the seas of change; what the tides rearrange

I was crossing east william street in ann arbor yesterday afternoon in front of a stopped toyota prius and I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong with the car. that's when I realized it was as silent as any of the parked cars on the street. very eerie, and perhaps even a bit unsafe? sensory feedback is so important to us. I hear a car engine and I know it's running and thus my instincts tell me "stay out of it's way--it eats kneecaps for breakfast." after I passed, the light turned green and the car rolled away with a slight hum, like a sailboat gliding on smooth water. I'm not knocking hybrids here. I've been a hybrid vehicle fan since I was an undergrad and did a fair amount of research on them in grad school. that said, I still have yet to drive one and I've heard it takes a little getting used to.

So then I'm sitting in ashley's pub about an hour later (drinking on a school night? natch. they've dogfish head 90-minute IPA on tap!) when my mom calls and, amongst the other conversation, tells me that she's thinking of buying a hybrid. ?!?! this woman has nary an enivro bone in her body. then she tells me how they're building an ethanol plant in marysville (where I grew up). incredible. gas hits $3 a gallon and suddenly everyone's an expert. If she had also said "switchgrass" I think I would have sprayed beer all over the virginia woolf book I was reading.

katie showed up a bit later after a brutal day of studying for the GRE and got herself a framboise (one of the few beer-related drinks we've found that she likes) and we reminisced for a bit about our first date, one year ago yesterday, and how we've seen each other on 183 out of the 365 days since then. that's pretty good, considering she was gone for two months last summer and we live 30 miles apart. to commemorate the occasion I played wilco and the velvet underground on the jukebox; she ordered a vodka martini. a little scotch later, suddenly I woke up late for work. no worries.