National Lampoon's St. Louis Vacation

The Jeanners and I took a trip to St. Louis last week. It was a good trip, and we got to see a lot of people (everybody except Drew, who, like us, was busy with familial obligations). Next time, Drew. The trip was not too hectic, and even contained a lovely day where jeannie and I walked around the south Grand neighborhood, and dropped in to see Shannon and little Adam, and ended up sitting and chatting for a few hours. Lovely weather, too. I felt strangely uncomfortable for pretty much the whole trip, though. I think it's because I don't really feel at home in Baltimore, and I don't really feel at home in St. Louis anymore, so I just felt very rootless. It was, in a weird way, comforting when we got home last night. It was good to see a lot of the cool kids, though.

The Jeanners has been gone all evening, so I've been doing some more recording. She just called a few minutes ago to tell me that she'd been driving one of the trucks from her work and it overheated, so she's stuck downtown with one of her Americorps workers waiting for a tow truck. Sucky.



This one might turn into something. Later.

Experiment #2

Tomorrow we go to the Lou!

Yippie. Ready for a vacation. Hope we get to see all the folks we want to see.

Last night I screwed around some more with the recorder. Until Jeannie told me to shut up and go to bed. She said it in a nice way, though.

Bell, Blevins, and Devoe

The Jeanners and I did not take our possible trip to the beach. Didn't feel like making the drive, didn't feel like spending the money for a hotel. So instead we spent the day up around Rocks State Park (the place where I lost my wedding ring about 4 years ago), and then decided just to drive around and see what we came across. Well, we ended up at York, Pennsylvania. Lots of pretty farm country around there, and we stopped and had dinner at a funny little family restaurant called the Taylor Haus, where I had the option of getting gravy atop every item included in my dinner. I opted for gravy atop 2 of the 3 things, but left my fries dry, as god intended them. Anyway, we had a fun time, enjoyed trying to find good songs on the radio, and enjoyed the numerous Michael Jackson songs we came across.

I have spent the past few days getting to know the new 8 track. Really liking it. It's easy to work with, does everything I would want it to do, and is totally portable. I smell possible car-recorded vocals in my future. While I was getting to know it the other day, I was screwing around and recording stuff and making up the track as I went along, and this is how it sounds:



If only the damn thing would come up with a melody line and write some lyrics for me, I'd be freakin' set. Still, though, I'm really happy with it.

Things that happened:

1. Michael Jackson died yesterday. I have no thoughts on the matter except surprise. And I feel sorry for his kids and sorry for people who got a lot of emotional satisfaction from his music and will miss him. RIP, Michael Jackson.

2. I had a DR. PEPPER today for the first time in like 10 years, and boy did it taste like SHIT. I don't know if I got a defective DR. PEPPER or if they've always tasted like that and I'm just now noticing.

3. The Jeanners and I hung out with the A-Train and her boyfriend last night, and we had a good time playing games and shooting the shit and going to dinner and having delicious ice-cream. Neither Aimee nor Jeannie wanted to play SORRY!, which made me sorry, indeed.

4. The Jeanners and I are considering doing something adventurous and fun tonight and tomorrow. Perhaps an impromptu overnight trip to the beach? Traffic will suck, but the question is, will it suck bad enough to prevent us from going? Also, weather concerns?

5. My new digital recorder arrived a few days ago, and I've been playing around with it and getting it all set up. I think it's gonna be awesome.

St. Louis next week!

The Boss

On a whim the other day, I decided to bid on a used digital 8-track recorder on e-bay. I was a little bit surprised last night when I won, but pleasantly surprised because I got it for a really good price.

Some of the things I'm excited about:

1. It records in 24-bit resolution, as opposed to 16-bit resolution, so shit will sound just generally better and clearer.

2. On-board rhythm generator, on-board effects, and on-board phantom power for the mics, which means I won't need the computer, keyboard, or pre-amps when I want to record. Just the 8-track and a microphone. Between the POD and the 8-track, I'll have a nice little studio in 2 highly portable boxes. However, if I want to record something that's more involved, I can totally use The Boss in conjunction with my computer.

3. It'll be much easier working in real-time with knobs and faders than it has been working on my stupid, slow, crash-prone, mysterious-issue-having computer.


Looking forward to the arrival of this thing. Should be interesting to work with.


Also in the news:

Went to see Cyrano the other night with the Jeanners. I thought it was a bit too long but pretty damn good. Not really a weak link in the major players. Also, got to hang with PKP, T, and young FKP, which was definitely the highlight of the evening. PKP's been working tons, so it was nice that he was able to get an evening free and that we got to see him on it. Hopefully if my work schedule works out right, we'll be able to hang again next weekend.

Also: The other day I had two bananas in my lunch, and they were so big I felt a little embarrassed when I ate them.

Beware India

Again, not too much going on. I just had a little burst of energy and did a dance routine for Jeannie in the kitchen. She's on the phone, but she would give me little nonverbal signals to cheer me on. A thumbs up, a nod of the head, little suggestions about possible moves.

Jeannie went to a public-speaking group meeting tonight, so I had the evening to myself. I decided to waste it by playing Civilization III. I was doing OK, but I knew that if India decided to attack me they would wipe me off the map. They played nice for awhile and then perpetrated a vicious sneak attack. I then quit the game.

Pretty quiet week for houses. Nothing new caught our eye. Yawn.

The J-Dog and I have decided to take a trip to St. Louis in a few weeks, because she was able to get the time off, and I was able to get the time off, and we didn't know if there would be any other time this summer when we could do it. So from July 1st to the 6th, look the fuck out, St. Louis!

I think that when we go to St. Louis, I'm going to eat nothing but Imo's Pizza. Except on the 4th of July, when I'm going to eat 400 lbs. of pork steak and drink home-made beer until I go into diabetic shock. While wearing cutoffs and a half shirt. Fuckin' A! Imo's is awesome.

I'm off tomorrow. I'm gonna do laundry, dishes, cleaning, maybe start running again, probably do a lot of sweating.

Early Summer

Not too much going on, other than that the spacebar doesn't seem to want to work right.

Work has been entirely uneventful. It's been so uneventful it's starting to get spooky. I think that I could literally do my job in my sleep.

I've been enjoying getting home in the evening, watching the storms blow through, listening to lots of music, reading a lot, taking a walk with the Jeanners after dinner, enjoying a G&T, then hitting the hay. Strumming the guitar a lot. Thinking of trying to put three songs together to maybe play at an open mic night. Haven't decided yet.

I finished my Willie Nelson book. I'm glad to be done with it. It was just too much information about Willie Nelson. Then I finished Johnny Cash's autobiography, which I liked a lot better (and was a lot shorter) and which Jeannie is reading now and also (so far) enjoying. Now I'm reading Bob Dylan's Chronicles, which is, so far, pretty awesome. Really well written. Surprise, surprise.

When we move I think the thing I will miss the most is the way our stereo sounds in our living room. It sounds pretty perfect. I love sitting on the couch, looking out the windows and listening to music.



Our neighbors in the apartment below us have moved out, and the new people won't be moving in until September (after we've already moved, most likely), and it's pretty nice not having anybody living below us. They were nice and all, but I don't miss them.

Pig N' Stink

Last Friday we looked at 4 more houses. They only seemed to make us regret losing the other house even more. (sigh) Keep lookin'.

Friday night we went to one of Jeannie's Americorps recruit's house for a shabbat dinner, which I had never been to before and which was pretty interesting. I think that having to learn the Jewish blessing for bread and wine in high school when I was in Godspell, as well as a working knowledge of Fiddler on the Roof prepared me well for shabbat. I like the idea of a mandatory family meal once a week, but I don't think I would do well with all the rules.

Yesterday the J-Dog and I both had the day off, and it was a beautiful day, so we headed down to Virginia to visit Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello. I had been there with my parents when I was a little kid, but I had been wanting to visit again after reading John Adams last year. It was a good day. A nice drive there, a walk around the gardens, a tour of the house, lunch, a nice little walk to the family cemetary, and then home. He's a pretty inspiring dude, but also seems like he'd be a little too anal for me, what with the meticulous record-keeping and notes and turd counting. Plus the whole slave-owning hypocrisy is a bit of a turn-off.

For awhile now, there have been a few made up Facebook status updates floating in my head that I've really wanted to use, but they're a bit inappropriate for completely public dissemination, so I shall use them here:

1. DOB fu**** a horse!

2. DOB pooped it out!



Also, here's a snippet from a weird transaction I had with a customer the other day:


Dan (behind register): That'll be $20.07.

Customer (getting money out of wallet): Ok.
Have you ever had a colonoscopy?

Dan: No.

Customer: Boy, are you in for a surprise!


I've taken care of lots of chores today (two days off in a row! First time that's happened in awhile), and I've got numerous vegetables chopped up on our kitchen counter, waiting to stir-fry them when the J-Dog gets home for dinner. Yum!

Contemplating experimenting with an old-time air conditioner (blocks of ice sitting in front of a fan) this summer at night instead of a window unit. I wonder how much ice would melt over the course of a night?

A Kick to the Nuts

All week long I've been thinking that we were still going to end up with the house that we lost last week, because the house had still been showing up on all the listing web sites and stuff, and I figured that the listing agent told us that they had accepted another offer just to try and eventually drive up our bid. Well, last night, it finally went off the listing sites and showed up as under contract. So, barring any out-of-the-ordinary acts of god, we really have lost the place. It sucks. I'm pretty bummed. I totally thought this was the place for us, and it had been nice living in denial for a week, thinking we were still going to get it. Bummed, bummed, bummed.

Last night Jeannie and I went on a date, and it was pretty fucking awesome. We went down to Fells Point for dinner, walked a little bit and headed to Duclaw for some outdoor dining by the water. It was perfect outside weather-wise, and the food was good and the conversation was good and it was an all around perfect evening. After dinner we walked around down by the harbor and the water smelled like super diarrhea. Seriously. Imagine a toilet full of poop and how that smells, and then make the toilet and poop about as big as chesapeake bay, and that's what it smelled like. But even with the poop stench, a perfect evening.

Been listening to a lot of Bob Dylan lately. I'm just gonna go ahead and add him to my shortlist of musical geniuses. So far on the list is: Bill Evans and Jimi Hendrix. And now Bob Dylan. They all changed the game. I'm especially liking the 1966 concert from england. Anyhoo, all the listening is getting me super pumped for the Willie and Bob (and Cougar) show that I will be attending in July. I'm gonna try to get super close.

Also, hope to be done with my Willie biography soon. Next on the reading list: finish Johnny Cash's autobiography, then read A Brief History of Time, then Bob Dylan's Chronicles.

Bummed.

Bummed.

The Wait is Over

We didn't get it. Poop.

Also, I've decided that I'm gonna learn how to play pedal steel guitar.

The Waiting Game

So Jeannie and I made an offer on a house Friday night. And then on Sunday morning our agent, Lorrie, got an e-mail from the selling agent, who said that they'd received 3 contracts over the weekend and that we should make our best offer. The J-Dog and I talked it over and decided we were happy with our offer, so we left it the same and sent it back. And now we've been waiting to hear what happens.

The waiting is kinda sucky, although I think we've made the right choices through the whole process. I'm glad we made an offer, and I'm glad we didn't raise that offer, and I think we'll both be sad if we don't get it, but we're OK if that happens, too. Bleagh. The home-buying process is a little bit broken, I think. It seems kinda backwards. Oh well.

The last couple of days we've been helping out with the building of the set for CSC's summer shows. It's been a nice way to keep the ol' noggin' occupied during the house business. And it's been good to be outside and working on stuff, and at the same time not be in charge of building the stuff.

The other day, I think I figured out that my dreams (the nighttime kind) have, my whole life, been showing me (generally) the things I desire. When I was a kid, I dreamed a lot about flying and having magical powers and shit. When I was in my 20's, I would always dream about meeting and playing with famous rockstars. These days, it seems like my dreams are all about my friends, the most recent of which was a dream about Sean paddling a canoe against some swift rapids, and eventually falling backwards out of the boat. Cole and I were watching from the bank, and she went in to drag Spiff out of the water.

I'm not sure what my recurring shoplifter dreams are about. I guess anxiety or just the desire to do a good job at work or something.

I guess that's all I've got for now. I'm gonna go buy a red pepper and make a stir fry for dinner.

Size Might Matter

Holy cow, it's been over a week since I last wrote. If my own blog was listed in the handy-dandy chronological blog-list over there to the right, it would be down near the bottom. A very shameful place to be. Apologies.

If it has been a week since I last wrote, it's because my brain has obsessed with a series of houses that the J-Dog and I have looked at. The first one was big, somewhat rundown, on a huge partially wooded lot, and was somewhat affordable. I got pretty excited about it. The J-Dog less so. So the other night we had a big 3.5 hour discussion about it where we worked out how our finances would work, and rehab loans, and made lots of lists of work that would need to be done, and talked about the floor plan, and ended up deciding that it wasn't the right place. It was big, though. After our marathon 3.5 hour discussion, we both felt a little wiped out, so we went for a quick walk and then came home and I made us some accidentally super-strong G&T's (we had less tonic than I thought we did), and Jeanners got a little drunk. It was cute, although Drunky-Drunk didn't sleep very well.

I would be sad, but luckily the same day that we decided that the big place wasn't the right place, another house went on the market that looked pretty promising. It's super cheap (why?) and good sized and looks to be in a workable state of disrepair. And I went and drove by it last night and got out and walked around the outside, and now I'm convinced that this is the place for us. Unfortunately, we don't get to see the inside until tomorrow morning, so for the last day and a half, I've been a bit annoyingly excited about the place, which makes the J-Dog automatically (and understandably) take a more cautious look at the whole thing. My problem is I get too excited. I told Jeannie that if this house goes off the market before we get a chance to see the inside, I will go into a months-long depression and stop eating and let my fingernails grow super long and all that shit. But seriously, I think it could be perfect. And it's cheap.

What else?

I'm about halfway done with my mammoth Willie Nelson biography. It's OK. I'm still on a Willie kick, but now I'm also doing some listening to early Sun Records stuff. Elvis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison. This Sun Records interest was sparked by starting to read Johnny Cash's autobiography, CASH, at work. It's really good. And much shorter than the Willie book.

Work has been un-remarkable.

Courier New! The Musical

Well, we went and saw the guys from Spinal Tap the other night. It was, at the same time, both entertaining and slightly depressing. Entertaining because they're funny, and they played most of the songs I wanted to hear (they didn't play 'Stool Boom,' but they did play 'This Bulging River'), and they did an audience Q&A (which I always think is ballsy); depressing because the whole thing had a bit of an 'old guys attempting to rock out with acoustic guitars' vibe. Nonetheless, enjoyable.

Last night I went over to Patrick's (formerly from work) place to watch the season finale of LOST. For the last few episodes, the show has been teetering on the brink of spinning hopelessly out of control, but with the finale they really pulled it back and took it in a whole new direction. Very good finale, and I'm glad I got to watch it with other LOST dorks in a social setting. And I had lots of Guinness, which always helps. In a strange coincidence, I saw Derrick last night on my way to Patrick's (Derrick is my old boss), and FCW was at Patrick's for the show (FCW is my old, old boss), so I saw my two former bosses on the same night in two different places.

We just got Helvetica from Netflix, on Schlueter's recommendation. If you're like me, you probably think a movie about a font sounds like a very very bad idea. This had better be good, Schlueter.

Lick My Love Pump

Tonight!

Cosmic Connections

There are 2 dates during the year that seem to have cosmic importance to me, dates where a lot of different things have happened that for some reason stick in my brain. One of those dates is Nov. 5th (Marty McFly, Spiff, J. Steinmetz, etc), and the other is May 10th. Today is:

1. Bono's birthday (I believe he is 75 this year).

2. My brother-in-law Tom's birthday. I will not disclose his age out of respect for the victim.

3. The 4th birthday of this here blog. Happy birthday, time-waster extraordinaire!


We're trying out a different kind of salsa. I don't like it.

Last night we watched Amadeus, a movie that both I and the J-Dog remember enjoying back in the day, but last night it seriously blew. First of all, it's fucking l o n g. Long like a big ugly dick. And it basically has one premise that it takes 3 hours to show to you over and over again: Salieri is jealous because Mozart is a genius and he (Salieri) isn't. I don't know. Like I said, I used to like it, so maybe it really isn't that bad, but I guess my taste in movies has changed a bit over the last 15 years or so.

There's a part of me that wants to see the new Star Trek movie, and another part of me that wants to drown myself just so that part dies.

Boy, it's a gorgeous day outside!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mutha's out there!

The, uh, death.

Not much going on. At all. Which is kinda nice a little bit. I had the day off work today, and I got many things accomplished, including a stack of dishes, an oil change, a trip to the gym, and a trip to Target where I bought a new package of white T-shirts and a new package of underwear. I should be set for clothes now until 2019.

The other day in the shower I was trying to think of my most embarrassing moments. Not sure why. I could think of two. Neither of them will make any sense without me describing the situations in which they occurred, but I don't feel like taking the time to set up those situations. The first was when I was talking to Aimee's mom on the phone and I said, "Sorry about the, uh, death." Perhaps the stupidest thing I have ever said to anyone. The second was when I attempted to make a funny joke by saying "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow," in a very slow and very monotone way. It fell flatter than any attempt at humor that I have ever witnessed, and I immediately felt a burning shame that made me want to throw up, take a shit, and set myself on fire. Perhaps coincidentally, both PKP and BJ were present at both of these occasions.

The J-Dog is currently a member of a jury.

Oh, I also made some brownies today.

Also, when I weighed myself at the gym today before I worked out I weighed 169.5 lbs. That would be awesome, but I think it might have been a fluke because when I weighed myself after the workout I weighed 173 lbs. Oh, but my workout did consist of eating 3.5 lbs of Toblerone.

Been reading The Buddhist Bible, a book I picked up from the used bookstore in Eugene, and it's pretty good, if you like reading scriptury-type things. Also still reading my Willie Nelson biography, which is making me think a lot about Sean. It's all about playing live music and what a central thing it was in the lives of all these young Texas and Nashville musicians in the 50's and 60's. Makes me wonder what it would be like if I was in a band.

Also, the musician Doug Sahm's name has been popping up in many places over the last few days. I don't think I have ever heard any of his music, but perhaps I shall investigate.

Bowling Execution

Been a busy weekend. Looked at houses yesterday and went then went to work. We looked at a house that if I were a single man I would totally buy (although if I was a single man I wouldn't be able to afford it, but that's neither here nor there), but Jeannie doesn't want to buy it. It's OK, I forgive her. I understand that it's not the right house for us. But it's big and old and cheap, and it has this attic on the third floor that you get to by going up this old staircase, and the attic is dark and eave-y and would be a perfect recording studio. It looks like this:


Today we went down to the DC area to help PKP and T move into their new place (which is new and beautiful and lovely), and we met lil' baby Finn (who is also new and beautiful and lovely, as well as chill, sleepy, and content), and it was nice to get to hang out and help out, although it rained pretty much the whole day. Then after we got home I took an hour nap and then went into work for an inventory, which was fine. At Pat and Teresa's I ate some pizza, and then at the inventory I ate some pizza. And I have pooped today about 20 lbs. worth of poop. But unfortunately I ate about 25 lbs. worth of pizza, which means my net weight gain is about 5 pizza-lbs. And now I'm staying up too late after the inventory. I will regret this tomorrow when I have to go to work in the afternoon.

I was straightening up the books in the Sports section tonight, and I saw a book called "Bowling Execution." Two words I never expected to see in the same sentence, and for a second or two I had no fucking clue what the book was supposed to be about.

Additional Casting

Been trying to cast a few additional roles that I've been having trouble with, but I think I've nailed them down.

Karista..........Jill Hennessy
K-Torr...........Brendan Fraser


Alright. I think that's my cast list. I think reading Tom Cavanaugh for Uncle Rico is a good idea, and I did think that Antwan Lewis was surprisingly BJ-ish (but I'm afraid Kenny Hotz has a lock on the role), but I'm just not feeling Jason Lee for me.

Been reading a lot lately. Re-read Crime and Punishment. What a great damn book. Finished White Teeth, which I enjoyed but not as much at the end. Tonight at work I started reading a biography of Willie Nelson that's pretty damned good, so I bought it. It's pretty big so hopefully it'll keep me occupied for awhile. A good music biography is usually pretty inspiring for me.

A semi- day off tomorrow. Lots of errands to run.

The Cast List

Here is the cast list for the movie of my life. Many factors were taken into account when casting, including looks, personality, and the feeling that I get in my tummy from either the actor or character. J-Dog also helped with some of the tougher roles to cast. If you would like to lobby for a particular actor to play either you or someone else, please feel free to do so. No contracts have been signed yet.

DOB......................Peter Krause (with buzzed head)
J-Dog....................Maura Tierney
Eric E....................Jon Stewart
Drew.....................Ben Stiller
BJ.........................Kenny Hotz
Schlueter...............Kate Winslet
PKP.......................Ewan McGregor
Spiff......................Jack Nicholson (w/ prosthetic beard)
T...........................Natalie Dormer
MAW.....................Susan Ursitti
Brian G..................Pat Harrington Jr.
Stinky Steinmetz....Josh Saviano
A-Train..................Kristin Davis
Bosco.....................Michael Angarano
Kneser...................Judah Friedlander
Bewley...................Robin Weigert
Uncle Rico Riley.......Eric Stoltz

It's all hapnin at libary.

Tonight the J-Dog and I are going to walk down to the City Library, a place that I enjoy. One time I was there and there was a notebook next to a computer, and I picked up the notebook and started looking through it, and a woman came over and grabbed the notebook and said mean things under her breath about me being nosy.

I was thinking of driving to the beach tomorrow on my day off, but the weather.com prediction is for rain. Poopy dick.

I am on a serious Willie Nelson bender.

Last night I went to the space that CSC is using for rehearsals these days, and I was meeting with some of the folks that are going to be in this summer's production of Twelfth Night, because the production is going to re-use the songs that I worked on when we first did Twelfth Night back in '02. And on the way home I decided to call BJ, and he actually answered his phone. There are several minor miracles in play here: the first is that I actually called someone, because I hate talking on the fucking phone. Let's boldface that: I hate talking on the fucking phone. And the second is that BJ answered his phone. Because the Beej screens his calls like a screenin' mofo. So he musta been pretty bored. But it was good to chat and catch up and hear how things are going, and good to hear that he's gonna try and make a visit out here sometime during the summer.

This week at work:

A) I was seriously trying to figure out ways that I could get liquored up to liven things up a little bit. It's been so damned boring there. Today I had 2 customers in 3 hours.

B) while casually glancing at the cover for the movie Marley and Me, I realized that dogs can be cute sometimes.

C) have been trying to figure out what celebrities would portray people in my life when they decide to make the movie of my life. Some roles are very easy to cast, others more difficult. On a side note, I don't think that a movie of my life would do very well.

The Goals of Summer

We've had a string of beautiful days. Warm in the sun, cool in the shade, not a cloud in the sky. I've been skipping out of work early whenever possible so that I can try to get outside and enjoy it. I'm hoping to try and get at least an hour of sunshine a day this summer.

Last night Jeannie and I went down to Annapolis to see Aimee's show, She Loves Me. It was a cute show, a good date, and we enjoyed walking around downtown Annapolis a little bit before the show. We stopped and got a little bit of ice cream before the show, and thankfully it did not give me the shits, as ice cream sometimes does. But anyway, it's always good to see the A-Train, and hopefully we'll hang out a bunch this summer (maybe a trip to the beach together!).

Tonight the Jeanners and I are picking through our financial shit. Good times.

My dad sent me in the mail a poem that he wrote. It's funny, but probably only if you know my dad. He's able to pull off "gruffly conservative" in a cute way.

Anyway, that's all I got. It's almost bikini season, so I'm currently starving myself a little bit. It's not too bad, though. How bad can life be when there's a big bowl of fresh (ish) strawberries in your kitchen? I hope to try and get down to the 160's by the end of the summer.

Hit My Tapestry One More Time

I woke up about an hour ago from a night where I had two interesting dreams:

In the first one, I was hanging out with C. Bosco at some sort of rural retreat house outside of Kansas City. It was fantastic, because I haven't gotten to hang out with CMB in real life for several years now. It is sad that I only get to see good friends in my dreams now, but it's better than nuthin'.

In the second dream, I was producing Britney Spears' next CD, and we were discussing what she wanted the album to sound like, and she said she wanted it to sound like a 70's singer-songwriter album, like Carole King or Joni Mitchell. Even though I kinda hate Joni Mitchell, I was excited by the idea. Even now, awake, I think it would be a good move for Britney.

I hope that Joni Mitchell does not leave an angry comment on my blog now. At least I didn't say I wanted to punch her in the face--right, James Taylor?

While I'm on the subject, one more word about James Taylor: I used to pick up old James Taylor albums (Gorilla, Sweet Baby James, etc) and listen to samples from them, in the hopes that James Taylor is one of those people who sounds pretty flat and dull now, but back in the heroin-takin' days used to get down and dirty and sound all gnarly, a la Rod Stewart or even (although he still turns out a good song here and there) The Boss. But no, old James Taylor albums just sound like James Taylor. I've tried. I want to like the guy, he seems like a nice guy, but no.

It's been raining for several days now. Also, I have been illin' for several days. My poor nose has been blown more than Charlie Sheen.

I watched this Billy Bob video the other day, and while its not really interesting, it is kinda interesting. When I want to be an asshole, I think this is the variety of asshole I tend to be. It is kinda long, though, and there's a little bit of language that's not work appropriate.

8 years of service

I forgot to mention the other day that my brother and his wife had a little baby boy on Thursday -- Timothy O'Brien. And so, if everything goes normally and I don't live 200 years or something, then our branch of the O'Brien tree won't die with me, which is a load off.

Yesterday on the phone my dad told me that he had received in the mail an 8x10 photo of George W. and Laura Bush, because he (my dad) had written a letter to W, "thanking him for his 8 years of service." I laughed at him (my dad), and he laughed too. He's whack.

Been working on a song, and the song has some good things going for it, and some things that I don't like. Can't come up with a vocal melody or lyrics, though. Will wait and see. I do think I'm getting better at mixing, though. I can now mix something in headphones, and it ends up sounding pretty decent on regular speakers.

Jeannie and I have been experimenting food-wise. Last night we made some Chinese dumplings that took several hours to make, and they weren't that good and they gave me violent shits.

The Chronic, pt. II

Well, Sean, it seems as though your comment on my last post has influenced my subconscious, as last night I had a dream about rockin' the ganja with you and Cole. Don't know why I'm dreaming about weed lately, but I think that for now I shall stick to my good ol' G&T's and Guinness.

Not a whole helluva lot exciting going on. The Jeanners and I looked at a few more houses today. Nothing's grabbing us by the balls yet, though. Although we have signed a paper that ends the lease on our current apartment at the end of August, so that adds the potentially stressful element of a deadline into the whole process. Joy.

We both have the day of tomorrow. What shall we do? Monticello, anyone?

My farts smell like crabcakes. Crabcakes from a fiery, sulfurous hell.

The Chronic

Last night I had a crazy dream that went something like this:

Jeannie and I and the Schluetermetz' were traveling somewhere, and we stopped and spent the night at my parents' house. After everyone went to bed, the Schluetermetz' got up and started smoking pot. My parents woke up and smelled it and kicked the Schluetermetz' out. My dad told me what happened and I got very upset and started crying.

I woke up confused and hurt.

p.s. Holy Shit the C. Bosco Family had another baby! Welcome, young Jack!

p.p.s. One day when I'm famous, I hope I get asked to recreate this (thanks, Ricky!):

Oi!

I got shampoo in my eye! It stings!

(Yes, I still use shampoo. Very funny.)

Tiny Daggers

At work, I am able to access, on the cash registers, the web page of my employer. On this web page, there is a kind of reader application that lets you read parts of certain books. So I've spent the last few days at work reading White Teeth, by Zadie Smith. It's pretty good. Well, yesterday, at a little over 100 pages in, the application told me that I've read all the pages that are loaded into the preview. So now I have to get the damned book for real to finish it. Reading books on the clock was a whole lot easier back at the power plant where I could just spend all day in the john.

I have the day off work today, and I would really really like to spend the day working on music, but I'm feeling totally uninspired. So I think I shall avoid a day putting lots of work into something that has a high chance of ending up being crap and uninspired. And I will go to CSC and work on organizing the storage area. Over the last few months I have developed a little personal motto: If you have a choice between staying in the house and getting out of the house, get out. I have not always heeded this motto, but I have found that when I do I'm a whole lot happier. And the day is more interesting.

Jeannie and I bought a 7 quart crock pot on Saturday. The muthafucka is big. What? Very big.

"Tiny Daggers" is a song by INXS. It is also the term that I used in my head yesterday to describe my farts.

I miss R. Riley.

Milk in the batter, milk in the batter!

We are back from Oregon! Jeez, what a good visit we had. I feel well-rested and happy, and I wish that I got to see the Schluetermetz' more often, because then I think I would feel this way more often. Here's the highlights:

Thursday: lots of flying. 3 hour layover in San Francisco, during which time we thought it would be really fun if Drew happened to be performing something clownish at the airport. No such luck. Arrived at the Schluetermetz' around dinnertime, visited, and went to bed.

Friday: lounging around day, and Jen and Brad had gotten a babysitter for the evening, so the four of us went out for dinner and hit the town. None of us knew what to do with ourselves, because we're all so much out of the habit of 'hitting the town.' We ended up having some Thai food (that Schlueter lied about the spiciness of) and then going to a bar called, I believe the Downtown Lounge, which, after we had been there a little while, revealed itself to be a kind of David Lynch-type place. It was kind of dark, with red fake leather booths and furniture, and red and gold curtains hanging up, and the lead singer for the band there was super tall and wore a beret, and there was a one-armed woman dancing (and basically having sex with the creepy dude she was dancing with), and a woman in a wheelchair, and then an Asian woman walking around selling very vivid-colored flowers. And the band took like an hour and a half to do a stupid soundcheck, and they were annoying me, and they had a setup of congas and chimes that they never even fucking used (at least during the first 4 songs, after which we departed). If I had congas and chimes, they would be in every song, you can be assured.

Satuday, Sunday - Head to the beach house in Waldport, OR. Crazy weather. It would be sunny for 20 minutes, then hail for 10, then be cloudy for 20, and then sunny again. I got in the water up to my knees. It was cold. Jeannie was afraid that if I went in any more I would lose control of my body and be swept out to sea, and then they would all die trying to rescue me. There was a seal in the water not too far from me. We flew kites, which was pretty awesome. Jeannie was a good first-time kite flyer. We made big dinners of lasagna and falafel, drank some, and had heated games of hearts. We also played a childrens' version of hearts that Henry had, and during one of those games, Schlueter played the Jinx card after I had lead the 7 of Clovers. On like the second trick. You probably don't know what that means, but it infuriated me, you can be assured.

Monday - Drove home from the beach, Schlueter made a big dinner of roasted vegetables and goat cheese and pasta (that turned everybody's [or at least mine and Jeannie's and Schlueter's] poop red for the next day or so), and good ol' J. Schmor came over and joined us. We chatted and drank and it was good to see him. He reminded of of the fact that I once bought him a Seal CD. I vaguely remember this and I am ashamed of it, but I think I only bought it because he said he liked it.

Tuesday - Hungover. I used to associate hangovers with sitting in the House of Brown listening to Lou Reed's 'Perfect Day.' I now associate them with leaving the Schluetermetz house. It seems that every time that I have to drive away from there I am feeling hungover. Our plan for the day was to visit Anna and Chris in Corvallis (which we did, and it was good to see them and hear about their cross-country adventures [see Sockiboos or Wine for Truth for details of their trip], and they treated us to a tasty pizza lunch and walk around Corvallis) and then drive up to Salem and try and find a fun Cob house that Jeannie's former boss built out of mud and hay and earthen-type shit back in his hippie days. Unfortunately, we got a flat tire on the way up to Corvallis, and the car felt a little funky after that, and I wanted to do as little driving in it as possible, so we had to skip the Cob House detour. So anyway, we flew out of Portland at around 11pm, and had a layover in Chicago from 4am to 8am, then arrived in Baltimore at around noon, and then I left for work at around 2pm. So it was a long day, but fortunately I was able to sleep pretty well on the flights and in O'Hare Airport, so it wasn't too bad.

You are now at least somewhat up to date. I hope this pleases you.