g r o t t o 1 1

Peeve Farm
Breeding peeves for show, not just to keep as pets
  Blog \Blôg\, n. [Jrg, fr. Jrg. "Web-log".
     See {Blogger, BlogSpot, LiveJournal}.]
     A stream-of-consciousness Web journal, containing
     links, commentary, and pointless drivel.


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Wednesday, July 2, 2003
10:29 - Sweet relaxation

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Okay, well, maybe not "relaxation". More like "reprieve". Now that we're moved in, the hard-and-fast deadline is gone, and now we only have lots of little soft deadlines, like when we need to have the sod removed from the front yard so the limestone rocks can be delivered, when we need to get started building the deck, when we need to have our furniture (with its all-important drawers and shelves) built, and when the move-in parties should be held.

Not having Internet connectivity at home is weird, though. I'm finding myself sitting on my awesome couch (on which I'm also currently sleeping) at around midnight, gazing around the room looking for things to usefully unpack, and instead finding books that I haven't read since I started college and got myself wired. Whereas I would normally be sitting there at my computer desk, talking with people, administering my sites, blogging, angrily reading things, or otherwise being unblinkingly inert until 2:00 or 3:00, now I'm doing things like reading and walking the dog and going to bed early. What's especially weird is that I'm not even horrifically uncomfortable with it. I'd better get the network set up soon, or else it's going to be culture shock all over again.

It's kinda nice, really, to get up at 7:45 without feeling tired, do some morning reading, install a bathroom light fixture, spend some dog time, take a walk, and amble on in to work shortly after 9:00 when carpool times lift and traffic has dissipated, getting here in time to read my 112 pieces of spam and see what's been happening in the world. I feel a bit remiss in that I haven't been able to take proper interactive interest in the events of blogdom (like Dissident Frogman's interesting discovery at Bayeaux), or even to call proper attention to things like the leaked French version of the new "Morning Report" scene in the upcoming October DVD release of The Lion King (I've also found a very high-quality English version, but it's too big for me to want to post it as a link). Much has been going on, and I've been on the wayside-- deeply engrossed, yes, but my gears have definitely been shifted. I haven't even been able to keep up with the Iraq situation, or even with the Israeli/Palestinian road-map business, except to idly think that at the very least, as the Israelis dutifully pull out of various towns and dismantle outposts and refuse to respond with violence to attacks, the inevitable huge bombing that will occur within the next few weeks will be finally, deeply, unequivocally unprovoked, and not even the French will be able to call it otherwise. Even if (when) attacks resume at the end of the hudna, it'll still be hard for the usual suspects to treat it as "Oh, well, it's just business as usual-- back to the status quo". Since the things the Israelis are required to do are civil-type matters, like removing bulldozers and checkpoints and refusing to carry out retaliatory strikes on terror leaders even when attacks occur, while all the Palestinians have to do is stop killing people, there's really no practical way the Israelis can be at fault if the cease-fire fails. There are several ways in which this three months can positively affect the Cycle of Violence™ (by letting the air out of its tires?), no matter how peacefully or violently it actually plays out; and so I find myself less horrified by it than some do. This time it's the Israelis who get to be "martyrs". (Again.) If that's what it takes to get sympathy from Europeans...

Anyway-- it must be said, to return to my reverie about early mornings and leisurely drives to work along my new drastically shortened route, that I'm bloody glad to have my Jetta back. Nothing meant harshly against Kris' truck, mind you; but I've rediscovered the joys of a small and light car with ample power, and the thrill of sudden acceleration on call in any gear. I feel like I did when I'd just bought it: each time a light turns green and I'm at the line, I catapult off it like there's someone in a riced Civic in the next lane making faces at me and shouting anti-Apple slogans. Oh, and I got it paid off this month; I took the title certificate to the DMV yesterday. The oppressive heat of the past weekend has dissipated, and the air is clean and crisp and bright and the air is cool and still; life, in a word, is good.

Another Home Despot run tonight-- this time we get the curtain rods, and a new shower head for my bathroom (the current one makes a sound like the Eternally Shrieking Toddler from next door in the previous house, who never stopped screeching no matter what she was doing or what sort of mood she was in, for over three years), and a bath mat, and an AirPort Extreme hub. You know, the essentials.

Furniture can always wait.


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© Brian Tiemann