Gas and God, Culture and Career

Crazy, I know, but I'm glad gas prices are rising. Maybe it will help us come to our collective senses about driving enormous, damn-the-natural-resources gas guzzling vehicles (lifted trucks and SUVs are the norm here), and about the fact that fossil fuels are history, so to write. There's just not much to like about the oil industry, except that it's ubiquitous. My father's generation saw the rise of the gas-powered vehicle. I hope I'll be around long enough to see its demise. While I have a full-sized car (we are big people), it gets pretty good mileage, and neither of us have to commute very far. Maybe the high prices will inspire even me to dust off Fuji (my bicycle) for my nearby errands. Hard to believe it now, but there was a time in my young adult life when I didn't own a car, and my world was defined by bus, bike, or bipedal exertion. Grocery shopping and trips to laundromat were a big bitch, however. Ah college daze...

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M recommends that I blog the Flying Spaghetti Monster, which he was introduced to via one of his favorite sites, Jesus' General. (I get treated to sermons from it most nights.) While I think FSM dogma goes a little too far, when you think about some of the wackiness of many of our religions, it's really not too beyond of the realm of belief. One danger of worshipping FSM--would it make me hungry for Italian all the time? And if so, would I have to refrain from supping on spaghetti, or would it be the only meal I could partake of?

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I almost bagged tickets to our Cotati Accordion Festival yesterday. The local NPR station was giving away tickets to the seventh caller, and I was second and sixth. Maybe it's just as well--a whole day of accordions might be tough to take. Though it sounded like an interesting mix of zydeco, Sweden via the Midwest, and norteno versions of that fine yet maligned instrument.

I'm trying to think of more cultural things to do on date night. Our usual activity is going out to dinner at new (to us) restaurants, which we've had excellent luck with lately, by the way. We're planning on taking in Shakespeare in the Park on Tuesday evening with my mom and stepdad. It's "Twelfth Night," and picnicking before the show is encouraged, so that should be fun. It ain't cheap, however, but I figure that supporting our community arts is part of my charitable duty.

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A stressful week ahead for M--he has a final on Thursday, then (gulp), an interview at the public defenders office a week from Tuesday. We both can hardly stand to think about how radically that would change our lives--A new career embarked upon! Weekends together! No more horrible car sales customers to bitch about! It's also only part time, so there's the financial issue to contend with. I shouldn't have even written about it, I'm so afraid of jinxing it. But que sera, sera and really it's up to the Magic 8Ball and Flying Spaghetti Monster anyway.