thursday september 9

today i went to do laundry at a new laundromat for the first time. after packing all my clothes into the double-load washing machine, i pulled out some quarters and started to insert them into the coin tray, only to realize that there were just two opening for coins -- the rest were closed off. worrying that i'd picked some sort of out-of-order machine, i glanced around at the other units, but ALL of them had just the two openings. "okay," i said to myself. "maybe you just insert two quarters at a time until you've put in enough." i inserted two quarters and tried to push the tray in, but nothing happened. baffled now, i stood there trying to figure out what the problem was. finally, i noticed a sign indicating that these washing machines accepted loonies, not quarters. this made a lot more sense, considering the cost was $2.