Eureka

Well, the Great Apartment Search of '06 has (we hope) come to a close. Jeannie and I put down a security deposit on a 1BR, 3rd floor apartment at 2831 St. Paul St. in Charles Village. We're very excited. It's real cute, pretty big, and cheaper than the place where we're living now. And it has roof access so we can hang out on the roof and drink beer. If everything goes well and they approve our application and all that, we should be moving at the end of June/beginning of July.

Today we're off to the Oriole's game with Pat and BJ, courtesy of free tickets from Lesley Malin via Pat Kilpatrick. So thanks, Lelsley, for the tickets, and thanks, Pat, for the invite.

When I get a chance to take some pictures of the new place, I'll put 'em up here.

Pat Kilpat

Pat came over for dinner last night, we had some ho-made pizza. I had the day off yesterday and I made a big mess of food, including some mashed potatoes that turned out kind of glue-ish.

We had a good, lo-key time, mainly just sitting and talking and eating. Everyone's looking forward to the arrival of the BJ, who will be living in Baltimore again for a few months during the summer.

Manhandled.

Today at work I saw a man with a strange hand. The palm portion was a normal, man-sized palm portion. But the fingers were tiny, half-sized fingers, both in length and girth. It was kind of like a 6 year old girls' fingers on a man's hand. And it was just one of his hands. The other one was normal, man-zized hand with normal, man-sized fingers. It was strange and bizarre, and rather than point and stare, I am limiting my terrible need to point out a freak when I see one to this relatively private space.

To those who have read INFINITE JEST, I immediately flashed on Hal's description of the grief-therapist with child-sized hands, an episode that I had thought came out of the seemingly endless depths of David Foster Wallace's imagination, but it seems that this phenomenon is real. And it is every bit as creepy as Hal describes.

Tonight I feel fat.

Another End of Day

Jeannie just went to bed. Samuel's asleep upstairs. I'll be heading upstairs to go to sleep in a little while, I guess. It's later than I'd like it to be, and I'm really not very tired. Just eating some corn and catching up on reading e-mail and visiting blogs and whatnot.

Jeannie and I watched the final 6 FEET UNDER last night. It was ok. I think the show ended at the right time. Anyway, we've enjoyed watching it over the last couple of years and now we wonder what we'll do when we're sitting at home and don't feel like going out and there's nothing else to do...

Talked to my parents on the phone today, it had been a week or so since I'd talked to them, and I like to call them at least once a week. I'm ready for a visit home, getting a little homesick, and I miss my folks a bit.

Not much else to write tonight.

HAL

Spent a frustrating day off yesterday wrangling with Jeannie's computer and my computer, both of which seemed to be possessed by the devil. It was not fun. I hate computer problems. I think that the major problems have been fixed, and Jeannie and I were able to salvage the night by watching "America's Funniest Home Videos," eating ice cream, and working on some blurbs that she needed to write for work.

Today had a busy, fast day at work followed by some babysitting. Really don't want to go to work tomorrow. Really wish I could come hang with the cool kids in Ohio.

Life seems to be in a little bit of a rut right now. Not in a terrible way, but I'm definitely ready for a few consecutive days off work. Really, though, I'm the luckiest person alive right now. I love my wife.

Somebody Call SVU...

..cause Jeannie and I just got our minds seriously f'd in the bum. Today, Jeannie found an advertisement on Craigslist for a 2 bedroom apartment in Charles Village for $550 per month. There were pictures included and the place looked great. So she made an apointmemt for us to go look at it this evening, and she was really excited and called and told me about it and I got pretty excited, too. So we went to look at the place and it was large and perfect and had lots of closets and a big ol' bathtub and we just generally really liked it a lot, and after we fell in love with it the lady told us that she made a mistake in the advertisement and that it's actually $550 per month PER PERSON. So there's really no way that we could afford to live there.

So we both kinda feel like we got kicked in the nards / ovaries

Ouch.

"I'm a walker"

Well, it turns out that a nice long walk was exactly the perfect way to spend the day. It's absolutely gorgeous here today, not a cloud in the sky, and all the flowers and trees are blooming. I had thought about taking my camera with me on my walk, and I wish I had because I saw a few things that I would've liked to have taken pictures of, mostly just interesting visuals, little bursts of colors that popped up here and there. Like an orange peel that was laying on the sidewalk, or the orange striped caution signs alongside the road that were against a lush green hill background. There was also a big, rolling field that was part of the grounds of some private place called St. Joseph's Manor, and it had lots of clusters of little wildflowers in it and looked like the perfect place to take a nap on a sunny afternoon.

Took my tunes with me, and I have discovered that my MP3 player's random function tends to favor some artists a little bit more than a healthy random function should. Namely, Stevie Wonder and Fiona Apple (whose new album I enjoy--it's kind of eerie in the same way that Willy Wonka is eerie. Very polished appearance with menacing undertones). It seems to play a lot of Beatles, too, but then again I have a ton of Beatles songs on the player so that makes sense.

As I walked I thought some more about long walks. Like the day I walked to what I thought was the Sears Tower from Rich's place in Chicago. It turns out that it was just the Hancock Building, but when I told Rich that I walked to the Sears Tower he seemed very impressed and a little incredulous. With good reason, it turns out. Also thought about the day I walked from Camden Yards to our old house in Hampden. With a full suitcase. Now that was a long walk. Through some interesting ghetto-ish areas, I might add.

I have decided to not write about LOST anymore because it makes me feel like a loser. I guess it's just safe to assume from now on that I'm watching about an episode a day, legally or illegally, and that I am a raving lunatic about the whole thing. I hope that Jeannie will oneday forgive my destruction of our marriage.

Present and Accounted For.

Yesterday turned out differently than I thought it would....we got an e-mail saying that the warehouse space had already been rented, which makes us sad but oh well, Plus, the disc that Netflix sent to me which I thought was LOST was actually the next disc of 6 FEET UNDER. So I was forced to get my LOST fix in a less legal fashion using my good ol' high speed internet connection.

Inventory went fine, I got home at around 4:30 this morning, tired and bloated and gassy. Then Jeannie and I got up at 7:30 to take the car to the shop. Today I'll be making the long walk to go pick it up, but it's a beautiful sunny day and perfect for a nice long walk.

Tonight we go to look at another apartment.

Green

I will admit that when I read Rich's post (post#101) this morning, I got a bit envious. Mainly I just wished that I could come hang with the cool kids, too. It sounds like everybody is having a good time, except maybe Henry who's apparently getting an ass whipping in Candyland the likes of which he's never previously experienced.

Tonight we're doing a full-store inventory at work, which is a big job and will run into the wee hours of the morning, but anytime I get to go get paid for a shift where I don't have to deal with customers is fine by me.

Also this evening, Jeannie and maybe (hopefully) myself will be going to look at a room in a warehouse as a possible future residence. Both of us have wanted to live in a warehouse for a long time, as it would be a great place to combine living space with recording space, painting space, general "projects" space, etc.

Also, I have a new disc of LOST to watch which means not much useful is going to get done. I am planning on doing the dishes, however. I've already gone online and read synopses for all the episodes on the disc, though (because I'm an addict and I have a problem and I couldn't wait for the damned disc to get here), so maybe I won't watch all the episodes today.

The Whitman book is, as always, good. It's basically a big prose journal. Of course, all the poetry is in there, too, but I usually just stick to the good ol' prose stuff. Have I been reading lots of journals because I've been blogging, or have I been blogging because I've been reading lots of journals?

Fried Egg on Top, Please!

Had a good time last night, went to 'The Golden West Cafe' with the Jeanners, Pat, MAW, and Brian Jacobs (who I don't know very well, but is very nice and very funny). The menu there is kind of strange, but everyone seemed to enjoy their food. I ordered some sort of enchiladas, and what I got was a plate of what looked like vomit with chicken in it, some sour cream and guacamole, and a fried egg on top. It was strange, but yummy. Then we spent some time walking around Hampden, MAW took some pictues, and we enjoyed the nice weather. Then the Jeanners and I came home and watched some SIX FEET UNDER. Since I've become addicted to LOST, I haven't been enjoying the 6FT as much as I used to, but it's still pretty good. But wouldn't it be so much better if they were all stranded on an island?

Today I went to work and it was fine. Tonight we babysit. Tomorrow I go to work. Tomorrow night we babysit.

Jack is not a Dull Boy.

The last 2 days have been very balanced days, nice mixes of chores, hobbies, loafing, LOST, and Jeannie. Here's some of the things I've done:

1. Gone to the gym (twice).
2. Done some dishes.
3. Done some laundry.
4. Recorded some music.
5. Made some pizzas.
6. Walked with the Jeanners.
7. Walked by myself.
8. Gone to the bank.
9. Watched some LOST. (My God that show is addictive.)
10. Finished my Kerouac book. Picked up a book of Whitman's poetry and prose that I'm always picking up and reading some and putting down.
11. Played on the Internet. (MySpace, blogs, etc.)

Hre's some pictures:

This one's funny because it looks posed, yet I don't think it is. Also, there's not many pictures of me after 1995 where I don't have facial hair. Luckily, the G&T glass is covering the vast 3 foot expanse that is my upper lip. I think this was taken in about 1999, at the Dukum Inn, which used to be a pretty decent bar. Plus, Sean looks sort of like a young cowboy Tom Waits. If you don't believe me, look at the inside cover of 'Closing Time.' Actually, the more I look at this picture, it probably was posed.

This next one is in honor of Uncle Rich, who makes his way to Ohio soon. Today?

Hope to see you soon, Richard.

I Ate the Whole Thing!

Jesus Christ, I'm a slave when it comes to pudding....

Teeth getting pulled and all that.

I haven't really felt like writing lately. Why is that? It hasn't happened too often lately. I've been thinking a lot about my friends...Rich getting ready to leave Chicago and start over in Ohio...Seanyboy getting ready for a big trip all over the damned place...and I got an e-mail from Ron the other day (I had e-mailed him a hello), he says that Lee's leaving Truman and Becky's leaving and Joan's looking, which leaves him and Dana and a whole lot of work.

I've been thinking a lot about recording but have absolutely zero ideas. Recording attempts have kind of sucked lately, I think mostly because the "studio corner" of our bedroom is a bit in shambles. Brian Eno wrote in his diary, "When in doubt, tidy up." It's good advice and maybe I'll heed it on my days off this week.

Work has been a little tense lately. Or rather, my thoughts about work have been. I'm realizing that the sucky thing about moving up the ladder is that you have to wait for the person ahead of you to fall off.

I'm at an interesting section in my reading of Kerouac's journals (nearing the end). Large chunks of text in the journals that ended up going into 'On the Road' nearly verbatim, plus you get to read all the stuff in the journals that didn't make it into the finished book. It's kind of like getting to see the deleted scenes from a movie. Then again, there's some parts in the journal that kinda suck. But all-in-all, it's been a very interesting read. I hope they publish other volumes of his later journals.

Hmm. That's it for now, I guess. Jeannie ain't home yet, she's hanging with a friend. Maybe I'll go see if I got another LOST disc today in the mail.

To all those traveling, vaya con dios.

Moldy Molderson

What's going on? Not much. The Great Apartment Hunt of '06 has begun, and so far we've had some leads but nothing that was perfect. Here's what we're looking for, and if you know of something out there, let us know: a 3rd floor, 1BR Apt. in Charles Village, with a washer and dryer in the building, access to the roof, and preferably a dishwasher. And my wife would like it to be on the side of the street that gets a lot of afternoon sun in the living room, although that's not a deal breaker. And we'd like to pay around $750 a month.

The nice thing is that we don't have to give any sort of notice at our current place, and they may end up reimbursing our moving expenses, because we seem to have a mold problem due to some leaks that they don't seem to want to fix properly. So we're getting the hell out, ASAP.

Yesterday I took a long afternoon walk, with headphones, in the sunshine, and went up to this little square and sat on some new benches that smelled like cedar. While I was walking I thought a lot about various walks that I've taken in my life---walking to and from grade school, walking around my neighborhood when I was ten listening to headphones and pining for the girls I had crushes on (I think that was when I fell in love with music and walking), walking around Kirksville alone when the town was dark and quiet in the way that only small towns in Missouri can be dark and quiet, a drunken walk home from a party with Rich R., walks all over the place with the Jeanners, I just love walking.

Tonight Jeannie and I might walk back up to Casa Mia for G&T's and some cheesecake. I think if the middle-aged musicians are there again, Jeannie may want to request some Journey. Rock lives in Balto.

Fair and Balanced

So my friend Jen Schlueter has sent me an e-mail, saying that she seems to recall me telling a story about a time that someone overheard ME in the bathroom at the B&N, making a big #2. She also says that out of fairness to the (presumed) man that I "slandered" yesterday, I should post that story. So, in order to score cosmic karma points, I offer an apology to the (presumed) man who was crapping loudly at the B&N yesterday and submit this excerpt from my e-mailed reply to Schlueter:

"Yes, there was a time when the security guard
overheard me taking a shit, but in my defense, I think
I had some sort of food poisoning or something. And I
don't think mine sounded as broadly comical as the one
I heard yesterday. Mine just sounded like a lot of
messy shit coming out quickly and forcefully. The one
yesterday had huge, loud, long farts, combined with
shit, and then more farts. It was like a crap
symphony. There were discernable movements. No pun intended."

I would also like to take this opportunity to apologize to any readers of a sensitive nature who don't like bad words or blogs about doo-doo. I generally try to keep the language PG-13, but sometimes when you're writing about #2 you just have to call it shit.

I've got the next 2 days off, and I'm going to try to fill them with useful, productive activities, and hopefully a lot of sunshine. I plan on making some homemade pizza tomorrow. At the momemt, however, I am sweaty from the gym and in need of a shower, and I have a new disc of LOST waiting to be viewed.

Rich, am I correct in remembering that MacGyver's first name is Angus?

Absolutely Disgusting.

Today I was in the restroom at the B&N going pee (or as Henry Steinmetz says, "piss") and in one of the stalls someone was making the loudest and most stereotypical public shitting/farting noises I've ever heard. It almost seemed like it was a dubbed sound effect. If you type "poop sounds" into a search engine, you will come up with results that include MP3 files that sound like what I heard today. For a minute I thought I might be on some sort of candid camera show, but then I realized that there are probably legal issues with staging a candid camera show in a public restroom.

What a beautiful weekend it was. Glad I got to spend some quality time outdoors in the sun with my ladyfriend.