Not Too Much

Not too much going on. I was off work yesterday, and I got a little bored. Made some cookies. Talked to my folks.

Jeannie and I have been having fun. Went for a nice walk last night to the grocery store. It was getting cold but we had long underwear on (underneath our clothes) so we weren't uncomfortable.

I went to the gym the other day and overdid it a little bit and my titties have been hurting.

Hey, the spell-checker on this blog doesn't recognize "titties" as a real word. Stupid spell-checker.

Emergency Plan

Well, I have given Korn a one-time exemption from the "no using food poisoning as an excuse" rule, because she came back to work and told me a funny story about 2 people sharing an apartment with one bathroom and getting food poisoning at the same time. I should point out that Korn did not think the story was funny. It's a situation that I have often thought about (because Jeannie and I share an apartment with one bathroom and both have active defecatory lives) but have never really come up with an emergency plan for. It's a plan that would probably involve (unfortunately) the kitchen sink or the roof outside our kitchen window. But anyway, enough of this pleasant dinner conversation...

It seems that my days in high school have come back to visit me in full effect. It started when I began listening to Too Much Joy again, then last night I got a message on Facebook from T. Benitez (who I haven't seen or heard from in about 11 or 12 years), and then today at the gym my MP3 player "randomly" played about 4 They Might Be Giants songs. I blame J. Knese. For the TMBG, anyway.

T. Benitez, by the way, is a girl who I met in high school, who I think it's safe to say would classify herself as a fellow "weirdo." We hit it off pretty instantly. She was one of the folks that The Jeanners and I used to run around with and used to have good clean fun with.

Thanksgiving this year was good. It looked like this:



Katie came over to our place, and we spent a good part of the day cooking (or rather, Jeannie and Katie spent a good part of the day cooking while I peeled apples and potatoes) and then went over to Katie's in the evening to eat it all up. A few people that we didn't know came over to Katie's, too, and Angel came over, and we ended up playing some Apples to Apples. And some people (I won't name any names but it wasn't me) got a little tipsy and giggly. It was a fun time. Oh, and Katie (who has left town to embark on her Great North American Travel and Train Adventure), has left her cello with me for safe keeping until her triumphant return. So yesterday when I got home from work (but before Jeannie got home) I played a little cello. It sounds pretty awful. But maybe I can do some interesting things with it or actually maybe learn to play it. Although I don't really feel like learning how to play it right. Laziness and apathy strike again.

Today is my day off and I have spent it by:
1. fixing our stove.
2. sending messages and pictures to T. Benitez. Who seems to be home during the day. Or at least in a position to send messages via Facebook during the day.
3. Going to the gym, to the B&N to see how much money we made yesterday (less than I had hoped, but still more than last year), and to Trader Joe's to pick up some olive oil for the J-Dog.
4. Laundry, laundry, laundry. After putting our laundry in the washer, I stopped in at the chinese restaurant next door (as has become my laundry day ritual), and on the TV there I saw an American Express commercial that was using a Spinal Tap song ("Gimme Some Money") without any irony or tongue-in-cheekness. I find this...not really sad or unsettling, but just weird.

Tonight, J-Dog and I have plans to hit the city library!

Thanksgiving

Oh, how I wish I was in O-hio...

But we ain't, so we shall make the best of this Thanksgiving 2007 here in cloudy-but-bright Baltimore.

I didn't sleep well last night. I had had some caffeine last night at work with my dinner, so maybe that was keeping me up. I was also thinking about work stuff, which is strange and wrong because today is one of two days out of the year when I absolutely don't have to think about the B&N.

Anyway, yesterday was a long, busy day at work, which is good because we made some good money, but it was long. (Confidential to anyone who works with me in the Music Department: don't use food poisoning as an excuse when calling out sick. Even if you are puking and shitting right in front of me, my brain still won't let me believe it...)

Sitting here at the kitchen table in me undies, listening to some old Strokes CD's. Ever since Eric was visiting, and they were playing a Strokes album at the Golden West Cafe when we went there for dinner, I've been jonesing for the Strokes. They've got a nice, early 80's post-punk sound, I think. The Jeanners is getting some stuff ready for our Thanksgiving dinner, putting the bird in the oven, mixing stuff together, making something called brine. I'm not exactly sure what brine is, but I asked Jeannie if I could stick my dong in it and she said "no", so I guess it's something we eat or drink.

THINGS I AM THANKFUL FOR IN 2007:
1. The Jeanners, and all the fun we have together.
2. The safe and healthy births of Jack Steinmetz, Henry Bosco, Adam Grass, and Elizabeth O'Brien. And the host of other babies that were born to people we know. Seriously, people, stop pressuring us by having all these goddamn adorable little shits.
3. A good, fun crew at work. (Wish E-beth was still around, though.)
4. That my parents were able to come out for a visit.

And then all the usual stuff; good health, family, friends, blah blah blah, peace on earth and good will towards man, blah blah blah. God bless us, everyone.

I stink. I'm gonna put away our silverware and then take a damn shower.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

Tomorrow, the bullshit begins.

Post Punk

I've been reading a big U2 coffee table book that was cheap at the B&N, and been reading a bunch about them getting started back in '80 and '81, and it has put me in an early 80's mindset. I'm always inspired whenever I read stuff about U2, it always makes me want to do some recording, probably because I pretty much learned how to play guitar by watching any footage I could find of The Edge. So basically, right now I feel like quitting my job, spending all of our savings on a big mixing board and some good equipment, and renting someplace where I could set up a drumset and record my early 80's post-punk masterpiece. What all of this dreaming has actually boiled down to, however, is that I've been wearing my combat boots more. That's about it. I have done a bit of recording over the last few days, but mostly it's just been farting around. Been playing around with some interesting keyboard-drum stuff, though.

Jeannie and I had a good day yesterday of just lounging around. We used to do that all the time, when we were in college and she would come for a visit, we would spend days where we never left the dorms, not even to get food. For some reason we both felt uncomfortable eating with each other, so we would just spend days in the dorm room, getting more and more hungry. So we kinda did that yesterday, except that we ate.

We've been missing the Scluetermetz' bunches. Probably because of the time of year. We're probably gonna hang out with Katie and some other folks for Thanksgiving, which should be cool. But probably not as cool as heading to Ohio.

btw

The title of that last post refers to the blog itself, not the production of Macbeth. Except for Pat, who is truly an idiot.

A Tale Told by an Idiot

The Jeanners and I went to see Macbeth tonight. There was good mixed with not so good. Luckily, Scott and Lesley were both strong (it's always good to have a strong Macbeth and Lady Macbeth), but damn, some of the smaller parts were comically bad, and the lighting seriously bugged me. Although it is a tough space to light. So yeah, Macbeth. But I am looking forward to working on Doll's House. I think the set will be totally different than anything we've done before, and I think that the play will have a feel that's totally different than anything we've done, and I'm very excited by that.

Also made tentative plans to hang out with Pat and Teresa next week, which is a good thing. We've been wanting to hang out for awhile, so I'm glad that we've got an idea of when it can happen.

Hmmm, what else? Son of Sam I Am still hasn't arrived and I'm starting to get miffed.

Not too much else going on. I spent my day off yesterday doing laundry and dishes and then went in to help rehang and focus some lighting instruments for the show. And I've been enjoying looking at all the pretty fall colors on my way to and from work. I think we're just about at the tail end of the season, and I'll be sad when all the leaves are down, but I like winter, too.

Alright, I've got to work tomorrow morning, so I'd better finish this beer and get to bed.

"After all, I've tried for 3 years; feels like 90..."

Yesterday was me and the J-Dog's 3 year schmanniversary. We're pretty low-key anniversary-celebrators (last year the big thing we did was go to a Greek Restaurant, whoa!) but this year The Jeanners was nice enough to use a gift certificate for a massage that I had given her a long time ago, and she set up appointments for us both to get a massage. She shared her massage with me. So we went and got all oily and rubbed down. And went to Golden West for dinner, where my dinner seemed smaller than it did when we went there last and I ordered the same thing...

Anyway, seriously, I think that this marriage probably only has about 6 good months left.

I have been totally geeking out listening to Too Much Joy. I ordered 2 more cheap TMJ cd's off Amazon. One arrived yesterday, so I can now begin rocking out to the Cereal Killers album as well as Mutiny. Hopefully, Son of Sam I Am will be arriving today.

Not too much else going on. Work is starting to get a wee smidgen busier, but not really. Yet.

Also, I have agreed to stop downloading things that are not legal to download. As long as my wife doesn't get annoyed when I buy lots of Too Much Joy cd's.

Also, I just finished reading "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe," and yes, it did make me feel a bit womanly while reading it, but it was a good story, goddammit.

A Month in Pictures

In honor of me getting a roll of film developed, here's some pictures from the last month:



Jeannie and her brother, Big Jake. The man knows how to fill out a wifebeater, no?



The Beej and The Destiny, all lovey-dovey.



Pat and the Beej, enjoying their final few minutes as single gay men.



Pat and Teresa, laughing at what I can only assume are the wacky antics of BJ and MAW.



Jeannie and MAW express their love.



Jeannie sure can handle the hose!



Eric and the imfamous Large Camera.



This is the kind of scene that happens in our kitchen all the time. I'm just not exactly sure what it is...



Jeannie and the Future North-American Wanderer, Katie, who will be leaving Baltimore in a few weeks, and sorely missed.

The Spiff Chambers Show

Are you like me? When you heard about Seanyboy opening up for Colin Hay did you wish you could see it? Well now you can!

J U S T
C L I C K
H E R E !

It seems that they filmed his part of the show for a local cable network in Girdwood, Alaska. He sent me the link for it today, and I thought it was pretty cool. And not just because he plays some songs I worked on. One note: I do not really identify myself as a "Christian," (as Sean says in the video), but I hereby give Sean poetic license to introduce the song however the fuck he wants. Anyway, some great finger pickin' in there.

I would also like to take this opportunity to publicly apologize to Korn for getting mad at her yesterday at work. It was stupid and I apologize. I hope you (Korn) will forgive me and that we can continue to be friends.

Bad Liver.

My day at work kinda gave me a headache. But then I got home and my Too Much Joy album had arrived, and made everything ok again.

Oh, and I found out that Jack was born on November 5th, not the 6th, so his birthday will be even easier for me to remember. The day Marty McFly went back in time. And Spiff's birthday.

Ok, I've been waiting all day to write about this dream I had last night: I dreamed I was at the doctor's office, and I had been given a physical, although the type of office I was in was more like an eye doctor's office. It was dim and I was sitting in a special eye-doctor-type chair, and I was naked. My pants and underwear were in kind of a ball at my feet, kinda like I had just stepped out of them. There were also two kids from grade school leaning in at the doorway, but they weren't really doing anything and don't figure into the dream at all. So anyway, the doctor tells me that there's too much fat in my poop, and that means that my liver isn't working properly. And it turns out that he discovered that there's too much fat in my poop not by analyzing my poop, but by analyzing the skid marks in my underwear. Talk about embarrassing! Not only is my poop too fatty, but my underwear was filthy to boot! I was glad to wake up from that one...

I hope my liver's ok.

Jump They Say

This morning I eat the bacon and the eggs in honor of young Jack, who is enjoying his first day on this dirty, dirty planet. I look forward to the day when he and his brother and his parents and Uncle Rich and me and the J-Dog (and really, anybody else who wants to show up) sit down to a big table of bacon n'schmeggs and english muffins and juice and fruit and biscuits and fried potatoes and have what we like to call the Down Home Country Breakfast.

Last night I acquired in a less than legal fashion (it's out of print, how else am I supposed to get it?) (ok, it's actually available as a deluxe, double album edition, but I'm not paying $30 for this album) the album Black Tie, White Noise, by David Bowie. This is the album where I was first introduced to D.B., back in the early 90's, and at the time I remember thinking it was very strange but I was also drawn to it. I still feel the same way. It sounds pretty dated, but it's just a very strange mixture of a David Bowie record and, say, a Michael Jackson record. With a touch of C+C Music Factory thrown in. And I think he duets with Al B. Sure (!!) at one point. But I like it.

Also on the 'albums that time forgot' subject, I was looking online the other night to see if I could illegally acquire the album Mutiny, by Too Much Joy. Too Much Joy is a band from the 90's that most people haven't heard of, but there is not very much music that takes me back to high school as easily. They're a dorky rock band that's really damn catchy. So anyway, I was trying find this album to download, when I came across many copies being sold on Amazon.com for $1. Plus shipping. I felt a moment of shame when I realized that I was scouring the web to illegally download an album for free when I could, just as easily, legally acquire the same album for 100 pennies. Plus shipping. So I ended up paying the dollar (plus shipping) and the damn thing should be here in a day or two. My moment of shame has passed, though.

By the way, the irony/hypocrisy of my hatred of CD/DVD shoplifters living side by side with my penchant for less-than-legal downloading is not lost on me.

'Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)'

I love that quote! It totally relieves me of having to be consistent and/or having character! It's so POMO!

Jack Attack

A big hearty welcome to the Schluetermetz' new little boy, Jack. I will always be able to remember his birthday (if his birthday was, indeed, today. I didn't get all the particulars from Brad) because it's the day after Marty McFly went back in time. It's also the day after Seanyboy Spiff's birthday. So I should be able to remember it. Anyway, I'm just glad that the little dude can stop kicking his mom now and that everybody is doing well.

Not too much else going on. This week at work has felt a little slow compared to last week, which is nice. Getting caught up, getting things in order for the holidays, etc.

Went to HCCA on Saturday and measured the theatre. Tomorrow (my day off), I'm gonna go through the script and try to make a few drawings.

Oh boy, there are some stirrings down in my belly. I had a little bit of moldy fake-sour-cream stuff for dinner, so I'd better sign off.

Don't you have homes?!

This morning I watched a bit of Caddyshack before work. Gawd-DAMN I love that movie. Two thoughts that came into my head: 1) If I was a professional movie actor I would act like Ted Knight in Caddyshack in every film I was in. And 2) J. Knese reminds me of Spaulding.

Driving home from work tonight I realized that Wednesday (yesterday) was my 5 year anniversary at the Noble and I totally forgot. Five (5) muthaf**kin' years. Sheesh.