and catching up

 * the meeting I was promised would be "a short meeting, only like 15 minutes" turned out to be over an hour and slightly acrimonious because really, there wasn't a good solution to the problem the committee was addressing. In the end the least-bad thing passed, but, yeah. 

Tonight I have AAUW. I mean, I don't RESENT it but I'd also not mind an evening at home. Hopefully this will not be a long meeting

* I took my ecology class out on a (shorter than I anticipated*) trip around campus for tree identification. And I guess I am still who I am; at one point a couple of the women were giggling and I was like "oh man did I say something that now has a secret Urban Dictionary meaning, or am I have a wardrobe malfunction, why are they laughing at me?"

And then I realized they were looking over my shoulder at something behind me. I turned around and in the yard that buts up to that part of campus, there was a tortoiseshell cat, standing there, looking at us through the chainlink fence. I said "Oh. Kitty." and that made them laugh harder but whatever.

Yes, I still assume people laughing in my presence are laughing at me; too much long training as a schoolkid I guess. I mean, it's LESS now but it still sometimes surprises me that I still feel it

(*My knee started hurting so I skipped two of the more-distant trees that are ones we probably won't see anyway. The tree lab is in three weeks or so so hopefully I will be even better-healed by then. I'm hurting a bit today still)

* My frustration at what regular old capitalism has mutated in continues. There's a cinnamon recall, and granted, it's mostly dollar-store brands (some people have no choice, I know, but I wouldn't buy food at a dollar store if I had the choice - too much of a history of regulatory violations).

Anyway, I was wondering: oh no, could my Penzey's or Spice and Tea Exchange cinnamon products be dangerous, could it just be a contaminated-soil issue, like the arsenic in rice some years back?

But no:

"Historically, lead chromate has been illegally added to certain spices increase to their weight and enhance their color, which increases the monetary value of the adulterated spices. FDA’s leading hypothesis remains that this was likely an act of economically-motivated adulteration" (FDA link)

Yeah, great, another thing we thought was eliminated in the early 20th century (PURE FOOD AND DRUG ACT, ANYONE) is roaring back. ARGH.

* Then again, I did write a pastiche of Resumé by Dorothy Parker some years back:

Consommé (with apologies to D. Parker)

Sugars cause diabetes;

Fat causes liver-sick

Gluten’s in wheaties,

And rice has arsenic;

Salmonella in salad

Amines in meat

Every food’s horrid;

You might as well eat.

 (Ah, the comments on that. Long-lost commenters, including one I know to be lost to this temporal plane. I miss the days of feeling more widely-read and commented upon)

* But yeah, between that and JoAnn's going into some form of bankruptcy protection (and it's ALREADY owned by a holding company) and some things I've read about the future of bookselling ("It may all be virtual texts, or print on demand, in the future") I feel kind of like everything that mattered to me is dying, and it's hard to feel a great deal of enthusiasm for the future. 

I mean, yeah, the internet is great and all, but sometimes I want REAL STUFF. I want to be able to walk into a bookstore and see new books that I can pick up and look at and buy then and there (and the POD books I've bought have been a lower quality, or at least lower aesthetics, than the book-books). And I'd also rather not have to mail order everything and then wait a week or more for its delivery - and also the whole "leaving the house" aspect of it - if the only way to get craft supplies is through the USPS, there's one less reason to leave the house. And I spent the better part of a year (2020 into 2021) NOT leaving the house (other than to go to work) and it was NOT GREAT for my mental health.

And "just go hiking" okay fine but what if my knee never actually heals and this hobbled life is the best I have now? And what when it's 115 F out? Or raining? 

I dunno. There are plenty pot dispensaries and "gaming" outlets here but precious little for folks like me who don't want those things.

* I hope I'm wrong about that. I know I'm tired and I am trying to complete some grading (but it's making me despair; some folks are poorly prepared).

* Still on the fence of "stay home this weekend" vs. "Maybe make a trip out to the new Michael's." I know there are a few things I could get at the Target near them but I also don't know if my knee is up for it. 

It is very frustrating having a mobility-limiting injury that just drags on and on, and that LIES to you about it being better.