ugh.

i'm feeling better, but still so exhausted and achy i decided to stay home again today (especially considering the state of the weather). it'll give me time to catch up on laundry and dishes.

i have essentially no clean dishes. yesterday morning, i opened up the dishwasher and found that the dishes hadn't gotten clean. a little poking around, and i discovered that the telescoping mast that spews water up to the top rack had come off. fortunately, it turns out it just screws right back on, so i fixed it and started the dishwasher again.

iceberg had other ideas. about ten minutes into the wash cycle, while i was in the shower, he got into the closet (how does he do that?) and turned off power to most of the apartment by climbing the circuit breakers. i noticed the power was out, and turned it back on, but i didn't notice the dishwasher was no longer running. so later, when i looked for a clean plate, i had none. and i was out of detergent. but the detergent packety thing hadn't fully dissolved, so i thought maybe if i just re-ran the load the dishes would get clean.

a few minutes after i started the dishwasher, the power went out in pacifica, and stayed out for over an hour.

my goals for today: get showered and dressed. go to the store for dishwasher detergent. do a couple of loads of laundry and a couple of loads of dishes. eat something that isn't soup.

i wish the wind would let up. for some reason today i'm finding the sound of it howling around the building especially irritating.

the up side

i seem to have dropped a few pounds over the weekend.

um... yay.

travails

it's a good thing i dropped a little weight, because that relieves me of having to do laundry today, and having lunch and buying groceries completely drained me. of course, i feel like i ought to be able to do more, so there's a background process busily guilt-tripping me as i attempt to accomplish at least something productive so i don't feel quite so worthless. i should, i realized, have called shirley and asked her to help me with the grocery shopping. hell, i should have called her sunday or yesterday and asked her to bring by some things. but i was too ashamed of my disgusting hovel. likewise, i've felt uncharacteristically lonesome and would've liked to invite someone by, but couldn't bear for anyone to see how bad my place is right now.

i'd intended to have clam chowder for lunch, but they were out, so i unwisely ordered a sandwich, which is now sitting like lead in my stomach, threatening to make a second appearance. the smell of food in the grocery nauseated me, especially while i was standing in line behind the woman with a basket of vegetarian bacon, vegetarian corn dogs, organic sugar, and "all natural" sodas, who ate half a bag of roasted salted garbanzo beans while we were in line. it never ceases to amaze me how many vegetarians don't eat actual vegetables. i will never understand why anybody who would give up meat would still want to eat corn dogs. i mean, i like McDonald's burgers, and i won't eat corn dogs. this mystery will haunt me to the end of my days.

i got home just ahead of the worst of the storm. the dishwasher is running, and hopefully this time the cycle will complete without interference from cats or nature. (although i did enjoy hearing last night that employees of Sandia Labs in Livermore are fearful of mountain lions due to recent sightings. it thrills me to my very core that some of the world's top scientists, working on some of the world's most advanced technology, still have to watch out for mountain lions. you couldn't ask for better proof that whatever we may think, nature still has the upper hand.)

(on the other hand, shortly after that i realized that here i was, forced to endure a power outage with nothing to sustain me but wine and camembert, and had a good laugh at myself.)

anyway, am filled with lassitude and despondence. must lie down a bit.