July 9

Actually, I'm going to tell you what I did on the 4th of July, to the best of my recollection. This is the first chance I've had to get online since then, and my memory don't tend to stretch five days back all that well.

Um, I got up and showered, using some Tropical Escape Dial soap. Yummy. I... had to work, I was in the middle of seven straight days of work, which is why it's taken me so long to get online. No net at home at the moment, gotta go to the library on a day off. Can't think of anything else to say about the day. Stuff may have happened that I meant to talk about, I just don't remember. After work went home, and barbecued on my little hibachi I got from CVS, for the first time. I bought it about a week earlier, cost about $7, and it's kind of a piece of junk, but it's all I've got, okay? Anyway, the night I bought it I assembled it with minimal bloodshed, but let me say this: while there are surely many people in this world who are fluent in both English and Chinese, none of them are employed as assembly instructions translators. But back to the holiday. I barbecued a couple of burgers and a couple of hot dogs. Not bad, really. Watched a bit of A Capitol Fourth and a bit of whatever was on NBC, but before that was over my sister and I went to watch some real live fireworks. Y'know, I tend to forget how truly great fireworks are in person, I mean how much better they are than on TV. Especially if it's a professional show. While watching it, I had a bunch of stuff I wanted to say about it, words to use like "brilliant" (in a British slang sense), and "dazzling," etc. I don't remember all I wanted to say, damn the luck. Also I was thinking of standing up at the end and shouting "top that, you stupid fireflies!" But I didn't. I did however use some Morning Glory sparklers I'd bought a few weeks earlier. I only saw them one place around here, a Marathon gas station. Used to get them pretty much anywhere, back in Maine. For my money, Morning Glories are far & away the best sparklers you can get. I especially like the little chibi fireworks that pop off them toward the end. Also I had some Wolf Pack bang snaps, those things are fun. I never used this brand before, but all brands are probably the same. This pack cost me 42 cents with tax. Cool, eh? Um, and I had a couple bottles of Sam Adams Summer Ale. Good stuff. Had a bottle before we went to see the fireworks, and a bottle some time after we returned home. Some time after, because when we got there the gas detector alarm thing was going off and Beth unplugged it and called the fire department. They found nothing wrong. It remains a mystery, but everything's okay. What else? Had some Mountain Dew Code Red, and some Giant Eagle brand red, white, and blue popsicles. Can't think what else to tell you. It was a decent day, I guess. Hopefully I can say more next year, and say it a hell of a lot sooner.