A Wednesday Afternoon Rant

I'm in computer science lab right now, but since I already wasted three quarters of it trying to work out my schedule for next semester, I figured I'd just finish it either over the next week or in the next lab, since this particular assignment is a two week long one. Yesterday was Tuesday, which has historically been the worst day of my week for several years now. Back in the old days it meant I would be out of the house for most of the late afternoon/early evening following school, for whatever reason, which was never good for me. I hate being out of the house unless I have a particular mission. Ever since then, I just haven't really liked Tuesdays very much. And yesterday, being a Tuesday, meant that something had to go wrong. In fact, three different somethings went wrong. Firstly, I managed to lose my wallet, which I didn't discover until several hours later when it came time to go vote. There were only four small bucks in actual cash, but the Discover card and driver's license were of significantly more value, as was the library card I got when I was five years old (complete with the equivalent of my signature from way back then) and a bicentennial 50 cent piece that I had been keeping for a few months now. I was, as they say, "flipping out" upon learning that it was no longer in my pocket, although the worst I actually did was bang on my bedroom door, causing no damage whatsoever. Eventually, as it turned out (and only by the grace of God, I'd say), it had fallen out of my pocket in my friend's car, and so he immediately located it and called me to deliver the most relieving news. Of course, amid all this chaos, our hot water heater also broke again (some kind of hot surface igniter needs to be replaced; the same thing happened in March of this year, and what a pain that was), so we've spent all of last night and this morning without any hot water save what can be heated atop the stove, and that, sadly, is not enough to run a shower. It had better be fixed when I get home, or at least in the process of being fixed, because I still have to take a shower today. The third thing that went wrong, rather minor in fact, was that my six dollar "cheap-o-depot" watch from Wal-Mart broke. That is, the little metal pin that connects one side of the actual watch part to the band broke, and so now the watch flaps around. It still tells time, mind you, so it's not a real crisis; it just doesn't look as majestic as it once did. I noticed that this is all in one gigantic, lumpy paragraph, which is not at all aesthetically pleasing.

I still got to vote yesterday, thanks to the presence of my school ID in my pocket. They took down my RIN (which is my ID number for RPI, very similar to a social security number in fact) and let me go into that booth with the big lever and all the little levers. Admittedly, it wasn't as exciting as it used to be. Back when I was a wee lad I thought it immensely entertaining to go into the little secret booth with all the levers that you could push, shielded in complete secrecy by that curtain. The sound of the bell ringing when the curtain opened at the end of the voting process was also nothing short of enthralling. However, this time around it wasn't all that cool. I just went in, closed the curtain, flicked the levers, opened the curtain, and walked away. I've never had the opportunity to fill out an absentee ballot, so I don't know what that's like. I guess I'll have to get a firsthand account, but this wasn't even a mega-important election (you know, like on the presidential scale). I'm glad to have finally had my influence on the American political system. I feel fully grown up now. I'm also happy that I won't have to make a third illegal driving trip. Yesterday I drove all the way home without a license (unknowingly, of course), and today I drove all the way to school without a license, fully aware that I was breaking the law, but there really wasn't a whole heck of a lot I could do about it, and since I didn't get stopped it's all good. I figure, the only way to get in trouble for driving without a license is to get in trouble for something else, too, so if I stay out of trouble, I also stay out of double trouble.

I think I'll leave this blasted classroom as soon as my laptop battery finishes charging. I'm sort of obsessive compulsive about my battery. If I have the computer plugged in, I can't bear to unplug it unless the battery has either charged to 100% or I will be plugging it back in within a matter of minutes and it will be able to resume charging. I may make an exception today, because when I get home I'll be able to plug it in for the rest of the night, like I usually do. I don't know. The moral conflict in me is, at this point, horrendously gigantosaurus hugeness big. I'm deliberating, deliberating, DELIBERATING! What ever to do? Oh, I know! I think I'll leave it here for now, head off in a homewardly direction, and proceed to rejoice and read my hefty tome of a 742 page book.

The End