Thursday, 19 July 2001 | Explanation

Today feels like the last day of high school, one hour before the end of the day, sitting in study hall. What I would do if my time were my own—well, I've got lots of ideas, ideas that only make sitting here more painful.

I might not have considered e-mailing anyone today, but then I couldn't, so of course that's what I wanted to do. Apparently a train derailment in a tunnel in Baltimore is responsible (it "cut a major fiber trunk servicing many telephone and data carriers in the Southeast"), an explanation seems too remote to be satisfying. The result was that Internet was neither awake nor asleep, it just flickered unevenly, like a dying candle, keeping me interested enough to waste my time hitting "refresh."

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Tonight an opossum visited our porch, upsetting the felines. The stray let out a big yell, and Emma, the remaining kitten, increased her volume by puffing up her fur and standing sideways and arched, like a Halloween cat.