August 1st, 2002. Thursday
 

 
    Traditionally, August has been a terrible month for me.  Today is August 1st.  Historically for me, a terrible August usually follows a great July.  July '97 was just about the best month of my whole life.  July '98 was just about the same. I think I've gone through this before.  August '97 was one maybe the absolute worst and therefore longest month of my life, up to that point.  This year though, July was nothing spectacular, so I'm hoping the August-July relationship is a game of averages and that August will just be about the same, instead of a standard drop-off in quality of life. Lately I've started to think that I've been in a real bad mood for the last two years, with occasional spikes of joy. I'd like to think this isn't true.  But really, since my first year of grad school ended, it's been one disappointment after the next.  Luckily, I am pretty light-hearted by nature.  Though this has certainly been tested.  Anyway, still a little worried about August.  My horoscope tells me that this will be a great month, thanks to Jupiter, bringer of jollity.  As always, we are being cautiously optimistic.
    Speaking of my horoscope, it always disappointed me that Nora and I share the same sign, Aries.  Often when we're talking on the phone, she be reading a newspaper or something, and she'll say, "Want to hear my horoscope?" And I'll have to say, "You mean our horoscope?"  This always annoys her.  It is rather annoying, in addition to the fact that she's reading the paper while we're on the phone.  Anyway, speaking of Nora, I spoke to her for the first time in a while last night. Every time I try to call her, she's driving somewhere and unable to talk.  Yesterday, before we actually began a conversation, she had to tell me several key pre-conversation conditions: She was in her car, the reception might crap out over the mountain, and if she suddenly isn't talking it's because she had to drop the phone and grab the wheel and swerve to avoid dying.  Anyway, I talked to her for about six minutes until the reception got all crappy.
    Right at the moment the call was lost, my neighbor Miss Charming Melodee came  out.  I immediately blamed her for making the call drop.  She was bringing out the garbage, and looked somewhat disheveled after dumping the bag in the garbage can. She looked up and had a sort of crazy glint in her eye, and my first question was "Are you drunk?"  She said no, then just pulled her hair back, and that was all it took to look normal again. It was sort of a startling little transformation.  It was like her face was made of clay and she could just switch looks at the drop of a hat.  Very odd.  Anyway, Miss Charming Melodee's moving out this weekend.  I am very jealous. My own apartment search is stagnant, and I'm getting a little worried.  But I've got to get out of that place. It's falling apart, and I've been there for three years.  So I'm very envious that Miss Charming Melodee found a place that she likes a lot, and didn't even see it before she signed the lease.  Naturally, every day the temperatures are in the mid-90's, which will make the apt. hunting all the more pleasant.  Curiously, last night was surprisingly temperate and pleasant, and I sat for some time on the stoop drinking Coronas and talking on the phone.
    Back to Nora, she and I like to debate who has the better birthday, since we are both born under the same sign and we need something to argue about.  She said she has the superior DOB, because hers is on the very first day of Aries, which is the first sign in the zodiac.  I think mine is cooler because it falls on the 100th day of the year.  No matter what I might privately think, I will never concede that hers is cooler.
    I also felt a little guilty not picking up the phone when Nora called while I was talking to Miss Charming Melodee.

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