Friday...and I'm ready for the weekend. The Smithsonian Folklife Festival started this week and so far, it's the coolest thing happening in this town. I'll probably be hanging out on the mall this weekend. The best part is the music...and it's all FREE! That means that I can continue to live on my meager gov't wages and be highly entertained!

I'm trying to make plans for the 4th...a holiday that I feel is almost as disappointing as New Year's Eve. It's usually really fucking hot here. So the day goes like this: Get up to an oppressive heat; Stuff your face full of greasy hamburger/hot dogs/whatever you can throw on the grill; go down to the mall, where there are more people than you care to see; wait for fireworks under oppressive heat; watch fireworks; 15 minutes later fight with crowd to get of the mall as fast as possible. This year was supposed to be different...but the cabin I was supposed to go out to was flooded out due to all of the rain that we had been getting up until this week. Oh well...I'll figure something out.

And for a knitting update. I have started the 2nd half and there's a chance that I'll be wearing the skirt by next week. I have been super lazy when it comes to putting up some pix. I will at very least put up pix of the final product.

Oh...and I got a call from my bank. I have been credited my money. That's right, the machine was wrong. Thank goodness, 'cos I was gonna have to start figuring out how to pay next month's rent if I didn't be it back.

Oh happy day...It finally stopped raining here. It was super nice yesterday and now we're on to the 90 degree days that I've been waiting for. You've got to understand something...I grew up in DC. I look forward to the "dog days". It makes me really feel alive. (ever wonder why the things that make you miserable make you feel alive?)

So, my weekend was pretty cool. The bus segments of the trip sucked. 1) It ended up taking 3 and a half hours to make it Philly on Friday night. 2) The bus coming back was over an hour late leaving and 2) drag-queen-looking-ghetto-ho's got on in B'more...No, I was not shocked.

I've completed the first half of my skirt. The "picot point" edge was really hard to figure out at first. Once I got the hang of it things went faster...but now, I'm not so sure how much I like the points. Maybe once I get a chance to steam the thing they will hang a little better. I'm going to start the other half tonight while I watch City of Lost Children.

Alright, have you ever gone to an ATM and had it not give you money but still debit your account? Well, up until today neither had I! Today at lunch I went to get cash...and since I know I'm going out of town this weekend I wanted to take out some extra. Unfortunately, the ATM didn't hold up its end of the bargain! I got a receipt but no money.

I quickly went inside (very glad that the branch was open). I was told that the machine wouldn't be counted/audited until next Tuesday! That's right I get to wait all weekend to see if the machine has a record of shorting me my money! The branch manager tried to be as nice as possible, but there's really nothing that you can say to someone who just had $160 bucks *taken* from them by a stupid machine. And, he couldn't even tell me what would happen if the machine thought that there was no error!

So, now I'm left to wait...and I hate waiting!

In case you've got time to waste...

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Third Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Very Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	Low
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	High
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	High
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Moderate
Level 7 (Violent)	High
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Moderate

Take the Dante's Inferno Hell Test

Just goes to show, I'm not as evil as everyone thought!

So, the week is half over. If only this rain were over...it seems like it's been raining for the last month, straight. And, the ceiling in my livingroom sprang a leak again, even though my landlord was just out last weekend working on it. I guess I'll have to live a few more days with buckets all over the place.

I'm looking forward to this weekend because I'm getting out of DC...at least for a couple of days. I recently got back in touch with a friend from college and I'm dashing up to Philly so I can see her before she moves to Chicago. Complicated, huh?

I'm almost done with the first half of the skirt. I should have time this weekend to put up some pix. And, with all the time I'll have riding the bus, I should be able to kick out the second half. Finishing an item in little over a week will be a record for me...especially if I finish it and really like wearing it.

Day one...I'm not really sure what random thoughts this blog will attempt to chronicle. For now I'll just say that it will include anything that tickles my fancy. It's a Monday, so bare with me.

On friday I started "eyelet" from the new issue of knitty. So far so good...I've gotten as far as the eyelet section of the front. Hopefully I'll get a chance to take some pix of it.

Also, this weekend, I bought tickets to see blur...they're just about my most favorite band ever. I was ready to pay anything to see them, but I wasn't quite ready for the $65 price tag for 2 tix! I haven't spent that much on a ticket in many, many moons. I could go off on a tirade about how much ticket sellers are extorting from me just for the right to buy a ticket, but I'll let that go for now.