[Error: unknown template qotd]That depends. Does knowing dystopiac count as "being prepared"?

(I mean, I guess I would have to demonstrate my usefulness to her. I'm given to understand that there are a limited number of spots on her Apocalypse Team.)

Last night I got home from work and, after a small amount of putzing around, decided to put a load of laundry in the wash. By my reckoning I had just enough time to get it started before my weekly Steam & Cinders Directors' meeting was scheduled to start. The situation had gotten somewhat dire; I'm a typical guy, and require only socks, t-shirts and underwear in my day-to-day existence. T-shirts I had, but socks were running low, and underwear was tapped out, so laundry had become necessary.

The washer/dryer in my apartment's basement sort of sucks, but provided you do smallish loads it can be coaxed to work. I only had enough quarters for one load anyway, so I figured I would do one load as a stop-gap and then do some more laundry at some future date when things had calmed down some (ha!)

So I loaded up my dirty laundry into the bag and, as is typical for me, swapped stuff out of my pockets before heading to the basement. Typically I carry my wallet and cell phone in my pants pockets at all times. Both of these items were now tossed onto my bed. The wallet was replaced with quarters, and my cell phone made way for my house keys. My house keys generally live in my coat pocket, but the door to our back stairwell locks automatically, and I don't like to chance being locked out (and I don't usually throw my coat on to go to the basement and do laundry.)

My laundry got underway, as did the meeting. I excused myself about a half an hour in to move my one load from the washer to the dryer, then returned and put it out of my mind. Several hours later there's a break in the action, so I dart downstairs to grab my laundry, intending to come up and fold it as we wrap up the meeting. Only I don't need to fold it, because some compulsive and well-meaning neighbor of mine has already done so. The dryer had been finished for about two hours at that point, so it's unsurprising to me that someone had pulled my stuff out of there. I'm grateful that they folded it instead of just leaving it in a heap as I would have done, but it's a little unnerving and creepy to have your underwear folded by a stranger.

I didn't dwell on it at the time, though. Just hastily stashed the folded laundry in my room and returned to the common area to finish up the meeting.

Cut to this morning, when I am getting ready for work. Running a bit later than I intended, I scramble to make myself presentable and just get out the door. Pat down my pockets -- what the Hell, why are my keys in there? Oh, I guess I never swapped back from last night. OK, so keys go into my jacket pocket. Remaining quarters go back into the quarters bucket. There's my cell phone, and my iPod, and...

Hmmm.

Where the Hell is my wallet?

After checking several places where I normally stash my wallet, and then several others where I wouldn't normally put it but where it might logically end up, I still came up empty. In the lead-up to the first S&C event, thablueguy and I allowed our apartment to become something of a disaster area. It's not exactly filthy, just overwhelmingly messy and cluttered with crafting supplies and LARP-related paraphernalia. As a result of this my room's natural messiness has been kicked into overdrive. And so very quickly it dawned on me that, even though I'm highly confident my wallet is still in my apartment somewhere, a thorough top-to-bottom search for it was a fairly daunting and hopeless prospect.

Alternating periods of enraged frustration and stymied hopelessness ensued. In the end I grabbed some cash from my rainy day fund and came in to work late (which meant buying a Charlie Ticket, as my Charlie Card is, of course, in my wallet); I could have just worked from home, but I'm not confident I would have been able to stop myself from looking all day long enough to get any work done. In fact, if I had stayed home, in the end I probably would have flipped out and begun cleaning my room. Which would have been good -- it's unlikely to happen in the next few days otherwise -- but I have stuff to do at work and just couldn't accommodate that particular bout of crazy at this juncture.

I'm really hopeful that my wallet turns up quickly, when I get back to searching for it. I'm just trying to reassure myself that it will be OK. I'm calmer now than I was on my way to work, but even so, there's part of me that wants to blow off all my plans and just find the damn thing, if only for my peace of mind. But my wallet and it's contents are just things, in the end, and since I believe them to be still in my possession (even if I don't have them on hand at the moment) I am trying as hard as I am to chill out and live without them.

Ow my brain. Alright, so check out this optical illusion:

( Click to see, but only if you've got some time on your hands and some headache pills handy. )

Is the figure spinning clockwise or anti-clockwise?

The correct answer is, apparently, both. It seems that most people, upon initially viewing it, get locked into seeing one direction or the other. Through concentration, however, its possible to jar your brain into "reversing" her spin. I will say that it took me a surprising while to get the flip to occur, and as of this posting I still can't do it consistently. There are a number of different tips and tricks available on the internet (focus on her foot, or on her outstretched hand, or view her with your peripheral vision, or try humming music or doing sums in your head) but honestly I think its just a question of training your brain.

Various websites and pop-media articles have attributed left-brain versus right-brain notions, depending upon which way you initially see her, but there doesn't seem to be any evidence to back that up, so I'm going to assume its garbage.

I just had the following thought and hereby wish to cite it as proof that I have been working in this place too long:

"When rating websites, the Japanese are like the Soviet judges at the Olympics."

Seriously Boston, what the Hell?

The ATHF fiasco was one thing. And make no mistake, it made it seem as though this city was run by idiots.

But earlier today the bomb squad blew up a traffic counter.

OK, so... what the Hell, people? Seriously.

This is the third time I have commented on some creator I like and respect in the webcomics/blogosphere, only to have that person waltz by my podunk little blog unannounced and leave a comment. Once is understandable, and can be written off to chance and good fortune. And twice, well. demiurgent and weds are like Bradley Whitford and Matthew Perry -- they may not always have been together, but once you've had them as a pair you're never going to want them separately ever again. But three times? And rstevens? Seriously?

What the Hell?