The laundromat raised prices 25 cents on their front-load washers. So now the rates are:
* top load: $1.25
* double-load front load: $2.25
* triple-load front load: $3.00
* quad-load front load: $4.00
* $0.25/10-minutes for the dryers
I found 3 quarters in my apartment and I had two dollars in my wallet; I didn’t know about the price increase.
The east-west sidewalks have been shoveled; the north-south on Brearly less so, and my lack of traction on my shoes makes it treacherous with a bag of laundry, a box of detergent, and a book for reading in my hands. All but two front load washers were in use when I arrived, and most of the dryers were full but finished. Only two people were sitting around.
I discovered the price increase and realized that I had enough for one load and then 20 minutes in the dryer, which would have to do unless I wanted to leave, find a Tyme machine, and then get change at either the nearby bookstore (Star Books) or down the street at a gas station. 20 minutes it was.
I made it through part of another chapter in House of Leaves, which is still amazingly engaging, although I find myself only reading it on the bus or at the laundromat. I also read parts of Special Topics in Calamity Physics, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, and The Historian at the local laundromat — just a brief record for posterity.
Not long ago I recommended Brian K. Vaughan’s Y – The Last Man to an acquaintance, the wife of a friend, and after an intensive work project was done she managed to read the first trade paperback; she’s now enthralled by it, and to return the favor recommended Magic for Beginners, a short story collection by Kelly Link. I can get it at Memorial Library at least, so will save money there.
Last night I finished Dar Williams and loaded thirteen David Bowie albums onto my play list. I’m now on the album Outside (with the happening “The Hearts Filthy Lesson” playing now), with about six hours of music to go. Dead Can Dance follows.
Bowie makes important if not significant appearances in three movies I’ve watched: Labyrinth, a cult favorite of 20 and 30 somethings everywhere I suspect, and an early appearance by Jennifer Connelly (she had already appeared in Once Upon a Time in America as well as Phenomena [a Dario Argento horror movie of sorts with iffy production values but lots of creepy bugs]); The Hunger (along with Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon); and Christiane F. – Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo (1981), in which he does not act, but a Bowie concert early in the movie plays a role. I haven’t yet caught The Prestige (Bowie as N. Tesla for science geeks) or earlier works, such as The Man Who Fell to Earth. He turned 60 two weeks back on the 8th.
A side effect of listening to so much music these days is a desire to play music again, and so I browsed Amazon.com, Craigslist, and a few other sites looking for electric/digital pianos. The high enough quality ones, with weighted keys and such, are still out of my price range, alas. I don’t have a thousand or two free to drop on a new keyboard, and all the inexpensive ones ($100-$200), while perhaps touch sensitive, are not weighted, and are usually not even full keyboards (usually 60-70 rather than 88 keys). The mid-range ones, in the $500-$700 range, seem to have at least semi-weighted keys, but it appears that while they work for the casual performer — and I guess I qualify as only casual these days — they don’t seem to do classical music (and the range required) very well. I also miss my viola, which I left back in Idaho in August; if I had gone back in December for the holidays I would have brought it back with me.
