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Entry the Three Hundred and Twenty Fifth02 July 2001 Foot/Ride/Visit 01/7/2 8:23 a.m. Pleasantly cool today. Would have been perfect for a run but for my recurring foot problems. I suspect I need to call the podiatrist and get myself in there ASAP. No bike ride in this morning because it's laundry night. More importantly, it's do laundry or else night. ;-) Nothing quite like getting down to the last dregs of shirts and whatnot. Really enjoyed the ride out the canal tow path with Lawrence yesterday. We took about two hours to head out, gaze out on Little Falls, and wander back. He showed me where to get on the tow path, where to join the capitol crescent trail. Having the mountain bike means I can ride either one (the tow path is gravel, the crescent is paved). Made it back home just before the bottom dropped out of the sky. Lucked out there! Toward the end the air just got, well, heavy with the impending rain. Also got to spend the morning with Doug. Kept him around to watch Titus and make a lunch salad for the two of us. Was nice to have him there. I definitely need to cook more, either for him or for others - trading rides to the grocery store for a nice meal is worth it. :-) The shock of the morning came when the cute young man from Thursday night at Badlands called me. My phone must have been off, but he left a message (and, more importantly, his phone number). I called back, left him a message, and I guess we're in phone tag mode now. Whee! ... 01/7/2 5:29 p.m. Called the podiatrist, appointment is set for Friday. Also got another ankle brace, this one adjustable (and bulkier). Foot feels a tad better with more support. Might need to get new shoes as well. Joy. I need to clear out my email inbox this evening - it's far too full for my taste. Oh, and speaking of emails, I called Proten to check on the speed sensor for the bike and they're still on back order. At least I know what's up now instead of just wondering. ... Well, the law student from Friday a week ago called me up, came over while I was doing laundry. Had a really good time chatting with him about this, that and the other. Just chatted, found out more about him, what he's doing this summer, etc. Was a good, low-key meeting. He's moved up to within a block or two of where I live now, so wanderings down to talk are easier. :) I should make him dinner sometime soon - show him that all these Cooking Light magazines aren't merely for show. *grin* I think we'll have to give him a nickname on here, too. How about JW? Laundry's done, six loads worth (towels, sheets, perm press, whites, colors, cold wash). Whee! And I actually got it all put up immediately this time (I suspect JW can be thanked for that - didn't want to leave the cart out with all my folded clothes in it!). So am in the clean clothes again for the next few weeks. Hooray! Hopped on gay.com later, but no one wanted to come help me dirty the sheets again. ;-) Sometime later, then. ArchivesLight weights @ home |
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Entry the Three Hundred and Twenty Sixth06 July 2001 The Foot Again So, I took a break from the journal for a few days. :-p In brief, the week was a mess. Fun, but a mess. The fourth was spent sipping cape cods. ;-) Was at a fabulous barbecue at my friend Brian's place. He thoughtfully provided veggies for moi, so was able to avoid meat. A very fun time, with several friends, and a nice tour of the Mansion on O Street, which is across the street from Brian's apartment. If ever there were a reason to get out of the public sector and into the private, that house was it. It's split into various apartments, and just looks wonderful. I'd take any one of the small apartments she had, but they were all just incredible. One had this huge kitchen that looked to be about the size of my current living room. Yum! Thursday happy hour. Typical crowd, typical stuff. Today was understandably tired. Did go to see the podiatrist, at which point I told him I thought I'd discovered what 3/4 of my current foot problems were - I had my arch supports in the wrong shoes. *roll eyes* He did say that was a common thing, and it would not have helped the foot (letting the non-existent arch collapse regularly, and pushing up the injured outer part of the foot). He prodded and poked, pronounced one of the ligaments strained by the twist last week, told me to take it easy (no running for the nonce), tie it up if I wanted to, but no need for a cortisone shot, and no need for follow-up unless it gets worse (or doesn't get better). Whee. The foot does feel better since putting the arch supports in correctly. We shall see. Doesn't help to be reading the latest Runner's World magazine with a marathon training program that seems like I could do it, were the foot at 100%. Later, folks. Later. ArchivesNo Run, No Ride, No Gym |
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Entry the Three Hundred and Twenty Seventh08 July 2001 Odd Days Today ended up being a strange day. I couldn't go dancing because of the foot. Lawrence is out of town, so didn't get to see him per the usual. Doug's distracted with the bar exam in two weeks. Altogether an odd day. Which is not to say there weren't good things in it, too. I got my bike tuned up at the shop. Discovered that you really are better off getting there about 10 minutes before they open and establishing a place in line and getting in the door as soon as you can. Was out my apartment and back again in less than an hour, which was surprisingly fast. Took a nice ride to Hain's Point and back with the newly tuned bike. Shaved about 10 minutes off the trip, too. Rode like a maniac with a good tail wind off the Point (fought the wind going down the park and down the Point), which was quite fun and exhilarating. Managed to get everything down and into my Quicken again. Still don't have the old info, but I do seem to have everything downloaded now and up to date. Still off from what the bank says (the bank says I have more money than I do - not a bad thing), but we shall see. Was good to get that all fixed this evening - I've let it sit over my head for far too long, nagging at me in the back of my mind. Probably should have baked bread, but wasn't in the mood. Most things, bike ride aside, just seemed, well, off today. I can't explain it, it just was. ArchivesRode to Hain's Point and back (1:20) |
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Entry the Three Hundred and Twenty Eighth15 July 2001 Odd Days, again A week between updates, eh? Geez. I've just not been in the mood to write (when I had time to write, that is). I have a couple of things from the Palm, but I'll save those and put 'em at the bottom of this post, I think. This was a very, very long week. Doug came over Tuesday for marinated tofu and salad with "liquid gold" dressing (a vegan fortified dressing - gets you your supply of B-12 and Omega-3 fatty acids, something strict vegetarians will frequently lack in their diet). Was yummy, if I may say so, though I think the tofu could have come out better. And we watched "Bullets over Broadway" and "The Adventures of Rock and Bullwinkle." :-) I howled laughing at R&B - I had forgotten how bad the puns were. Wednesday I had a lovely date with a boy my age, Digi. He's a med student up in Montreal, visiting family here in the area, and we went to dinner, wandered around, came home. ;-) It was most fun to meet him. I got to play tour guide and fill him in on all the local history (and gossip) in the area. He's off to San Fran this next week, but will be back on the 23rd, so I'll likely see him again when he's back for the last week of his vacation. Biked to work on Thursday, got in early to unpack from moving my office (we played musical offices and I moved two doors down, still sharing an office, but with more space now). Biked home early and zipped down to City Bikes for a maintenance class. Learned how to change the tubes, take the wheels off, adjust the derailleur, etc. A necessary thing, and a good time, actually. I should have gone home to sleep, but foolishly didn't when friends who never come out said they'd be coming to Happy Hour. So another late night for moi. Friday dragged, of course, home, then out to dinner with RE. He took me to an embarrassingly expensive restaurant (okay, okay, I'm a wretch, I admit it), then home to sleep. He's going to be in London for three weeks (lucky dog!), two for work, one on vacation. He'll get to meet my friend LJY while there, too. Saturday I got up, got going (late) and went on a looooooooong bike ride with a gentleman who lives here in the neighborhood (JG). We went up through Potomac Maryland (very wealthy area) and did what he termed the "taste-free home tour." And let me tell you, there were some doozies up there. ;-) Stopped at Starbucks, got some decaf, cooled down, then back into town. Altogether was on the bike for about 3 hours (1:45 up, 1:15 back). It was great to get out. Had a good lunch in Mt. Pleasant, then home to shower and nap. Per JG's suggestion Doug and I went to a great little restaurant down at U Street, "Kuna" (thanks, JG!), which was just wonderful. Portions were just right, nothing too huge, and didn't feel stuffed to the gills when we left. Picked up fresh fruit on the way home, then back to relax. Today I made the fruit bowl (mango, kiwi, strawberry and bananas). Lazed, read the paper, then dragged him down to do some grocery shopping (organic market) and lunch at Dos Gringos in Mt. Pleasant. Lunch was actually breakfast (they hadn't geared up for lunch yet), but was very good: scrambled tofu and tomatoes on an everything bagel for moi. (Can you tell this week has been all about food?) Baked bread today, and a chocolate cake that has yet to make it out of the oven. It was difficult finding a strictly vegetarian dessert that wasn't pure fruit, but I seem to have found a good one. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow, after I drag it out of the oven in a bit here. In the meantime, here are the "missing" entries from the palm: ... 01/7/9 8:25 a.m. I feel better having my Quicken accounts re-established, even if the balance appears to be off in my favor. At least now I can record everything and have a better sense of where things are. It also helps that this is one of the two months each year where I get an "extra" paycheck. We're paid every two weeks, 26 pay periods, so twice a year we get this additional check. Fine by me! Most of it will go to bills or savings anyway, with some small amount for bike supplies (tubes, tools, etc.). Was another semi-sleepless night. I just kept waking up all through. Not sure if it was the rain (woke in the middle of a fantastic storm) or what. *shrug* Doug's coming over tomorrow so I think I'll marinate some tofu to broil or bake for Tuesday's dinner. One does like to attempt to plan for such things on occasion. I should go ahead and make that liquid gold dressing, too, even if he's not that fond of salad. The stuff is fortified for vegetarians, providing stuff like vitamin B-12 that are harder to get in a normal vegetarian diet. 01/7/11 8:22 a.m. The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle is out on video now. Yes!!!!! Doug and I rented it last night from the little video store in my building. He was in the mood for silly-funny movies to perk up his lagging spirits. The bar exam studying is starting to get to him now, with the test mere weeks away. Had a really good conversation with an attorney-lobbyist yesterday, got a few more insights into what that would be like. I'm still leaning that way, though she also mentioned working on Capitol Hill. I'd not really looked at much on the Hill, mainly because my impression was that it didn't pay very well. Your average staffer is not paid very well, in fact, but evidently the rates for attorneys, especially on committee staffs, isn't too bad. I'll check it out, since Hill experience is highly prized in this town; if one knows the ins and outs up there, one becomes very valuable. ... 01/7/11 4:46 p.m. I am sitting in the middle of my office, my phone is gone, my computer is in pieces, my files are all boxed. Essentially, I can do nothing at the moment. I worked through lunch, so I'll leave early, but what do they expect me to do now? Oh well. ... And that's it for now.Archivesno Run, No Ride, No Gym |
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Entry the Three Hundred and Twenty Ninth17 July 2001 Running 01/7/17 8:25 a.m. I ran this morning, first time since re-injuring my foot. It felt fine on the run, felt fine at home barefoot, but my dress shoes are killing me. I think it's time to go shoe shopping again. Also started a new blog this morning to record my exercise patterns. Perhaps by having the heart rate and what not recorded I'll better use the information. There was supposed to be a point to owning the heart rate monitor, after all. ;-) I want to host a party. I'm thinking of picking a Saturday and having a "cheesy movie" party. The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle would, of course, be featured prominently. *grin* It would also be a way to get folks together outside the bar. I'll run it past Doug and see what he thinks. ... 01/7/17 5:45 p.m. Way too long a day. Did get at least one of my watches (I have, um, five? not counting the heart rate monitor) in full working order. The Goofy watch is dead, evidently, and both Fossil watches have to go in for repairs, but the nice Citizen one with the month, date, etc. on it is nice and perky now. :-) Other than watch duty it was a pretty dull day. The run has definitely been the highlight. Doug is on his way over this evening (or will be shortly) for dinner and what not, which will be nice (more of my bread, the remainder of the cake, and tabouleh at some point). ... Turned out to be another movie night, this time "Quills." Very good movie: "You're not the Anti-Christ, you're merely a malcontent who knows how to spell." I love it. :-) Dinner was good, Doug loved the veggie pepper (pepper with dried herbs in it) with the bread, and he liked the tabouleh as well (knew he would). Always nice when your new cooking is appreciated. :-) Archives |
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Entry the Three Hundred and Thirtieth19 July 2001 Short entry 01/7/19 8:28 a.m. Today has to be better than yesterday at work; yesterday just sucked gorilla butt. Spreadsheets. *shudder* Ran again this morning (hooray!) which had the usual effect - I was horny as hell after I cooled down some. ;-) Almost, but not quite, made myself late out the door because of it (another reason to get up earlier?). But I got it taken care of after a bit, got washed up and even managed to get some breakfast in before running out the door. So I'll keep my fingers crossed that today is better - it's certainly started out well enough. *grin* I'm supposed to have another morning-long meeting today, so at least I'll not be stuck at my desk crunching numbers. There are some advantages to meetings, after all. :-) So there goes the morning, but I suspect I'll spend the afternoon wading through our accounting system. Ah well, can't win them all. ... 01/7/19 5:36 p.m. Okay, so it didn't have to be better than yesterday. Whatever. ... Didn't feel like writing much on the bus. Came home, changed, went and got my hair cut, then out to dinner with a friend. We parted and I had said I was running over to Omega (around 9 p.m.), but couldn't do it. I want to bike to work tomorrow, and I don't want to smell like smoke to sleep tonight, so fuck it, I came home instead. I think it's the right decision, but we'll see. Archives |
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Entry the Three Hundred and Thirty First23 July 2001 Scheduling Managed to exercise every week day last week. Hooray! Biked in MWF, ran on Tu/Th. I also did a long run yesterday, and the ankle was a tad sore, so I think I'll take tomorrow off from a run. Ah well! But I am making progress, so life is good. :-) Biked to work this morning, was mildly humid. It'll get worse before the summer is up, but whatever. I grew up in this stuff, it's not that bad. This week is going to be a mess, too. Doug takes the bar over the next two days, and will be seeing him for dinner on Wednesday once he's done. I was supposed to see my future sister-in-law for dinner tomorrow, but she had to reschedule to Thursday, so I called a gentleman with whom I've been trying to arrange a date this week, but his cell seemed to be off, so we'll see there. And at some point the lovely gentleman from week before last (the med student from Montreal) is supposed to call me as well. Oy! Normally I schedule things very precisely, and this "up in the air" stuff drives me nuts. I don't like to put other folks through my strange schedule, and the not knowing is annoying, to say the least. :-p It'll work out, I'm sure. Our system was down a good part of the day at work, so I spent most of it constructing a very complex spreadsheet to handle one of our account's billing mess. Blech. But it's done, so now one just needs to plug in numbers to fix it all. Whee. Should make my life easier later in the year. Got to see Lawrence last night for the first time in ages. I really did miss him. :-( I'm glad he's back in town now, though I'm happy he got a good vacation up with the family. Oh, and I forgot, I added a new pic to the pics page the other day as well. Archives |
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Entry the Three Hundred and Thirty Second24 July 2001 Chaos/Caffeine 01/7/24 8:25 a.m. This week is not nearly as coordinated as last week and it's beginning to annoy me. Couldn't sleep last night, so slept in some. Wasn't going to run anyway because the long run on Sunday mildly annoyed my ankle. Was supposed to call Doug this morning to make sure he was up, but by the time I did I suspect he was long gone. :-( My schedule is still semi-chaotic, and that's bugging me a lot. It certainly does nothing to calm me down. I've received the materials about serving on the ANC Redistricting Committee, but no news on meetings yet, so that's another wild card in the schedule that should hit soon. The building came and fixed the "bump" that had developed in my living room floor. The ripped up the parquet and put new stuff down, which is great, except the new stuff is a totally different pattern from the existing one. Whoops! So I have this patch of mismatched-matched (but nicer) parquet in the entrance to the living room. Joy. But hey, the floor's not swollen anymore! In a dark mood this morning, probably from the lack of sleep. When I couldn't sleep I hopped on the computer and played my new game, Diablo II. That helped, and I eventually got some sleep, but not nearly enough. That does not bode well for the work day. I also went ahead and did bills last night. I'm now completely caught up from the hard disk crash, though my running balance is lower than my bank's (better than the other way around!). That likely has not helped the mood, but that'll pass. Further impetus to get out and look for another job. ... Ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod, I never, NEVER drink caffeine these days but for some reason (lack of sleep last night) I decided to have a Coca-Cola this afternoon and now I'm bouncing off the walls. I mean, I'm sitting here at my desk at work and I'm literally bouncing up and down on my chair. Giving me caffeine now that I'm no longer an addict is like giving a normal person speed. I'm driving my coworkers nuts (thank heavens my office mate left for the day before this stuff really kicked in). I can get nothing done now, work-wise, because I'm too busy fidgeting! Concentration is shot (except, of course, for writing this little missive for the journal - thank heavens we have Dreamweaver here at work, I don't even have to hand-code this thing) and I just want to go run, Run, RUN, RUN somewhere, anywhere, I don't care where, I just need to DO something now to burn off this extra, fake energy that I've pumped into my system. I guess I wasn't really as tired as I thought or I'd think I should just be sitting here mildly pumped up instead of wanting to bounce off the walls. Eeck! I'm drugged up at work! ;-) And it feels like this is a gateway drug experience, too, because suddenly I want to go drink something this evening (a bad idea - uppers and downers together? in my system? that may have worked for Judy Garland, but not for moi). I'll try to resist, it is only Tuesday after all, but it may be difficult. I did manage to get a lot done today before this mess kicked in, including sending in a survey for a legal recruiter and arranging for them to call me tomorrow at work so we can discuss what we can do for each other (market me, damn it!). I can't handle another spreadsheet like the past two days (six tabs to the thing, all reading off each other? *shudder*), I seriously need to get the fuck out of my office, and soon. I'm stuck here, not learning anything new, and it's time to move on. All the questions I answer are ones that have been answered multiple times, no new situations have popped up in ages, just variations on the same old, tired themes. Maybe I should go to Wi(n)dows tonight so Jack and I can talk and have a drink, too. Hmmm... Ask my friends, I'm hyper enough as it is, I don't need chemical help to be this silly. ;-) Although I'm normally more able to concentrate when I'm this hyper. Sugar and caffeine together. Scary. And I still have to eat something at some point this evening, I suppose, though I'm feeling totally not hungry here at 5 in the evening (too many calories in the soda - all those empty sugar things). I might be hungry later, as the caffeine wears off, but I'm not betting on it - not enough physical activity today to justify a big appetite (no run this morning after all). 5:15 can't come fast enough today... ... Okay, I finally came down off the caffeine this evening after dinner. Had a very good date with Jack, did not go for a drink (did go for Chinese food - tofu *yummy*), walked some, shopped some (the new Rufus Waiwright album - any boy willing to not look like a gay clone yet still get out and be public about who he is is a hero in my book!). Altogether a nice way to spend a very warm, very muggy July evening. But thank heavens the caffeine wore off - it's bed time now! ;-) Archives |
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Entry the Three Hundred and Thirty Third25 July 2001 Single? 01/7/25 8:08 a.m. Despite not exercising this morning, I find myself in an extraordinarily good mood. I get to see Doug tonight, post-bar exam, have dinner with him, give him the music DVD I got for him, and spend some nice time listening to him bitch about the test. ;-) Despite feeling like I'm in less than perfect shape (though I don't feel "fat"), I feel very, very sexy this morning. ;-) Maybe that's the source of the good mood. I feel like I could walk up to some hot gum, pick him up, have a fabulous time, but I don't really want to do so. Most likely this is NRE ("new relationship energy") with Jack, spilling over into the rest of my day. I have another date with the med student from Montreal before he heads back, but other than that my dance card is as full as I want it to be. The insatiable Moose is, for the time being, content with his (dating and sexual) lot. Wow. ... Went to see Doug. He's in good spirits, post-bar exam, wondering at the world and what he's going to do now that he doesn't have to study. He did manage to raise an eyebrow with me by referring to himself as "single." I suppose from the standpoint of living on his own, and being available for other relationships he could be considered "single" but it felt like a bit of a slap in the face after sticking with him for the past eighteen months (almost nineteen now!), as if somehow this was unworthy of being referred to as couplehood. I know better than that - our relationship is very strong, but it still stung to have him refer to himself that way. Wandered home after dinner and the movie we rented, checked emails briefly, then sleep. I'm not getting enough sleep this week (sometimes for good reasons, sometimes not), and I fear I shan't be getting enough tonight, either. Archives |
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Entry the Three Hundred and Thirty Fourth29 July 2001 Good/Blah A good weekend, though a blah weekend. Good because I got to see both boyfriends (and Jack), blah because I was feeling icky from allergies/possible cold/recovering from Thursday's happy hour. Stayed home on Friday and slew monsters on Diablo II. It was a nice, mindless task and helped burn off frustrations. The whole job search thing is just plain stressful, and after talking with another search firm on Thursday it just felt even more overwhelming. I'll get it done, but it's not pleasant in the meantime. I'm not nearly as disciplined as I'd like to be about it, but what more to do? It's just a mess. I did have a good time with both Doug and Lawrence today, though. Coffee and lunch with Doug, dinner with Lawrence. Was nice to just sit and chat with Doug, and read the paper in big comfy chairs at Starbucks. Lunch itself was so-so, the dish I had in Chinatown was pretty bland (no green stuff!), but was good to eat with Doug. Came home, killed some more monsters, then dinner with Lawrence. We tried to hit this one place we'd been to once before but they looked pretty damned closed (as in, permanent), so we hit The Diner in Adams Morgan. Good diner food, and nothing quite like sipping pinot noir while eating french fries with mustard. ;-) We went to his place first and pulled bread out of the oven (smelled heavenly, even if it would've been poison to me - cheese bread), then off to dinner. Headed home after that, got some email sent out, now getting ready to head to bed, albeit late. Ah well. Archives |
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Entry the Three Hundred and Thirty Fifth30 July 2001 Rain/Work 01/7/30 8:34 a.m. Good run this morning. It was a psych-out thing, though, as news was reporting drizzle but the only thing happening was water off the trees. I still wore a hat (I hate hats) just in case. Nice and humid out, too - glasses kept fogging up. JG came flying by on his bike just as I turned around but didn't recognize me. I'm still in a mild sleep deficit today. I don't know if it's storms or allergies or what but sleep has eluded me of late. Stress from job hunting perhaps? Hard to say. Should sleep well tonight since I ran. Let's hope so! ... Okay, like my office needs a licensed attorney to do data entry. ARGH!!!! I even stayed late to finish up this mess I had to key. Blech. So I also printed out several federal ads for jobs and the forms to fill out for those. Ick. Ick. Ick. Anything to get the fuck out of my office. *shudder* I feel like an expensive piece of machinery that's being used as a crude hammer simply because the owner doesn't know what to make of me. Came home, paid for 2 month of "paid" Livejournal membership (supposedly we get faster servers, etc.). Hey, it was only $5, and I use the thing enough... Read through the Area Neighborhood Commission materials for my ANC Redistricting Committee meeting tomorrow. It should be a trip, redrawing single member districts (from which the members of the Commission are elected) around the census blocks, and the neighborhood boundaries, etc. The meetings are public meetings, some of which I've attended for other things. I suppose the difference here is that I get to vote this time around as a member of the committee. Got on to chat, but only very, very briefly. I just didn't have the social energy necessary to handle being on and chatting tonight. Archives |
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Entry the Three Hundred and Thirty Sixth31 July 2001 Relaxing 01/7/31 8:31 a.m. Did sleep better last night. Of course, I also took melatonin, just in case. ;-) Hopped on to chat online very briefly but wasn't in the mood to deal with witty repartee; just didn't feel up to it. So I slugged, read materials for the meeting, slew monsters, etc. Didn't immediately hop out of bed this morning, but am feeling more rested. Light exercise at home, weights and what not, then washed up and out the door. For some odd reason the air has turned off on the bus and this is not a good thing. The people around me have far too much cologne on for my taste. Ah, there it comes back on. Thank heavens! As much as I like the bus system, they should not allow the air circulation on the things to stop. I'm not quite sure what I did differently the last time I got my hair cut, if I left it longer or what, but it's been impossible to style in the mornings, and becomes much more unmanageable as the day progresses. Blah. I wish it weren't one of those little things that drives me nuts, but it is. It tempts me to do silly things like buzz it down to nothing, oh shave it off, but my sensible side usually wins out there. ... ANC Redistricting meeting went well, all things considered, but it's late now and I'm ready for sleep. I'll write more tomorrow, I hope. Archives |
