Screw necessity. Hunger is the mother of invention.

After class this morning I hit the road for Edisto. The drive was uneventful, save for the fact that EVERYBODY who has my phone number mysteriously chose to call me while I was in the thick of Atlanta traffic. But I <3 phone calls on the road. (I am so very much part of the problem.)

I tried to call dev_chieftain, which didn't work so well - I kept getting error messages. DIFFERENT ones, every time. It was bizarre, and I was forced to conclude that her state of residence is, in fact, a myth. However, she informs me that I had the area code wrong, and was trying to reach her in New Hampshire. Where she does not live. Oops. The correct area code, as it turns out, validates Dev's insistence that she is not residing in a myth. And I got to talk to her on the phone! <3

Now I've stopped overnight in Augusta, since my other option was to complete the twelve-hour drive in the dark. (This alone would not be such a big deal, but the last three hours of the drive is through very wooded areas. And you don't hit the deer in South Carolina: The deer hit you.)

So I'm comfortably settled into a hotel, which is always sort of fun. I can soak in the tub and curl up with my computer (I LOVE YOU, FREE WIRELESS INTERNET) and a meal, and get a good night's rest, which always makes the last leg of any journey a lot more fun.

Tonight my dinner is Chinese take-out from a restaurant I picked solely on the basis of it belonging to the father of a girl I went to high school with. I should know better than to expect anything relating to my high school experience to bode well.

The sesame chicken is delicious. So is the fried rice. But they DID NOT GIVE ME A SPORK. Neither did they give me chopsticks. WHAT KIND OF GOD makes a world where you don't get chopsticks automatically with Chinese takeout?!? My faith is utterly shattered.

However, I am still hungry. So after double-checking and confirming my spork-less state, I have shown proper American ingenuity.

I've washed a pair of ball-point pens, and am using them as chopsticks.

Now I know why chopsticks are not made of plastic.

But, dammit, IT WORKS.

Sort of.

It beats eating rice with my fingers, anyway.