As I was walking to work this morning, I was crossing a street where I’d never seen a car driving. This morning, however, was an exception: I almost got run over. The guy didn’t even look at me as he came roaring to a stop, then blazed on through the empty intersection. I finished crossing while looking after him, arms in the ‘What the fuck?!” position. He went to the next intersection, where I saw him turn down the street and out of my sight.

Anyone who’s read my writing for a good long while knows that I’ve done an extensive amount of walking where there are cars, and one of my biggest pet peeves in the whole world is motorists who seem to think that the price of the car includes owning the road as well (though, admittedly, I’ve seen that most from BMW and Mercedes-Benz owners; that’s why the prices are so high, you know). Every state in the country gives pedestrians the right-of-way. Every. Single. One. Which is why it blows my mind that people behind the wheel of a car will be so ass-headed fucktarded blind when it comes to pedestrians. I’ve gone so far as to stop walking when someone honks at me for walking across a street, in a crosswalk, with the light. Trust me, your life is not so important that you can not wait five seconds for me to walk across the street in front of your car.

So, imagine my surprise when, a few seconds later, the same car pulls up driving the opposite way I’m walking. The driver rolls down his window and says, “I just wanted to swing around and apologize for almost running you down. I completely misjudged your walking speed, and I need to watch that. It was important for me to come back and apologize. I’m sorry.” I was so shocked — shocked! — to have a driver do that that the only thing I could do say was, “Thank you,” smile and wave to him as he took off again. Wow. A tiny, glimmering hope for humanity.

Row 158 of 184 done. Twenty-six more rows. Dear gods, my pinky fingers hurt. HURT! But it’s looking fabulous, and the last few rows should just fly on by. Well, as fast as rows with 700+ stitches can fly. I should seriously forget how a calculator works. It makes my brain hurt just thinking about the sheer number of stitches I have left. I have to have everything done and have it delivered to the state fair by June 20. I’ll be delivering it in person on the 20th. It’ll cost me $11 to enter with the max amount to win of $15. Plus, you know, the braggin’ rights. Hardly seems worth it, but I’m also sending Mom a contract that says that until one of the other kids does something of this magnitude (you know, like pooping out another grandchild), she has to tell everyone that I’m her favorite. You laugh. She and I both know I’m not joking.

Going camping this weekend and gonna work my ass off doing it. There are a few projects for us to do at Wisteria to prepare for Between the Worlds and Cornstalk. I just hope we get some downtime, too.

And yes, I know I’ve been silent over here for the last two or three weeks. I discovered something about myself this week. I tend to not post when I’m down. I’m not really depressed, just a general sort of slight melancholy that I didn’t want to deal with and didn’t want to say anything about. It’s still on its last gasps, but I’m better.

The Irish Diamond Shawl for the State Fair and The Mom goes well. I’m about two-thirds of the way through my fourth skein (of eleven), but I think I’m only probably going to use seven or eight. It’s being less hateful lately, and that makes me happy. According to my progress meter on the left, I’m on row 117 of 184, which puts me about 68% of the rows done. However, that’s a little misleading, since the rows get bigger every other row. Hell, at this point, each section is almost twice the size of the first cast-on row. I just watched Just Like Heaven (1 hr. 35 min.) and I got two-and-a-half rows done in that time. So, slowly but surely. I’m hoping to be mostly done by the time my guild meeting hits on the 15th so I can show it off a little before it gets packed up and sent to the fair. I’m also hoping to have it completely done and blocked by Memorial Day so that I can see if I can get Charlene at Wisteria to model it for me so I can take pictures. I’ve been taking pix when I add skeins, but it’s not showing much, just a bigger pile of fabric. And this thing is gonna be heavy and warm. Mom’s gonna love it, and the women at the office and at church are gonna eat their livers out of jealousy. Though, Val could teach her boys to knit, too, and then it could be Dueling Needles. What do you think, Val? Would your ex-douchebaghusband handle that well? *cue banjos*

I’ve been on a downward slide with WoW lately. Not sure why. I got keyed for Karazhan, and then stopped playing. Nobody seems to want a Demonology specced warlock for their runs. Which means I get doodly and squat for gear to make myself more effective. I suppose I could do some serious farming for cloth and primals so I can make myself the stupid robes and be better equipped, but I frickin’ HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE farming. Ah well. We’ll see what happens. Mario Kart Wii has my face right now.

Our roommate has a second job at Kaleidoscope here in Columbus. I mentioned to him the other night that Leon was going to hear Judy Shepard speak at lunch today. He told me that most of the kids at the center had no idea who Matthew Shepard was. I was shocked, appalled and incredibly saddened by this. He went on to tell me that they didn’t know who Harvey Milk was, and, the kicker, why Stonewall was important. One of the kids theorized that it had something to do with Stonewall Jackson. I couldn’t even formulate words. These kids have the Internet at their disposal, and yet most of them seem not to care about their history. I’m not talking about ethnic or national or world history; I’m talking about the history of their rights, and what it’s taken to just get them even this far. The hell of it is, I don’t even know how to go about helping them learn about it. Who do we have that should be educating our gay youth? Is it teachers? Gay youth centers? GSAs? How do we reach out to these kids and help them learn?

Hoo. That should tide me over for a while, I think. More later. Love you, miss you.