Ghost Town
(9-18 October 2002)

18 October 2002
-A new day dawns.  There is new hope in the air.  I'm going to a job interview.
-Today I found out what happens if you come to the bridge without money to pay the troll.  Or the highway department.  They give you a slip & take your license plate number & give you five days to mail it in.  I have a $2 check to write now.  This, I humbly suggest, is a better alternative than the "Nikki method" of getting through the Mass Pike on no cash.
-I got a job today!!  It may only be part-time, but I'm now the Librarian (note singular & leading sound of this... that's not an accident) at the Fairfield (CA) campus of Chapman University.  It's a commute, but it looks like a really good time & has perks like my own desk & full control over the small but adequate library of the location!  I start Monday & I'm pumped!

17 October 2002
-How hard would it be to say she's sorry for everything that she did?  3 years ago I asked this question, & now she wants to pretend that there's nothing but my irrational bitterness.  When will people take responsibility for what they do?  But today could've been so much worse had things followed through.  I just will never know what's in her head & I think she likes it that way.  God damn.

16 October 2002
-Waking up antsy in the middle of the night...  Maybe it's just that I haven't been sleeping at night a whole lot lately.  But now I'm antsy & lookin' for reasons.
-Amy (linked on Blue Pyramid People above) has a new question of the day thing that could become a regular feature.  Anyone remember the last time things like this were a cause I embraced?  If you answered 1996-97 in my AA English class, you're right on target.  It's hard to look back & remember that I just used to do things like walk into a class full of people & write any kind of question on the board that came to my mind.  & as Ms. Moore once said on my take-home end-of-term comments, I did use it as a charged way of getting out frustrations sometimes.  Imagine that.  & of course this reminds me of things that I've been thinking too much about lately, centering around tomorrow.  I wish I didn't remember.  But I do.  & that sets off a whole new round of anger.
-In other news, I'll actually vaguely answer Amy's new question, rather than get sidetracked.  I can't really remember the last time I was home alone a whole day, since Em's been around all the time lately... I wouldn't know what to do.  Probably just mundane things like read & play computer games.  Like now.  But I guess the last time was sometime when I was home for Winter Break last year... I probably just read & slept.

15 October 2002
-Can you believe we're only halfway through October?  Not that I need time to speed by any more quickly under present circumstances, but this has been some kind of a month.  & it's not getting much shorter.  I don't want to go too much further with this right here right now.
-I may (may) have made a major breakthrough with my cursed toe.  At the same time, it could really just be demonstrating how far with it I still have to go.  More to come.
-Em got 30 hours (total) of job in Oakland.  & I might follow suit fairly soon.  Vague temporary non-profit stuff.  Good news, but no reason to break out the party hats.
-I'm not the only one noticing things like the Ides of October...

14 October 2002
-Inexplicably, more exhaustion.
-Amusing are the facts that people went to my webpage searching for waltham massachusetts how much is my home worth & how to make a jet propulsion car last week.  But the winners can only be found on the Search of the Week page.
-It took far too much time, but the product is worth it, methinks.  Check out the new Remembering the MEP HOUSE page, replete with links, pictures, quotes, & a whole lot more.  A must-see for anyone who can remember last year.
-These baseball playoffs have been amazing.  Sure, no Mariners, which makes me sad, but still some excellent games & tolerable teams.  Go Giants!

13 October 2002
-Turmoil.  But hope.  & exhaustion.

12 October 2002
-The Dylan show was AMAZING.  Hard to say if it beats Albuquerque 2000 or not.  But my 4th Bob show reminded me why I keep going back to see him again & again... it's always different & seems to keep getting better.  & the way he switches up songs, it's like hearing almost all new stuff anyway, though it's still familiar.  Highlights for me included "Positively 4th Street", which was quite a surprise, plus finally hearing "Things Have Changed".  The encore was amazing with "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" & closing on "Watchtower".  Plus, the versions of "It Ain't Me Babe", "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall", & "It's Alright Ma" were truly groundbreaking.  So great.  Even the Warren Zevon covers were solid.  Plus, Charles & Krystal showed up... first time I've seen them in years & now they're all grown up & married & such.  Pretty cool.  & liking school, which makes me smile.  Anyway, it was a good night all around... a truly Berkeley night at what is instantly one of my favorite concert venues, the Greek Theater.
-Man, the folks at Bill Pagel's page are fast!  Here's the full setlist.

11 October 2002
-Only in America does one former president win the Nobel Peace Prize within the same 24 hours that the standing president get his war resolution passed by Congress.  I don't like Jimmy C quite as much as Em does, but he's definitely very cool.  So well done there.  Meanwhile, Bush DID say that he won't invade Iraq if they let US officials do anything they want anytime anywhere in Iraq or with Iraqi personnel outside of Iraq.  So Iraq's options are war, or the consequences of worst-case scenario outcome to war.  A country that's been so free to do whatever it wants that it can fly planes in 1/3rd of its airspace!!  Unchecked aggression!!
-In other news, in Israel, a nation with militant leaders & illicit unauthorized weapons of mass destruction, oh, never mind...
-In other news, in the US, a nation, with... sigh, I'll stop now.
-In actually other news, Bobby D is on the schedule for tonight.  In an allegedly outdoor theater.  I think I'll be seeing Bobby through a slightly different fog than characterized say, the Continental Airlines Arena show of years past.  In addition to old favorites still unheard live ("Stuck Inside of Mobile...", I'm looking at you), I'd really like to hear "Mississippi" off the new album.

10 October 2002
-Finally I get to see some of this Bay Area fog everyone says so much about.  If only other things weren't so aligned with such.

9 October 2002
-After watching the early-morning press conference from Maryland, Police Chief Charles Moose is my new hero.  He went off on the media about how people are seeking noteriety by putting themselves on TV & subsequently jeopardizing the ability of the police to solve the late serial killings & the people to avoid them.  Very eloquent & right, something rarely found in law enforcement officials to be sure.
-There's lots of ways to explain a hard-line position or policy without accusing someone of lying to justify yourself.  USF's law library could have been much nicer in denying me a second chance at an interview.  The fact that they denied such bothers me not at all... I understand their position.  But accusing me of making up an excuse is just mean & unnecessary.  Don't you think I could come up with a better excuse than getting lost if I really wanted that second interview?  C'mon, that's just sad.

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