I have returned to using my old laptop for accessing the internets.  The IBM Thinkpad 380XD--the first Lappy--she's the pinnacle of technology, the wave of the future.  With an awe-inspiring four gigabyte harddrive, 256 MB of ram, a Pentium II processor, a battery life of one half of ten minutes, the ol' girl (she was born in 1995) weighs in at an allegedly portable ten pounds.  Seriously, 380XD is awesome--and she converted to Linux a few years ago (read as:  I no longer need to play around in DOS to solve her problems), and she still starts up faster than my parents' computer.  Also, using 380XD prevents my parents from stealing my good laptop for their evil purposes.  Yes--my parents pilfer my computer when theirs isn't working.  So I'll hide it and use a computer they won't understand.

But that's not the point of this post.  The point is...I'm getting there.

I spoke to chiara_suzuka on the phone today, and she said that I had to post this story for your reading pleasure, dear readers.  I drove around Blair County today to drop off applications and such at a few local papers--the Altoona Mirror and the Tyrone Daily Herald.  Altoona was the second trip and happened without a hitch.  Tyrone...now that was special.

I was dressed like...well, a college English professor.  Brown shoes, brown herringbone twill pants, blue shirt and tie, jacket...if you stuck a bow tie and my brown fedora on me, I would've looked like Indy rushing to teach class.  I dropped off the application and such inside the building--so I was gone for all of five minutes.  I come outside and find that this Tyrone streetrat is trying to pilfer my bloody hubcap.  So I yell at him and wave my arms in the air.  Who would've thought that tweed could be so terrifying?  Not me.  But it sounds like something out of an Indy Jones flick, and that almost makes me feel cool.

Also, some outstanding things I've been meaning to say:
1.) Glenndolyn got me a graduation present--a bottle of port.  Watch out, nikeshizu, it's from Portugal.
2.) The other day my high school English teacher saw me when I was picking up Cat--I was wearing a fedora, and Mrs. J. called me Indiana.  I responded without missing a beat.  Maybe it means I'm the one true heir to Indy's kingdom of cool.  As long as I don't have to inadvertently spawn Shia LaBeouf in the process, I think I'd be cool with that.
3.) Because I'm gradually coming to the conclusion that my existence in Bellwood is nugatory and worthless, I'm taking up pointless quests as a hobby.  Last night I searched all of the local thrift stores for bow ties and found nothing.  But I can't search for nothing in Blair County--because I would find a lot of it.

Hmm...it seems to be pseudo-raining, so it doesn't look like I'll be able to do my two-three hours of walking this evening (it's becoming a prerequisite for acquiring a meager amount of sleep.  probably not a good thing).  Maybe I'll go mallrat, since I've got a full tank of gas and nothing to do with it.

I'm trying to do better out here.  Right now, I feel largely unappreciated.  So it goes, I suppose.  Now to go mallratting.