10:57 PM: Blizzard!

See that photo there? That's the view out my window just now. You'll notice over a foot of snow piled against it.

On the whole, I'm glad that I didn't have any plans for this weekend that involved going outside. And that I have enough food and drink to last me through Monday, when I'll need to go to my job and school anyway. With any luck, it will have stopped snowing by then, and some of my more industrious fellow citizens will have cleared the front steps of my building and many of the sidewalks between it and my school.

Tastes differ, of course. There are people who can't wait for cold weather, who not only spend all summer fantasizing about snow and snowballs and snow angels and skiing and sledding and pulling on boots and bundling up and walking in a winter wonderland, but who actually love it when it finally comes around. I suppose I ought to take some consolation in the fact that these people are enjoying themselves. It's an ill blizzard that blows no good, after all. But I don't. To these people, I say, "Bah, humbug."

Where's that global warming when you need it?

In other news, somewhat to my surprise, I've purchased my tickets for my trip to Dallas. Truth be told, I'd been vacillating on the details, not to mention the question of whether I could really afford it in the first place, and -- as has happened so many times in the past -- I idly made an offer on Priceline.Com that I expected them to refuse. Except that this time, for the first time ever, they didn't. I'm still in a state of mild shock.

Then again, I'm paying substantially less than I expected to, and I'm gonna be seeing my sister next month. I'm not really complaining.

4:37 PM: Today's Random Musing

I don't understand why anybody would buy one of those devices that purportedly can interpret dog barks to tell you what the dog is actually "saying." Well, unless one were getting it strictly for entertainment value. But otherwise... if you knew a person who claimed to be able to act as a canine-to-human interpreter, would you believe her? If so, we're starting with very different premises, so never mind. But if not, why on earth would you give any more credence to an electronic gizmo that was, after all, designed by humans, and is, if anything, probably a bit less effective than those humans' best guesses?

It amazes me, sometimes, how people are willing to trust technology whether or not it makes any sense to do so.

11:00 PM: The weather outside is frightful...

It's December in Boston. It's cold. Subfreezing, even without the windchill factor. I'm wearing multiple layers of clothing. I haven't yet resorted to the space heater because electricity costs a fortune here, but I don't think I'll be able to keep that up much longer. The weather people are forecasting a snow storm over the weekend. And, technically speaking, it's still autumn.

This is the downside of living in the northern portion of the country.

This year's winner is a must-read if you like writing that's so bad it's brilliant. (In fairness, it might not be as funny in context.)

5:39 PM: But I don't like green...

I just saw a TV commercial for caskets. Seems you can get a casket from these guys for just $595, while a funeral home would charge you $2,000.

I suppose I can understand that even casket companies can benefit from name recognition, which doesn't stop this from being kinda creepy. I'm not really prepared for the idea of caskets being a consumer item, let alone being confronted with thanatopsis first thing in the morning.

This does, however, make me glad I come from a culture in which people just get a standard issue pine box with a hole in the bottom.

10:49 PM: Okay, this is getting ridiculous.

I don't mean to keep harping on the yellow background thing, honest, I don't. The whole thing was just a throwaway line in the first place. But for anybody who clicked on the link to SarehJanet's journal two entries back and wondered what the heck I was talking about, it turned out that I'd been viewing her journal with style sheets turned off, as is often my wont. If you view it normally, the background is not monochromatic pale yellow, but white with a yellow border and sidebar. Oops.

Then again, this whole thing does reinforce my claim to being neurotic, I suppose...

I went to The Sharper Image a couple weeks ago to check on the electronic kazoo I linked to here last month. It's not bad. It lets you transpose up or down an octave, which is kinda cool. All three instruments (sax, tuba, clarinet) sound kazoo-like, which is probably as it should be, and -- most usefully -- you can plug in headphones or hook it up to speakers. (It also provides backbeats, but that's still too silly. I can't imagine actually using that feature.)

On the other hand, it's fifty bucks, which is a lot of cash for a kazoo. The traditional metal-and-cellophane version is $2.25, works about as well, and is much more portable; I carry one around in my pocket daily, which wouldn't be an option with the electronic one.

On the other hand, I just checked that link again, and the price has been cut to forty dollars. If it hits twenty, I'm so buying it. But until then, I just can't justify it.

It turns out that there is another journal in Holidailies with a cheery yellow background, even discounting the couple with borders in other colors. I should have remembered it, because it's SarahJanet's, and I'm supposed to be interviewing her for TUS, which is an assignment I've totally been slacking on. (I'd asked her if it would be a problem that the interview would be in the middle of NaNoWriMo. "Ha," I say, flatly and hollowly. "Ha.")

That said, her shade of cheery yellow is a bit paler than mine, so you can feel free to continue to associate "neurotic Jewish writer" with a cheery, monochromatic bright yellow background.

...Jen writes better metaphors when she's deep in the throes of writer's block than I do when I'm at the top of my game.

12:36 AM: A Holidailies Introduction

There's a teensy-weensy Holidailies logo in the sidebar. It must be December!

This is my third run at the Holidailies thing, pledging to do my best to post an entry every day of December. In 2001, I managed 18 days; last year, 21 days. I'm hoping to do better this time, but either of those numbers would be an improvement on the past few months. Especially as the Unconscious Mutterings don't meet the requirements for an entry this year. (The Friday Five might, though...)

Anyway. Greetings, Holidailies readers! Especially any foolhardy enough to try to read all the participating journals. My name is Shmuel, and I'll be your host for the few moments it takes you to read this, after which the details of this entry will no doubt be lost in a blur of other introductions. Nevertheless, for what it's worth... here's a short biography, and here's a summary of current plotlines, in no particular order:

• Living Conditions: I'm currently in a very small apartment in Boston, within walking distance of my grad program. Before that, I spent two years in Ann Arbor. Before that, I spent most of my life in New York City. I love New York. Boston ain't bad. Ann Arbor is overrated.
• Grad School: We're nearing the end of my first semester in an MFA program in Creative Writing. (I already have an MA in English Language and Literature.) I have a couple of columns to revise and a term paper to write for Column Writing, and really not much to do for Book Publishing Overview. I'm still dithering over my course selections for next semester; I've selected a couple, but they weren't my first choices, and I'm waiting to see if better options open up.
• Employment: I work part time (very part time) for a local literary/literacy organization. I stuff envelopes, I open packages, and sometimes I design postcards. It's not bad. I could use more employment, though, as I'm kinda broke.
• Social Life: I still don't have much of one, but matters are improving somewhat. I'm on good terms with some of my classmates, and talk to a few of them now and then. And then there's karaoke, which I attend faithfully every Friday night. It having been about four months now, I've officially achieved "regular" status. This being the one and only social activity on my schedule, I tend to ramble on about it way too much.
• Romantic Life: Nonexistent. Always has been. I'm kinda working on that, but I haven't gotten very far.
• Sex Life: Ditto. Which may or may not be implicit in the last item. (And it's taking all my self-control not to follow that up with a punchline about this sort of thing needing to be explicit.)
• Family Life: I'm closing in on the second anniversary of my not talking to my father, which continues to complicate my dealings with the rest of the family somewhat, particularly the majority of my siblings, who still live with my parents. I should perhaps explain I've got fourteen younger siblings, not including Erin.
• Travel: Speaking of my family'n'friends in New York, and my sister in Dallas, I'm hoping to visit both over winter break. New York is the comparatively easy bit.
• Religious Life: On hold, in something resembling the spirit of experimentation, as I see what the competition has to offer. Also in the spirit of making sure that whatever it is I end up doing is really and truly what I want to do, and not just the product of inertia. Contemporary Orthodox Judaism not generally being in favor of comparison shopping, this also complicates things.
• Pop Culture: I follow a lot of it. I have opinions on movies and TV shows and commercials. Sometimes I write about 'em.
• Journal Design: Virtually unchanged since the start of 1999. It has a cheery yellow background on most monitors.

(Photo swiped from The Virtual Bird.)

9:15 PM: Unconscious Mutterings

1. Scrooge::Uncle
   
2. Ribbon::Oak Tree
   
3. Physical::Evidence
   
4. Income::Tax
   
5. Dream::Maker
   
6. Notebook::Pen
   
7. Disney::World
   
8. Combo::Meal
   
9. Booty::Call
   
10. Skin::Magazine

1. Do you like to shop? Why or why not?
   Yes. Which is a problem, given that I can't actually afford retail therapy. It's probably a good thing that I'm a sucker for the bargain bin, rather than big-ticket items.
2. What was the last thing you purchased?
   The Strong Bad Sings CD. (I was tempted to throw in a T-shirt, too, but I successfully resisted.)
3. Do you prefer shopping online or at an actual store? Why?
   Online. Definitely online. It's so much more convenient, and it's easier to find what you want, and it's easier to comparison shop, and you never have to face another human being.
4. Did you get an allowance as a child? How much was it?
   For a few years in high school, yes. A dollar a day, which would work out to six bucks a week. Or perhaps five; I'm not entirely certain whether Sundays were included. I think I'm the only one in my family who ever had an allowance, actually... Anyway, this would be the era in which I bought most of my Star Trek books.
5. What was the last thing you regret purchasing?
   An out-of-print secondhand book. The purchase itself was a good idea; what I regret is that the seller didn't see fit to indicate anywhere in the description that it was falling apart. I'd return it, but I'm not sure the $2.95 is worth the trouble, plus getting a better copy would cost rather more... (Aside to anyone reading the comments in Jed's journal: no, this wasn't When We Were Rather Older. My copy of that was, if anything, in slightly better condition than I'd expected.)