I recall a play, I’m pretty sure it was The Pirates of Penzance, I saw it at a Waldorf school which meant I was in the fourth or fifth grade. The only thing I remember about that play is that I believe they sang something mournful about an albatross and the main character couldn’t marry the woman he loved because he was born on a leap year, which meant he was actually only a few years old, legally. 

I thought that was very funny and it’s the first thing I think of towards the end of February, the only time I ever really think of leap years. 

It was windier today than I’ve seen in a long time, and we lost power for a little while. We had to leave while it was down to go do a repair in Royalton. We got burgers there and they were worse than they used to be. A lot of food and service things seem like they’re worse than they used to be and I’m not sure if that’s because of the economy or because I’m getting older. 

Did I find The Pirates of Penzance uniquely amusing because I was eleven, or because the subprime mortgage crises had not yet soured things?

That’s a joke.

I find the notion that things are uniquely bad today to be frustrating, unrealistic, and not very fun. I find pastoralism irritating, despite the fact that I aspire to something that looks pretty similar to it. The kingdom of heaven this ain’t, it’s the world, and there are problems in it. Best not to take a bad burger personally.