duck-shaped pain

So, I�m in Denver now. Not sure how long I�m going to be here, or what this means with regard to the quality and frequency of entries.

The drive would have been better if the time when my windshield wipers decided to become completely ineffective had not coincided with my arrival at wet, slushy and crowded [1] Vail Pass. There were a few scary moments when I was completely unable to see, which would have been scarier if I wasn�t driving over a road that I�ve been over hundreds of times before. After the road cleared up a bit, I could see again. My windshield was filthy, though, and it drove me nuts. [2]

My time so far has been spent shopping � big surprise there. We went thrift shopping yesterday, where I bought some glass jars with lids, a brown dress, the collected plays of Sam Shepard and some spice jars. I don�t think there�s any sort of deep, profound meaning to that collection of items.

Ate mussels in hot black bean sauce � very good. Especially since joining them on the place were din sum and crab legs. Not bad.

I�m definitely in the suburban phase of my trip. Every trip back to Denver has both a suburban (shopping with my mom) and an urban (going to decent record stores and drinking coffee) phase. We cruised around the wilds of Broomfield, investigating the SuperTarget (completely unnecessary, but nice signage) and then going to the Enormous Chain Bookstore.

Wait, you say, you went to the Enormous Chain Bookstore when you�re in a city with one of the nation�s best independent bookstores in it? What is wrong with you?

Well, I had a gift certificate.

I got a couple of books I�d wanted for awhile: Gaston Bachelard�s The Poetics of Space and, because I believe one should use gift certificates to buy things one has always wanted but could never really justify spending one�s own money on, I got The Oxford Companion to Food, even though it does not contain entries for either "poutine" (in the Quebecois clot-o-fries sense) or "Navajo taco" (sadly missing).

I planned on making kale and butternut squash soup for dinner, but through the power of sloth and inertia, chiles rellenos prevailed. We opened presents (I got knives), watched some old movies and ate caramels.

That's all I have to say for now. I hope you all have a merry Christmas.

[1] Much more crowded than usual for a Saturday morning, but not as awful as a Sunday afternoon during ski season would be, when everyone�s trying to get back home to Highlands Ranch or thereabouts as fast as humanly possible.

[2] I am a total Clean Windshield Nazi. My car is frequently dirty, there�s old receipts and coffee cups and melted tapes strewn all about my car, yet if there is one spot or smudge on my windshield, I go nuts.

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