Captain Industry

I was industrious today:

• I opened a bank account, for which the bank paid me $25—it was either that or a duffelbag. "Nobody ever takes the bag," the teller said.
  
• I went to the hardware store and bought 100' of speaker wire, brads, wire strippers, and picture hangers. I used one of those last to hang K.'s mirror in her room, and the other things to install my surround sound speakers. No more wires trailing every which way: I ran the wires like a real homeowner, up around doorframes and along baseboards, and damn me if they're not unobtrusive.
  
• I stopped by K.'s office and set up her new laptop to talk to the Oberlin network. (Translation: I plugged the yellow Ethernet wire into the appropriate socket. But it does work now.)
  
• K. and I decided which posters we want to have mounted for display. My room will have movie posters galore: Brazil, The Limey, The Return of the King, and Lost Skeleton of Cadavra.
  
• I made cookies, of the chocolate chip variety. I made them with "short patent" flour, which is apparently some wacky Ohio kind of flour that makes for exceedingly fluffy pizza crusts but perfectly normal cookies. I learned that it is damn near impossible to brown anything in our gas oven, less'n I want to use the broiler.
  
• I bought tickets for my visit to Swarthmore in late September (23 - 27).
  
• I learned that the Dean of the Conservatory of Music lied to me: the five and dime does not sell guitar strings. Why would he lie? What fiendish plot is he weaving, with me in the starring role as Patsy #1? Curse you, Dean Stull! Stuuuulllllll!
  
• I had a lovely talk with Miriam, which doesn't count as Industry but was nice enough to mention.
  

Now I am sleepy. I was going to try to call OFIH again (she asked me in an email to call last night, but her phone apparently has its own ideas about whether or not it will ring for any given call), but I think my bed's song is too loud to ignore.

It is shocking; it is offensive. But it is TRUTH!

Thank you, Vardibidian, for telling me about Hell Houses. They are a Christian Right response to haunted houses, in which scenes of sinning are followed by scenes of the sinners being tortured in Hell. From this particular House in Biloxi, MS:

Scenes included: a funeral scene of a young homosexual man who has died of AIDS, a drunk driving scene where the driver realizes they have just caused an accident that killed all the other people in the car, an enactment of a teen suicide, and a riveting abortion scene. Then the final two scenes are hell and heaven. In hell, the tour meets Satan himself. Hell will be hot, smoky, loud, visually disturbing, and sensually confusing. Satan will boast that everything the tour has witnessed in HELL HOUSE has been his handiwork and that he will have their souls, too. They are then rescued out of hell by angels who escorts them to heaven where they finally meet Jesus Christ.

Mmmm...sensual confusion.