Stupid having-a-conscience and wanting-to-make-a-difference and Quaker-education and such. I soooooo wanted to sleep in the last couple of days, but haven't because I've been out being a good citizen and crap. It's very annoying.

Friday was the Chicago Choral Artists garage sale, which involved me getting up far too early, driving on the expressway during rush hour (and the traffic reports don't do me a damn bit of good, because I know the expressways by the numbers -- 94, 90, 290, 55, etc.-- not the names -- Stevenson, Dan Ryan, Eisenhower, Kennedy, etc.), sitting in traffic, schlepping mountains of stuff out of the garage, beating back crowds of garage-sale junkies who tried going through the stuff before the sale was even open, hanging out in the heat, and generally living out the worst of retail. They made a bunch of money, however, and this is pretty much my last commitment to the group, so it's all good.

What is it with the rabid garage sale people? They're like locusts. We'd advertised the sale to start at 9 a.m. At 8 a.m., we started taking stuff out of the garage. And the crowds descended.

Me: We're not really set up yet, and the ad said 9 a.m.
Rabid Garage Sale Junkie: Oh, that's ok, I don't mind.
Me: [thinking] Of course you don't mind, you're the one being a twerp.
RGSJ: I won't get in your way.
Me: Uh...
RGSJ starts burrowing into boxes so only the feet are visible, salivating and growling. Emerges clutching something in sweaty little hand.
RGSJ: How much is this?
Me: $2.
RGSJ: That much? That's ridiculous. How about 50 cents?
Me: Um, no, it's marked at $2.
RGSJ: Well, I go to a lot of garage sales, and that's far too much. You'll never sell it.
Me: I'd be more willing to believe you and bargain with you if this were, say, the end of the second day of the sale, rather than before the sale has even opened.
RGSJ goes off in a huff, looking for someone less crotchety to browbeat.

There's a reason I never did well in retail.

This morning,it was a block cleanup for our neighborhood association. Alas, it was not our block. I went anyway, only to discover that the alderman's office had screwed up and not given up supplies. As I was tired and cranky and hot, I was secretly pleased -- I was this close to singing out "Oh well, I might as well just go home...." when one of the block residents said something to the effect of "Well, to hell with it -- we've got brooms and rakes, let's just use our own equipment!" Dammit. So I swept the street in 90-degree heat and full sun this morning. Stupid civic responsibility complex....