Another useless skill

I have discovered that I can now match up my pairs of socks, even the all white ones. They can be distinguished from other white ones by their particular shade of white (the newer the socks, the more blindingly white they are -- the older ones look more greyish by comparison) and the fuzziness (older = less fuzzy). I have no idea how this skill will ever be useful except, possibly, as yet another indicator that my years of training to be detailed in my observation have driven me around the bent. (Also one of my pairs of black jeans' dye is running, apparently the dampness of walking through grass is enough for that to happen. I wonder if this is the type of dye that will give up on escaping after six month or the kind that will keep on coloring things no matter how often it's washed? I had a sweater like that. "Had" being the key word.)

Seriously, I am sure no one else will notice the difference. People generally don't pay much attention to each other's socks for one thing. It's difficult to do that when they've all got their shoes on, for another. Given that for most of the year I only wear socks when I'm wearing shoes (have tried sneakers without socks and that was unpleasant, lab requires close toed shoes that cover top of feet).

Have also found a tailor and discovered that tailors are v. expensive. I brought in a dress shirt that needs the sleeves shortened as a trial to see the craftsmanship ("tailormanship" doesn't seem to be a word) and, if it's decent, I'll need to get my suite altered (it's currently still with my impromptu stitches). It costs 12$ to shorten sleeves. The shirt was one of the expensive ones but still not worth that much. I am currently pondering the usefulness in learning how to tailor things (did experiment that in seventh grade. Anna was in my sewing class, where I learned how to operate sewing machines and do cross-stitch)and investing in a sewing machine somewhere down the line. Trying to reinforce seams by hand is painful, and painfully boring (I think I have burned out all my interest in house-wifeliness by the start of high school, as I've tried to pick up knitting again fairly recently, after Annie got really into it...and I was bored out of my mind after two rows and decided to go draw things instead). Both my grandma and my aunt are excellent at making clothing for themselves, so if there's a genetic component at all there's a chance I might be halfway decent, and then the trade off will then be based on my trade off in time. (I guess it seems more expensive now because of my relatively low -- as compared to the local living cost -- hourly wage? Perhaps at some time when my time is worth more it will be more economical to go to tailors than to do it myself.)

(Seems like possible investment in sewing machine may depend on my future career choice. Hmm.)

Italian wedding soup is atrocious, and so is the cashew-carrot-ginger horror from the health food store. Though the latter tastes like the sauce that the vegetables from the Bombay-Indian place are cooked in, so I might save the rest of to try to cook some vegetables in. There were no artichokes to be found, so that particular experience will have to wait another day.

There appears to be no ferry between Crete and Corinth (on Peloponnese) but there is one to Athens and it is eight hours. Eight hours, on a boat. I will try not to drop anything into the water.