09 XII 2001 - 22:01 - vita11

Go here for the previous entry; the "back" button will take you to a description of how I look, more or less.

So, two-subject entry today, one about volunteering, one about nuzzling, and what that really means is that my mind will probably leap twice as many places as usual and, hey, I'm in some advanced state of something not unlike panic because I haven't quite started my homework yet and I still feel the need to write in here for some reason. Argh ack igh, I hate it when this happens. Now that that's out of the way:

I went to volunteer today at Under One Roof. I hadn't expected it to be quite so... busy. The people were fine, though; there weren't too many questions I couldn't answer, and the other volunteers were nice, too, particularly e. who stayed and talked with me, and... yeah. Very good experience overall. I did mostly gift-wrapping and finding things in the back room for people. (Gift-wrapping went OK; I learned that my wrapping isn't so bad, although I need to work on the speed at which I can match objects to the correct size of box.) While trying to find something in the backroom, I discovered that I need better glasses, and soon - I was trying to find something, and I couldn't because I had read an 8 as a 0 and a 4 as a 1. Yep, J. needs lots of help, and soon. Which brings us to the first leap: laser eye surgery. It seems sort of frightening. It's sort of useless to think about it, because they don't do it on people as astigmatic or hyperopic as I am, and I'm too young to boot and my lens will stretch in new and fun ways yet, but it creeps me out, thinking about a little machine that will whir, cut a little slice in my eyeball, and leave it open so that a flashing light can slowly whittle down my lens until it is more or less the proper shape.

I think I'll stick with my familiar glasses, thank you very much. I've grown very fond of them and I don't think I'd quite look the same (which I suppose is the point, but when you think you look better in your glasses than you do without-)

I realize that at some point I should probably make a "cast of characters" list, just as O. has (donkeylady, if you're curious) - for reference and also just to see who's on dland and who isn't. Bleargh, that made no sense. At some point, I will, though. Mark my words-

It occurs to me that the volunteers just assumed I was gay. Which is not an unfair assumption, but (and I suppose I should be asking a.-sfsyo and g. here) am I really that feminine? Is it so obvious? Should I just have done with it and get a tattoo on my forehead proclaiming it to the world? (Or maybe I do it effectively enough on my own, no?) Got into a fascinating coming-out comparison with e. which was nice, and then more gifts had to be wrapped and we were sort of busy sharing the pair of scissors between us.

Um, never mind the nuzzling bit. I've decided that my thoughts and t.'s thoughts on nuzzling are perhaps not too good to be distributed online = sent into the ether so that they may circulate forever, world without end. My sister is mocking me because she is saying that fifteen-year-olds should not be saying things like "I'd be hard put to tell you where I learned that," but so what? Her friend is here and I think they're going to do some proofreading together. I have eight more schooldays until Christmas break - no, seven, as I don't have an English final - and I can't wait. Fourteen days until all of my sisters are home.

The last weeks are always the hardest.

In case I don't get a chance to update over the next few weeks (doubtful), merry Christmas to all. If you're Jewish, happy Hannukkah from tomorrow at sundown, blah blah blah do I really need to go into Kwanzaa, Solstice and Eid? Whatever you celebrate, have a good one, blah blah blah come shop at Under One Roof where the money goes to a good cause - (yes you know you want to buy a plane ticket to San Francisco, "The City That Knows How," what better place to spend Christmas? We have sold our soul to tourism).

Over and out - it's really time I did my homework.

calculus, calculi m. a little stone, a pebble; a piece used in the Roman version of draughts; a voting pebble; a counter for reasoning --> a calculation.

calx, calcis f. the heel

calx, calcis f. but also (rarely) m. (alternate meaning) a stone, a pebble; collectively, lime, chalk; through metonymy [association of closely related concepts] a goal (marked with chalk), an end.