More Food

April 29, 2004 - 12am

Well, operation Deplete Foodstores is under way once again. At the end of May, I’ll be moving out of my apartment, and :: sigh :: in with my parents.

This is only temporary. Hopefully, very temporary. I have to find a job before I get a place to live, because I hate commuting. I’m looking to work about fifteen minutes from where I live. Ideally, I’d like to be able to take my bike from home to work.

Whether this will happen or not has yet to be seen. I kind of doubt it will, but it’s nice to dream.

Anyway, I’m trying to eat everything I have stored in my cupboards so that I have a little less to pack up and move. Or throw away. (I always feel bad throwing away food.) I’ve already got a shitload of stuff that needs to be moved, and one less box would be a load off my mind.

Pennies

April 26, 2004 - 12am

I had to work last night, and I decided to close the jewelry register. It’s not my job, but I figured it would help kill time until we were closed.

As I was scooping the coins from the drawer into a sack, a wheat penny caught my eye. I flipped it over, and looked at the date. 1945-D.

My eyes bugged out.

Holy shit. That was during World War II. Didn’t they mint zinc-covered steel pennies then, because copper was needed for the war effort? Aren’t copper pennies from then exceedingly rare?! Is this round piece of copper my ticket out of this shithole and into a larger tax bracket?!

I quickly shoved the penny into my pocket, and finished up the rest of the night.

This morning, I checked out coin pricing guides on the internet. I was fully expecting that the coin was worth nothing (or, perhaps, 1¢) To my surprise, I saw that a coin in moderate condition could be worth $300 to the right numismatist.

Now I was excited. I figured my next stop should be to go to eBay, and see it anyone would actually pay that amount.

No. No one would. There are several listings for 1945D pennies, and none of them are selling for even a dollar.

Damn.

Heat

April 16, 2004 - 12am

It was 80° here in Wisconsin today. Some people love the heat.

I fucking hate it.

My blood is too thick for weather hotter than about 78 degrees. I think Christine mentioned this in her blog at some point: we have a theory that people with ancestry from northern climates produce more body heat. It seems to be true. My ancestry is (as far as I know) entirely northern European, and she used me as a portable space heater all winter long.

In hot weather, however, I’m miserable. I can lie naked and completely motionless and still sweat. I far prefer winter to the middle of summer. If I get cold in the winter, I can put on a sweatshirt or huddle under a blanket. And everywhere is heated. If I get overheated in the summer–which I do, constantly–I can’t do much. I’m uncomfortable taking off my shirt in public, and I own two pairs of shorts. And not everywhere is air conditioned.

Not to mention the fact that 20 minutes of direct sunlight will burn my pale, pale skin to a painful crispy red.

Stupid heat.

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© Marc Teale 2008.