Friday! And I'm actually working this week, so I can almost appreciate Friday for all its implied freedom. Because it's Friday, I was going to do the "Friday Five" but the questions bored me (about school, what you liked and didn't) so I'm skipping it.
All in all a rather interesting week. Creepy, in lots of respects. Speaking of creepy, I did an assessment today in the filthiest house I've ever seen, really, no exaggeration, and I have a high gross-out factor. For those of you who care about what I do, I provide assessments to babies and toddlers from birth to 3 years old, in order to determine if, based on a standardized test, they are exhibiting any developmental delays in the following areas: communication, cognition, fine/gross motor, adaptive behavior, and social/emotional skills. Sometimes I go to people houses to do the assessment, today was one of those days, and this house was soooooooo gross! There were roaches everywhere, climbing all over the walls, furniture, and I imagined, me. Plus the little guy I was there to assess was only partially dressed running around in just a diaper, plus he didn't seem very fresh if you catch my drift. But lucky for me, he was really affectionate and wanted to climb all over my lap, give me hugs, the like. Poor fellow, it wasn't his fault he and his home were filthy. The mom there didn't even seem to notice the bugs....but she didn't seem very clued into much honestly. Ah the joys of working with the public! Honestly though, I love my job, and I've missed it lately so it's nice to be back at work even if it's only temporary. Anyone know of any Early Intervention jobs in Singapore or Australia? I'm a great employee! Sigh.
I've rescued Beau for the night. He's one of my parents dogs, and is currently in deep shit at home for raiding the garbage again. He'd been locked out of the house all day, restricted to the yard, which for him is serious punishment because he and his sister Sadie are extremely spoiled and have a doggie door so they can go in and out, and in and out, and in and out of the house all day at whim. He's so bad, but I love him. He's the smartest dog I've ever known, but he's lazy, a classic underachiever. His sister on the other hand is the classic type A dog personality. Even though she's almost 20 pounds lighter than Beau, she's the Alpha. Beau's a definite Beta dog 'cause he's such a slacker. Mark tolerates both the dogs, but doesn't exactly like them. I'm sure he'll be thrilled to see Beau's come for a visit ;^)

It has occurred to me that there is a problem with this whole blog thing. Not with the blog-as-disposable-entertainment, which it's fine for, but more in the blog-as-personal-diary arena. I don't know about you, but I'm hoping someday to look back and read this thing as I would a personal journal written down on paper. The problem is, all the links we post here will eventually go bad. I mean, say I tell you that this is a cute site, and I really like this one and this one and this one, and I even submitted this and this and this. Ten years down the line, I'll have no idea what I was talking about, because the site I'm linking to will likely have gone tits up.

I'm not sure what the solution is. There's obviously a need to archive the pages, but you can't really rely on the Wayback Machine to get the page you linked to, especially if it's something ephemeral like a news story. A DIY archive mechanism is needed. But I don't want to link to my local copy until the original link goes bad, because I'd prefer to refer people to a dynamically changing site rather than my static archive.

There's a product idea in this, I suspect. Think, self, think...

Well, we made it through the anniversary, with only a few minor incidents. I'm grateful for how normal it seemed in most respects. Still, 9/11 is going to be a nerve-wracking day for the rest of our lives.

You can bet that numerologists are going to have a field day with this. Why, it's the biggest coincidence since Lou Gherig came down with Lou Gherig's disease.

I was going to prattle on today, but perhaps a more subdued tone is more appropriate. The truth is I'm kind of numb to everything, and I'm a little ashamed about that. My cynicism towards our government is running higher now than at any point this side of my high school everything-is-fascist days. I believe almost nothing they say. And I believe last year's tragic events are being used to promote other agendas.

But this should not be a day for finger pointing. Stay safe today. Grieve in your own way. And let those that lost so much at least serve as a reminder to be thankful for what we have.

HIGH ALERT
We (the USA) are on "stage orange high alert", due to "credible information" about a possible terrorist attack. The most likely targets, in their estimation, are American embassies and military targets in Asia. Scary, especially as we actively pursue a move to S'pore, but honestly not surprising. There's been radical/fundamentalist muslim groups actively wreaking havoc on that part of the world (particularly the Philippines and Indonesia) for some time now. Still it's a little daunting.
I guess we can only hope for nothing to happen. Anywhere.

I suspect every blog in existence will have a special 9/11 entry containing reflections on last year's tragedy. I'll start mine a day early with a straight description of my experiences on that fateful day, while I gather my thoughts for tomorrow's inevitable opinion piece.

I heard the phone ring twice while I was in the shower. The third time it rang I was able to answer. It was Marjorie, telling me to turn on my TV, and omigod can you believe it. Like everyone else I'm sure, I spent a long time staring in disbelief.

The drive to work was of course spent listening to the news. When I arrived at work, everybody was in the cafeteria watching the TV, in an eery silence. We all had to eventually trickle back to our desks, but we took every chance to check back with the TV, or at least surf news sites. I remember most of the major ones were offline, just from the sheer volume of hits.

I remember doing some work, but everyone was having a difficult time concentrating. A rumor began spreading that President Bush was going to be heading into Dobbins Air Force Base, which was right near us. This was the excuse that everyone needed, and most people bolted, out of fear of getting stuck in traffic while blocked off for a presidential motorcade. I stayed a while longer, though.

Marjorie and I watched TV long into the night, and pretty much solid for several days after, when we weren't at work. I remember a point a few days after where I had to just get up and pointedly turn off the set. It was just time to start thinking about something else. Marjorie thanked me.

For posterity, I want to try and describe a feeling I had in the days following, a feeling I have lost now. It was the apprehension that hit you whenever a plane flew overhead (once flights were resumed), or even just being outside. It was like, the sky was a roof that could collapse on you. And the airplane, which had always symbolized to me this wonderful freedom to be able to explore the world, had suddenly lost its innocence, like a longtime companion lapdog that one day decides to maul your hand. For good or ill, this feeling is gone now.

Forgot to mention, today's Singapore news is, not surprisingly, more non-news. The contract is being renegotiated, so our chances are still alive. I'll keep reminding myself that that's a good thing that it's a "maybe" instead of a "no". Sometimes it feels like we aren't any closer to our goal, though, and that sucks.

WASTOID
I'm really starting to crave more structure in my life. I have an offer to go back to my old job, but typical of bureaucracies, it's taking forever to get the paperwork signed by all the powers that be so I can actually work. Due to the limbo that is our life, all structure is fading away-I can't pack because we don't know when we're leaving, but I'm not working. So instead I'm sleeping late, watching too much t.v., basically being a loser. Oh well.
This weekend was fun. Mark decided that he should go to Backstreets (the local 24 hour gay dance club) before leaving Atlanta, and so, not wanting to deny him an experience, I agreed. We spent Saturday night going out to several clubs we never frequent, but it was a blast. Backstreets is still a freak show, but not quite as wild as it used to be. Apparently either the city of Atlanta or the State of Georgia have cracked down on them so they are no longer able to sell quite as interesting a variety of "novelties" as they used to, now nipple clamps are about as racy as they get. Overall, the whole night was the best time we've had in ages so I think we're going to try to shake up the local routine a little more often and squeeze all the life out of our time in Atlanta while we're still here.

I would've gone to this, but I had more important things to do. Besides, my Vans are kind of scuffed up right now.

Last night was a night for excess. We went to an Atlanta landmark and haven for 24-hour debauchery, Backstreets, until the wee, wee hours. The clientele there is predominantly gay; they even have a drag show we caught part of. It was a great time. I even danced for the first time in years.

I must put out an exceedingly straight vibe -- I've never been hit on by a man, and last night was no exception. It's been going on like that so long that there's a running joke that I have to buy a drink for the first gay man who hits on me. Marjorie was the recipient of a clumsy come-on -- from a man -- right in front of me, though.

Today was all about recovery. We both were feeling crapulent as heck all day. I love that crapulent is an actual word.

I had a dream last night, which I won't relate to you, because other people's dreams are typically boring. Suffice it to say it involved a supermarket, a kid from my elementary school, and me getting shot through the leg. What was strange about it was that I remember thinking, during the dream, that I would really have something good to blog about today. How sad is that?