Sunday

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Hoo DANG! Though I had planned on checking out some new places today, venturing out to retrieve groceries completely flattened my desire to do so. The weather, which had been so hot the past few days, took a definite turn for the cold. The air outside feels at least 20 degrees colder and the wind. Oh, the wind! The chill of the wind feels as though I just brushed some giant glacier on its way in. Though my body was quite warm enough in my layers and fleece, my face! I actually felt the skin stiffen in the cold. This could be in part to the fact that I have quite a pretty burn on my face and forearms from Saturday.

I retrieved my groceries out of necessity and when I got home, spent the first half of the day washing clothes (which always seems to take a long time) and then, because I had no choice, did my dishes in the shower.

Let me explain: Since moving in, I get the feeling that this apartment is slowly falling apart around me. My sink has been completely clogged for the last 4 days and continued searching for a Draino product has led me nowhere. So, I have had dishes piling up as a result though tomorrow i will hunt down every last Mongolian until someone can tell me where to buy DRAINO! Because washing your dishes in the shower? Ew.

And then the lights in my bathroom burned out. Both of them. At the same time. Plus my door handle fell of COMPLETELY (though it has now been fixed by Gala) and my spin function on the washer does not work. Not to mention the fire and all the interesting things that happened when I first arrived. I almost feel as though I am waging war against this place, trying to get it to hold together long enough for me to leave. There's also the part of worry that the landlord will think it's MY fault that things have been malfunctioning at an alarming rate. I don't think it is, but at the same time... who knows?!

So at any rate, after a morning of cleaning and an afternoon of napping (sunburns always make me feel a bit lackluster) I wrote quite a bit in one of my stories and then decided I needed milk and more mixer. I walked out into the bitter, bitter cold and trekked to the bank only to discover that it was in fact closed. Then I tried the other bank which I had been told was open on Sundays. A nice guard there informed me that it was closed on Sundays. Grr. So I went back home and got into my pajamas, now thankful for the previously oppressive warmth of my apartment. My face is very happy now.

Some news flashes I've gleaned from the BBC and American radio stations:

Because of the push for Ethanol, a large amount of “Food crops” have been converted to providing supplies for converting corn into ethanol. This is causing concerns about food epidemics worldwide and India has requested an additional 250 million dollars in food aid in anticipation of problems in the next harvest year. Rising food costs worldwide have also put a pinch on poor and poverty individuals, which greatly effects major developing countries such as India and Africa. At the recent summit on climate control, it has been suggested that corn production for the use of Ethanol be suspended, until specialists and experts can determine the extent of the damage and potentials of the future.

Also in environmental news, a large section of an Antarctica glacier has fallen into the ocean, raising concerns that this chunk of ice alone, could have the potential to raise water levels 2-5 feet, endangering some low-lying island communities. BBC has dispatched a team to track its progress.

Now for an uplifting story: an organic farmer has begun using pigs as the ultimate solution for his apple crop infestation. Beetles lay eggs inside of the apples, which in turn rots them and they fall to the ground. Here the eggs hatch, and the cycle of life continues. One farmer in the mid-west has now employed pigs to take care of this problem. So far, the pigs have consumed 99% of the rotten apples and research is now being done with Universities, to test the long term sustainability of this project. So much for bacon huh?

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Comments

[Daria]

As for the beetle-destroying pigs, I suppose it's just a faster method to get the highly desired apple-smoked bacon =p

[Rupert]

Apple-smoked bacon
LOL, now that merits a real investigation! :)