The new law, in effect since Friday, replaces criminal penalties with a $100 fine for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. The text of the law also forbids any repercussions whatsoever, from denial of student loans to inclusion in a criminal record to consideration during applications for status as an adoptive parent.

But in what is likely a clever sleight of hand by legalization advocates, the law, by pulling arrest off the table as an option, deprives police officers of any means to compel people caught with marijuana to show identification. Anybody willing to say "Donald Duck" to a cop who nabs him with a joint and asks for a name can escape even the $100 fine.

full story

I wish I actually had some pot. I don't smoke much nowadays, but now that marijuana is not just decriminalized but as legal as you can get without actually being legal... well I may just want a toke to celebrate! Go Massachusetts!!

While there may be a few benefits to living in Woburn, the significantly decreased mobility due to the lack of reasonable public transit far outweighs any of those pluses. I hate being stuck out here with my only option for going anywhere an hourly bus that can literally be hours late. I wish we never moved, it was a huge mistake.

purpleglitter and I are now Woburnites. The move has been a stressful ordeal and we still have quite a lot left to do. The washer hookups leak and so does the roof and the basement. I need to get the landlord out to fix them (though he'll probably just fix the room and the hookups). I still have to drill a hole for the ethernet and get the birdroom in a state in which the birds can fly. I need to unpack and organize the kitchen and set up the back rooms. The livingroom is still undone as well. I still need to find someone to rent the old place. In order to do that, I'm going to spend the next 4 days in Arlington. That means if I want to get any progress done here, today is really my only chance until the weekend, so back to work.

I haven't been reading my friends list much the last few weeks and I probably won't be reading it much until this is all over with. If there is something important that you think I should read, please comment with a link.

Busy busy, but this will be worth it.

it's been a long day.
john came over to help move stuff
we are trying to get stuff moved before the movers
the less the movers have to move the less we have to pay them

john drove me back from the new place
we saw a person in the road
he had been hit by a car
his child was crying and screaming
because his father was hit.
the women from the car had gotten out
some had stopped and was calling an ambulance
it had just happened before we got to the intersection
it was a busy and confusing intersection
and the man was still in the road
and people were trying to get through
and i was worried that another accident could happen because of the confusion
so i got out and directed traffic until the police arrived
and tell those asking that someone had already called the police
as soon as the police arrived i walked away
i didn't see it happen
i wasn't going to be of further use

later
back at the new place
i saw coyote in the front yard in the mist under the full moon
he didn't stay long
he quietly went back into the wood
he seemed large for a coyote
i almost want to say he was a wolf
but i know wolves are exceedingly rare in massachusetts
and one showing up in woburn is incredibly unlikely

i went out to the front porch
and listened for him
but all i heard was the water dripping from the few stubborn leaves still in the trees

The last few days have been a whirlwind. purpleglitter and I found an incredible deal to rent a single family in Woburn. I honestly didn't expect to be moving until at least the end of our current lease, but wow, this is something we just can't pass up. We'll be moving in two weeks and we'll have a much better place for a good deal less money. I'm going to miss this place. Even though I will still be spending quite a lot of time in Arlington, I won't be the "Madwoman of Menotomy" anymore, which makes me a bit sad.

Yesterday, walking along the bike path to Alewife, shellsong and I saw a squirrel get hit by a bike near Spy Pond. The cyclist rode off, leaving the squirrel flapping and bleeding on the path. I ran to him and picked him up. I put him on the stripy bag that Ameale had given to me many years ago. I was going to use it to carry him home and try to find help for him. But we never got there. We never got anywhere. He died at that spot in my hands. I brought him into the woods and put him in the earth. I went to shellsong's house to clean up and rest and we set back out to Alewife. It was hard to pass the spot again, still wet blood. I didn't know him, but I saw him go.

Good journey little squirrel. Good journey.

I walked up to Chestnut Manor and tried to vote. I had thought that when I changed the address on my driver's licence that my address on the voter rolls was changed as well. I found out that that was not the case. The staff said that I needed to vote at my old address and that this year precinct 6 was voting at the Thompson School. I walked to the Thompson School and found out that was not where precinct 6 was voting. I needed to walk to the Hardy School. Finally at the Hardy School, i voted. At least I got my exercise in for the day. An hour of walking isn't bad.

I was considering voting third party. However, I decided to vote for Obama. I did this because Obama is a rare major party candidate that I don't consider the lesser of two evils. I would only be voting third party to assist with the ballet access issues third parties face. However, I feel it more important that Obama win the popular vote by a large margin. If he wins the election, a wide margin will give him a more powerful mandate for change. If McCain steals the election, Obama winning the popular vote will make it harder for McCain to claim a mandate.

purpleglitter and I got legally married Saturday. We intentionally kept this under the radar and had with us the bare minimum of people required, we didn't want anything big, over the top, or stressful. We stood together on the shore of Spy Pond, under a willow tree, in the darkest corner of the garden. We could hear the fish splashing as we said our vows.

I am tied to you, my favorite piece of string. The seas may boil and the mountains may fall to dust and the stars may dim and die. But to you, my favorite piece of string, I shall be tied forever. And after forever has come and gone, forever again I shall love you.

merrypersies and I went to the Whole Foods in Alewife yesterday. Walking back to the Alewife T stop, we watched the rain clouds coming in. We had no idea what was in store for us.

A few drips preceded what was to come. They brought little warning. merryperseis was still unsure if it was even worth it to take out her umbrella. She decided to take it out, but it really wasn't any help.

The storm lashed out with what essentially was a wall of water. Our umbrellas snapped instantly and we were soaked. Not the kind of soaked where you run through the rain hoping to get out before you become "too wet". This was an instant soaking. We were immersed. The sheets of rain and then the hail pelted us as we ran towards the nearest building. The nearest building wasn't nearly near enough, but we ran towards it anyway.

It was very disorientating, everything moved so fast. The hail was pea-sized and we were never in any real danger, but it did get the adrenaline going. We sat under the awning of the Alewife Towers until the storm subsided a bit and sloshed our way back to Arlington.

Heading home from Trader Joe's, purpleglitter spotted a snapping turtle in the opposite lane, cars zooming around it. She attempted to pull over immediately, however an ambulance behind us boomed its horn when she attempted to slow down and there really wasn't a curb at that point to pull onto. The ambulance had neither its sirens nor its flashing lights on and appeared content to travel along with the normal flow of traffic.

About 150 feet away, there was a good bit of curb and purpleglitter pulled onto it. I ran over to see if the turtle was still okay. I was glad to see that someone had stopped in front of it, blocking traffic in that direction. She had attempted to move the turtle, but it had lunged at her and she backed off. The turtle was quite large and quite angry, it definitely didn't want to be messed with. I stood behind it while the other person stood in front to keep it distracted. I grabbed the turtle by its sides and picked it up. That really pissed it off. It flailed its short legs and lunged its head at me, attempted to reach my hands with its formidable beak.

There was a small lake across the road, which I assume is where it came from as it had clearly recently been in water. I crossed over the guard rail and walked down the incline to the lake. I didn't want to simply set the turtle down, because I was worried it would use the opportunity to exact revenge on me. So, I squatted down by the edge of the lake and gently threw the turtle in. Even though the drop was a short one, I waited to see it swim off before I climbed back to the road.

I had left my purse with person who had blocked traffic, and upon retrieving it I headed back toward purpleglitter's car. purpleglitter was walking towards me already and we met halfway, smiled, and went home.

For about one month during the summer of 1994, in a brief break from living on Route 9, I was able to rent a room in a crappy apartment on Graves Ave. in Northampton. The street actually dead-ends near a cemetery.

purpleglitter, zarthon, and I spent the last night in Hadley. This morning, I woke up first and walked down Route 9 in Hadley for the first time since I lived here. I touched its pavement and it felt like touching an old friend. I realized then that I was never really homeless when I lived here, not in the truest sense of the word.

A home does not need walls or doors or any of those things which make up a house or an apartment. Home is the place where the soul finds its center and my home was larger and more beautiful than any mansion. My home was Route 9, that glorious stretch of asphalt between the center of Northampton and University Drive in Amherst.

Spring has arrived. Soon, the plants my sister and brother are sending me for my birthday will start arriving and I'll be able to put the compost to good use. They are sending me 3 butterfly bushes, 3 red latham raspberry bushes, and 6 oriental poppies. I'm very excited about gardening this year.

I haven't done any gardening since I rented the house in Columbia, Missouri and grew carrots out back. It was a very small house with a small yard, but it was a house with a yard and it was $185/month. Wow, that price seems great now, I couldn't rent a room for that around here these days. It's a different season here, in more ways than just not being winter anymore.