Friday, November 26, 2010

The Magic is in the Math

"The Magic is in the Math" was the official slogan of this year's fake Thanksgiving visit to Ohio, which this year happened to be held on real Thanksgiving. It is a seriously good thing to be a thousand or so miles closer to the Schluetermetz', and the trip proved to be totally fun and relaxing and the emotional battery recharger that it has been in years past. The only thing missing was the wit and wisdom of one Uncle Rico. The trip included: card tricks, psychic connections, living room defecations, pants ejeculation (sic), spades, tasty food of all sorts, Oregonian visitors via Kentucky, massive downloading, smoked cheddar, toddler beat boxing, and Ok Go videos. The trip did not include Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire or, suprisingly, stinky farts.

This morning Jeannie and I woke up in Columbus a little after 5, left around 6, got home a little after 1, then I headed to work for Black Friday. It was fine. Uneventful.

While I was in Ohio, Sean and his buddy posted some tracks that they had recorded that I will be mixing down into a song. I got a chance to do a little preliminary work, but I think I'll really jump in with the wrenches and screwdrivers tomorrow before work. So I'll spend some upcoming free time working on that. Also hope to get some work done on the house, work on the final Hamlet matinees, and finish the lighting for Tami's Raisin in the Sun. So there's a lot to do in the coming week, but hopefully it will all fit together like a nice little puzzle.

Jeannie and I started drywalling the ceiling of our future bedroom, and I would just like to take moment to praise Allah for the invention of the drywall lift. Seriously. I don't know that I have ever appreciated the usefulness of a tool as much as I did when that fucker lifted those sheets of drywall right up to the ceiling and held them there. I think it has saved our marriage and our shoulders.

Currently: my stomach is rumbling. There's no ice in our freezer (we used it all to transport a super healthy turkey to Ohio in a 5-gallon bucket) so I can't have a gin & tonic, I'm eating popcorn, and I think my arse is gonna 'splode soon.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Twice the Phlegm

Well, the J-Dog is now officially sick as well. I think that my illness is in the last quarter of its life, but I fear that hers is just beginning its upswing into serious drainage territory.

I have the day off today. It's my first day off in a few weeks that I haven't had to work on CSC set stuff or Tami set stuff. In fact, it's the first day off in a long time that I really have nothing on my plate. It's like a day off like in the olden days. Here's the lowdown of the day so far: woke up, took a bath and read some On the Road Original Scroll (not too crazily different than the final published version, but the parts that are different I like better), called my mom, did the dishes. I am now listening to tunes and eating eggs, toast, fauxsage and juice. Mental note: we are now out of eggs, fauxsage, bread and juice.

I would like to propose that if you don't like the song 'Train in Vain,' by The Clash, then there is something wrong with you. Perhaps something deep and dark that goes all the way back to childhood.

Still on the agenda for today: run the bathroom wiring into the basement. Maybe some drywalling, although this whole 'sittin' around doing nothing' is feeling so nice that I might say fuck the drywalling.

Now playing: David Bowie's 'Life on Mars'. I came to this song late but it's pretty damned good.

Thassall.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Junip

Junip is a new band/cd from Jose Gonzalez. It's pretty good.

I have been sick for the last few days. Nothing bad enough to keep me from going to work or anything, just a little cold. I think that I tend to get sick when I've inhaled too much sawdust, as I most likely did while I was working on Tami's set last week. Still, everything got built, and on Friday I headed over to her school and set everything up. Everything came together nicely and worked well. Still, it was a lot more work than I had expected. We had a meeting on Tuesday to figure out what everything should look like, I built it all on Wednesday after work and Thursday, and then on Friday loaded it in. A lot of work in a couple of days.

Saturday was the anniversary of me and J-Dog being hitched. Jeannie didn't want to hang out with me. Sad face.

However, on this Friday we will be heading out to Frederick, MD for a tasty meal, a concert with Emmylou Harris, and a romantic one-night stay at a Holiday Inn. Cue the Barry White.

Then next week we head to Ohio, about which I am exceeding pumped. Don't even get me started about how pumped I am.

Noodle soup is probably starting to get cold there on the stove.

This GoodEarth 'original' flavored tea is pretty damned good, but Jeez, don't try and brew a second cup off of the first bag. Weak ass. It must shoot it's tea-load in the first cup.

Big Spiff Chambers sent me a message the other day about mixing some songs that he might record up there in Alaska. Sounds like a pretty fun project. I like working on long-distance projects. I also like the fun of mixing songs without the pressure or work of writing or recording them.

Today I had a meeting at work at 7 this morning, then I go back this evening at 5pm to work a short shift. I have spent the 8 or so hours in between attempting to sleep.

Tonight after my short shift I will be stopping by a 30th birthday party for my co-worker and friend, Abbey. When I die, Abbey will be the one who takes over the music department and leads it into the 22nd century. Or maybe the 23rd. I'm banking on higher life expectancies by then. I'll need the extra time to finish working on the house.

Monday, November 08, 2010

Don't Bring Home Herpes

Well, the J-Dog was home for one day, and now she is back out of town, this time in Talladega, Alabama. She'll be gone till Friday. For work. So she says. I say it smells like a big sweaty man affair to me.

It was good to see her while she was here, though. It's really quite boring and depressing being home without her. On Friday and Saturday I watched all three Back to the Future movies. BTTF #2 did not hold up as well as I remembered, even though the second half was much better than the first half. Still, though, I always judge how bad the world is getting by how much things look like the bizarro 1985 where everything was seedy and casino-like and gangs of bikers ravaged the city and set everything on fire. Sometimes the world seems a lot like that and sometimes not as much.

At the moment there are three shitty, five-dollar doors sitting in the living room that are waiting to be put into some flats that haven't been built yet. For my friend Tami's show. Tomorrow I meet with her after work to figure out exactly how the set should work. Then Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I'll build shit.

I should really go to bed, as I have to get up early tomorrow. But I'm not tired. I will regret this tomorrow.

Oh-so-close to being done with IJ. Probably less than 30 pages. I think I'm going to read the original "scroll version" of 'On the Road' next. Then "The Corrections".

That's about it for now, I guess. Looking forward to this week being over...

Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Squat 'er on the Water

It's been a long time since I last wrote. Things have been a bit busy around here. I find that bullet points are handy for bringing everything up to speed:

* A friend of the Jeanners' from college passed away on Sunday from breast cancer. A terrible, terrible tragedy. She was our age, 33-ish, with two small daughters. The Jeanners is (understandably) pretty bummed and flying to St. Louis tonight after work for the funeral tomorrow.

* House work is on hold for two weeks because I'm currently working on the set for the CSC show at Goucher College (which is tomorrow), and then next week the Jeanners is out-of-town at a training/conference thingie in either Alabama, Arkansas, or Georgia. I don't think it's Georgia, though. Anyway, between her unexpected trip to St. Louis and the work trip, she'll be gone almost a week and a half. Sucky. However, I will be busy while she's gone because I have agreed to half-design/build a set for my friend Tami's middle-school production of 'A Raisin in the Sun.' Should be relatively easy, but time-consuming nonetheless.

* Then we go to Ohio, then Thanksgiving, then work gets busy, and then there's another CSC show at a high school somewheres.

* I've been able to build the set for CSC at home. It's been really nice having somewhere to build and not be working outside or on a parking lot somewhere.

* I have finished with the stripping/sanding of the doors for our future bedroom. I'm tired of doors, and I'm gonna take a little break before starting on the doors for the other bedrooms and the linen closet. The last door was a real pain to work on. The paint DID NOT want to come off. At one point I actually said to the paint "The power of Christ compels you to come off this door!" It did not seem to help. The only thing that did seem to help was using about 20 sanding discs and just sanding the hell out of it.

* I am hungry. I should probably have some dinner.

* Almost done with Infinite Jest. About 150 pages to go. So good. Next up: The Corrections.

* Been working on music at night when I get the chance. Pretty abysmal results.