And they'll be placing fingers through the notches in your spine

Today was an exercise in futility. But there were some interesting points.
-I had my last engaging lit class today. I was really cynical all through it. Since it was the last class, there were kind of half-assed assignments during it, and we left early. We had to answer "why do we read literature?" and people were coming up with all these bullshit answers. Like "to gain other perspectives" "as an escape" "as a way of better understanding my life" All trite and total BS. No one picks up a book and thinks "Oh, hey, i bet this will expand my worldview and give me insight to another culture, which will help me see how I relate to the world" No. Honestly, I read for two reasons (ignoring the fact that reading was so greatly imprinted on me as a kid) 1. I am interested in people. I people-watch all the time. Reading is people-watching without going anywhere. 2. I want to know what happens next. This is also why I watch tv, and why I often skip taking care of homework to hang out with friends. I want to know what's going to happen, and I want to be there seeing it. I don't know, I was just tired and bitter, and towards the end channeled that into being manic. We had to, in groups, write a course description, as if for the course catalogue. My whole group was feeling a little punchy, so we came up with (as best I can remember it)
Think you know poetry? This ain't your mother's pentameter!
Are you ready to fly by the seat of your pants? Come on a magical adventure to (teacher)'s Land of Literature. Step up close and personal with the Contact Zone! See the Amazing Oppressed meet the Fantastical Oppressor! Get ready for the hegemonic cage match of the century ! Zow! That's Literature!
Ummmm. yes. Like I said, we were all feeling punchy. I was actually not responsible for any of that, I was just the one writing it down.
Anyway, it had been raining all day, and when I got out of class, Jill and I went to run errands. The plan was to go to PNTA, pick up stuff she needed to get for school, then continue on to Costco to get stuff for the Road Trip. But it was raining, and there was a Seahawks game. And so it took us an hour and a half for what is normally about 20 minutes. It was terrible, and it was raining harder than I've ever seen. Seattle has terrible drainage systems (what? It rains here so much! I don't understand) so streets were getting flooded, and it was just not good. Just as we got in to the parking lot at Costco, all the lights went out. We'd been seeing some power outages along the way, but when we dashed through the rain to the door, it turned out that one of the parking lot lights had been struck by lightning. So we had been about 30 feet away from it. I don't know if it's true, but it makes a good story. They eventually let us in, so that went all right. But then! We need to get rope and a knife. Easy enough, Home Depot is on the way back. Until it turned out to be closed. Sears is next door. But they have no rope, and no pocket knives. I was surprised by that one, and a touch annoyed. We decided to head to Lowe's. Which turned out to be a good idea. First, it meant that we avoided downtown, which was moving slower than when we had started out. Second, Lowe's had both rope, and knives. Third, it was just impressive, because most of the parking lot was closed off because it was flooded, and there was all sorts of flooding inside. There's going to be awesome damaged merchandise sales there soon. We ended us not gettin home until about 9 30. We left school at 3 30. This was not how I had imagined my evening. In any case, there's all sorts of gale force winds going up to something like 60 miles an hour rushing around, and my lights keep flickering every now and then. It had better not be this bad for driving tomorrow. Some one said something about 'blizzard' and 'Portland' but who knows.
The good news is, I'm pretty much packed. Mostly. I need to vacuum, and I need to get rid of my table and chairs. I don't think we're gong to leave on time tomorrow. We have between 5 and 7 to load up my stuff, and Anne-Marie's and then get on the road. Ack! I need to just go to sleep, but it's so hard to not try to get some of this done now, but I can't really. I guess I could get everything lined up in the order it'll go out to the truck in, and I could take apart my bed. I need to sleep, too, though. Last night I stayed up till 6, and set my alarm for 7, and when it went off, reset it for 8, but forgot to turn it on, and woke up at 9 10. Which isn't too bad, but still. Okay. I have to give up on writing right now, I can't focus.