viii

"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want."

-Calvin and Hobbes

            Goddammit.

The air-conditioner is broken again. And, since God is in an especially-pissy-mood today at me, the power is out too. I come home from work, barely having time to adjust to the absence of the screaming of little sugar kids, and the sound of my thoughts startles me. The house is a sauna and the internet, television, and microwave are all empty and unresponsive.

But the downstairs hasn’t gotten as hot as its stair-cased separated counterpart yet (known in some social and cultural circles as "the upstairs floor".) So walking down the flight of carpeting from my stuffed bedroom to the living room is a strange shift from 100 degrees of red attic-escape to 79-and-rising degrees of photo albums and open windows. This is how I spend my Friday nights: up and down and up and down two sets of steps to judge the difference in home climate.

And, for once, I have time to think.