i just lost the lengthy pennsylvania-visit-related post i was working on. i don't even feel like reconstructing it. a few things, though:

my grandmother remarked early in the visit as to how, like, i seemed so promising as a younger person, and what happened? i am rather upset.

a business in greensburg, pa: touch of class taxidermy.

i think my aunt candace outed my cousin alicia to me. she definitely referred to alicia's 'girlfriend' and to her feelings that alicia's job at ms. magazine 'screams gay.' these facts do not a lesbian make, but i think i'm going to email alicia. suddenly i feel like we have a lot more in common.

on the jiffy lube's signboard: if you love her, lube her.

my father told a story about when he was working in west virginia in the late '60s and early '70s, bringing telephone service to rural farmers. some of his buddies had seen 'blazing saddles' the night before. and he and his coworker pals were standing in a field, measuring telephone poles or something, when a horse ambled over to see what was going on. one buddy said to the other, a big strong hulking dude, 'i'll bet you can't punch that horse in the face and knock it down.' dude said, like, 'nobody can do that.' 'i saw somebody do it last night.' so the big strong hulking guy (must've been six-six, three-fifty or something) rears back and punches the horse in the head. the horse doesn't even blink. dude breaks three fingers and his wrist. and he fills out a workmen's comp claim. so their supervisor was asking my dad, 'okay, so you were there when the incident happened?' my dad says, 'yes, i was.' 'well, what happened?' 'i can't tell you.' dude got his claim paid. and he was back to work a couple days later.  ¶ 2:59 PM