Strange Days, Indeed

Playing on the iPod: I dunno, but it's totally cool and has a lot of fast-moving strings. Probably Phillip & Pam Boulding.
Meters swum today: 1800

It's eerily quiet in downtown Dallas. I had a lane all to myself at the pool this morning, and the parking garage was half-empty. I ran into about three people walking to my office and my phone hasn't rung once. I finally asked the receptionist where the hell everybody was. She told me it was Columbus Day and at once I got it. Of course! Everybody's hiding someplace because they're expecting smallpox-infested genocidal slave trading Spaniards to land on the coast and start burning down the forests! No, she said, looking at me like I was crazy, it's a holiday for most people. Oh, I said. Right. I knew that.

Anyway, you could do worse than quiet in Dallas. My sister's coming to see me in a few weeks and I'm trying to figure out what would be the quintessential Dallas experience. I guess I could drive her through downtown, maybe on Main Street so she can see tall glitzy high-rises on one side and abandoned buildings on the other. There are a lot of things about this town I actually like, but it's kind of soulless. It's all about extremes. Oil money and Dust Bowl poverty. Mercedes limousines and homeless persons. Cowboy boots and Armani suits. And quiet law firms on Monday mornings.

Winter's coming and the external cats are getting fat. They start eating like pigs right about now so they can have a nice layer of blubber for when it's cold out. I usually start giving them kitten food, which is of course nice and rich. Why they just won't frick'n come inside, I can't imagine.

I have no big plans for the holidays. I cannot afford big plans at the moment. I did have leftover pasta for lunch, though, seeing as it's Columbus Day. Does that count?