"Don't be fooled by me. Don't be fooled by the face I wear. For I wear a thousand masks,
masks that I am afraid to take off and none of them are me." —Unknown

11 March, 2005 - 1:07 p.m. - Telephone
I had one of the strangest phone conversations i've ever had on Wednesday night. B and i were gathering up our things to go to a local coffee shop and study when the phone rang. Figuring it was our friend, whose house we were stopping at on the way, i answered it. But it wasn't. It went like this:

Me: "Hello?"

Voice (male, breathy, not too deep): "Hello? Who is this?"

Me (a little taken aback): "Uh...who is this?"

Voice: "This is Sean."

Me: "I think you might have the wrong number."

Voice: "Oh, I'm sorry!"

Me: "That's okay? Who were you trying to call?"

Voice: "Is this the South Carolina area?"

Me (furrowed eyebrows): "Nope, it's Albany, New York."

Voice: "I'm so sorry--I hope I'm not interrupting anything!"

Me: "No, no, not at all."

Voice: "You sound very nice."

Me (thinking, huh? and laughing): "Well, thanks. You sound very nice yourself."

Voice: "I hope this doesn't offend you, but you have a really sexy voice."

Me: "Uh...wow, i don't think anyone has ever said that to me before. Thanks."

Voice: "So...do you want to talk?"

Me: "Unfortunately, i'm just stepping out the door. Sorry."

Voice: "Is there anyone else there who might want to talk?"

Me (sufficiently creeped out): "Nope, it's just me tonight, sorry."

Voice: "That's too bad."

Me: "Yeah, sorry. Anyway, have a good night."

Voice: "You too."

<...i hang up and explain what just happened to B, who is also creeped out.>

So random. I wonder whether he'll ever read this, or whether he had any idea that he was talking to a raging (and very partnered) lesbian.

09 March, 2005 - 1:15 p.m. - Infrastructure
This is a little scary. It makes me wonder how the US's infrastructure stacks up against those in other countries. And how the heck did we let it get so bad in the first place?

I suppose we need a new New Deal, right?

08 March, 2005 - 12:21 p.m. - Putting my fate in the hands of the USPS
There are three or four entries that have been swimming around my mind over the last several weeks. And now i can't remember any of them, except for one that requires me to reference a book i don't happen to have on-hand.

So instead i'll just babble a little.

I'm a little frustrated with the postal service. Two Sundays ago, i went to one of the two post offices in my town that are open on Sundays. I mailed out four packages and a letter, and when i asked the postal person when they should arrive, she told me they'd get to their respective destinations by Wednesday.

A full week came and went before i had confirmation from one of the four package recipients that her package had arrived the day before (Saturday). Still no word from the other three, and the check contained in the letter that was sent out with the packages still hasn't cleared (note, the letter was a utility payment to a company that tends to process things pretty quickly).

Now, i know we can't hold the post office to super-human standards, but dammit, when someone gives me an estimate, i expect that estimate to be a reasonable approximation of reality, barring unforseen and disastrous circumstances.

(Coincidentally, i feel the same way about time estimates at restaurants. When my partner, her parents, and i waited over an hour for a table that we told would be ready in 20 minutes, i was pretty steamed. "We can't change how fast people eat," replied the hostess. No, truly. But still, you can give a reasonably accurate estimation. Don't tell me 20 minutes when you know damned well that table 3 has a bunch of sitters, and table 5 is considering dessert, and the rest of the tables were just seated. BAH.)

Anyway, there you go. Circus is mad at the world once again.