As I lie in bed typing this, I'm reminded how ambivalent I am about the Fourth of July as a holiday. I'm not complaining about the whole "Happy Birthday, America" thing which seems reasonable enough--although Lexington & Concord, Yorktown, and the Treaty of Paris are all equally plausible dates for celebrating that. No, it's just that I've always been kind of skittish about loud noises, and so I really do not enjoy fireworks. At all. Particularly the "let's set these off in the street by ourselves rather than watching the professional display" kind, which are currently threatening my sanity, my getting to sleep when I want to (i.e.: pretty much now), and (if they're really errant) my car.