Saturday, December 31, 2005

New Year's Eve

How shall I spend this last day of 2005? Here's how it's gone so far: worked today, home around 6pm. Put in a call to Rich R. but the boy weren't at home. Sat on the can for awhile playing my new handheld Sudoku game. It's pretty great, perhaps even better than handheld Yahtzee for playing in the bath-room.

Right now the song "Darkness on the Edge of Town" is playing on the Ipod. There's 3 hot dogs starting to boil for me, Jeannie is at a dinner with some folks from her old job, and I've got some Guinness getting cold in the fridge.

How has the year been? Well, if you leave out Jeannie's throat problems, it's pretty much been the best year ever. But unfortunately, I can't leave out Jeannie's throat problems, so as it was it was a pretty damned fine year. Being married is great, better than I thought it would be, somehow. The job is fine, I got a lot of work done on music, and got to see a lot of friends and family.

Things to do for 2006: Jeannie and I should move to Charles Village, I should get a job managing the music department of the new B&N in Charles Village. Be better at retunring people's e-mails. Finish up the CD and send it out. Visit home more often than this year. Visit Ohio more often. Try and make a little bit more money, save up for a howse. Reach a point of total Zen where I don't care about anything.

That's about it for now. Happy New Year!

Friday, December 30, 2005

We're Back.

Well, we're back from what could be "The Best Christmas Ever." We really had a good time and got to see a lot of people and eat a lot of food that tasted really good and gave us bad poops and gas.

Some highlights:

1. Ice skating at Steinberg Rink on the day after Christmas. My family goes every year, this year Jeannie's mom and dad came, and her brother Seth.

2. Hanging out with Eric, Drew, Karista, J. Knese, and Colette at O'Connell's. Eric's tales of falling asleep with food in his mouth and pouring barbecue sauce all over himself inhis sleep, Drew's tales of sucky oral surgeons and sucky economics classes.

I was saddened to read that Stevie Earl Jacobs has been killed. I was sad to hear that part of the reason is because of the book we sent to Rich for Christmas. Part of me agrees with Rich and understands why he's doing it, but I feel like he's overreacting a bit, too. Stevie is different, most notably because he's a real person. Reading about Stevie through his BLOG is nothing compared to encountering Stevie in real life, and I think that the performance is where his beauty is. the Robert Hamburger stuff is funny jokes on the page, but a run-in with Stevie is what I imagine a run-in with Tony Clifton must have been like. Anyway, I hope that Stevie ain't really dead.

In other news, I have just purchased the latest MY MORNING JACKET cd, put out by Sony BMG, and it's loaded with all of this copyright protection software, and it's absolute BULLSHIT. It's a major pain just trying to put the thing on my computer or to make a backup of the cd.

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Be Home Soon

What a good day yesterday was. It was one of those rare good days that didn't go by super-fast, but actually felt like a nice, long, good day.

It started off not too fun, because my Ipod went back on the fritz, so after a couple of hours of screwing around with it, I popped the damn thing open with a knife, disconnected the battery and the hard drive, then reconnected them and now it's working better than ever. So I'll have nice tunes to listen to pn the plane today.

Got to spend time with Jeannie yesterday, too, which was awesome. I did some dishes and worked on laundry, and cut little tape strips from a roll of packing tape because she was wrapping presents and we didn't have any scotch tape.

We fly out of here this afternoon, then it's off to Jeannie's family gathering, mass at SLUH, and then the Ritz for our (now) annual tradition of drinks with Eric Elz at the Ritz on Christmas Eve. Much to my chagrin, Senor Bosco and his wife Susan will not be joining us for drinks this year, as they are in Wichita. That definitely puts a damper on the party.

Hope everyone has a very merry, safe, and happy Christmas and New Years. Also hope to see as many folks as possible while we're in St. Louis. We'll be back on the 28th.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Aaaaaah.

Woo Hoo! Done with work until after Christmas! Yee-Haw!

Today was surprisingly easy. Very busy but we were well-staffed so it wasn't so bad.

Tonight Aimee stopped by as Jeannie and I were making breakfast-for-dinner, which was nice, and then Jeannie and I sat around and did not much of anything. We're both pretty tired.

And if anyone wants to know what happened on 'Without a Trace," the autistic boy was found and nobody had done anything bad to him. It was revealed during the course of the show, however, that he wasn't the biological son of the guy who everybody thought was his dad. But all in all, the show was pretty darned dumb.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Feeding Frenzy

Well, we've reached the point in the holiday season when things are absolutley crazy and the store starts resembling a market in Calcutta. Today was insanity, which actually at times put me in a very Zen state of near total calm. The only part that wasn't very Zen-like was that at the center of the calm was a burning hatred for whatever customer I happened to be looking at or speaking to.

As I was walking out to my car, it was sunset, and I saw somebody who looked a lot like BJ Gailey and I instantly missed him tremendously and I felt like I wanted to cry for a minute.

What a fun evening last night. Mary Ann and Pat came over, and Jeannie gave me a Christmas present early, the game APPLES TO APPLES, which holy jeez is it a fun game. We also ate lots of yummy soup (gonna have more tonight) and homemade bread. Fun stuff.

One more day of work and then I'm done with all this Christmas nonsense.

Monday, December 19, 2005

Dec. 19th and counting...

Right now I am unfortunately listening to David Bowie and Mick Jagger singing "Dancing in the Streets." Listening to it makes me picture a mid-80's Bowie and Jagger jumping around in tight pants, while African-American women sing back-up wearing colorful blazers with large shoulder pads.

There's so much to write about, where to begin?

I will begin with a couple of shout-outs. First a shout-out to Seanyboy in Alaska, who wrote to tell me that he, too, has pee'd where it's not cool to pee. On at least one occasion, though, he was awake, so his is far worse than mine.

Second, a big Cross Keys Cougars shout-out to my old friend Colleen, who wrote to tell me that she occasionally reads the blog and likes Eddie Murphy's "Party All the Time." Colleen has been a friend since the 7th grade, when I looked like this:


So she gets sent mad props for befriending me when I wasn't the cool guy who sits before you now.

The song has now switched to Tom Waits', "What's he building?" If I could have the career of anyone on earth, it would be Tom Waits. He can do whatever he wants.

Work has been maddening in a big way. I'm just tired of looking at and listening to people. 3 more days until I'm off and then I'm off for Christmas and Jeannie and I head home for a few days and I absolutely can't wait.

Jeannie is at painting class, she's been working on a series of nighttime cityscapes that I've really been enjoying. They're dark with little drips of light showing through every now and again. Good stuff. She's been cooking a lot lately, we've busted out the ol' crock pot and made a roast a few nights ago, and she's making another batch of potato soup tonight and we made a couple batches of chocolate chip cookies on Sunday.

I screwed up my back working on the set on Friday, and the pain has lessened in my back but spread to my ass and leg. It makes work extra-not fun. But I have learned the joys of a piping hot heating pad.

Friday, December 16, 2005

Strange Days.

Well, interesting things have happened. It goes like this...


I went out last night with Patrick and Elizabeth from work to go see Flora's band, THE METAL HEARTS, at the Ottobar. The band was very good, even better than their cd, mainly because they've added a live drummer which really helps fill out their sound. I drank way too much, then drove Patrick home and then drove myself home. By the grace of god I made it home safely, had a conversation with Jeannie that I don't really remember, and went to bed.

The rest of this story is related to me by Jeannie, I don't really remember it beause I was asleep. As far as I know, the whole thing could be a lie she made up, but anyway, here's what she tells me: at some point in the middle of the night, she woke to the sound of some splashing noises and saw me standing by a cabinet near our bed taking a leak in the corner of our bedroom. She told me to stop and I said, "What...it's just a CD," and she said, "No! It's a cabinet" at which point I stopped peeing, got back into bed and went back to sleep.

So....

This morning I woke up and Jeannie was already at work. I felt pretty bad, puked some water and felt better, then went to the CSC offices to work on the set for the next show. When I got home I cleaned up where Jeannie told me that I pee'd (the pee must have dried up or something because there wasn't any pee there when I got home) made some dinner, and now Jeannie and I are back up here at the CSC offices because she wanted to paint some cityscapes and I came along to keep her company.

What have we learned from this?

1. No more drinking and driving. I've been far too lucky with that shit, and it's absolutely one of the stupidest things in the world to do, so I'm done with it.

2. It seems that I have about 1 session of heavy puke-inducing drinking per year. I would like these sessions to spread out even more as time progresses.

3. I would like to keep bedroom urinations to an absolute minimum. They are embarassing and they make your wife mad at you. They're also bad for hardwood floors.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Good News

I'll start with the good news: Jeannie's throat is A-OK. She had her doctor's appointment and they stuck the ol' camera down there (her throat) and said it all looks normal. Her voice might have been feeling funny because the cadaver-skin injections that she got a few months ago might be wearing off....and yes, I included this sentence just to show off the fact that my wife has had cadaver skin injected into her throat.

Now on to the b-crap....

Aimee and MAW came over for dinner last night, Jeannie cooked up a delicious potato soup from scratch, along with some homemade bread...damn, 'twas good. Made my pee pee smell like onions. We sat at our table like a family and it was fun. Then Mary Ann and I went to B&N for some late-night employee discount usage. Came home and Aimee had fallen asleep on the couch. Hopefully she made it home alive.

Work has been fine, busy, annoying, but the mantra has helped. I want to kill my boss because I have been busting my ass and working overtime and he doesn't seem to be putting in any extra effort for the holidays.

I enjoyed reading my friends' blogs tonight. Nice to hear that Ricky Elz is still alive (think of me when you watch Zisou) and that Richie Rich listens to country music while driving on Midwestern highways. Learn something new every day.

Today I got in an argument with an old woman who was upset that our signs say "Holiday Music" instead of "Christmas Music." I ended up telling her I was Muslim and that I refused to have this conversation with her. It's all so very, very stupid.

Tomorrow night: going to see the Metal Hearts at the Ottobar with people from work. A couple of firsts: the first time I'm going to hang out outside of work with people from work, and the first live music I'm going to see since I've been in Baltimore. Wait, I take that back. Jeannie and I went to see the Twilight Singers at Fletcher's. My ears rang for about a week and a half after that show and I was very worried that I had some permanent nerve damage.

Monday, December 12, 2005

Sweet Sweet Guinness

Today was one of those days that makes me understand why holiday retail workers are portrayed as frazzled alcoholics. It started off with me yelling at my boss for no apparent reason when I got to work and went steadily downhill from there.

The good news: Danny Dolan has apparently successfully pimped me out once again. He said he gave some of my music to the director of the movie he's working on and the director is interested in using as much as possible for the movie. So far this is all still up in the air, but it's good news, nonetheless.

Jeannie is, I assume, at painting class. She's not here. I look forward to seeing her when she gets home because she's good at making me concentrate less on my job and more on my awesome wife. At the moment we're worried that her throat thing might have grown back. She has a doctor's appointment on Wednesday to check it out.

I'm going to go pop some corn and become a vegetable.

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Autopilot

Well, I'm thinking not much interesting will happen for the next couple of days because I'm just going to be working a lot. And work's been busy but un-interesting, which is good at this time of year, no horror stories yet of terrible, christmas-ruining customers. My co-worker Brian always points out a customer when she comes into the store, "There's the lady that ruined my Christmas 2 years ago." None of those yet. My mantra has been helping.

Had a good time last night dining out with Jeannie and Aimee, celebrating Aimee's birfday and then hanging out shooting the shit at home.

Today was a long day, but it's good to be home with Jeannie and stinky gas and a delicious, relatively strong G&T. Stronger than I thought it would be.

"We say, when a horse is on the grass, it is like when a man is on the grass."

Does anyone get that reference?

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Lazarus, come out!

Today was a damned good day, for a variety of reasons, but one of the main reasons is that after extensive internet research I have managed to bring my Ipod back from the dead.

It died over a year ago, and I tried to fix it to no avail, took it to the Apple store and they told me that the hard drive had failed and that for the cost of repairing it I could get a new one. So it's sat in my desk for the last year because we don't have the money to fix it.

So today I decided to do some more research and found some stuff on the internet that was very helpful, and eventually I got it back up and running. Woo-Hoo!

Pat came over tonight for homemade pizza and Ali G watching. Fu-hunny.

Work tomorrow. I've decided not to get bent out of shape over anything that happens at work. My holiday mantra is: "I will take my time and help every customer to the best of my ability. The rest I don't care about."

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

I'm Tired.

Nasty day at work today. Glad I'm off tomorrow. I wish that I could go to sleep and when I woke up it would be 11pm on Dec. 24th and I'm sitting at the Ritz kickin' it with Ricky Elz and some cupfuls of G&T.

This morning I saw a woman doing tai chi on the lawn across the street, which was not odd because she's often doing tai chi in the morning. But today ahe was doing tai chi and had a big damned sword. The sword part was odd.

Jeannie's cooking black beans and rice, and it be smellin real fine.

I finished the book I was reading, "The Tender Bar," (it was ok), and it referenced "the Great Gatsby" a lot, which I have never read, so I'm thinking about reading "The Great Gatsby." Part of me is worried that it will be kind of lame. For all of you who read "The Great Gatsby" in high school, if I read it now will it be lame?

Saturday, December 03, 2005

What the Heck's Been Going On?

Has nothing really been happening? I have scoured my thoughts and feelings, replayed the last couple of days in my mind to find anything interesting that's been going on, and come up with not much.

I think I'm still in Thanksgiving withdrawal.

Here's what's been going on:

1. I am tired of looking at Eric Elz' post, "The Fruits of My Labor." Eric, are you dead? Come on, man, wake up! I mean, the picture looks great and all, but move on!

2. Rich Riley's post, "Sodalicious," is perhaps one of the greatest things I have ever heard. Magical, wonderful, the stuff of which dreams are made. What a great piece of enchanted machinery.

3. Jeannie and I are toying around with the idea of going to the bank and seeing if it's even possible for us to think about buying a house. It's probably not. Poor folks like us is meant to rent.

4. Jeannie's working on a painting (actually, she's working on copying a painting), and I've been taking pictures of it as it progresses. Could make for an interesting album cover.

5. Reading "The Tender Bar," on the recommendation of my father. It's ok. I'm just surprised that my dad has recommended a book that makes at least occasional use of the word "fuck" and has scenes that contain sexual situations. I feel all growed up.

That's all. It's pretty boring. The holiday season is here and that gives work the potential to suck every day. So far, nothing terrible.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Blog etiquette?

I just read Rich's justifiably outraged post about people using cell phones while they make brown, and now I'm wondering if it's in bad taste to blog while on the can. If so, I present to you my sincerest apologies. Pretend I'm sitting at a charmingly cluttered rolltop desk, smoking a pipe as I write this...

It's windy outside. Whoa, is it windy outside.

Busy, boring day at work. One more day of work and then two days off. Looking forward to it.

I pick up my ladyfriend from the airport tonight! Yea!

Hung out with Pat Kilpatrick last night, went to the Rec Room for 1/2 price burgers and I had a couple of beers, and we just chatted about stuff. He seemed very happy to be getting out and having some company.

Some things on my Christmas list, for any of my wives that might be interested:

1. New goddam pajama pants. Not too heavy, not too light. Just damned right.
2. I guess some new black socks.
3. Maybe A MIGHTY WIND, able to be purchased during B&N Employee Appreciation Days (Dec. 9-18th) for a tidy $6.66.

That's about it.

Monday, November 28, 2005

Feel like I've been at work non-stop since I've been back in town. Not really, though, although I have been working a lot. Looking forward to my days off on Thursday and Friday. Miss Jeannie a lot, but I got to talk to her on the phone yesterday which was great.

Ways in which my life would be different if Jeannie and I weren't together:

1. I would drink a lot more beer.
2. I would be a lot fatter.
3. I would reuse dishes with a minimal amount of cleaning them.
4. I would feel that my life is pretty much pointless.
5. Life would be much quieter, and not in a good way. In an empty way. I would have to find some outlet at home for just talking. I guess it's been awhile since I've lived by myself and I'm not used to it anymore. I remember that when I moved to Baltimore I was unsure if I could handle going back to living with roommates after having lived by myself for a few years.

Strange dreams last night. I remember part of one very vividly, my tooth fell out, which is a recurring dream I have, and one that I hate. Donald Trump showed up in one of my dreams, too, and I feel like he's shown up before. That can't signify any sort of mental health, I'm sure.

Saturday, November 26, 2005

A Plea.

Jeannie, for the love of Jebus, come home.

Friday, November 25, 2005

A Couple of Firsts

Some new things happened today:

1. I worked my first "Black Friday," i.e. the day after Thanksgiving. It wasn't busy at all. Probably because B&N doesn't have any special sales.

2. I was helping a customer find a SCISSOR SISTERS cd. A little while later, he called back to ask if I was gay. I told him no, and he seemed surprised. He said I should be flattered, but now I'm just wondering what kind of vibe I'm giving off. I'm attributing it to the fact that I trimmed my beard this morning, so I'm looking a little bit more anal than I was 24 hours ago. Also, I knew right where the SCISSOR SISTERS cd was.

Wish I was in Ohio with my wife and friends, listening to strange records.

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Acting Suck It Champion (or, There and Back Again)

Well, I am back in Baltimore as of a few minutes ago. I am very tired, but made it here in one piece. I got a damned speeding ticket on the way home, because I was blasting my music at an extremely loud volume and not paying attention to how fast I was driving. I have gotten several tickets in this manner...

So many things to write about, but so tired....

First, a short recap of the holiday, for posterity:

Monday night arrived and sat around talking. Went to bed, cold, but slept well and Jeannie slept the whole night through, which hasn't happened in awhile.

Tuesday Brad and Henry to work/school, Jeannie worked on putting some canvases together; Jen, Rich, and myself have a SORRY! (aka SUCK IT!) tournament. Schlueter is the winner. While all this is happening, the bird is cooking, boob side down as an experiment. Brad and Henry get home, we eat a huge Thanksgiving feast, I immediately fall asleep afterwards. At night, Scattergories.

Wednesday everyone stays home from work/school. Playing with Henry, eating leftovers. Schlueter and Henry take long nap while Jeannie, Rich, Brad and I have another SORRY! (aka SUCK IT!) tournament. I win after a few very close, intense games. My 2 day total victories are more than Schlueters, so I name myself acting SUCK IT! Champion until Schlueter and I can face off head-to-head. At night, Brad tells us his jury duty experiences (very interesting), and then Rich and Brad confess all of their childhood sins. All is forgiven. Schlueter gets tipsy in a laughy, slurry, stumbly way (very amusing).

Thursday big Down Home Country Breakfast. Then Jeannie and I pack up and leave. I drop her off at the Columbus airport (she's flying to St. Louis for her high school reunion) and then continue on to Baltimore. Work on lyrics for new song, also listened to latest Sufjan Stevens album (enjoyed it) and a Sun Kil Moon mix (liked their earlier stuff better than the new album). Listened to BJ's mix again. Got a damned ticket. And here I am.

What a great trip. No puking, great conversation, wonderful people.

Tonight I have to sleep in bed alone, which means I'll sleep great but wake up lonely. Miss you, Jeanners.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Tuesday

Well, we are here in Ohio, and in the few hours that we've been here and awake, it has proven itself once again to be the best time of year. Rich R. is here, Jen Schlueter-Steinmetz is here, and Brad and Henry Steinmetz are here but are currently at work/school. Initial preparations for our Thanksgiving feast have begun and there's a trip to the art store in the works.

On the drive here, I finally got a chance to listen to a mix CD that BJ Gailey had given to me when he was in town. I am always entertained and surprised by his mixes. He manages to put together songs that I would either never listen to or never put on the same mix, and somehow the mix works, and they always broaden my musical tastes. His mixes tend to swing wildly between different styles, whereas mine tend to be more linear and there's less differences between consecutive songs. So thanks to the BJ.

Also listened to a mix that Jeannie's friend Kris had made for her, and enjoyed that as well.

Lots of laughs and conversation after we arrived last night a little after midnight, and then to bed around 2am.

Started recieving some preliminary e-mails for the next show, THE IMAGINARY INVALID. It's in February. I have a hard time getting motivated for something that far in advance, especially since the majority of my work won't be done until the week before the show. Oh well.

More later.

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Sunday Night



This is Samuel. He lives upstairs, and on Saturday and Sunday nights we babysit him overnight while his mom works at a hospital. He's cute and nice, but tonight he was kinda sick and in a bad mood so he didn't like me very much. He still liked Jeannie, though.

Hopefully within the next 26 or 27 hours I will be hanging with my friends in Bellefountaine, OH.

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Hamburglar

Went in to CSC this morning to work on cleaning the storage areas. About halfway there I realized that when I lost my keys earlier this week, I lost my key to get into the offices. Didn't feel like going home so I decided to just figure out a way to break in when I got there.

Well, when i got there, I tried my usual break-in techniques, but they didn't really work. Then I noticed an exhaust fan above the set of double-doors, and I climbed up on a trash can and gave the fan a good yank and it came right out of the wall, leaving a nice 2' by 2' hole for me to lean through and undo the lock. Then I put the fan back in the wall (it wasn't hooked up to anything. Most things in the building aren't).

Then I started cleaning and tidying, which was fun because I brought along my copy of the new Wilco live double CD (burned for me by Patrick at work), and cranked it up while I was working. All-in-all it's a good album, with high points and low points. But Gawd, if there was one person whose voice I could have it would be Jeff Tweedy. His voice is able to sound strong and ragged at the same time. It's also right in between a speaking voice and a singing voice. So he's able to get away with very conversational lyrics and have them turn out to be poetry. He's got the skillz to pay them bills.

Babysitting tonight, then strike, then work early tomorrow. The Jeanners has been driving down to Annapolis the last few days to help MAW's parents paint the inside of their house. Aimee over last night for low-key evening of chatting, popcorn eating, and a Guinness for me. Wore my PJ pants and didn't feel embarassed.

Friday, November 18, 2005

Lu Lu

Last night Jeannie and I went out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary, and I can't help but be amazed that, despite the fact that we had a $100 gift certificate, we still ended up spending more on dinner than we normally do when we go out. How do people afford dinners like this? Yes, the food was good, and we had wine and dessert and a "microsalad" (which means very very tiny salad for $11.00), but I still can't believe that there are people who regularly spend that much on a dinner. Well, it was fun, and I'm glad we did it. I'm also glad we had the gift certificate.

Yesterday was a pretty damned good day. Worked on music all morning, and ended up with a rough draft of a song that now just needs lyrics. It's got a melody line and chorus already, so I really just need to come up with verses. What's this song about? I like the music, it's very U2-ish, with some good rough guitar sounds.

Also did laundry, ate a big bowl of pea soup (which I got a lot of in my beard), and took a very relaxing bath with incense, tea, bubble bath stuff, and Brian Eno book.

Work tonight. Not looking forward to it, but not dreading it, either.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Shout Out.

Big hellos to Johnnycakes Hubert, aka K-Torr. The man with the heart as big as his....

feet. Which are large.

Still in Colorado, K-Torr? With the Unitarians? How's the sitar playing coming?

K-torr was last seen over Christmas last year, briefly in a smoky bar where I couldn't really hear properly, but we last really got to talk when he was in DC last year. Jeannie took this picture then. I think it's a great one of him, so great that I cropped myself out of it, and that don't happen too often...

Beeah in my Besh.

It's been one of those weeks where the days all seem to be wiping into each other and there's not much intersting to say. It's all due to work, pretty much, which has been boring and a pain in the ass and not much fun at all, aside from moments that I get to stop and watch "Fame" for a few minutes.

Aside from work, the week has been about getting to hang with MAW and Aimee last night, which was fun chatting and watching some TV over beers and pizza and Youknow Todd. Youknow Todd, by the way, is known to the rest of the world as the card game Uno. It's an obscure ZOOLANDER reference that I doubt anyone will get. I'm also pretty sure that nobody will get "beeah in my besh," for a few reasons. A) it's a sentence that I've only ever said to Jeannie. 2) It's a sentence that doesn't mean anything in the first place. Basically, in my head, it's someone saying "Beer in my bush," with a thick Boston accent. I don't know why I ever said it to begin with, or why I decided that saying it in a thick Boston accent would be amusing, or why I continue to say it, but every couple of days I just say it to Jeannie for no apparent reason other than I enjoy it.

So yeah, the week has also just been about enjoying any free time that I've had with Jeannie, which hasn't been a lot, but it's been fun anyway. Tonight I made a big spaghetti dinner before she got home, and then we've just been lounging about after a nice, hot shower.

Been thinking a lot about working on new music, but haven't done anything. This is due mostly to the fact that I have no ideas about the type of song I want to do next. I guess that I am in what Ron Rybkowski would call an "incubation period," which I guess is where you sit on your ass and wait for inspiration to strike. I love incubation periods.

Jeannie is falling asleep on the couch. She's supposed to be working on painting homework. She's my favorite person.

Sorry that this one's all over the place. No focus equals Art.

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Corn Gratis

Must make this quick. The Jeanners is upstairs babysitting (not exactly cause the kid is actually asleep) and I want to go see her. Today is our 1 year anniversary! Woo-Hoo! We celebrated by spending about 15 minutes of it together and conscious. I had a long day at work so we didn't really get to see each other. We plan on celebrating on Thursday.

Some interesting things of the past couple of days:

1. I lost all of my keys today somewhere at work. They just disappeared into thin air. The only explanation that I can think of is that I put them in a customer's bag by mistake and they walked off with them. Damn Damn.

2. We've had the first season of "Fame" on the TV's at work. My GAWD that show was awesome. Awesome Awesome AWESOME.

3. Went and saw Coriolanus again last night. The show looked much better. Some of the projections actually looked pretty cool, if nothing else as an interesting backdrop. Actually, I only saw the first act and part of the second act because my bowels exploded during intermission and I couldn't quite finish all of my business during the 10 minute break. Perhaps more information than anyone needed to know.

4. Saw the BJ Gailey last night; had dinner with Pat, Aimee, BJ, Pat's brother Jake and his wife Carol at La Palapa. La Palapa is a Mexican restaurant in Elicott City (see second half of #3). Hope I get to see the Beej sooner than springtime, because his visit was far too short.

Happy Anniversary, my sweet.

Friday, November 11, 2005

Follow-Ups

Regarding the e-mail that I got from Sean: I am passing along a picture of Seanyboy, in a bar somewhere in San Francisco, I believe. He is wearing what is perhaps the ugliest hat in existence, and it is nowhere near as fine as the hat he acquired in a trade with me years ago...



Regarding the sad news I got from a friend: not to worry, nobody is sick or dying or anything, just some sad relationship news. Still very sad, nonetheless, and I can't quite believe it.

Regarding how I have spent my time off: Well, yesterday Jeannie and I spent pretty much all day running errands, and then last night Aimee came over and we made a big dinner of chicken, mashers, green beans, salad, homemade bread, and some homemade apple pie with vanilla ice cream. Yummy in mine tummy. Today we don't have any plans yet. Jeannie's at work and when she gets home I'm gonna see if she wants to go to Robert E. Lee Park and do some walking through what remains of the fall color. I think she also wants to work on some painting homework today.

Tomorrow: work, then BJ arrives! Seeing Coriolanus again, hopefully all the kinks have been ironed out...

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Big Fish

Tonight we finished watching 'Big Fish." It was a decent movie and we enjoyed it.

I remember when E. Elz first saw the movie in the theatre and we were hanging out with him afterwards and he was telling us that he liked it and he was telling us about it. It's a movie that makes me think almost entirely of E. Elz.

Tonight I recieved a piece of sad news from a friend that seemed to change the way the air felt around me.

Seanyboyspiff

I just read a big, long, roaring e-mail from my good buddy Seanyboy up in AK. He and his ladyfriend just got back from tromping around on the west coast, where they had numerous adventures and have lived to tell the tale.

I have also just finished a 9 day work stretch and am staring down the barrel of 2 full days off. I plan on having some adventures with my ladyfriend, probably less exciting than Seanyboy's but nonetheless they will be adventurous.

By the way, last night I ended up wasting, but at least I didn't watch TV all night. I listened to music and made a CD of my stuff to give to Flora at work. Which reminds me, everybody who's in Chicago, Flora's band THE METAL HEARTS will be playing in Chicago on Monday, November the 14th. I can't vouch for how good the show will be, but if you've got the night open and are looking for something different to do, it's free. It's at a place called the EMPTY BOTTLE. Here's an ad for the show:




I just bought an 8 pack of Guinness! Woo-Hoo! Here's to Seanyboy!

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Looking for the dookie.

Tonight I have a night entirely free and to myself, something that hasn't happened in a little while. How shall I spend it? Waste it in front of the tube? Possible but not probable. Record the song that is destined to become the "Greatest American Pop Song of the 21st Century"? Perhaps. Perhaps also I will call my brother and my sister and my parents, who are all owed phone calls from me.

I know this, I'm gonna start off by eating a doggy or two (of the hot variety) and by sending off some mad props:

Mad props to:

1. Rich R., owner and operator of the Shoppe. You have a lifetime customer in me, my friend.

2. Flora Wolpert-Checknoff, a co-worker of mine at the B&N who's band was recently signed to an indie lable in Seattle. She is quitting the B&N to devote more time to the band. I checked out a couple of their songs online and I liked them. If you have a minute, check them out at:
http://www.myspace.com/themetalhearts

3. Mad props to this kid at the B&N who said my favorite quote of the week. He's about 11 and came in looking for Green Day cd's. When I asked him which one, he said, "I'm looking for the Dookie."

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Autumnal Observations

Tonight as I was driving home from work, I drove under a big tree and as it's little bit rainy and windy outside, a ton of leaves started falling and swirling around my car. Awesome. Kind of like being in a blizzard.

Also, while Jeannie and I were house-sitting, there were lots of geese flying overhead, honking and being very goose-like. I think that birds flying south for the winter is my favorite natural phenomenon to watch. It's a very musical thing. Whenever I watch a big flock of birds swooping around in formation it always puts melodies in my head. Yes, definitely. Watching birds fly south for the winter is on my list of Top 20 favorite things. Probably around number 13 or 14.

That's about it, really. A not-very-exciting day of babysitting, napping, then work. Now I'm going to have a snack and then go upstairs to babysit again with Jeannie.

Saturday, November 05, 2005

Last Day at the Ranch

Well, I went and saw Coriolanus last night, and I think the best way to describe it would be "relatively disastrous." There were parts of it that were absolutely a train wreck, due in large part to technical problems and the show being poorly run. Which is fine and all, but I'm sad because Jen Schlueter was in town for a conference and was able to come see the show, and I was a little embarassed that it was a show that was pretty bad.

But, we had a good dinner before the show, with beers, and then went out afterwards and had some drinks and chatted it up with Pat Kilpatrick. We picked apart the show, talking about what didn't work and what worked and who we absolutely hated when they came onstage and things like that.

Jeannie and I are leaving the cabin today and go back to our normal life, which I think we're both looking forward to. I'm ready for a nice 10-12 hour night's sleep. And to not be writing this on a damned dial-up connection. We will miss the dogs, and the fireplace, and the tub, though.

Seeing Schlueter made me very ready for Turkey Day, my favorite day of all.

Monday, October 31, 2005

In Passing.

Busy week so far. I've been running back and forth between work and Coriolanus rehearsals and light hangs and whatnot. I met Bernie on Sunday, he's very nice and very helpful and not upset that I've been using him as a glorified gofer for the last couple of days.

I love watching rehearsals sometimes. I would much rather watch an early tech week rehearsal than a show after it's opened. The shows usually feel dead to me, whereas in rehearsals so much new stuff is being figured out, how to adjust to fit this new space, how to adjust to the new moods that the lighting and costumes create, there's so much discovery and playing and improvising that has to happen. I think it's why I'm always ready to be done with a show right around the time that it's opening. Anyway, this show is, for the most part, good. There definitely some scenes (and actors) that are better than others, but it works in the places where it really needs to work. And there's lots of blood. And Pat Kilpatrick's member. Jesus, if that ain't worth the price of admission I don't know what is...

Ah, I gotta go to bed. Jeannie's out at the cabin tonight, but I'm staying at our apartment cause I have to work early tomorrow morning and I'd lose over an hour's sleep if I drove out to the house. So I miss you, the Jeanners.

Saturday, October 29, 2005

Saturday Night's Alright for Bathing

Greetings from day 4 of house-sitting. Things are going just fine, with a few minor dog-related adventures involving blood-dripping incisions, poopy dog hair, and hot male-on-male dog action. But the dogs are getting used to us, we're getting used to the dogs and the house, and the only thing that isn't getting better is the much longer drive to work and anywhere else that we might want to go.

Jeannie and I both had Thursday off, so we headed to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia for the day, where we saw some historical stuff, walked across the Potomac River on a footbridge that's part of the Applachian Trail, and had a mediocre meal on the second floor of a strange restaurant that reminded me of a one-room schoolhouse or the church on Little House on the Prairie. Which was also the schoolhouse, so I guess I'm being redundant.

Tomorrow is light hang day for Coriolanus, and I will meet somebody named Bernie who has volunteered to help with the lighting. I get the feeling that he's an older gentleman, and not just because his name's Bernie.

I brought all my recording equipment here to the house in the hopes of having somme sort of cool "recording-in-a-big-house-in-the-woods" expereience, but so far nothing of the sort has happened.

We've been enjoying making fires and having a big kitchen.

Thanksgiving is getting closer, as are visits from several close friends, and I'm looking forward to everything. Life is good in the hood.

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

An Unfortunate Event

Not much happened today--a cold, rainy day off of work, running errands with Jeannie and because of the weather, some napping occurred.

Unfortunately, there was one low-lite of the day, and here's how it happened:

To start off it should be noted that Jeannie had just eaten a sandwich made of onions, banana peppers, red peppers, cheese, and tomatoes. She also had some fries. And ketchup. So, her breath wasn't smelling that great. I think we've all been there at one point or another.

So, we're on the couch and I'm laying with my head on her lap and my eyes are closed, and I notice that her breath smelled differently than it normally does (which is sweet and wonderful and a mouthful of sunshine). But the smell reminds me of something, and I can't quite place what it is, and then I remember what it is, so I tell her this story:

When I was a kid, my next door neighbors had trained their dogs to go poop on a concrete pad in the corner of their yard. It didn't smell too great when you got near it. But then, when it would rain, all the poop would get washed away, and then when you went near the corner of the yard, it smelled like a strange mixture of fresh, just-rained grassy smell and recent dog poop smell.

Perhaps I used poor judgment in telling Jeannie this story to illustrate what her breath reminded me of, but we both laughed about it, and I thought we were all good. Then, a little while later, I was telling her how relaxed I was resting my head on her lap, and just as the words were coming out of my mouth, she poured cold water on my face. She said she thought it would be funny, but I don't think it's very funny. We've tentatively made up but I think it's definitely going to put a strain on our relationship for awhile.

Anyway, tomorrow we start house-sitting for the next 11 days. Whirlpool tub, here I come.

Monday, October 24, 2005

Earliness

Well,, here it is still morning-time and already two interesting things have happened. The first is that I realized that my new favorite word (and the one I have been using most often recently) is 'seriously.' A truly great word, especially great if used to punctuate every sentence. Seriously.

The second interesting thing is that Jeannie and I were sitting on the couch a few minutes ago, and I was kinda lounging about and had my legs and feet stretched across her, and she yanked on a leg hair that happened to be sticking through my sock. I said something to the effect of, "Ouch, that hurt." Then she said, and this is the funny part, "Oh, I didn't know that was one of your hairs, I thought you had a rabbit hair stuck on your sock." Needless to say, we don't have any rabbits, nor do I usually come into contact with rabbits before 10 o'clock in the morning, but that's what she said. Seriously.

I have bad gas today. It hurts and stinks. The worst kind. Seriously.

Sunday, October 23, 2005

She still just wants to Party All the Time, Party All the Time.

Thank you, Eric Elz, for putting Party All the Time back into my head. I mentioned to my boss that I had Party All the Time stuck in my head, and he said, "Yeah, that song's not bad, but the album is terrible." The dude owns the damned album. There are many moments when my boss is completely and utterly frustrating, and then there are moments like that when I love him.

Jeannie is upstairs babysitting Samuel, and I just got home from work, and I'm a bit hungry. It's pretty dim in this room, there's just one lamp on over there by the wall, and there's a tiny little $1.00 clock from IKEA sitting on our bookshelf, and it ticks remarkably loudly for just costing $1.00. I'm wearing a horrible shirt that reminds of something that Pat Robertson might wear on Easter. Every now and again, this laptop makes a sound like there's a little bird trapped inside of it.

There are several things today that I wanted to write about, but I've forgotten them, so they must have been, in the long run, stupid. I think important things generally stay in our heads, and stupid things go away. It's always been a big part of my lyric writing, and why I tend not to write things down.

Does anyone think I use too many commas? I've always been very pro-comma, but sometimes I think I might over-use them.

I remember one of the things I wanted to write about: dream last night where I, maybe Jeannie and I, were visiting the Schlueter-Steinmetz' and although Henry was only supposed to be about 5 or six in this dream, he looked like he was about 13 and looked nothing like the cute little Henry we all know and love. His teeth were all messed up and he looked very....dumb. There's not really any other way to say it. He looked like your stereotypical midwestern farmboy. It was a vaguely terrifying dream.

I hear Jeannie walking across the floor upstairs. Samuel must be asleep and she's coming downstairs to our place.

Saturday, October 22, 2005

End of Day

Danny crashed here last night, so this morning Jeannie went to work and I drove him back to Jon David's apartment. Then it was off to work for me. A busy day, then came home tonight right as Jeannie was putting Samuel (upstairs babysittee) down for bed. So we read him some stories and then laid there as he fell asleep, and now we're making some of the most kick assingest food in the whole world. Mofo pea soup. Campbell's plain ol' green pea soup. It's awesome.

Friday, October 21, 2005

Criminal Intent

Danny Dolan is over and we're sitting around watching some Law and Order. We were supposed to go do some duckpin bowling with Pat and Aimee but they had other stuff to do.

The day was pretty much exactly as we had planned. Nap, then trip to bakery, then working on recording. Put some more touches on 'True Love,' thanks to some guidance from one R. Riley. Sent off the new mix for his consideration.

Highlight of the day: because of the rain, there was an intersection near our house where the traffic lights were out, and two policemen were out directing traffic. Jeannie and I both commented on the fact that we really enjoy watching police officers direct traffic. Because it's something that seems complicated but they make it look so easy. It's like a big dance that takes up a whole intersection. I don't know. It's an interesting activity that I've always enjoyed but never had paid attention to enjoying.

We just had a laugh about Rich R. eating popcorn sandwiches. Here's to you, Richard!

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

I woke up this morning with Eddie Murphy's "Party All the Time" running through my head. I haven't been able to get it out.

Well, after wasting yesterday's day off, Jeannie and I were going to do something fun and exciting with today's day off, but it's been raining all morning. So we've decided to take it easy and go to the bakery, then work on individual projects; painting and recording.

More tonight, probably.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Operation: Stand the hell around


Well, "Operation: Meet u2 2005" has proved itself to be a big ol' fat failure. After a morning meeting with Ian to play around with some lights for Coriolanus (which should be pretty interesting and lo-tech), I headed down to DC to the MCI center to wait outside the loading dock in order to give U2 a copy of my CD. This whole plan worked in St, Louis a few years ago, by the way. Well, I got down there at around 1pm, and ended up standing around until 6pm, when U2 arrived, and sped past in their big black cars. Didn't get out. No cd was handed off. I did manage to snap this picture, though.


Still, this picture ain't really worth standing around for 5 hours in the surprisingly cold DC air. And I had to pee nearly the whole time, but didn't want to lose my prime position, as there were lots of other geeks there. And I didn't really talk to anyone all day, because the other geeks there were all superbly annoying. So afterwards I headed into DC's Chinatown to have a delicious Chinese dinner. Although eating alone at a restaurant is always depressing, and I've already talked about my strange sadness associations with Chinese restaurants. I really enjoy going into the Chinatown sections of different cities, though. I took this other picture tonight of DC's.



Hung out with Danny Dolan after arriving back in Baltimore, went to Soundgarden and browsed the cd's. Browsing cd's isn't as fun as it used to be now that I work in a cd store.

The Jeanners is home from hangin' out with her friend Katie.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Pokin' at ya, pokin' at ya!

Jeannie and I sat in front of the TV last night for a good 3 hours. Which perhaps explains my blank mind when I wrote last night. SVU is like crack cocaine in our house sometimes.

Tonight I'm going in to CSC to poke around our lighting stuff to see what sort of weird materials we might have on hand to make some cool, non-traditional lighting instruments. Then tomorrow morning a lighting fieldtrip with Ian to play around in the space. Then, tomorrow afternoon, "Operation Meet U2: 2005." So I'll be heading into DC in an attempt to meet U2 again and give them another cd, just in case they have worn out the first cd I gave them due to repeated listenings.

That's about it. Some things I saw today:

1. An extremely tall version of Pat Kilpatrick. (not really Pat Kilptatrick, just a tall guy who looked like Pat Kilpatrick.)

2. An old man wearing a checkered sport coat and bright yellow pants with a fly that was either open, broken, or very strangely cut. It kind of looked like he had a basketball that was trying to come out of the fly of his bright yellow pants.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Peep Stevie

My mind has been strangly blank today. Except for these little bits:

1. I estimated today and figured that I've eaten around 468 hot dogs in the past year.

2. Someone with a stutter breaks my heart every time.

If you haven't had a chance to check out Stevie Earl Jacobs' blog, I highly recommend it. He is apparently applying for the Chair of Theatre Department at the University of Oregon, and has kindly included some of his application materials in his blog. He walks the fine line between genius and psychopathy.

Monday, October 17, 2005

Monday, Monday

Fall is definitely in the air. Just went outside to take out the garbage, and it's a cool, sunny, windy, crisp fall day.

Jeannie got a good night's sleep last night (she's had insomnia on and off for a week or two) and she's still zonked out. Danny Dolan was over last night when I got home from work, we talked for a little while and then took him back to the apartment where he's staying while in town.

We're getting to the point where I start to worry about the lighting that I'm supposed to be working on for Coriolanus. I hate that point. Even though I have a relatively small job to do, it feels like the whole production is resting on the fact that I NEED TO START WORKING ON IT RIGHT AWAY. Which is not true. Just my damned midwestern work ethic kicking in.

Reading Elz' BLOG made me miss driving in the midwest. It also made me miss hanging out with Drew and Ricky. The summer before I moved here was one of the best of my life, mainly because I got to hang out with Ricky and Drew and Karista a lot. And sit outside and smoke cigarettes (yesterday I used the phrase "smoke 'em if you got 'em," and I instantly craved a smoke), and drink lemonade.

Not looking forward to going to work this afternoon. Maybe Jeannie and I can do something fun before I have to go in.

Oh, and I got the feeling from an e-mail Rich sent that he wasn't crazy about 'True Love.' Which I can understand, but makes me worry about my own misgivings about the song, and makes me worry that it needs more work, and I don't know if I have the energy to put more work into it. I think I have an internal time limit when I work on a song, I can only put so much time into a song before I'm 'done with it.' I guess that's when it would be beneficial to have bandmates or a producer around. To keep the creative fires burning. Oh well. C'est la guerre.


Sunday, October 16, 2005

Not at Home

I'm writing this at 12:41 in the morning, and I'm in the kitchen of a huge log-cabin in the woods. Jeannie and I are house (and dog) sitting for the weekend. When I say I am in a log cabin, you might be picturing an Abe Lincoln-woodburning stove-one room shack kinda thing, but it's more along the lines of a huge-ass, five star luxury hotel-like mansion that happens to be built from huge logs. Seriously. I am sitting in the lap of luxury, and it is a very warm, expensive lap. And we get paid to stay here. It's a pretty nice deal, any way you look at it. The house belongs to Jeannie's speech therapist and her husband (who is also a doctor).

Anyway, so we're here in the middle of the woods and it's great and everything except that they only have dial-up access. So I'm typing this and remembering how much I hate dial-up and this damned AOL browser.

It's been a good couple of days. Worked on some music yesterday and put what I think are the finishing touches on 'True Love.' Walked to the grocery store. Wore my favorite autumn shirt that is falling apart and almost dead. Then we started house sitting yesterday in the evening and took baths in the whirlpool tub and made a nice dinner and watched tube to try to make us sleepy.

Then work today, which was fine.

Highlights of last few days:

1. Walk to grocery store. The sun came out for the first time in about a week, and I got to wear my favorite shirt, and I saw a shiny gold coin on the ground but did not stop to investigate it. Also saw what looked to be a 110 year old woman driving along happily in a tiny car.

2. Saying "grunties" last night in bed with Jeannie, over and over again and giggling every time.

Thassall for now.

Friday, October 14, 2005

Night-time/Morning-time.

Well, it's quarter to 2 and I'm home from inventory early, and that puts me in a good mood because it went well, but I took a big nap with the Jeanners this afternoon in preparation for staying up late and now I'm not tired. Time to waste some more time!

Today was good. When Jeannie got home we went on our lunch date to Panera, which was fun because it reminded me of when we lived in St. Louis and I would be working a night or overnight shift and I would go pick her up from work at the architecture firm and we would go have lunch at Panera. That kinda stuff was about 5 years ago. Back when we had money, ha ha...
Anyway, we had a good lunch date, and she filled me in on some of the backstory about our new neighbor that she learned when new neighbor came down to hang out yesterday. Then we got to go to the grocery store. We bought lots of things, including red peppers, grape jam, sweet relish (for my doggies), toilet paper (red charmin, the good stuff), and other things that I don't care about naming right now. Tuna was one of the other things, boring stuff like that, so you see why I'm not interested in naming it.
Then we took a big long nap. Jeannie was super groggy when we woke up and claimed she couldn't drive but we went and dropped the car off at the shop anyway. It was funny, but probably one of those things where you had to be there.

I have noticed a couple of things lately:

1. I think the thing that I find most attractive in the world is effortlessness. The ability to do something without trying, or at least without seeming like you're trying. You might have to work very hard to do something well, but you do it in such a way that it doesn't seem like you're working hard.

2. I'm writing more now that I know people are reading. I'm also writing more because I bookmarked my blog, so now it's just one of those daily things I check, like my e-mail. I don't know if this is good or bad, but I'm starting to enjoy it. I don't think that I've changed the way I write too much now that there's folks out there, so that's good. But the damned posts are getting longer. And I've started using things like italics.

Life is good tonight. I guess I'll try and go to sleep now.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

11/12

Happy 11 monthiversary to me and ball+chain! In exactly 1 month, Jeannie and I will get to go out on our first anniversary dinner, which I am very much looking forward to. I'm still lobbying for Red Lobster, although she has vehemently vetoed that and is probably already making plans for someplace specializing in vegetables and tofu. Bleagh. We don't get to go out to eat much. But man it would be awesome if we could go to Red Lobster. What would be especially awesome is if there was a damned Ponderosa within a 2.5 hour radius of this supposedly "cosmopolitan" city.

Mental note: eat at Ponderosa whenever you see one.

Ok, that first paragraph was me trying too hard to be funny. I'm gonna stop that now.

I have realized that the reason I've been feeling so burnt out at work is because I've been working so many closing shifts. Going in to work at 3 gives me about 6 hours to waste and sit around thinking, "Man, I don't want to go to work in 5 hours..." ... "Man, I don't want to go to work in 4 hours..." ..."Man, I don't want to go to work in 3 hours..." etc, etc. So I sit around all morning building up all this negative energy, preparing myself to hate the day when, in fact, work is not all that bad. That being said, I have to go in to do inventory tonight (6:30pm to 3am) and man, I really don't want to go to work in 6 hours.

There are so many people I owe e-mails to. Sean and Rich top the list. If I owe you an e-mail, don't worry, you're on the list, but those two fellas top the damned list.

Still really happy today about Jeannie's good report from el doctoro. Jeannie's at work now, and I think she must have gone to the gym afterwards because she probably would've been home by now if she came straight home. We're gonna go to the grocery store today! And I think I might try to persuade her to use the Panera gift certificate we got and go on a lunch date with me.

I just got a lovely e-mail from Schlueter, and she said she's been procrastinating on her...shit, I forgot the right word for what she's working on...it's the thing you write when you're getting your doctorate---DISSERTATION. Anyway, she's been procrastinating working on her dissertation by reading people's blogs, and I'm here to tell her that if she REALLY wants to do some procrastinating, she should write her own blog. An excellent time-waster.

I'm realizing it's not surprising that time-wasting has come up so much in recent lyrics, as I do a lot of it. Why does a part of me think that time-wasting isn't a bad thing, but instead one of the best things? Is it part of the whole Jack-Kerouac-Tao-"do nothing"-stuff? Probably. Who cares, really?

I hear Samuel running around upstairs, and I'm hungry, and I feel sweaty, and I cut my hair this morning, and am also trying to grow a big bushy beard for winter-time.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Poor Customer Service

I was in a foul mood after about 9pm at the ol' B&N tonight. Chances are, if you came in after 9pm and asked me a question, the answer you got was either "Nope." or "I have no idea." The thought that kept running through my head was Ted Knight's from 'Caddyshack': "Don't you people have HOMES?" We were busy, though, and the music department made a lot of money despite my assness.

The best news of the day is that Jeannie went to the doctor and they stuck the ol' camera down her throat and said everything looks to be healing well and nothing odd looks to be growing, and nothing looks pissed. So that makes me n' her happy campers indeed.

I found myself thinking about friends today before going to work. Driving down highway 83 to go to the recycling dump with Jeannie and I was thinking about Ron Rybkowski, for some reason. I can't remember what put him into my head. But I realized that it's been awhile since I called him up, and that I should do that, but now that it's been awhile it would feel weird doing that. I hate it when that happens. Anyway, thinking about Ron got me started thinking about college in general, and made me a little nostalgic. Ah, nostalgia, schmostalgia. It's nice be here, now.

Seriously though, if you haven't rushed out and bought the new Ricky Martin cd yet, do it NOW.

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Go buy Ricky Martin's new cd. It is AWESOME.

Well, I didn't really get to see Jeannie at all today, which means the day was pretty much a total waste. The only redeeming aspect of the day (aside from aforementioned new Ricky Martin cd), was doing some recordings this morning. Started playing a little Eno-based recording game: recording several short piano phrases of different lengths, then looping them all and playing them all at the same time, but because they're all different lengths, they interact differently with each other each time they loop. It's a nice little way to start the day off with some randomness. I also like it because I don't save what's generated, just scrap everything and start a new one tomorrow. Why do I like the "fart in the wind" aspect of so much of what I do?

Anyway, I have a feeling tomorrow's gonna suck.

Weekend Roundup and Hoedown

Well, a very nice weekend is over, and though it rained for a good part of it, my parents had a great visit. Jeannie and I really enjoyed having them here, and I miss them, which is kind of strange but a nice feeling. We went to Havre de Grace on Saturday in the pouring rain, walked on the promenade (with an umbrella that kept randomly closing on our heads), and ended up going to the "worlds largest decoy museum," which is exactly what it says. It's very strange. It's a museum devoted entirely to duck decoys and the people who make them. Complete with wax statues (maybe the statues were rubber, not sure, but they were very lifelike) of local legendary decoy artists. They also had an older guy on site who was carving decoys, and he was very funny, telling us about his carving process and peppering the stories with jokes you could tell he used every time. But he was very nice and cute and he loved what he did. Which I guess is all anyone ever needs.

Sunday was spent driving around the city, looking at interesting buildings and churches, and also a very good time. It was really enjoyable hanging out with them. It's great to finally be in a place where my parents are realizing they don't have to worry about me (and Jeannie, and both of us together), and that I've turned out different than them, and different than they might have imagined, but that I turned out ok. It takes a lot of strain out of our relationship.

Jeannie and I babysat our new neighbor Samuel last night. He's 2, and he's very cute and his mother is British and works overnight on Saturday and Sunday nights. So we'll be babysitting him some weekends while she's at work. He's got a lot of energy, but can also be very calm and thoughtful and sad. It's nice. Why is it that I tend to like sadness better than happiness? I feel like sadness should be the normal state of the human condition. It's the emotion we should feel most often. Why?

Saturday, October 08, 2005

A nice little bit of info.


Ahh, I have discovered how to upload pictures into the B-logs...my popupblocker was keeping the upload page from opening...

Anyways (my father always points out that Dennis Franz' character on NYPD Blue always says 'anyways', with an 's' on the end), here's the picture of the blue on the floor, taken with an old-ish digital camera bought with my first rush of power-plant money, so it's grainy. Remember, grain=art.

Morningtime

Man, what's going on? Jeannie couldn't sleep last night, and I woke up at 5:30 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. So I got up and have been puttering around, reading and pooping and I took a picture of the way the sky (a nice sunrise blue) was reflecting off of the floor. Maybe the sky iteslf isn't sunrise blue--because it's still raining like hell, one of those steady-ass lingering rains that will last for days and days--but the reflection on the floor was blue, for some unexplainable reason. And a nice blue at that. Maybe that's why I took a picture of it.

I don't like not being able to sleep. I routinely get 10-20 hours of sleep a night, and I know that this 5 hour night means I'm gonna put on my crankypants by mid-afternoon. And because of the rain, I have no idea what to do with my parents all day. I suppose something shall be figured out and I'm not going to worry about it.

Jeannie's at work at the B&N (she works there now, as a shelver) until noon. I'm guessing the folks are going to call around 10. I've been entertaining the idea that, if they open a regular Charles Village B&N, I should try to transfer there as the music manager and Jeannie and I should move to Charles Village when our lease is up. Aw, who cares.

Friday, October 07, 2005

Open-faced turkey.

Well, the parents are in town, and we went to Cafe Hon for dinner, and it was fine, although the place was noisy so Jeannie had to strain her voice a little bit to be heard, which ain't good. But it was fine. My parents came back to the apartment and we gave them birthday cake and presents and drank tea. It was nice. I think they enjoyed seeing the place and they're glad they're here.

Today at work I almost had to blow up like a bomb because they put up a notice that nobody could request days off between Nov. 20th and Dec. 31st. Oh hell no! I shall not stand for such B-crap! But I had a talk with Donna (bosslady) and she said that was just so that when everybody asks off for Christmas week she can tell them to go blow it out their bloody arses. She said that Jeannie and I can get some days off to travel around the holidays. But I'm guessing we won't have much time in St. Louis over Christmas. Which is why everyone should come visit here! Yum, Baltimore in winter!

Even though I haven't told anyone (except Jeannie) about this here B-log, I feel like I'm writing a bit differently now that I'm considering coming out of the closet and telling people I have a B-log. I've always written with certain people in my mind as an audience, I guess, but it feels different now that people I know might read this sometime. Well, I'll do my best to not try to feel pressure to be witty or funny, because when I do that I usually end up drinking to much gin and tonics and then spend a day and a half puking and sleeping in Jen and Brad's bathroom. Ah, I can't wait for Thanks-giving.

Just for the record, I think the funniest sentence I've written in this B-log is "Look out, that's a tasty burger." The funniest phrase is "aforementioned nuts."

Jeannie's going to bed. She just kissed me on the head and said she loves me. It's raining outside, has been all day. The air is a little bit heavy and humid, and the only things I hear right now are the steady hum of the laptop, the sound of the rain outside which is the same consistancy but a little bit higher, and the refridgerator--layers of hums.

Is "Look out, that's a tasty burger." actually a sentence? Does it have all the necessary sentence-parts? Anyone?

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Addendum. Is that a real word?

Just thought I'd add -- Been listening to the latest Sigur Ros album. Very good mid-tempo background music. All the vocals sound like they're backwards. Only negative feedback I have for the band is that sometimes the vocals sound like a cat meowing. Which is great for somebody like me who likes to meow along to songs, but bad for people who don't.

I've also been on a Brian Eno kick after reading his book "A Year with Swollen Appendices."

Self Flagellation.

Ok, today I realized, after looking at people's Blogs, that I do not write in mine nearly enough. I think this is because of a few reasons.

1. I'm not a very good writer, and I always find it to be a little bit of a chore. Kind of like exercise, one of those things I feel like I "should" do in order to be a better person., but secretly hate.

2. My life is happily, blissfully un-interesting. I think one of the things I'm most thankful about is that I have genuinely talented, interesting friends--because it takes the pressure off of me to actually have a life. When I hang out with them, they bring the life.

I added a picture to my profile today, and I think I look pretty intelligent in the picture, but after re-reading through old posts (and showing the whole blog-thing to Jeannie for the first time) I realized that I write mostly about eating and farting. Which is fairly appropriate, but I guess the truth about me lies somewhere in between the picture and the words.

Lots of visitors. Robin and Gena came for a great quick visit that involved lots of wine drinking and conversation and muffin-eating. My 'rents are coming this weekend. Then Schlueter in early November, and I hear a rumor of a potential Ricky Elz visit in November? I sure hope so. 'Twould be a good time.

Too many stories about work to tell here.

Now that Jeannie knows about this blog, and I'm thinking of telling other people about it, I suppose I shall be guilted and forced (in a good way) to write more. It does seem to shrink distances when I read other people's.

Monday, August 15, 2005

Vacation in Geektown

Howdy.

It's been awhile, again, but mostly because we've had visitors here. Karista was in town for about 5 days, and we went to Ocean City for 2 days, and we went to DC, and hung out a bit here. Then the Beej was in town, and he introduced Pat and I to a new geek card game called Anachronism, which is actually quite fun. He and I were able to do our perhaps new tradition of hitting the Rec Room for burgers and gin and tonics. Holy Damn the burgers there are good.

Work has been slightly frustrating, but still enjoyable.

The weather's been hot and gross, but Jeannie and I have been taking walks again before we go to bed. It's nice and relaxing and I really enjoy it.

That's about it, really. We're going camping next weekend with Pat and Aimee, hopefully the waves will be big and the weather won't be too gross. Until next time.

Sunday, July 24, 2005

Back from the Dead

I'm back, writing for the first time in a long time. Haven't been around Baltimore or haven't felt motivated.

Jeannie and I went on vacation to St. Louis, which was fun, and we've been back about 3 weeks and life has gone back towards normal. She had surgery again and is recovering and jobless for awhile. My life is the same, still working on music and working at the B and N.

Some memories from the last few weeks:

1. Had a strange argument with my sister while in St. Louis. Strange because it's the sister I feel closest to.

2. Jeannie and I went to Rocks State Park and went swimming in the rapids (which was fun and awesome) and I lost my wedding ring in the river as I was going through the rapids and put my hand on a big rock. When I took my hand off, the rock just slipped the ring right off my finger. That part sucked. But the rest of it rocked.

that is all for now. Jeannie is home.

Friday, June 03, 2005

Not Dead Yet.

I've just been too busy to write. MIDSUMMER opens tonight and Jeannie and I have been putting in our time working on the set.

Had a great night last night. I got home from the rehearsal early (around 8) and I could tell Jeannie wanted me out of her hair because she had a lot of work to do, so I called BJ and we met at the Rec Room for burgers and drinks. Maybe it's because it's been a long time since I had a real good burger, but damn it tasted good. I mean, holy shite that burger was good. Look out, that's a good burger. It's also been a long time since I've gone out and had a few drinks and shot the shat with a good buddy, and it was good to see the Beej, and he looked like Allen Ginsberg.

My back is sunburned from working on the set Monday and Tuesday, and since yesterday afternoon, on and off, it has been itching uncontrollably. It would be very comic if it wasn't so uncomfortable.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

3 am

Stayed up late last night, listening to old songs, searching for any nuggets that might be floating around back there. Listening to how the music has changed over the last couple of years. I think I'm finally out of the "instrumental that leads nowhere" phase, although I definitely still have those that keep popping up, but for the last month or so I've been very interested in working with a lot of vocal lines and focusing the songs on the vocals.

I'm enjoying a little snippet of a song I worked on the other day. It's called 'crazy.' I like it because I think if somebody hung out with me for a day and followed me around while I piddled around the apartment doing the things I do, at the end of the day they would feel something similar to what they would feel at the end of listening to the song in headphones.

Enough about stupid songs that nobody will hear. Life is fine.

Sunday, May 22, 2005

On the Pot

I have been remiss. Been too busy to write, which is odd. When it rains it pours. Working on MIDSUMMER set, and it's going well.

Some thoughts from the last couple of days:

1. Working Friday night with Jeannie on the set, both of us in work clothes, it's getting late and we're cutting wood, drawing things out with no music on or anything, and it's quiet and fun and peaceful. Joking, yelling back and forth between the buzzing of the saws. And after awhile Wayne Willinger comes in, for some reason, and he's giggly and confesses to us, "I'm an occasional pot smoker..." and he's high and funny and sweet. He's so nice, there to pick up "wigs and ladies' dresses" for a show that the autisitc kids he works with are putting on. He cranks up the radio, because the station is going to be playing a black sabbath album all the way through-- he's been waiting for it all day...it was an odd night, sweet, fun.

2. Not much else. Strange dream last night involving Rich. Haven't been eating too well.

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

none.

haven't written in a few days. been working more, and starting to work on the set that I've been procrastinating.

Some things from the past few days:

1. Going out and getting some Chinese food with Jeannie, at the cheap little place in Hampden. It's a great little place, narrow and deep, and I enjoyed sitting at the counter waiting for our food and looking out at the street through the bright, pale blue neon sign. And watching the woman make fresh sushi. It was a scene that was cheery and sad at the same time. Chinese restaurants always make me sad in a good way.

2. Getting through work yesterday without having to talk to a new manager who I don't like and who makes me unhappy to go to work. So yesterday was a good day.

Two days off of work starting today. I put some new strings on the guitar and hooked it up with some open tuning.

Friday, May 13, 2005

.5

Happy 6 monthiversary to me and Jeannie. Ain't life strange n' grand.

Didn't sleep well last night. Too many thoughts about work and the set that I've been procrastinating.

Drove to the Giant-G this morning to buy some sausage, as I had a hankering for a big greasy egg, sausage and toast breakfast. Also bought loaf of bread.

Things to remember from yesterday:

1. Hi-5's with Jeannie watching THE APPRENTICE. Quick 7 minute walk and then watched some of ER.

2. Jeannie asked me something while she was asleep in bed last night. Both of us remembered this morning that she asked me something, but neither of us remember what it was. It must have been strange, though, because when she asked it, I said to her, "Are you asleep?"

Thursday, May 12, 2005

None

What a day.

Long day of work today, and Jeannie's not home yet, so I don't know what to do with my evening. I want to go walking cause it's so damned nice outside.

Things to remember about yesterday:

1. Walked to the Giant-G for floss and bubble bath. Put way too much lotion on my hands and had to use my elbows to open the door and wipe my hands on the grass.

2. Been reading Stevie's BLOG. He's more articulate than I used to give him credit for. Maybe he'll amount to something someday.

3. Layed in bed wondering if, in fact, I do not have enough ambition, creativity, or intelligence to ever have a job that seems somewhat interesting and pays well. The only quality that I am sure that I have in abundance is love for Jeannie and my friends, and I don't think anyone's going to pay me for that anytime soon.

4. Delicious black beans and rice with sausage for dinner. Gave me the farts somewhat fierce. Farted in bed and Jeannie had to get up and light a match. Sorry.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Fudge Factory.

Jeez. What to do with the day.

Things to remember from yesterday:

1. Quiet night at home alone. Watched TV ate rice with sweet and sour sauce, and aforementioned handful nuts.
2. Brush teeth and jokes in bed in the dark. Ha Ha.
3. Slept with fan on.

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

What am i doing? There's no one there.

I just ate a big handful of honey roasted peanuts.

There's not really that much else to tell, actually.