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A Busy Woman, With Concerns
Artist, writer, unapologetic progressive, LGBTQ+ ally
Sociology
get used to paying for your fuel
i forgot to mention earlier, i don’t think that gas prices will go back down. a new standard has been set. we’ll get used to paying these prices for a while, and we’ll be understanding about it because “we’re in a war” and “the economy’s suffered a setback” due to the devastation from the hurricane… and pretty soon we’ll be SO used to paying these prices that we won’t notice that they aren’t going down again. just my theory. say goodbye to $1.50 gas. say goodbye to $2.50 gas. we went to the movies tonight and, in the parking lot, walked past possibly the largest pickup truck i’ve ever seen. it was… well, “fat” i guess is a good word for it. and tall. i said to doc “i bet that person is sorry they bought that gas-guzzling monstrosity now.” maybe they are, maybe they aren’t. but like i said earlier, i’m not terribly upset by the rise in gas prices, if it forces people to consider transportation alternatives.
gas prices
gas prices have shot up, i would say, about 35-40 cents per gallon in the past week. it’s now difficult to find gas that’s less than $3 per gallon for regular octane. just a year or so ago, prices topped $2 for the first time that i can remember, and have more than doubled in the last 3 years or so. from what i can gather, in inflation-adjusted dollars, these prices are some of the highest in u.s. history. so thursday night after work, i filled up the tank ($2.99 per gallon), put the car in the garage, and left it there. friday i found a way to get to work on public transportation. it took longer, but i got some nice walking in that i wouldn’t have otherwise. it’s not that i really have a problem with gas prices being high like they are. i hope the effect is that people will use their cars less and walk/bike/take public transport more. i hope that the sales of giant gas-guzzling vehicles drops like a rock. maybe our pollution levels will decrease and we’ll have fewer red and orange pollution alert days. it’s not like we really have anything to complain about. gas prices here are some of the lowest around the world. in europe, they pay something like $5-$7 per gallon.
man date
i’ve always thought it unfair that women can get together one on one, going out to the movies or a nice dinner or just somewhere to talk, but men cannot do the same with each other without people thinking that they are gay. not that there is anything wrong with that, believe you me. but it’s irritating for anyone to have strangers make assumptions about their sexual orientation based on something that has absolutely no connection to sexual orientation. actually, men get the shaft in numerous ways — for instance, us chicks can wear skirts, dresses, pants, shorts, capris… you name it. any color, any style. guys can wear… well, pants or shorts. limited colors. they can accessorize with a necktie! woohoo! anyway, i digress. the new york times ran an article about the phenomenon known as the “man date.” read on: Simply defined, a man date is two heterosexual men socializing without the crutch of business or sports. It is two guys meeting for the kind of outing a straight man might reasonably arrange with a woman. Dining together across a table without the aid of a television is a man date; eating at a bar is not. Taking a walk in the park together is a man date; going for a jog is not. and, “When attending a movie together — preferably with explosions or heavy special effects, never a romantic comedy — guys prefer to put a nice big seat between each other.” we saw this demonstrated quite nicely last night when we went to see star wars iii, revenge of the sith (that movie is another story for another post). the two guys sitting in front of us were obviously friends and had come together, but left a seat between them. they were sharing a gigantic […]