of just not wanting to do much of anything, but it was a pleasant enough weekend spent reading, drinking beer and listening to the radio.
I tuned in late to Saturday's broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera, at first had no idea what I was hearing. Obviously French (although the tenor's accent might have raised questions about even that). I finally guessed Massenet and was pleased to discover after Act One that I'd guessed right. "Werther". I don't think I've heard it before. Interesting enough, but that tenor annoyed me more and more and I gave up after the second act.
Of course the high point of the weekend was arriving in the secluded grove to find Lady Grey peering down at me from the wall. She even greeted me with a soft meow instead of a hiss so I suppose she was happy to see me, too, or at least happy to see the cans of food in my hand. Now to see if she shows up in a couple of weeks with more children.
All the supposed excitement of Mars moving into Aries seems to be hiding from me. Will life get more lively when the Monkey arrives?
the tales