Back in the Bread Line

If there's one thing that I've learned since the new year, it's that you really only need one pair of pants. After Huey's spending a week and a half traveling in high school wearing one pair of corduroys, we coined the term "everyday pants." It was basically just to make fun of him, or ourselves should we wear the same pants too often. But let me tell you--you don't really need more than one pair of pants. I've been wearing this one pair of jeans all summer and practically all last semester. One is enough. Also, they aren't dirty and don't even smell. The only drawback is that you have to avoid rain like a mouthbreather. Because the slightest bit of moisture will unleash scent memories that your pants have recorded since the last laundry day.

Last night we tapped a watermelon and had a nice night on the porch, except it wasn't that nice. We were mostly annoyed and not remotely interested in what was to come. Luckily, the night was saved by a nice ABBA doc on WGBH. I think the exchange of the night was as follows. Me: You think economics is more important than morality?--Schnocone: It's more important than everything!

The day before I basically spent blowing off friends. I forgot I promised Schnocone we'd do an Indian buffet, and instead ended up meeting Beulah for lunch on her day in the area. And that night I ignored the Beckster and Bighead to talk to my small, curly, Haitian friend who I hadn't talked to in a long time. I'm sorry to all the snubbed involved, but whenever we see each other we basically become completely ensnarled in our own conversation. A murder could probably take place and we wouldn't notice.

Today we went to the Mt. Auburn Cemetary to see mildly famous dead guys. We saw Charles Sumner's grave which was very disappointing. We were expecting some sassy quote ripping into slavery or maybe a bloody gold cane or something to identify this pre-Civil War icon. We also saw R. Buckminster Fuller's grave which was equally disappointing. We expected a concrete geodesic dome. We got a concrete cross. Isabella Stewart Gardner's family tomb was also upsetting. Basically, it was just big, trying to prove to her neighbors that she has more cash, even in death. The most interesting was that of Edwin Booth. Booth is the brother of John Wilkes Booth, and all the info I know about him comes from reading Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation which I just finished yesterday. I plowed through it. Basically, Booth was the best Shakespearean actor of the 19th century and the Hamlet of his time. He also saved Robert Todd Lincoln's life by picking him off the train tracks after he had fallen before a train ran him over. So, as opposed to his brother, he was the Booth that saved a Lincoln's life. blah blah blah. His grave had a copper or bronze plate of his head, kind of ornate with a generic Bible quote on front and a better Shakespeare quote on the back. The best part of his gravesite, however, was, as Schnocone noted, that the headstone of his wife is simply engraved with "Wife of Edwin Booth" and not her actual name. Even their dead baby lying beside them actually got a name (Edgar). What did this woman do to deserve eternal anonymity?

In other news, somehow I've slipped back into poverty. I'm not quite sure how this happened. It's actually due to the fact that I haven't been paid in around four weeks, and this week, the first in which I was to receive a paycheck, Direct Deposit somehow screwed it up, or it got delayed, or it may be in the process of being forwarded home to Indiana. It sucks being poor. What's worse is that now I've got debts. Not major debts, but it does suck that Bighead's birthday is coming up and I may have to beg borrow and steal to actually be able to do anything for it. The other annoying thing is that I do have money. I've been working. I just have NO access to it. blech.

Friday I had a nice little lunch with Beulah where we both discussed our somewhat random existences and experiences squatting. Let's just say her squatting is way more interesting than my squatting. That sounds a little stranger than it should. However, within two days she may land a full time job, which is a little disappointing, because then our springtime fun in the office will be gone. Still, I wish her luck...mainly because the job sounds sooooo cool.