"Rainbow Fruity Pebbles vs. Colorless Soulless Bureaucracy..................."

Good Afternoon;

So, Sunday night when I was last here I had to get off because my daughter's husband walked by and dropped a comment about the battery was about to die.....well to avoid any argument I just signed off and gave him his laptop back.....after surreptitiously checking the battery life icon.....which said it was better than halfway charged with an 1 hour and 9 minutes left. To those who are always saying "Why can't you live with your daughter.....yadda....yadda....yadda?" Extrapolate this statement and the manner in which it was given, multiply by the decreasing area of a 1 bedroom apartment with 2 adults and 2 small children, 2 cats and a dog already in occupancy and the inversely proportional 'tension factor'......and, well.....as the saying goes...'You Do The Math'.

I found out on Monday morning that the reason I spent Sunday night on the couch, (not asleep, just 'on the couch'), was that Jenn and Tom had a meeting with their priest that morning. Just a minor miscommunication but it changed my plans for the day....as did the fact that the priest was an hour late, extending the time Jenn was out; the fact that Edward was off from school that day, and in a mood that can only be described as intentionally "stuck on stoopid", which coupled with my total lack of sleep resulting in complete physical exhaustion, the unrelenting pain and sinus pressure that nothing would relieve, plus the incessant, wall rattling, chest vibrating, brain pounding, bass enhanced reggae that the asshole next door neighbor, (who is the maintenance man for the complex), had going on for 2 straight hours that had my last frayed nerve buzzing like chainsaw inside my skull.....and the best that can be said for yesterday is..... "It was a good day.............nobody died!"

I left Jenn's around 1:00 pm. to head over to East Baltimore to pick up meds, and got back about 3:00 to get my bags. I finished sorting and packing my laundry and headed out to Mt.Washington about 4:20 pm. While I was crossing the bridge over the Jones Falls walking from the bus stop to the coffee shop I looked over into the river at the Ringed Neck Mallard ducks and Canada geese that habituate the place and tried to see if the bunch of Red Eared Slider were sunning themselves on the concrete glacis lining the banks. They were not out, but on one of the islands of silt and debris built up behind the bridge piers there was a goose curled up with her head tucked under her wing sitting on a nest. This simple act of Mother Nature, and an act of Man, under the bridge of the JFX along Western Run, as I walked over to the bus stop after the coffee shop closed, were all that saved yesterday from being a total write-off.....the concrete walls under this bridge are a favorite Graffiti spot, sometimes filled with art and humor or insightful words, but many times just loaded up with 'tags' and idiocy. They have been getting painted over with a beige paint by the city-county(??) quite regularly recently, covering everything. Well as i walked along the walkway last night I saw that some creative person had gone onto the rocky stream bed, (which is exposed at most times), and painted assorted rocks and small boulders in a random bouquet of bright colors. A 20 yard length of typical shades of gray, brown, and black rocks speckled with blues, greens, reds, oranges, purples, and yellows. A brilliant and lighthearted act of 'guerrilla art' that by it's tongue in cheek audacity and brightly hued defiance is both pleasing to the eye and heart, and a 'thumbing of the nose' to the grey toned bureaucrats who keep ordering the walls painted over.

I wish I had a camera phone!

(BUT!!! I am taking Rachel to the Circus tomorrow...and she is bringing her camera....and we are meeting at the Mt. Washington Light Rail....."Film at Eleven", as the pre-videotape TV news teasers used to say.....LOL!)

Of course after this bit of joyful enlightenment, I had to get a bus driver who is the poster child for all that is wrong with the MTA. From sitting in the bus loop with the bus in gear and almost knockng me back as she revved the engine and the bus rolled forward, to shutting the door on me as I got on, to telling every passenger not to bother with the fare box, (so there is no record of the time), to pulling off 3 minutes early, (the ultimate schedule no-no), to the reckless and negligent driving that got her to the Plaza Metro station 13 minutes EARLY!, and then she pulls off from where she is sup[posed to wait and start the route to the opposite side if the Metro station and parks the bus on Wabash Ave. while she goes up to the platform level and ??? eventually coming down and pulling up to the stop and loading the people on THIS side then pulling off, still 4 minutes early.

[This is the ONLY bus on this run at night, and there are regular riders who depend on the proper sceduling to connect with this bus to and from the Light Rail and other bus routes....miss this bus-wait 1 hour-that is the frequency...]

Anyway, I caught my #59 and went to the Giant, where the "REAL" sinus medicine, with the active ingredient the bathtub crystal meth makers use, is kept.....behind the....just being locked up and the alarm set as I am coming in...pharmacy counter.....typical of my timing. (I found a crushed but still sealed tablet in the bottom of my bag and took that. It was the only thing that let me get to sleep last night.) I went over to the gas station and bought a $1.00 scratch off, which paid $3.00, so I bought another and 2 Keno games, one of which was a free 'Tripler' promotion from the Lottery. As usual I played Rachel's birthday....and won.....on the Tripler!!!!. Well, maybe THIS and the sinus med helped me sleep well......lol!

I went to sleep with the lantern on in the shed about 12:30 am. with a book on my face....and ended up getting up at 1:30 pm. today. I WAS up about every 2 hours, (thank you aging prostate), but went right back to sleep, again, and again, and again....lol.

Now it is time to go to the Giant and get some breakfast...(it's 4:35 pm....lol), and some sinus meds, then to the Metro to get April's monthly bus pass, then over to the coffee shop to eat. I may not be back until Thursday, depending on what time I get in and out of Jenn's to shower tomorrow, and whether there is time to get here before I have to be at Mt. washington Light Rail to meet Rachel and her mother, (who is going to keep my bags in the trunk of the car while we go to the Circus).

It is possible I MAY go to the "Spoken Word Poetry Reading" tonight,(if it is still on), by Light Rail and bus, it depends on how long it takes to get to the coffee shop, and whether I settle in and drop anchor or not.

Later................Dave