Daffnee

I've been co-existing with a little mouse in my apartment for the past 2 days, and I was hoping he'd get the hint when I sealed off his hole but he's still rustling paper at night and keeping me awake. I guess it's glue trap time. Poor mousie.

My landlady threatened to change my locks today because I couldn't prove that I lived here. Thankfully I must have seemed pitiful and desolate because she accepted the photos of me on the wall as adequate proof of my good intentions. She still took my driver's license until my lessor sends a copy of hers from Sweden, though. And all this happened 20 minutes before I was due to be having lunch with a partner at an old man's club. Thank god for taxis and 7-11s.

I'm not sure why it always takes me a ridiculous amount of time to settle in -- I literally spent the first two days in DC rearranging furniture, buying new household goods and cleaning until I was high from bleach fumes. Somehow having to get 6 quarters for each load of laundry seems offensive to me, and I still haven't gotten over the creepy motel-esque hallways. The lack of a rug bothered me enough that I took 3 hours to go to Target in the middle of nowhere (i.e. north-eastern DC) to get the rug that is now the pride and joy of my existence. I even got a little Dirt Devil hand vacuum with which to keep said rug clean and scented candles.

Maybe it'll take another few more days before I stop freaking out like Martha Stewart on amphetemines, but it's slowly getting there. And after that phase is over, please call me to schedule a time during which you can ooh and aah at my rug.

Post-Finals 2006, Part IV:

Fun with baby! And seersucker. And sushi.

Post-Finals 2006, Part III:

Victoria, British Columbia is supposedly the most "English" of all the North American cities. This means they serve and charge too much for high tea, and that they have actors running around in Victorian period dress during the tour of the BC Parliament buildings. We ran into a group of Grade 11s from my old (private) high school. They had very short skirts.

We also ran into Alex and Ted (former is female), who were brave enough to soldier through an evening of beer and dinner with us. The place we stayed in was a restyled English manor that screamed weddings. (They even had a "Shakespeare house" with thatch on the roof.) Note the pretty flowers in Victoria, though -- the Buchart gardens also charge too much to get in, but are phenomenally pretty even if the clam chowder isn't what it was 10 years ago. We parked in the lobster aisle. I mention this because I'm shocked I remember.

Dinner was with Lindsay, her fiance Terry (excellent chef -- you lawyers-to-be should invest in his venture) and Marie, who has now returned to teach at our old school. Food is fun. Wine is fun too! But Strongbad and Homestar Runner are funnest of all.

Post-Finals 2006, Part II:

I asked Hertz for a Grand Prix sedan to move my stuff in from NYC to DC, and they gave me a convertible instead. Low bucket seats aren't one of my favourite things in the world, but driving really fast in a bucket of bolts is. It's even better when the engine is from Detroit and knows all about fried chicken rather than sushi. The best part, however, was when the boy was kind enough to move all my stuff from the car to the lobby of my DC apartment while I cheered encouragement from the (dry) sidelines.

The ride back included anti-Canadian signage, a massive snag outside of Philly (which now triggers "negative" instead of "neutral" name recognition here), and a Burnout 3-worthy crash about an hour outside of NY. There was only a metal husk left of an early-90s Honda after the windows blew out and the interior burned up.

Post-Finals 2006, Part I:

I hab a cold.

Fun happenings on May 1st:

1707 -- England and Scotland form to make Great Britain
1790 -- US completes its first census
1834 -- British colonies abolish slavery
1930 -- Pluto is named
1931 -- Empire State building dedicated
1946 -- John Woo born
1969 -- Wes Anderson born
1983 -- Daphne born!
2003 -- Invasion of Iraq
2006 -- A day without a Mexican

May 1st is also Lei Day in Hawai'i, the Day of International Solidarity for Workers, and the Spring feast in Switzerland. And weirdly enough, it is Law Day, U.S.A. as defined in 36 U.S.C. sec. 113. It's also Loyalty Day (also USA), as defined in 36 U.S.C. sec. 115.