kvetch unhinged people are constantly sticking their damn elbows in my ribs on the bus cause they HAVE to be on their smartphones they dont even fucking say excuse me this irritates the fuck out of me discuss 140117 ... epitome of incomprehensibility On the skating rink during free skate last night, I passed a man at the side holding his wrist. I almost fell down when I turned around, thinking he was injured, but he was checking his phone. Last morning PETA sent me mail with deceptive packaging, saying I'd been chosen for a provincial survey. The Quebec government rather interests me, and I was curious to see what it was about, but when I opened it, it was all about PETA discovering the shocking trade in cat and dog fur. I tossed it in the recycling bin. That evening I decided people in my northern fantasy country should eat dogs. It'll be the poor man's caribou substitute. (The country is called Norvika, basically Finlandic India in northern Canada, and people have names like Pri Peripegniak and Raj Aethelikkimak.) I have nothing against cats and dogs. I like both (but not in an edible way) and really it's my fault for not ticking off that little box that says, "Don't send me mail for other charities," when I was donating to Ecojustice or whatever. But PETA is just annoying. Ah yes. I saved a cat's life once, but I couldn't brag about it at the time, because that would've made the cat's people feel horrible. It was late July, and the houseowners charged me with cat-sitting while they were away for two weeks, in return for use of their Netflix and whatever was left in their fridge. Fair enough. They left Saturday night. Sunday afternoon I went to replenish the cat's food and water bowls in the basement, but the water was still there from yesterday. I started to worry. I hadn't seen the cat all day, and usually I could hear him walking up the stairs at night. I wandered from room to room, upstairs and downstairs. Then I had an idea and I unlocked the door to the indoor porch, and there he was, looking up at me and meowing. He headed straight to the water bowl. (I had my priorities straight, evidently; I looked around the porch to check if he'd peed on anything.) But it was a great relief. And of course I couldn't tell the people about it, because they hadn't meant to lock him in the porch, and they're better off not knowing. See, I can't even complain properly. I get distracted. :) 140118 ... e_o_i First I'm annoyed that I can't find a toothpaste containing both fluoride and xylitol. Then I label this as a symptom of an impasse between conventional medicine and DIY, with errors and assumptions on both sides. Of course I have the answers... Until I realize I'm ranting about toothpaste ingredients, and realize, additionally, that I can mix toothpastes together. The rest of life's problems are more complicated. 140228 ... epitome of incomprehensibility Online tutoring brings my faults and others' faults to the surface, it seems. I'm mad at myself for missing my 10-11 AM class, which I'd thought was 1-2 PM. When I logged into the class and there were only five minutes to go (my student had left, of course; the funny thing is, it was the same boy who hadn't shown up yesterday), I wrote in the comment section, "I'm very sorry to keep you waiting for nothing, but next time could you please give me more warning before rescheduling." He hadn't rescheduled. I'd just written down the time wrong. Why am I such an idiot? Now I'm supposed to be having a class with a completely different person and he isn't there. This is frustrating. Doubly so, that I can't complain about other people without complaining about myself. 140828 ... e_o_i Sometimes I feel like I should quit, but for now that idea's short-sighted and irrational. I need to take what I can get, and I like the teaching part. Last week, I also had an interview for this after-school rock choir co-leader post. I went into it knowing my music background's more classical than rock, that I haven't volunteered for them previously, etc., but it still annoyed me reading the letter saying, "Well, you're cool and all but we're not hiring you now - still, you can always work for us for free since you mentioned you could write stuff!" (a very free paraphrase). And here I had delusions that even if they didn't think I worked as a choir teacher, that they might pay me to play piano. No, silly self, they're a non-profit and they only pay people in the positions they've earmarked as paid positions. Don't be creatively presumptuous. What the hell, they ARE cool though. If I can set aside my babyishly touchy feelings, I'd probably have fun volunteering with them. It's a while since I've actually volunteered, in person, for something. (The feeding_the_poor_with_dandelion_leaves place is starting up in September, but I'm not sure I'll have the schedule for it. 140828 what's it to you? who go blather from