Doin' my taxes like a responsible adult. I'm getting kind of used to it -- I know what forms I need to file, so I don't get flashes of outrage anymore at having to do schedule SE, or the momentary frustration of checking the flowchart and finding I'm not able to file 1040EZ. Hard to believe, though I guess it's just more proof -- "you can get ( Read more... )

Sitting up and listening to the rain. As amusements go, I've partaken in worse. Drink some tea and marvel at the texture of the rain, the subtle rhythms as it waxes and ebbs. Eat some Basler Leckerli. Listen to the wind. It's difficult at times like these to remember that I suffer from any ambition at all ( Read more... )

I'll be glad when the election's done.  Not as glad as the voters of Ohio, I trust, but pretty glad.  If someone would just firebomb CNN, that would be really helpful.

I don't personally vote, for reasons best described as rampant tinfoil-hattism, but I think it's a good idea in general.  I was also amused to find that, on all the ballot entries I ( Read more... )

Last time the Space Shuttle will ever be in the air is tomorrow -- Endeavour arrives at LAX tomorrow around noon on the back of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.

Still not sure exactly what I'll do.  Probably try to get to sleep early and wake up early.  Might watch from work, might watch from the hill near the apartment.  Both have their advantages -- ( Read more... )

Now I have a pet mouse.

This wasn't something I planned.  It just happened in some grand show of universal perversity, as so many things do.  Last week, I was sitting on my couch, enjoying a beer, playing Final Fantasy 4 on a borrowed Super Famicom, and I saw a mouse amble across my field of view.

Amble.  Nice casual stroll.  Rather unmouselike ( Read more... )

Riding the train through Compton, glimpsed a man wheeling his horse away from Bunny's Liquor.  Good times.

Got a letter from the IRS advising me that I made an error computing my taxes, and would I please send extra monies posthaste?

This doesn't surprise me at all.  I did my best to read the instructions, but I'm not an expert, and I'm not even especially careful.  I made a good-faith effort and paid an appropriate ballpark figure.  The IRS decided I ( Read more... )

I had a nice break for the long weekend.  I actually feel much better now -- hard to say why exactly.  More myself, I suppose, even though I've never regarded a shortage of identity among my weaknesses ( Read more... )

A while back I resolved to "stop" reading fiction in English.  I never considered a complete moratorium, but I did drastically curtail my input -- a decision for which I blame Robin "trilogy of trilogies" Hobb.  They're impeccably written.  Can't put them down.  Suddenly I notice the sun's up again.

This has improved my Japanese a bit.  I've been ( Read more... )

Six word story:

"What fallout?" he asked, tail wagging.