Even in Australia

Today was one of those days, a Lousy Wednesday indeed. It was the kind of day in which there’s bad news waiting in your e-mail inbox, the train is too crowded, the woman next to you is drowning in drugstore perfume, your expensive walking shoes start to rub against your heel. I tried working out this evening thinking that the endorphins might kick in and improve my mood, but I succeeded only in tripping on the treadmill no less than four times (shaddup, Miles: it was the treadmill, not me). It was the kind of day that only one thing could make better: when I got home, I had to look up and read the entire text of Judith Viorst’s brilliant Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Viorst doesn’t gloss over Alexander’s day. It plain sucks: his brothers get all the cereal box prizes, his teacher favors his friend’s drawing over his, he goes to the dentist, who discovers a cavity, and he has to eat lima beans, for fuck’s sake. The best part is that the moral of the story is that yeah, sometimes days do suck. Viorst doesn’t try to explain away Alexander’s bad day with his youth, and she doesn’t try to banish the rain cloud that follows him around. The day is just allowed to suck. And when Alexander proposes to run away from his bad day by moving to Australia, where things might be so upside down that his bad day could turn to a good one, he’s informed, in somewhat more kid-friendly language, that people have shitty days everywhere. Even in Australia.

* * *

current book: will probably finish I Sailed with Magellan tomorrow, which means a lunchtime run to McBookstore. Magellan, while not pornographic, does have some explicit sex scenes–no big deal except that I do all my reading these days on a crowded Metra train, and I always imagine that the people sitting next to me are aghast and ready to start up a Tipper Gore-style campaign to prevent the reading of sex scenes in public places.

current music: I did a mini music festival recap today in my hole at work: The Shins, Calexico, Sleater-Kinney, Silver Jews, plus a little Neko Case for good measure. Also, I’m working on a blog post that justifies my recent download of Britney Spears’ “Toxic.” Seriously.

current socks: I wore my Grumpy Bear socks today. I’m not wallowing, I’m simply surrending to the suckiness of my day rather than trying to run away from it.