Oh, you don't know the state i'm in.

It's connecticut. Ha. I finished my 2nd day at a new job, which arrived in my life rather suddenly while I was waiting for the wine bottling to start. So, wine bottling is out and delivering electrical parts in a box truck is IN. I L.O.V.E. early mornings in the summer. everything smells green and wonderful. Having to be at work by 7 ensures that I get a good dose of this smell, and being on the road from 8-11 in nice rural areas also helps. The afternoons somehow seem to suck more -- probably because I get hot and my left arm is roasting in the sun all day. Or it could be that the area southwest of willi just isn't as groovy as the area northeast of it. Like another of my temp jobs, they already are asking me why I don't quit school and work for them full time. Today I helped my boss change his headlight bulb -- he was mystified. I'll admit that the clip mechanism was a little ornery, but... for someone running an electrical parts shop? c'mon. I guess automotive light bulbs are that much different.
In other news, we have just about completed a change of catering horses midstream; the catering horse we were previously on felt a lot like a wet riverbed and not a lot like a horse. The new horse is a bit more expensive, but it is actually a horse. (not actually a horse)
I didnt end up going to anna liffey's last weekend because i felt ill -- i got some of trixie's bug and, though it left pretty quick, a day at an outlet mall did not help it. However, I did learn that all my clothes are oversized. I sorta knew this already, but the proper size has now been identified. I think I did lose weight, but I really enjoyed people asking me if I did but not knowing what my weight is or has been in a loong time.
Did you like my semicolon up there?

Summat

I brought one metric buttload of stuff over to the new apt. That leaves several more to go. I'm in the have right now, sweating bullets. I brought my banjo because I want to head to anna liffey's pub and try to play some music at the Irish session on sunday. I wish I were swimming right now.

Hot Grits

I just made polenta. We'll see how it turns out! I decided to put it in a flat baking dish and cut it into rectangles instead of inverting a bowl. Who knows. All i know i that I didn't stir it for a half-hour. More like 15 minutes, because I didnt have a long handled spoon and that stuff got MIGHTY thick. So the texture may not be as good as it gets (sorry helen hunt), but good golly gosh, i didnt have what it takes to stir for another 15 minutes.

Interesting

At my folks... and I just woke up to NOT see horses all over the backyard. But there is a mom turkey and lots of baby turkeys. I just had 2 great dreams, one of which was scary and good! A woman was trying to escape this supernatural facility -- I don't know why she was there except that she had uncovered something sinister, possibly about the origins of an experiment gone wrong. Even Satan was complaining about being there, though he was quit civil. His grandfather was not stuck there. There was a scene in a garishly painted men's room, and then that dream ended up with a slow electric go-kart ride through a largely empty parking lot. Suffice it to say that the guard was evaded.
The 2nd dream was shorter and more up.
Tricia and I were stopping for lunch (it was only $3.50) at an inn near where I live that is not really that cheap. We got in and the hostess was genuinely curious in my t-shirt. She said, ah there is plenty of room in "the ferny fields" or something like that and we began following her in some windy path around the outside of the building, up and down stairs and around corners. We came into the backyard which contained a muddy river under a willow and some interesting plants. We moved on into a forest, and I didnt think once about lunch. There were signs for a river but it just looked like a muddy forest floor between huge ancient trees. I was suddenly in a canoe that could travel overland -- just slowly. I followed the trail further into the woods hoping to find the river and do some canoeing. Eventually I found some water, and launched into it, but it was a very short stream that landed me in some weird, huge, wooden alcove that looked to be carved from the roots of a gigantic tree. There were lots of other people there, and it seemed to be somewhat like an art-oriented commune. I found a bin full of half-completed musical instruments. I played a guitar for a little bit, then noticed willie nelson sitting next to me with a 4-stringed dobro. The highest string was actually several, and it was horsehair like someone strung his dobro with a bow! We decided to jam, but I noticed a tenor guitar in the pile, and picked it up to play. The strings were all about an inch off the fretboard leading me to suspect there was something odd about it (other than that!). Willie took the time to retune his dobro, despite my insistence that I'd change keys. We played a rockin tune that ended with a unison melody line. Someone nearby said, "well, i'm not sure if thats traditional bluegrass, but it sounded great!". FYI, it wasn't bluegrass at all. Then I saw a man stringing a guitar with a teeny body and a neck that was about 4 feet long, and a long-haired woman to my right said "well, its in the same ale..." And the stringing man said "ale?" She said "yes, its a rarely used word that means 'category' or 'vein'". Then, nearer the entrance of the alcove, a man loudly called for attention, as he was screening his new film. The screen was partially obscured to me by a bulbous root knob, but I saw some rainbow-colored text. The filmmaker began by asking the audience if they would "stop doing all the drugs." Rumbles of "no" and other discontent filled the tree. Then he held up a tiny stick with miniature fruit dangling from it, and invited a young man to see what he could taste in the fruits. In two bites the young man ate ALL of the fruit, and with juice dripping from his chin, his eyes bulged. The filmmaker cackled and called the young man a glutton, and before our eyes, he began to swell like a balloon. Then I woke up.
In other news, there was been a fire in the fireplace here for the past day or so and it reminds me how much I love woodsmoke. I can't wait to have fires in the backyard. I might set up a rack nearby to put all my sweaters on while the fire is underway so they can smell like woodsmoke.

more lattice luxury

Defiantly continuing to not study the theory of lattices and try my luck at inventing the right pattern, I might have had some success with a growing diamond pattern. Seems like the key is vertical growth. So, back to the regularly scheduled program.
Watched the fireworks in new haven last night. It got pretty cold and there were some interesting folks around. A defiant child on our left, coupled with one who was crying like some warning siren quietly but consistently for about 3 hours. Some kid behind us who is a hotshot. His class was the smartest one to graduate highschool, and he's managed to bang some freaks at college. His friend got with 5 at once! Riding a bike through a crowd isnt really fun or something I suggest. The fireworks were good though!
Before the main show started, we could see about 10 different displays going on across the harbor above some trees. It was an interesting warmup.
I really like riding a bike around in the city, but mostly when the traffic is really really sparse. It could be just that I like riding on pavement and being used to walking, it seems like I'm making GREAT time! You are supposed to ride like a car, in traffic. Sometimes at red lights you can sorta sneak across the crosswalk like a pedestrian. My butt is getting more used to a bike seat.

eems

I just had some great dreams. slept late. In one of them, there were a young and older girl who left wherever they were living with a HUGE pile of laundry and somehow ended up in a loft in the roof of a church or cathedral. They stayed there for a while and eventually a man and a dog showed up and befriended them. One day when the man and dog wanted to go roam the countryside and leave the church, the younger girl said "we can go, but we have to finish our laundry first" -- the older girl said "that's ok, I think the head nun left us the church lease in her will!" but upon closer examination, the lease had been left to the 2 girls and the man, with the stipulation that they could live there in harmony as long as they wanted but once they left, they forfeited the church to the next religious group. So then they didn't know what to do.
There was also a dream in which my sister and I somehow swam from taiwan to the usa.
One in which I was in my house in new hampshire, in the upstairs bathroom one afternoon, and looked out the window to see a couple horses in the woods. I called my father to look, and by then there were about eight horses, and one had gotten up on our deck. We went outside and the one on the deck had gotten into the pool. We worried that when he tried to get out he would kick over the thin aluminum wall. I said we could get two blocks and put them down like a mini stairway.

Frontennis, foofarow, etc.

I've been looking for a temporary job, and wouldn't you know, the first opportunity I get falls on the holiday weekend. Picking up paint chips for someone with OCD. I'm enjoying the holiday weekend. Semi-crashed a wonderful bbq yesterday! Today we might see a batmatinee but we gotta wait for the locksmith to finish up so we don't get locked out. T's downstairs neighbors had their car stolen -- the thief came in while they were home, took the keys, and drove off. There is another bbq on the horizon. I watched T layout some of the classifieds yesterday. It was a colorful enterprise that was mystifying until I got some explanation. We managed to squeeze in 2 dvds last night though my eyes were shut for the last 15 minutes of one of them. Hate to say it, but best of will farrell disc 1 is still my favorite, even though it has many moments of utter crud.
finally had some dayton st. apizza. All the great pizza around here really reminds me of pizza hut's "neapolitan" style pizza which is probably not around anymore but was new when i was about 14. I used to wolf it down like crazy. Thin crust. Cheese & sauce in about equal amounts.
played ketchup with the caterers. we might finally get to eat their food next week. talking to another caterer on tuesday as backup and for the learning exp.