Little things

I've been noticing little things, like how pleasurable it is to buy a new toothbrush, and how I have seen more fireflies around in the last few days than I have seen in my entire life. It has been sweltering here the past few days. The other night we laid on the grass near our garden, which was cool below the humidity.

Today I spoke to a woman on the phone that was objecting to us sending her a bill for over $600 in items not returned. We were tipped off by another library, who denied her a card. It is becoming the policy of libraries in our consortia that if people owe outstanding amounts at one institution, then they are not allowed to open new cards at others until they settle their accounts. She claimed her ex-roommate had stolen her purse and used all her cards. I asked her of she filed a police report, and she said no because at the time she had her daughter with her and was not supposed to and she did not want to get in trouble. She claimed the roommate also stole her SSI check, her ID. . .and it went on and on. I listened and sympathized, but let her know that she either needed to return the stuff, or replace it. I'm getting better and better at this stuff.

I am reading Chew on This. It's Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson's juvenile version of Fast Food Nation. It is disturbing. After a few chapters I went to sleep last night and dreamt that my car had a flat on a cold night, outside a restaurant. A man in the parking lot helped me take care of the car, and then we went into the restaurant where I assume I was repaying him with food. It was like KFC, circa '78. The dream was colored tan and gray. I saw a huge vat of mashed potatoes behind the counter, with brown splotches in them. Those splotches began to move, and then I noticed them flying. They were a hybrid cockroach, which physically disgusted me. Then I woke up. I still struggle with the thought of going vegetarian, although I can't seem to get there. Last week I experimented with polenta. It was actually good.