miss_yt

I printed my letter to Marjorie but haven't mailed it yet, and when I tried to call Rachel she wasn't home. I'll have to call her again.

Yesterday Mom and I went to Tyson's Corner in Virginia. It's an absolutely huge mall that's sort of a local landmark, but I hadn't been there before. I finally got my hair cut at a salon that does the "Ouidad" technique, where they slice your hair with the edge of a scissors. That helped thin my hair out, and the stuff they put on it makes it curl nicely. Mom got more of the stuff, which takes a while to apply but only has to be put on every three days or so. It makes my hair very un-frizzy, so I guess it's worth it.

After the haircut, Mom went shopping elsewhere while I went shopping on my own. Anyone looking at my purchase record will be very confused by what they see. I bought a fancy ceramic teacup and leaf-shaped saucer from Teavana to go with my cast-iron teapot, I got a set of 3 CDs containing music by Chopin (for only ten dollars, a very good deal), and I also bought a copy of Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick for the PS2. That last I've played with Valerie, and it's good, mindless, zombie-whomping fun. Mom wasn't too freaked out, but she says I can't let Benjamin play it.

Mom and I got back together after our solo trips, and she got me a couple of tops from Ann Taylor. On the way back we went to an Indian restaurant and then stopped at a Trader Joe's, where I found some really nice diet cherry soda. We also went to a Bed, Bath & Beyond where Mom picked up some new placemats (which are, incidentally, much nicer than the ones we had before). I found a towel stitched with the words "Drama Queen." I told Mom that I wanted to get it for Benjamin since I call him "Drama Queen" from time to time, because he does a lot of theater activities after school (singing, dancing, acting) and has sort of a volatile temper at home. She didn't quite understand that I was joking and told me not to get it: apparently a lot of people at Benjamin's school think he's gay and consequently the gift of a "Drama Queen" towel would be rough on his feelings. For God's sake, he's only twelve years old, how can people be calling him gay at his age?

Daniel's friends visited that evening and played some DDR. I joined in for a little at Daniel's request to show them how it's done, since they were all rank beginners. Daniel's friend Katie told me that she once watched a DDR competition in which some of the most serious players changed into workout suits and did stretches and warm-ups before playing. Heh.

Once everyone was gone, I played my newly purchased Evil Dead game. It's not the best thing I've ever played, but it's quite fnu. There's something innately satisfying about hacking down Deadites with a chainsaw.

I have two problems today. First, at some point between yesterday morning and yesterday night the TV remote got lost. I was using it in the morning and Benjamin wasn't home, so it's probably my fault - although Daniel's friends were around the TV last night, so they might have had something to do with it. I'm not accusing them of stealing the thing, just that they might have misplaced it. I looked in the couch cushions, around the family room, in my room, various other places, and I still can't find the thing. Where the heck could it be?

My second problem is that there appears to be a leak under my sink. I was cleaning out some junk from the cupboard under there - various hair care products and stuff I won't use anymore, which we will give to a women's shelter - and found that some of it was wet. After I finished taking out the things we're going to give away, I removed a lot of the remaining junk, wiped down the bottom of the cupboard, and turned on the sink so I could see where the leak was. I let the water run for a few minutes but didn't see any dripping, so I'm quite perplexed. I'll check it out with Dad when he gets back, since he's in charge of short-term solutions for stuff like this anyway.

This morning Mom gave me a book called Eats, Shoots and Leaves, which describes itself as a guide to "the zero-tolerance approach to punctuation." As some of you may know, I'm an obsessive freak when it comes to spelling, grammar and punctuation, so this cute little book is perfect for me. I found out about another interesting book by reading the paper this morning - a publication of the last, unfinished Tintin book, with notes left by Herge, released for the 75th anniversary of the first Tintin adventure. I'm not a huge fan of the boy reporter anymore, but since he was one of my dearest fictional childhood friends, I feel I should get this book when it comes out in the US.

Nothing else to report, except that I plan to play more Evil Dead, enjoy my new teacup, and maybe write some Ruse fanfic while listening to those Chopin CDs.