Disparate Notions and Notations

Today, at 9:30 AM, it was already 29ºC. As of 4:30 PM, it's 36ºC. The smells of hot garbage and festering urine permeate and linger in the stagnant Philly air. Overhead, clouds like mountains don't so much drift as crawl along a skyline hazy with smog, cerulean veiled behind the smoke of stale cigars, commuters, and what's left of Industry. Thunderstorms inch their way towards town.

My work-a-day week is over. I'm making progress. Likewise, inching along. I wouldn't say I'm great at my new job quite yet, but I can see the shape of things in my mind's eye now, so it won't be much longer before I'm at least competent. It's a good job, and I like it, but it is hard. It's fair to say a lot of people could not do this job. In fact, I say to myself every few weeks that I can't do my job either, but then I always figure out a way, and it becomes easier. It's challenging, but I enjoy it.

I'm decluttering my apartment again, and somehow, that has made it even more cluttered. I look forward to moving somewhere new in the near future, a bigger space with better light for my houseplants, in a town that doesn't pride itself on being filthy and belligerent. Somewhere that isn't overrun by half-dead junkies shooting up on my steps, madwomen scrawling poetry on walls inked in human feces, and howling like banshees throughout the night, and protestors and street preachers shouting about anything, everything, and nothing at all times — anywhere without chuggers on every corner.¹ A place where people don't honk their goddamned car horns nonstop², busses don't shout at you whenever they turn a corner, and the stoplights don't holler about the light being green to cross Walnut Street. A veritable paradise.³

I called the camera shop today about the X100Vi that I purchased at the beginning of March. It is still on backorder. They don't know when it might arrive because Fuji doesn't tell them when to expect deliveries or what they'll actually be receiving when a delivery does arrive. I'm told it might be another 20 weeks. I will wait. However, I did sell all of my shares of FUJIY. I love their cameras, but after this debacle, I do not believe in them as a company, and dumping my stocks directly hurts executives more than canceling my order ever could. I even realized a few dollars on the trade but nothing to write home about.

It has grown quite dark. There is rumbling in the sky. I hold out hope for the coming of a storm. It seldom rains in the city and never for very long. The rumbling has passed. The clouds are thinning. The sun has returned. It never rains in the city.