Well dressed and water logged. I didn’t bring an umbrella today and the fall storm season is upon us. I tried to wait out the heavy rain in the car, but it started to pour when I was halfway up the hill to the south campus library. I ducked into The Children’s Resource Center for a bit and watched their fish (very nice one hundred gallon tank with a variety of African Cichlids), but it felt too much like I was in a hospital waiting room, so I braved the drench and puddle jumped the rest of the way here. Who published the paper on the calming effect of fish? I have been in several hospital waiting rooms over the past two years and they all have huge, well-maintained tanks.

So, I made arrangements to go rock (wall) climbing again tomorrow night. I’m a little worried about the expense of this new hobby, but I need to do something healthy, so why not this? “Because it’s expensive,” she shouted at her screen. I suppose it would also help to have health insurance if I am going to spend my time climbing forty foot walls and riding motorcycles. I had to sign my life away last time I was at the gym, initialing two pages of “I will not sue you because I know that this is intrinsically risky but I’m doing it anyway” jargon. “Oh my God, you don’t have health insurance?” she exclaimed. I haven’t had health insurance for a very long time. I don’t have cable TV either. When your student loan debt and credit card debt from ten years in school hit your lower middle class income, there is not a lot left over for frivolities like health insurance. “And rock climbing,” she added dryly.

Ah well, our ship will come in. “What ship is that?” she said with a dubious crossing of her arms. You know, all those great policies of the Bush administration that do more to help fund education, the arts, and enrich middle class America. All the positives of this administration will come home to roost.

“I’m leaving.”

Why?

“Because you’re hallucinating.”