Friday, October 22, 2010

Solo Banjo

Sheesh, it's nine-thirty already. And here I was gonna get an early start to the day. I just finished a tasty day-off breakfast of eggs, fauxsage (I just coined that expression, perhaps? Must google it now), biscuits, and juice. I have been very motivated and hard-working lately, and I hope that today will continue that trend. The Jeanners and I started drywalling in the bedroom (oo la la!) last weekend, and today I would like to drywall the linen closet. I have not done any solo drywalling before, though, so I hope it works out OK. I picked the linen closet because I figured that the drywall pieces would be small enough for me to maneuver them by myself. We shall see.

Apparently, I did not coin fauxsage. Balls.

Things I have realized lately:

1. I've been spending a lot of time alone. I enjoy spending time alone.

2. Really loud music makes nearly everything better. Work ceases to be work when you are listening to really loud music.

Last night Jerns and I went on a really nice long walk. Talked about all sorts of shit.

Karista bought a horse.

The remount of Hamlet at Goucher College is approaching rapidly, and I have done no prep for it. Must find out what Ian wants for a set. And then build it.

It was 56 degrees when I woke up this morning. Inside.

We're going to Ohio around Thanksgiving this year. Can't freakin' wait. It's been a long time since we've seen our friends Ye Olde Schluetermetz,' and the time has come for some reacquaintancing. Mashers, G&T's, Bowls of Meat, Trash Talk, Spades/Phase 10, here we come!

Alright. Procrastination over. To the linen closet with me!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

"...As lucky as lucky could be..."

Do you like looking up chimneys? Then you are sure to enjoy this post:







I like the last one the best because 1) it was taken on a rainy day (today), and there's not as much water coming down the chimney as in the 2nd one, which was taken on a rainy day a week or so ago, before I did some work on the chimney; and 2) there's a cricket hiding somewhere in the picture. The first person who finds it gets a gold star and a bucket full of chimney water.

The Jeanners is not home tonight, and won't be home til late, which means I am left to my own devices. How I do I spend an evening alone? Eating burritos and Guinness and listening to music really loud, apparently. I am considering working on some tunes tonight, although not feling very inspired. At some point, I should swing by the bank and deposit some checks into senor ATM. "Senor" is supposed to be spanish and should have a tilde (~) over the 'N', but I can't figure out how to do that.

Is today Wednesday or Thursday? Whatever day it is, it's my dad's birthday. Thanks to my brother for calling me on the phone and reminding me because I had straight up forgot. It's because I've had nothing on the brain lately but housework and training a douchebag from another store at work. The guy wasn't really a douchebag, but anybody who makes me step outside my daily routine at work gets slapped with a fun new nickname. Anyway, sorry I forgot your birthday, Pop. I love you! If you're reading this, congrats on your advanced navigation of the Internet!

The house is quiet, and most of the lights are off, except for two little lamps on either side of the bed (which is unfortunately still in the dining room so I can see them from where I'm sitting in the living room), and I think the lighting is probably best described as 'soft.' It's probably not the best for the ol' eyeballs, but I've always preferred a good, dim, softly lit room to a bright one. A Brian Eno song just came on, and I turned the receiver up from 17 to 21. I am considering going downstairs to trim my moustache so it stops hanging over my lips. Also need to take laundry out of the dryer and put it away.

A month or so ago I bought an amber LED bulb to put in our front-door light so that it wouldn't attract bugs. During the summer, whenever I would leave for work in the morning and the old porch light was still on I'd have to walk through a swarm of franticly wheeling and diving moths.

I really should go by the bank.

The first chimney pic, by the way, was taken on a dry day, and it's my control picture. When the rainy day pics look like that one, then I'll be happy.

Seriously, have you found Goldbug yet?

Wednesday, October 06, 2010

In my skin-tight jeans

It's about 10:30 in the morning, and I just finished a tasty breakfast of black beans, salsa, fried eggs and greek-style yogurt. All mashed and mushed up together in a bowl. I'm listening to a couple of Tom Waits albums, shotgunned together. Just finished swordfishtrombones and have moved on to Nighthawks at the Diner. It's gotten cold in the house over the last couple-a days, and I've got my brown stocking cap on, maybe until March or April. The mountain man beard is coming back in nicely, thank you very much.

I've got two days off in a row, which hasn't happened for quite awhile, and I have to say that I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do. I could definitely start sanding the door that I finished stripping the other day, or I could work on some music, or I could listen to Tom Waits and play Civilization III all day. I could go up on the roof and see why we still have water coming in around the chimney. I should probably brush my teeth. Take a shower. Who knows how the next 48 hours will roll by...

The Jerns has been putting in some serious hours at work for the last week or so. Haven't seen her a ton. But Jimmy Carter was there yesterday, and things went well, so she might get to come home earlier now. Maybe even get a day off here or there.

The J-Dog has gotten in the habit of listening to a radio station called 104.3 on the way to work, and 104.3 plays top-40 party dance fluff. She (J-Dog) says it helps pump her up for the work day, and then at the end of the day it helps get the work day out of her head. Well, in my car most of the buttons on the radio don't work, and as a result there are 3 stations that I'm able to park the receiver on, and one of the stations is 104.3. I have to say, I've gotten a little hooked on it. I swear to god, every time I get in my car, they are playing Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream." Every time. They also play a lot of Ke$ha, and a song called "I Like That," by Static Revenger and Richard Vission (ft. Luciana). As well as Rihanna, Eminem, and "Airplanes," by B.O.B (ft. Hayley Williams [from Paramore]). I haven't really listened to Top-40 radio since my public school days in, like 8th grade. It makes me feel good and bad at the same time. Much like eating 10 or 12 rolls of SMARTIES does. It gives some little buried part of your brain a little buzz, and makes the rest of your body feel like it is filled with ashes and mud and bile.

Anyway, the world is large, and there's definitely a place for pop music in it, but I think my diet needs to be based on other things. Eggs and rice and Tom Waits and wood and fire and gin.

I've been enjoying my new glasses. The Jeanners has been telling me she likes them (which I hope is true), and it's been really interesting seeing the world through clean lenses. Everything seems crisp and fresh and slightly wet. And it's been pretty nice having the prescription sunglasses, too.

Friday, October 01, 2010

My right foot is asleep.

The Jeanners is working late tonight, a result of Jimmy Carter's expected visit to her place of employment next Tuesday. Damn you, Jimmy Carter! As a result, I've had the evening all to my lonesome, and I have spent it eating cheeseritos (just cheese), drinking Blue Moon, and reading old e-mails from 2002. Reading the e-mails made me nostalgic for the days when I used to send and receive e-mails from folks that I cared about, but then I remembered that one reason that I started writing this blog was that I was tired of writing the same e-mail to like 5 or 6 different people, filling in everybody on what's been going on. So I guess I shouldn't be nostalgic, although the blog is definitely much more of a one-way street, not as much feedback coming back (except PKP telling me that he didn't like Infinite Jest -- YOU FOOL!).

Another thing I noticed from reading those e-mails was that recording songs was a really big part of my life then. Definitely less so now, but I've still been tinkering around every now and again. I guess the difference now is that the stuff I tinker around on these days rarely develops into anything listenable.

I had the day off work today, and it was a pretty productive day -- got up around 8:30, went to the Home Depot, hit the gym, hit the grocery store, came home and caulked the top of our chimney (we had some water coming down the chimney during the last day or two of torrential downpours), went back to the Home Depot, swapped out some electrical boxes that weren't going to work, and then stripped one side of a door. I think I've gotten a lot better at stripping. The process hasn't been nearly as painful as it was last winter when we were stripping the bathroom trim and door.

Read on the internet a rumor that U2 might be playing Baltimore in June. I'm a sucker, and I'll probably end up going, and I'll probably end up standing in line for a very long time and getting a very good spot in the crowd. I am a sucker.

I am missing Jerns. She has been working a lot lately, and working very hard, and she's been ill. Still though, when we get to hang out it's been nice and fun, and last night before we went to bed we had a little sing-a-long, and I was strumming the guitar and laying in bed and we were singing.

My mom's birthday is either tomorrow or Sunday. I can never remember which. Either way, the card's been mailed and my rear is pleasantly covered.