Water sign suffering

When the autumn air turns arid, no amount of usual hydration will do. The people I know who live in California eschew the Midwestern humidity, but I find every year that my skin is suited to it. Those strange nose sores, the violently itchy skin, chapped lips, and the fact that days can go by and one's hair is still "clean" I would trade for mid-tropical today.

I met a bunch of neighbors yesterday; they have this annual block party thing. I can't really comment, because who knows who may stumble by — my neighbors work for DeVry, for Hallmark, for the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum; some of them are adamant about restricting street parking to residents via annual permits (and signs the city / your taxes will pay for).

I understand the frustration of not being able to park near one's home when one takes the privilege to use fuel and come home for lunch, or when one works a night shift and finds the whole street full of students' cars … but 24/7 seems silly, and I don't quite buy the fact (he could not produce evidence or paperwork, just petitions — "ah, those are at home") that the civic body elected can't work out some other method. Wanna visit me? Oh, sorry, you have to have $2 permit. More details, please. Yes, I know Parking Control doesn't come around at night — so, again, why would the rules be applicable then?

The more interesting part is how people talked about each other to us, the newest ones, saying things to forge allies, to plant suspicion, to goad, to invite, to inform. There is a book club, apparently, too. I have a feeling I probably said some things that were not appropriate. But I'm always too honest, even when on guard.

I just got this vibe, except from my two closest neighbors (the two sets with little kids, the neighbors whose yard is adjacent, the neighbors whose yard I can see from our porch), that there is tension, that there is discord, that, like certain people one works with, one shouldn't become friends, that it's not going to work out, that it's always going to be based on something besides love.

As for those I do love, I have neglected to carve out the hours it takes to make phone calls, to write letters, to visit.

I'm sorry.

We did refinance the house last week. I guess the neighbors can hear that. Lost over a point of interest and $100 a month in payment. With the appraisal, it cost a few hundred less than the October payment would have been. Don't have to pay again until December, which is uniquely fitting to my personal cash-flow issues. I looked into and have half-completed applying to the IRS for its seasonal positions. You in Missouri and nearby have noticed that your federal return envelope says Kansas City. The processing center, build LEED® Silver, is nearby but not actually employing until February 7.

I have a midterm on Wednesday, and I have the usual, the same pile of work to do for my employment job. I'm angry because the last production has at least three errors — one is mine (a spacing typo), one is the printer's (a post-proof change that apparently was not made clear), one is designer's (typing things in that already exist and are triple-checked and should be cut-and-pasted in).