Whoa . . . long time no post . . .

So. I haven't posted since Sunday. I guess I can't think of much to say. I talked to Jeremiah the other day (co-worker from long ago that I spent Thanksgiving with two years ago and something about that grammar must be wrong), and he said he might try to come visit on a long weekend. That'd be frikkin sweet. Do it, Jer. C'mon, do it.

Ummm . . . so . . . someone in this library is wearing some pretty strong cologne or aftershave that smells really familiar to me but I'm not sure why. Maybe an uncle or something; it's that kind of familiar. I think scents are the most powerful memory triggers, but I'm not sure why that is. Maybe because other things, like sight and hearing, are used so much more that they get kind of overloaded. Like, for example, an ex-boyfriend's truck. I could sit in that exact same truck, listening to the same music, but if it didn't smell like his truck, it wouldn't be weird to me. However, I could sit anywhere in the world, in silence, and if it smelled like that truck, I'd get all freaked out. (And slightly nauseous.) Ooh, like anything that smells like anything raspberry-scented. (As opposed to smelling like raspberries, which is different.) And certain kinds of gum. And gunpowder. And spruce sap. And sun-baked dust. And raw, field-dressed meat, although I bet that sounds . . . weird. Certain people's sweat . . . sunblock . . . bug spray . . . mosquito coils . . . woodsmoke . . . cigarettes and beer . . .

I'm suddenly reminded of a time when I made up a book report. In tenth or eleventh grade. I don't remember which. Maybe I was even a senior. Ms. Dean, a French-Canadian English teacher (I always thought that was funny; French-Canadians can't even speak English . . . ), used to make students do very in-depth book reports. I don't remember what she called them, but it wasn't "book report." You had to write a couple of things for it, like letters to the author or prologues or epilogues or summaries etc, and you had to do some kind of art project (drawings or dioramas or models), and you had to do an interview with her about the book, which involved answering questions about the book, reading a passage from it, and explaining why you did or did not like it. And I read all the time, but I didn't feel like going off of an actual book. And I wanted to know if I was capable of faking it. So I looked at all the crap I'd written in my sort-of journal and other sundry stories on the computer, and I picked random passages, and made up a summary of a book called Me, with the author being a pseudonym of mine (that I won't tell because then it wouldn't be secret), and I drew some pictures of . . . I don't remember . . . a keyboard, I think, and a person sitting at a computer, and . . . I don't know what else, but I think I needed to have three. Maybe I just took the loss in points. And the interview was tough, because you're supposed to have the book right there to read your passage from, but I just printed them out on a piece of paper and said I'd borrowed the book and had had to return it already. She asked some weird questions, so I think she guessed it wasn't a real book, but I think she also guessed what it was and so never called me on it. That was kind of fun. I felt guilty about lying, though . . . but hey, it might be a book someday . . . (ha!)

"I suggest you stick to two subjects: the weather and everybody's health." So . . . the weather sucks . . . it was crazy misty yesterday, I think, but I also think it was hot for awhile because I definitely went out and about in a tiny shirt, but I don't really remember. And then Sarah bought a softball glove and we went and played catch in the dark (which is SCARY!!! I thought I was gonna DIE!!! or if not die, per se, at least break my nose . . . ), and it was cold then but I was sweating anyway from the "exertion" of playing catch. And then I hurt my arm---my forearm, not my shoulder---because it's still not quite right (and probably never quite will be). So that covers weather and also some health. (Yes . . . I rule . . . )