phyncke

So I am at the laundrymat and I feel FINE. No indicator of anything happening and I lean over to put my wet clothes in the big dryers and I feel that sharp lower back pain. That oh no my back went out feeling. Right in the middle of doing laundry. Oh holy toledo does that suck. So I suck it up and finish my laundry and then I have to go food shopping as I literally have no food in the house. Walking is good for back pain so that is something. I carefully carry stuff and manager to get all my produce at the farmer's market and a manageable amount of food from Lucky's. I got home and lay on the ice pad and I am on the ibuprophen plan.

I don't need this right now. Noes.

Wah.

So today was an interesting day. It is Dia de Los Muertos. One of my favorite days of all. Very spiritual and communing with those that have passed etc. Interesting day. I find it culturally interesting that in many cultures this time of year is so spiritual in terms of the after life. Really cool that way. Hallow's Eve, Day of the Dead, All Saint's Day...all happen around now.

Anyway...my freaked out happening has to do with the whole changing of the clocks thing. This always messes up my morning and wouldn't you know, I wake up earlier than usual. My eyes pop open at 5:45 am and luckily I can fall back to sleep but again at 6:45am no such luck. I am awake and I am going to stay awake...fug. So I get up and do my usual, make the foamy latte on the machina. I am amazed I don't hurt myself at that hour. I putz on line and no one else is up, quelle surpris. An hour passes and I think, why don't I go get my laundry done? Surely the laundry mat is OPEN? :P

I am farely gleeful with this new, efficient early morning idea. I brush the teeth, I dress in suitably frumpy, laundrymat attire and carry the laundry down to the car. Now it is pretty eery out there at 7:30 am on Day of the Dead. Very foggy, pea soup fog and NO ONE out there. Just me and my Ford Tiempo. I decide to stop by my cool cafe, driving slowly and am disappointed to see when I get to Cafe M*** that it is not yet open. It opened at 8am and it was 7:40am. Not feeling patient I move on to the ATM machine, always open and then to the launderama.

At which I am shocked to find that it has a sign up saying:

Sorry, we are closed.

Foiled, my plans are foiled.

I sit and stew a moment and then I realize that all is not lost, fair reader. I can go have a bite to eat and then come back to check the laundrymat at a later (perhaps more reasonable hour than 7:45am) time. It occurs to me that McDonald's is a straight drive down T*** Avenue and in this formidable fog it would not be too hard to get to. I turn on my headlights for safety, pull onto the avenue and begin to drive slowly and carefully south into Oakland. Yes, Oakland is where all the fun food is. The gods shine upon me and send a taxi cab to lead me down the street and I tail him all the way to the Golden Arches where the staff greet me brightly. I order my egg mc muffin meal with juice and have it my way.

Once I eat, I drive slowly back north to Berkeley, again, tailing another cab driver up through the fog. It is eerily thick still at this point, at about 8:15am. The street signals were not even visible until you were RIGHT on them. I have not driven in fog like that in a while. It was kind of cool.

Anyway, the happy conclusion of this spirited tale, is that the laundrymat was in fact open when I reached it and it was mine all MINE. Nary a soul in sight. All those bright and shiny machines all to myself. No one to fight for the dryers either. This is what happens when you get up early and decide to do things. Heh.

Happy changing clocks everyone and enjoy your Dia de Los Muertos (All Soul's Day). Here is a link to that for your education on that subject.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Dead


by izabeth

Had a trying day. My friend's basement flooded when I was doing laundry there. Ended up at the laundrymat, alone. Well one is never really ALONE at the launderama. There be people there. Ak.

I did get to hear my violinist friend play his audition pieces. He is applying to the SF Symphony and has his try-out in about a week. He played Strauss, Mozart and Mendelsohn. Did really well too. I hope he knocks their socks off. He rocks. It was fun to have a private concert too.

I spent the evening unwinding and playing with dolls. This is a Shuni doll. This is what I would look like if I had all the bling going on. Woot.



I constructed it on the site and then did a Photoshop thing to get the name in there.

Here is the site. http://maker.dollclique.com/

Loads of fun. Hours of fun. Very girlie. Woot.