What a lovely weekend! No, I didn't do anything "special" but I had a lovely weekend anyhow. I ate no "traditional" 4th of July foods. Instead, in tribute to our "melting pot" heritage, I had Mexican, Chinese, and Italian (twice). Also, to celebrate my independence, I ate junk food. (Hey, a self-inflicted diet can be as oppressive as anything else! Let freedom ring with the sound of goldfish crackers, that's what I say.)

And I shopped! Nothing that would gladden the hypothetical heart of The Worst President Ever's administration, but I had a desperate need for new clothes, including (ahem) what we will hereinafter refer to as Dainty Underthings. I shopped, and I scored! Two pair of pants, three shirts, and four bits of assorted DT, all for $145.

The consequences of the WPE's economic policies may be about to bring our entire society to its knees, but at least I'm goin' down in new underwear, purchased at oh-god-help-us-keep-the-doors-open-one-more-day prices. Bad for the country as a whole, yes, but good for my own personal Frugality Regime.

I'm still talking about this, long after all of you have ceased to care, because I actually feel guilty about it. I feel guilty for every dime I spend that might bolster the "retail economy" and keep TWPE's sinking balloon afloat for two more seconds. I feel guilty for not spending until ticket prices were at retailer-killing lows, because I have nothing against retailers per se.

And I feel guilty because I know most of the clothing sold in the USofA is made in sweatshops overseas and while making 19 cents a day might not make anyone wealthy, in some countries, that nineteen cents can be the difference between survival and the other thing, so I should buy at "full retail" instead of waiting until I can save $5 or even $10 on a single garment and just accept it as the price I should be paying for living in the most wasteful society on the face of the planet.*

It's very difficult to be socially responsible without appearing in public naked. To quote a favorite BritCom, "It makes you feel good about yourself, but it's very depressing. What does the green child have to look forward to?"**

Speaking of children, green and otherwise, I think I'm in love. With two little subway geeks. I don't know for certain, but I'm devoutly hoping that Dad waited for the local.

What else?

Well, as a "new" employee, I don't really have any time off available to me, but Vela, my own personal ChaosManager, offered to comp me a day or two in gratitude for my willingness to take on publishing the 'NutNews every other week. I objected, pointing out that it's all being done on company time which means I'm actually already being compensated for the work, and she's doing a chunk of it anyhow, but apparently they find my contribution special in some way.

After a suitable show of reluctance, I've been persuaded to take Monday, July 21 off. I love being off work on a Monday. It makes the eight hours of freedom twice as sweet, just knowing that the rest of the world has to roll out of bed and swim through rush-hour traffic to get to jobs most of them don't enjoy half as much as I'm enjoying the 'Nuthouse.

I mentioned the diet at some point, didn't I? For anyone who cares (or who didn't grasp where I was going with this in time to skip to the next paragraph, I'm holding steady at 4 lbs lost, 6 lbs to go. Looking back on the last three weeks, I've decided to be grateful I didn't put any weight back on, instead of flagellating myself for not taking any more off.

It's important, this diet. Gidget and I are scheduled to start our Non-Smoking Plan in a few weeks and I know that no matter what I do, I'm going to be fighting weight gain. The lower my starting weight, the better.***

What else? Well, I have two new campaigns to build and take live this week. I should get started on those at some point. The experimental campaigns I dreamed up and created a couple of weeks ago are not producing. I'm sulking about that.

I was stuck on some characterization for the Never-To-Be-Written Novel when it occurred to me that history is loaded with examples of complex-but-good, nefarious-and-evil, and even riotously ridiculous people and events. I should just do what others have done before me and steal from reality.****

I'm eating fresh cherries.

And then it occurs to me that if I'm reduced to talking about my snack, I'm probably out of things to say.

_______________________


* I dropped a grape. Instead of rinsing it off and eating it, I threw it away. And, okay, wasted food, and there are people starving all over the planet! But I have no idea what's on this carpet and I have no intention of ingesting whatever it might be.


** In the show, the answer was, "Blending in nicely with the lawn."


*** In reference to the NSP? I'd appreciate it if no one, ever, ever asked me if I did it, how it's going, or if I'm succeeding. Okay? Because that's the most supportive thing you can do for me. Just--ignore it as though you don't have any idea. Which, I know, I could accomplish by not telling you, but it's my blog and if I want to share information and forbid you to mention it ever again, I have the power.


**** I can still remember my shock when, a few years after reading Anne Rice's much-lauded but entirely not to my taste porn, I ran across an oddball little volume about how various and sundry Catholic popes (Is that supposed to be capitalized?) had conducted themselves in office and realized she'd swiped rather than invented quite a lot of things.