oh massachusetts!

Today is a red flag (extreme risk) fire warning for most of Massachusetts. I guess because it's going to be SO hot today... a blazing 80. And everything must be so dry since we haven't had real rain since our non-stop deluge last week. "A combination of strong winds...low relative humidity...and warm temperatures will create explosive fire growth potential."

...Explosive, eh?

I am reminded of my first or second year in Massachusetts: there was a draught warning because it hadn't rained in maybe 2 weeks...

I guess it all depends on how you look at it!

a reaction

I bought some gum. It was on sale and it claimed a "unique mint flavor", and sometimes it's nice to have some gum around to freshen your breath in the middle of a long day.

This is the most ridiculous gum I've seen; it takes itself so seriously! Matte black package, "REACT" in silver letters, a lot of 5's on the package (I don't get it), some psychadelic foggy rich hues. Open it up and you have all these sticks of gum lined up in sleek black wrappers. Unwrap one and you have a charcoal stick of gum so you get to chew a nice gray wad. It's extremely minty but I don't see what's unique about it. I think it's trying to be man gum.

I wouldn't mind

I think I could handle it if I won a prize, now and then, in my life.

I think I could handle one of epiphanie's sweet camera bags (there aren't a lot of attractive camera bags out there... have you ever looked?? and these are water resistant-- big plus in my book). Which do you like best? I'll tell you what I think later. ;P

school lunches

Today the smell wafting down the hall at work reminds me of school lunches. It reminds me of bean burrito days, one of my favorites. A weird mix of warmth and veggies and something that can't quite be placed-something not as natural or healthy as Mom's cookin- that fills the nostrils, not quite sure if it's good or bad. But this is the Department of Nutrition; what unnatural food could find its way here?! When I was little we got to pore over the lunch calendar and choose a day every month or so that we could buy a school lunch. Rarely, on the occasion that I forgot my lunch, I'd get a bonus school lunch and if I was lucky it would be a burrito or pizza.

Who, I wonder, got a school lunch today?

Free at last!

I finished paying off my school loans, the last of my seemingly endless debts.

relief

Please see Erin's blog here.

A lot of the kids we tutor are Haitian (their parents are from Haiti, although they've grown up here). That's who I first heard the news from. Sometimes we can't do a lot but we can give of our money, much or little. Read Erin's blog and please consider donating. And consider how blessed you are.

<3 -l

welcome home

Apparently the TSA doesn't care for transport of 9 pound bags of wheat. (I have a wheat grinder at home, so I do care to transport it across the country with me, tucked in random available nooks like the ends of my snowboard bag.) They sliced open one bag. It checked out so they sent my luggage onward. Without taping up the slashed bag of wheat or putting another bag around it. I came home with a snowboard swimming in wheat. It was like a giant rainstick.
Thanks a lot, TSA.