Character.

Been pretty busy the past few days.

In the past, I feel like I've portrayed my boss in a pretty negative light in this here blog. That's because I usually would only write about him when I was frustrated with him. I have to say, though, that throughout the events of the last week, he's shown a huge amount of grace, character, and just general coolness. I was worried that things would be very tense at work for the next week, but it hasn't been, and it's because he's been very cool. He told me today that he's got a second interview with a real estate company that would pay pretty well (much better than the B&N) and I hope he gets it.

I have an interview tomorrow with our district manager. I'm a little nervous because I haven't really met her and so I don't know what to expect. I usually interview pretty well, though, and I've got the support of my store manager and other folks, so at least I'm going in on a good foot.

Jesus, it's been hot here! When we left town it was about 65 degrees and when we got back it was 90. In the words of Fred Willard (one man who can consistantly make me laugh), "Wha happened?!"

The Regal Beagle

I will condense the last few days into this list:

wedding
breakfast at Aaron's
drive
the REGAL INN
drive
drive
LOST
walk.

That's about it for now.

Doin' it in the Lou

Well, we're here in St. Louis, Jeannie is off getting her hair cut. Maybe getting it cut REAL short, we'll see. I'm at her parents' house, rockin' the dial-up connection.
We've had a good trip so far. Got to stop in Ohio for a brief visit Wednesday night/Thursday morning, had a few hours to talk with Rich, Jen, and Henry. Unfortunately, Brad had to leave for work before we woke up. Everyone seems to be happy and doing well.
Thursday we finished the drive to St. Louis, and went to meet our new neice, Layla Grace Anderson. Jeannie's brother's wife had a baby girl on Wednesday morning, so when we got in on Thursday evening we went to the hospital to meet the baby and see how everyone is doing. Everyone is doing well, very excited and happy. Then Jeannie and her Mom and I went to Olympia for a delicious late dinner of gyros and Fat Tires.
Ran a bunch of errands yesterday, then went to my folks' place for dinner with the whole damned family. It was a good time, although we're getting to be such a big group (17 people at the dinner table), that it's almost getting to be a little TOO big. Maybe it's a good thing that Jeannie and I are out of town, just to keep the numbers down at family gatherings.

I guess the big news is that my boss will be leaving the B&N in about a week or so. So I'll probably be moving up to music manager soon, which I am happy about, but sorry that he had to leave for it to happen. He's a nice guy with a wife and kids and I hope that he finds something a lot better. Anyway, we'll see what happens.

Still haven't watched the LOST finale, but my friends in Ohio were nice enough to tape it for me so hopefully I'll get to watch it in a day or two.

Talent.

Everyone should read Drew's blog today, and then reference his blog from April 18th of this year if you don't know what he's talking about. This, by the way, is Drew (or at least it used to be):

Drew and I became acquainted in high school when I used to borrow pens from him every day in Calculus and Modern European History classes. Apparently, I have the type of personality where I don't bring pens to class, and he has the type of personality where he brings extra ones. And we sat right next to each other. So thanks, Drew for the pens, and good luck with displaying your abundant talent. I don't think he was wearing eye makeup in that picture, but it kinda looks like it, doesn't it?

Jeannie and I get to leave town tonight, stopping in Ohio very late. My plan today is to go to the gym (eating habits lately have been very bad), work on some music for Schlueter's play, and pack my stuff. Also gather cd's for the drive.

Talked to Rich and Brad on the phone the other night, made me look forward to seeing them, although the visit will be brief. Which just means that everything will have to line up so that they can visit B-more this summer.

New Digs

Here's a picture of our new building. We're up on the 3rd floor. We'll be moving in at the beginning of July, hopefully we'll be able to get in a little early, though.

Jeannie and I spent the morning and early afternoon walking around Charles Village, stopping in at some yard sales, and had lunch at a little cafe in Bolton Hill. We'll probably run some more errands tonight and then we start our last weekend of babysitting.

Been working on some music for Schlueter's play over the last couple of days. Also work, and have just been looking forward to getting the chance to hang out with Jeannie all day today.

Breakin' in my new shoes

Today was fine. Been hankering with the internet, trying to find a way to get some music files teleported to Schlueter. Then a normal day of work, waiting for it to end so I could come home and watch LOST and hang with my ladyfriend. Watched the show (a decent episode, makes me want to see next week's NOW) then just got back from a nice walk with Jeannie, talked about what a strange bunch of events had brought us to this point; married, in Baltimore, eleven and a half years after we first started taking walks together. We're both so happy that it just seems hard to believe.

Been thinking lately about the summer, looking forward to driving down to the beach on my days off, with anybody who's available or by myself if everyone's working. I remember a day last summer (or maybe it was 2 summers ago) when I drove down to Rehoboth Beach one morning, early, and went swimming and there were dolphins jumping like 30 feet away. It was pretty amazing. So I'm interested in doing that sort of thing as much as I can. Maybe I can make myself a little less translucently white and yet still avoid the frighteningly intense sunburns of last summer.

Reading Drew's blog made me miss Drew, who I regret only getting to see once or twice a year. But it's nice to be able to read the blog and know that he's still keepin' Chicago freakified.

Yesterday/Today

Yesterday was a bad day. It was Wasnock's fucking last day at work, which bummed me out, and my computer wasn't working right so I couldn't get on the internet, and I had to choose between getting the hell out of town (which I really want to do) and going to a get together to watch the season finale of LOST next Wednesday (which I really want to do). I have chosen the leaving town early, and thus will not get to go to the LOST party. I did manage to sit around most of the night after I got home from work and watch the season finale of Grey's Anatomy, which has annoyed me when I've seen it and it did not fail to annoy me last night. I was powerless, however, to change the channel.

I read Schlueter's play the other night, which I liked very much. It is smart, sensitive, clear, funny, and interesting. And sad. I was crying a little bit when I read then end of it. Also, I'm not just saying that because she's my friend and I'm writing about her in semi-public. If it was crap, I wouldn't be writing about it. I'm looking forward to working on the music, as I think that I might get to play around with sparse solo piano stuff, which seemed to come very easily and be very satisfying to work on for GHOSTS OF HAMILTON STREET. Also, I'll get to play around with the accordion sound on my keyboard, which I've always been impressed with because it sounds like a real accordion. We'll see what happens. For the moment, I'm rummaging through old material to send off to Schlueter to see if she likes it, and her response will help me figure out what direction to go in as I record new stuff.

Today has been a better day than yesterday. I got to hang out most of the day with Elizabeth at work, and we stood around doing not much of anything but shooting the shit. My boss, who's been driving me crazy lately just by being himself and who I wasn't looking forward to working with today, had to leave work early so I spent the rest of the afternoon by myself doing not much of anything, then shot the shit a little bit with Patrick C. when he got there at 3. Then I got to go to the gym for the first time in a long time. Then got home and took a bath while reading the latest, "1000th issue" issue of Rolling Stone, which is a very good read. Lots of little blurbs about many covers over the last 40 years, a nice little dimestore tour of Rock N' Roll.

Now the Jeanners is home, we just finished a nice little funtional dinner of impromptu spaghetti, and we're gonna run some errands and take a walk if it don't rain.

1 more day of work and then a busy day off with plans of laundry, lunch with BJ if he's free, dishes, recording, and a trip to the dump. Also maybe a trip to Soundgarden to check out the new Twilight Singers cd.

ADDED LATER:

Tonight as Jeannie and I drove to WalMart so I could look at some new shoes, I realized that I pretty much have absolutely the best life ever and I've been given way more happiness than anybody on the planet should be allowed to have.

Also, I got some kick-ass new shoes tonight. They remind me of these shoes I saw when I was a little kid, in a Norman Rockwell painting of a hobo-type guy playing a ukelele. Ever since I saw that painting (it's in a book of N.R. prints that my parents have) I've been searching for shoes like them. The ones I got tonight aren't exactly right but they have the same vibe.

FCW

Well, after tomorrow, the B&N will start to suck a little bit more, because it's my favorite manager's last day. Actually, it might suck a lot more, but I'm happy for him because he's going to be an assistant store manager at a different store. So he'll be raking in the dough, which means he'll be able to buy more treats for his bunny and doggies.

Also, my good buddy Jen Schlueter (one of the 2 smartest people I know, the other being her husband Stinky--which one of them is the smartest is a matter of heated and occasionally verbally abusive debate) sent me a draft of the play she's written, which I have not had the pleasure of reading yet, but which I am very excited to read and very excited to try and come up with music for. I hope that I do not let her or myself down.

Jeannie and I have only one more weekend of babysitting left after this one, and then we have our weekends back to wine and dine each other.

Oh shit! I almost forgot to write that the other night I had a dream that one of George Bush's daughters married Vanilla Ice. I have had a few experiences in my life that I would describe as "mystically perfect" or "cosmically perfect", when the universe seems to align in some strange way for a brief moment to give you a glimpse of something supernatural (like when my 3 turds lined up in parellel lines in the toilet, is the only other time I can think of) and this dream was one of those moments. I think when I have a milkshake right before bed it makes me have some whack dreams.

Rainy Day Fun

I must be a special boy, because I got to go out to eat twice today. First, I went to lunch with the Beej at the Rec Room. We both had burgers and G&T's. The burgers were awesome. That place has never disappointed me in the burger department. If anyone out there ever comes for a visit, remind me to take you to the Rec Room for a burger because they're good. Monday nights are half-price burger nights, too. So visit on a Monday.

Then, when my wife got home from work, she decided she wanted to go get some Thai food for dinner. So we took a shower and went to this little place downrown, Ban Thai, which is a cute little place that I had never been to, and had a nice little spontaneous date. And Jeannie looked real cute and it was fun and nice and we talked and it was just about as perfect as life can get.

Unfortunately, that's about all I did today. It's been raining all day and my car is in the shop, so I was pretty much stuck at home, so after I finished the dishes I played a little bit of guitar (a couple of ideas for possible future exploration) and then played Civilization III for awhile. Then I gave myself a haircut shortly before Jeannie got home. So I guess I accomplished everything on my list of things to do, but damn, I really didn't do that much...

Probably more of the same tomorrow.

Happy Birthday!

Today is an important day. First off, May 10 is Bono's birthday. It is also the birthday of my brother-in-law, Tom Hart. Today also marks the 1 year anniversary of my first post in this here god-damn blog. Finally, I am right now, at this very moment, watching my very first televised LOST. I'm all caught up, and now I have to watch LOST on TV, episode by episode, just like everybody else. Now that I'm not watching it every day, my LOST fever has calmed down a bit, but I'm still pretty obsessed.

Tomorrow begins my 2 days in a row off of work, and I'm meeting BJ for lunch at the Rec Room. Burgers and a drink. I'm also going to give myself a haircut and clean our apartment.

Got a nice e-mail from Danny Dolan. I've been meaning to write him, so it was nice to hear from him. It sounds like things are going well and he's working hard and happy.

My ear is currently itching.

The evil, evil rock.

Last night Jeannie had a dream that I was smoking crack. She said that when she confronted me about it I tried to convince her that I hadn't inhaled. I'm having a hard time picturing myself smoking crack... Unless it's ass crack! HA HA! SLAM!

I still feel kinda sick today. But I worked me ass off at the B&N. There were a lot of damned classical CD's that were changing price.

My apologies to Patrick Coursey for inadvertantly placing his blog link below the new link to the to-do list blog. It was entirely accidental, though I'm feeling a bit too lazy to fix it right now. It should be noted, however, that I find Patrick's blog to be more interesting than random to-do lists. Sometimes. When he updates his posts. And when he puts pictures up where it looks like he's been embalmed. I do not endorse web-comics, however. Nor comics of any nature, for that matter. Except Brenda Starr.

I am looking forward to my days off on Thursday and Friday. I hope I am feeling better by then. Jeannie just got home.

Under the Weather

Well, I haven't written much lately, and when I have written it's been boring. What can I say? Life is like that sometimes, I guess. Here' what I've been thinking, hearing, and seeing:

1. Feeling a bit sick. I kind of have a half-cold.
2. Feeling jealous of/happy for Rich in Ohio. I've really enjoyed his blog since he moved. It's like an instant change to happiness.
3. In the good news catagory, Jeannie and I were approved for the apartment in Charles Village and signed the lease on Saturday. We won't be moving until end of June, beginning of July.
4. Work has been uneventful, and a pain in my ass. For a Sunday, though, tonight wasn't too bad.
5. I'm going to buy Don Quixote and The Idiot from the B&N with a gift card that I won. Which should I read first?
6. I need a vacation.
7. Seanyboy has a few new songs on his MySpace. Check 'em out.
8. Jeannie and I absolutely can't wait to move. We're so excited. Also, we are approaching our 18 monthiversary. We're also nearing the end of our babysitting career. We're looking forward to having weekends again, but I think we'll both miss it a tiny little bit, too. Samuel's a good kid.
9. In the new apartment, there's a long-shot possibility that we'll be able to cheaply rent a vacant efficiency apartment below us that would serve as recording/painting studio and storage space. This would be a truly awesome turn of events, indeed.
10. I found a fun little blog that features TO-DO lists that people find and send in. I like stuff like that. I'll link to it on the side...

That's it. I love my ladyfriend, and I'm just waiting to not be so boring.

Someone Else's Poop

Tonight I changed my first poopy diaper. I did not like it very much. That is all I have to say about that.

Blah de blah blah blah.

I'm glad that today's almost over. Work was a bit of a pain, because I had to stay late because my boss called in sick an hour after his shift was supposed to start. Not cool. So as a result I haven't gotten to watch any LOST episodes today, which makes me especially grumpy. Tonight Jeannie and I are babysitting because Kate is working some overtime and asked if we could watch Samuel.

Lesley sent me an e-mail a few days ago and asked if I would be interested in playing some songs before some of the summer shows. I think I'm going to turn her down, because I've developed some sort of strange aversion to playing live. I know that if I said yes then I would be dreading it every day.

Still waiting to hear if we got the apartment. We're assuming everything should go through just fine. We're damned excited about the new place.

Right now some kid is practicing his clarinet a few buildings down, and I hear some papers blowing around in our bedroom. There's something strangely nice about hearing someone practice a clarinet through open windows on a summer night. The clarinet is a funny instrument, and this kid isn't too great. But he's doing some funny trills and stuff.

It still doesn't put me in a good mood, though.