I'm usually not very worried about garbage trucks or wayward road rage motorists when I ride my bicycle. There's this sound the chain makes with every pedal. I'm afraid one of the pedals will finally be the dealbreaker and snap the poor thing. Metals get brittle in the cold, right? Today was a cold snap, I think. There were newspaper articles about it. Part of the lock froze. I'm a very negligent bike parent. I should take better care of it. (him? her? hir?)

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Whenever I realize I'm bothered by something I do, I generally tell someone about it as soon as possible. Who I tell seems to self select on the criteria of instant gratification in reassurance - that's ok, other people do it too, it's not the end of the world. And then because it's ok, I've managed to entirely resolve myself of whatever I was bothered by. To the extent I'm calmed (and don't need to dislike myself very much) but also to the extent I don't do anything to change what bothered me. (On a more meta level: I don't like this habit. And I've just told you about it.)

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Marlene Watson retired recently. She was one of the first female police officers with the Toronto police force, and the longest serving female cop in North America. She tells this story to the newspaper, where they go in on a call and it's an old man who died. He kept budgies. Six of them were standing in a line on the headboard of his bed. Like they're all waiting for him to wake up again.

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Here are two notes people found and shared with the internet. It made me want to get a long distant paramour just so I can write florid and overwrought yet earnest letters. They'd have to be kind and indulgent of the melodramatics in a way that doesn't result in self-satisfied laughing or having it all thrown back in my face when we inevitably go through The Very Bitter and Emotional Breakup. I don't think that's possible with the kind of relationship with florid letters, so I guess that's what I'll have to put up with. (how about fictional love affairs? and not just fanfictional, but entirely fictional?)

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top five _____ I really love these days:

1. the library 2. being able to talk to my mom about some of the things that are bothering me and then feeling better afterwards 3. Torchwood 4. raspberry tea from the metropolitan tea company ltd 5. Be Easy (ft. Trife), Ghostface Killah

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I have a research essay due in about 11 hours that I haven't started writing. Can you tell? (don't worry, by the time you'll have read this the ordeal will be over since I'm saving this only on the computer at home and not the flashdrive until I hand in the essay.