You know it's a holiday weekend when...

[altivo]

• The gas stations in town raise their prices on Wednesday, and again on Thursday, and yet again on Friday.
• Your colleagues complain that when they went out for lunch, the traffic was bumper to bumper on the US highway through town and barely crawling
• The grocery store sale flyer that came in the mail is full of stuff you shouldn't eat, like hot dogs and potato chips, or stuff you can't afford even at the sale prices, like t-bone steaks an inch thick
• The fireworks seem to start every evening at dusk, keeping all the dogs within earshot, which is a long ways, barking until one or two in the morning

Oh, and the weather forecast is for possible thunderstorms every day for the next four days. Not a definite "It's gonna be gray and unpleasant" but just enough to make you doubt any outdoor plans.

Actually, I have to work Monday. We are only getting Tuesday off. Why couldn't it be Wednesday, so I would get to skip that evening shift I hate? Well, next year, I guess.

And for additional irrelevancy, here's a meme snitched from corelog:

Your Inner Child Is Surprised

You see many things through the eyes of a child. Meaning, you're rarely cynical or jaded. You cherish all of the details in life. Easily fascinated, you enjoy experiencing new things.

How Is Your Inner Child?

Comments

[lobowolf.livejournal.com]

It's about the same up here. My co-worker was driving back to the shop on Interstate 93 at about 4 PM; this is the main highway from Boston to interior New Hampshire and it was slowed down to a crawl. State officials are expecting 770,000 visitors to the granite state. No problem, I'll just cook up 1,000,000 hamburgers and 1,000,000 hot dogs along with a few thousand cubic yards of potato salad.

I had noticed that gas had gone up another 7 or 8 cents, and I was puzzled since I hadn't heard about any hurricanes, terrorist attacks, or rain showers over Texas; I suddenly said to myself "Oh yes, that must be it, time for another holiday gas-gouging." Multiply 9 cents by millions and millions of gallons, and by golly, several oil company bigwigs will be buying new boats in August.

No grocery flyer, but I was at the supermarket after work. It was remarkably quiet. I'm guessing the people who are leaving town aren't shopping, and people who are hosting have probably done shopping earlier in the week.

No fireworks yet, but I'm sure there will be some tomorrow.

I used to like the 4th as a kid, but it's never particularly appealed to me. More often than not, somebody's radio system has a meltdown and I end up working on the 4th. Nothing says "celebration" like driving 70 miles through holiday traffic to fix something that's been on the fritz for a month and at the 11th hour, somebody in charge finally decides that they need their whole system rebuilt.

I have Monday and Tuesday off, and if I'm really lucky, I won't have to go anywhere for the duration.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I need to visit New England again sometime, but certainly not at a time like this. ;p Hope you do get your full days off with some nice weather and time to do whatever you wish.

here's mine... so sad...

[biancomago.livejournal.com]

How Is Your Inner Child? (http://www.blogthings.com/howisyourinnerchildquiz/)

Re: here's mine... so sad...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Eyep. That last line fits my impression of you pretty well. I still know so little about you I could fit it all in an eyedropper and have room left over for 2 cc of ethanol. I'm often afraid to say much in response to your posts, because so much is left out that I think I'll just put a hoof in my mouth.

We're all friends here, we don't bite. :)

Re: here's mine... so sad...

[biancomago.livejournal.com]

meh, online... if ya say something at least then i can stew it. Not like it's in person and you get to watch me go all shocked and into *ahhh protect weak spot!!!* mode *chuckles*

Besides, when you ask for clarification on a point it shows me a) your interested in what happened and want to express an opinion and b) need to work on expressing myself more.

You know... if we don't tread on some toes you never really get to know someone.

Re: here's mine... so sad...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Maybe, but I prefer to avoid the toes if I can. Usually that works.

I generally don't try to draw someone out until they've volunteered more information than you have since I've known you (or at least, since I've been reading your journal.) For one thing, I don't like to let anyone think I'm prying for any reason.

So, I know a few things. Most are pretty generic, though. I'm pretty sure you're still living with family and not always happy about it. You read, which is a plus in my book. :) You do not feel financially secure at all, and you're not happy with your employment situation. That's all fairly common and doesn't give me much to address.

You like horses or equines in general to some degree, but just how extensive that is, or whether you have any experience with the real thing I don't yet know. You are in that age group (around half my age) where lack of experience isn't particularly unusual, and neither is restlessness or dissatisfaction a rare phenomenon.

I believe I'd like to know you better, and that I might have some helpful words to offer once in a while, but things are still too speculative for me to barge in. :) At least you know I'm still here and listening now.

[pioneer11.livejournal.com]

Holidays...

Feh.

And Humbug.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Oh, we need holidays. Seriously. One of the excuses corporations have for not giving people enough time off is that it's "bad for business" and reduces their competitiveness somehow. A holiday is a day when EVERYONE is supposed to close down, so the competition is evened out.

[chibiabos.livejournal.com]

Isn't thunder and lightning the organic form of fireworks? :p

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, the natural form anyway. I don't know if it's organic.

[doco.livejournal.com]

I'm amazed that the 4th of July is not one of those "Let's shift it to a Monday whenever it's convenient so that our 7-days-of-vacation-per-year workforce gets a long weekend off" holidays. :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

The jingoists would burn the Capitol down if they did that with Independence Day. Some of the other holidays that have been shifted to be always a Monday are still causing trouble. Memorial (or Decoration) Day is one like that. It used to be always May 30, but now it's always a Monday. In some places, there are two different holidays, the one observed by the federal government, and the one observed by the local government which refuses to change from the traditional date. It's an insult, you see, to those who died to defend their country, or so they say.

As for the lack of vacation days and holidays in the US, you're absolutely right. After all, the fortunes of wealthy capitalists are built upon depriving the slave labor pool of everything that can possibly be taken from them.