It's kind of difficult to feel cheerful about one's knitting when all one accomplishes in a day is 6 rows.

I'm trying to finish the Landscape Shawl. Unfortunately, it is to the point where there are 200-some stitches in a row (maybe closer to 300). So it takes a good 10 minutes to finish a row.

The other thing that frustrates me is how the ordinary boring stuff of everyday life - the stuff you must do to keep body and soul together, the stuff that men used to have wives to do - eats into my free time.

I had to go to Wal-Mart yesterday afternoon after school. At 4 pm. It was misery. I probably could have gone at 6:30 am and been a little late for my office hours yesterday, but I didn't want to do that. I always block out how bad it is in the afternoon (like the comediennes say about childbirth; you forget how much it hurts or you'd never do it again). I go, "It's not payday, how bad could it be?"

Note to self: it could be BAD.

If I hadn't been out of particular important food items, I would have just turned around after I saw the demolition-derby that the parking lot was. But not going to wal-mart would have meant not being able to pack a lunch today, my most busy teaching day, so I knew I had to go in and brave the Beast.

Also, I have to say: if you're walking through the store, complaining to your female friend on the other end of the cell phone about having to buy a valentine's day present for the man in your life, something is wrong. If you're not selecting a present out of love and a desire for him to be happy, if you're doing it solely as an obligation you feel forced or trapped into doing, if you feel the money you're spending would be better spent on yourself, you should probably be consulting with a marriage counselor or a religious leader, rather than b*tching to your friend while you stand in the checkout line behind me.

But then again, what do I know? I'm single.