I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. -Obi Wan Kenobi

After my dad kicked my butt in tennis this morning, he put me to work. There were lots of errands to run today. First, we loaded up all the recyclables from the house, including yesterday’s grass clippings. On the way to the recycling center, we stopped by this house where the Loveland Public Library stores books for its annual booksale. We loaded several bags full of books into the car. To my horror, I learned they were also going to the recycling center. It was like a knife to the heart. My dad explained that they are either in bad condition or they just have too many copies already. Well, most of them looked fine to me. I really wanted to see what was in the bags, but I resisted.

At the recycling center, I was given the job of emptying the bags into the giant bin. My heart was heavy as I dumped probably a hundred books out. I couldn’t help reaching inside to pick up novels with interesting covers, or spreading them out a bit to see what was getting thrown away. A bright orange cover caught my attention. I knew it instantly. Zorba the Greek. Easily one of the best books I’ve read in years. I picked it up and showed it to my dad. He asked if it was one I’d been looking for. I said no, I already own it, but it is one of my favorites. He sympathized. I admitted to myself that there was not much I could do with the book except give it away, which I’ve already done a couple times. I tossed it back in the bin. My dad tried to comfort me by saying that all the paper goods get recycled and made into a new kind of home insulation that’s more eco-friendly. I had hoped they’d be recycled and used to make paper for new books. Oh well.

I walked over to the car, never looking back.

The Chevron station where I normally buy my gas increased the price of regular unleaded by 10 cents overnight. Gas at the Exxon and Racetrack stations down the road went up by 12 cents. Fortunately, I filled up my tank yesterday. Gas prices aren’t going any lower. Yes, Bush has authorized tapping into the U.S. oil reserves, but that won’t do much good. It has temporarily calmed the oil markets and the price per barrel has gone down a bit, but what happens when they realize they’ve had the wool pulled over their eyes? We don’t need more oil; we need more gas. Refineries already working hard to produce enough to sate our voracious appetite now have to figure out how badly they were damaged by Hurricane Katrina. What are they going to do with more oil?

I did something yesterday that I should have done a long time ago. I signed up for a vanpool. If you don’t think you’re quite familiar with that phrase, I’ll explain. And I’ll use small words so that you’ll be sure to understand, you wart-hog-faced buffoon. Vanpooling is a rideshare program where a group of people who live relatively near each other and work relatively near each other drive a passenger van to and from work. Mine is a reverse commute, so I’m not sure how much luck I’ll have finding a vanpool, but they’re going to try to match me up and should contact me “soon.”

Speaking of damage from Katrina, I used to live right here. I can’t imagine what that house looks like now, if it looks like anything at all. And I’m going to be getting a lot of new neighbors over the next several hours. The Super Dome, which around 25,000 people have been using for shelter, is being evacuated. All those people are being transferred by bus to the Astrodome, two blocks away from my apartment. I may see if there’s anything I can do to help out in the next couple days, or wait till I get back from Colorado. I’m sure they’ll still be there when I return. Poor people.

[Listening to: Van Morrison - Astral Weeks]

the bad news is, the CD-rom i just found under the passenger seat of my car is not the CD with all my pictures from russia.

the good news is, some of my russia pictures are on it.

i’m happy, but still sad.

last year, NPR aired a radio diary made by a girl with cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder that affects the lungs and other organs. laura’s diary really affected me that day, and i meant to post a link to it at the time.

today, NPR reported that laura died last thursday at the age of 22. they aired a remembrance this evening. the streaming audio for the original broadcast can be found at that link, or you get it as an MP3 here.

“could you describe the ruckus, sir?”

at about 2 a.m., some woman was screaming and crying a couple doors down, dropping about 20 F-bombs in a row. and some guy raced off in a gold chevy pickup. not as tame as it was about a month ago. it was around the same time of night, only there was small child screaming too, “don’t leeeaave!”