This is where I came from, and this is where I'm going

So I'm standing in line at the bank this morning to cash -- er, deposit responsibly -- my tax refund check. I've got my wheelie cart bag because I'm off to Austin on Wednesday night and I'm a little too organized for my own good, but I'm taking it into work a day early. And I'm wearing my backpack, carrying my deposit slip.

A middle-aged guy with silver hair interrupts me. "You must really love your job!""

I look down, he's pointing at my bag. "Em, no, this is for a trip. I'm going on a trip."

So we end up talking about Austin and how hot it is, the general nonsense you're likely to share with a stranger on a bank line.

A few minutes later on the subway, I'm kind of amused by the incident. In many ways we may still be back in the stone age, but I like that I'm living in a New York where it's assumed that a woman is lugging her work around before any other options are floated.

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Unrelated: I've taken to staying up far past my bedtime recently. Mostly it's just not wanting the day to be over so soon. But a lot of the time I'm left checking email once more, playing a doofy game, or writing a last-minute chapter in The Novel That Never Ends. But sometimes I end up stream-of-conscious Googling, which is not quite the same as a regular Google search. Free-forming the Google is just basically having a random thought in your head and being able to (for the most part) resolve it in .45 seconds. That's what often keeps me up at night, because the brain keeps moving on and wanting to know things like "Whatever happend to the Verlaines?" and "What is that nut tightener thing called you attach to a ratchet?" and so forth.

And so, I get to bed around midnight, despite my best efforts. By the way, the lead singer from the Verlaines is now Dr. Graeme Downes, and he teaches in New Zealand. His former bassist is bitter about publishing rights.

And it's called a socket.

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Also unrelated: A blog worth checking out -- Past Deadline -- because it's done by my bud Ray! Hey, Ray!