Dick Dick Dick Dock

Dick Dick Dick Dock is the new band name that I came up with last night for maybe one day when I have a band. I think I will start storing band names on this here blog. Past band names include Paco and the Shitballs, and Jesus and the Rhythm Methodists. I have since found out, however, that the Rhythm Methodists is a fairly common band name. My Rhythm Methodists, though, was gonna be a big soul band with horns and shit.

Last night Jeannie and I went to the library downtown but it was closed. So then we went to Fells Point, where I bought 2 cd's from The Sound Garden. We then went to the Duclaw (which is now smoke free! And although I am a huge fan of smoking and I luv it, luv it, luv it, and although I think a smoking ban is totally bullshit and a violation of my [and most especially bar-owners'] muthaf@#$kin' rights, I have to say it was pretty awesome going to a bar and coming home smelling not like shit. Or at least no more like shit than I normally smell.), and had beers. Which was fun. The 2 CD's I bought were Before and After Science, by Brian Eno, and Smoke by White Williams. I listened to both CD's a bunch today and am enjoying them both very much. They go together very well. Smoke sounds kind of like an album that Brian Eno might make if he were just starting out today, I think. Although that's not really an original thought, because I read it in a review and that's what made me get the album in the first place.

I still seem to be existing in a cloud of self-pity. "I'm tired of my job...", "I don't have any friends...", blah blah blah. It's boring to write about and I'm sure it's boring to read about and it's boring to listen to. But nonetheless, it is what I'm thinking and feeling. Although over the last couple of days my active hatred of the job has settled into more of a deadening boredom. Which I think I can deal with. I'm usually pretty good at handling boredom.

Tomorrow morning I'm gonna make me some bacon n' schmeggs, and read some Great Expectations, and then go to work.

I-Haul

This morning I drove out to Ellicott City to rent a truck so I could pick up the doors and windows and lumber for the DOLL'S HOUSE. For some reason, as I drove out through Ellicott City, I found myself missing Pat and BJ a lot. It's kinda put me in a bit of a funk. I miss my friends and I feel like Baltimore just feels kinda empty. So...I got some good stuff done today (and it was a beautiful day, perfect for driving around with a window down) but I feel kinda crappy nonetheless.

I was contemplating calling out sick tomorrow, but I don't think I'm going to.

My new recording equipment arrived, and I think that the new preamp will be nice, but I'm not sure how much I'll use the new mic. Nonetheless, probably everybody should have a Shure SM58 in their bag of shit.

Hmmm. Just haven't felt like writing much lately.

MuthaFuckabee

I would like to take this opportunity to voice my support for Mike Huckabee, who totally kicked ass in last night's Iowa caucus. The Iowa caucus is, by the way, my favorite caucus. With the exception, of course, of the Black caucus. The Black caucus is definitely my favorite caucus. But the Iowa caucus is a pretty good caucus, too, as far as caucuses go.

When the future movie is made of president Huckabee's life, I hope he is played by



two time Oscar winner Kevin Spacey.


This is why Mike Huckabee gets my vote and my lifelong allegiance:




But enough about Mike Huckabee, my choice for future President of the United States of America. The real issue at hand is that my wife is sick. She has a cold and she hasn't slept for four (4) nights. I love my wife and I want her to get better. Pray for her, Mike Huckabee!

Sorry. Don't know why Huckabee is on the brain tonight. I just think that pretty much everything about him is funny.

Seriously, though, the J-Dog is illin'.

This is not my beautiful wife

I have been feeling a bit out of it lately, been feeling not like myself. I think this is a by-product of Christmas. I seem to recall feeling similar last year. Basically, things get all crazy for awhile and I get used to being in a totally work-oriented mode and I kinda get a little adrenaline rush and then we rush out of town and then rush back and I work a bunch to get things back to normal at work and then once everything gets kinda settled I'm just not really sure what's going on. So that's where I am now. But here's a few things that I'm sure of:

1. I'm excited by the idea of working on my cousin Mark's songs. I have always longed for someone who would write all the material and then I just get to play and record it. I think that that's pretty much exactly what this project will be like. I remember hearing a couple of his songs back when I was around 12 years old and I liked them then, so hopefully I'll still like them.

2. I enjoyed the hike the other day with Katie and me wife. And I enjoyed New Years Eve.

3. I like the way my new T-Shirt that says "Oh, by the way...I'M AWESOME" (that I got as a secret Santa gift) looks underneath my blue plaid lumberjack shirt. It's very hipster.

4. I need to spend like, a month alone with the Jeanners. Traveling. I feel like we haven't gotten to have any fun adventures in awhile.

5. I bought a new microphone and new preamp today. The microphone is just a good ol' Shure SM58, which I'm kinda excited about because I remember vocals being much easier to record before I had a fancy microphone. So hopefully if the new equipment makes recording vocals a lot easier, I'll record a lot more songs with vocals again.

6. I must get in touch with Sean about the planned trip to Alaska. I have been looking for good deals on flights, and the price has gone down slightly over the last month, but I must find out if there are any new developments on his end.

7. I need to actually go to the Loading Dock and look for some good doors and door frames for the set for DOLLS HOUSE. If I go there and they don't have doors and door frames, then I'm kinda screwed. Or at least I'll have more work to do than I originally planned. And, once I get the doors in hand, I can stop thinking/worrying about them.

8. It's bedtime. I gotsta get up at 5:45 tomorrow morning.

Tangram!

Old Aunt Amy put so much interesting stuff on her new auxiliary blog that I had to link to it. Oblique strategies are awesome. Also, the trailer for the new season of LOST looks pretty damned awesome. But, I must remind myself, trailers were invented to make even bad things look awesome.

Katie the North American Wanderer has been staying at our place for a few days. It's been fun, and I'm glad that my wife gets to hang out with her buddy. This is the first time that I can remember that I've been off work on New Years Eve, and we're all planning on going for a hike at Gunpowder Falls State Park. Then some folks might be coming over tonight and we'll try and think of something fun to do.

Jeannie got me the tangram set that I wanted for Christmas. Tangrams are awesome.

Also, my cousin Mark e-mailed me today and asked if I would listen to some of the songs he's written over the last 20 years and re-record them for him. Sounds like a big job but it should be fun.

This post is choppy but I'm having trouble focusing.

A quick trip and a stupid mistake

Christmas is over.

We had a good, fast, busy trip to St. Louis. Here are the high- and low- lights. In chronological muthafuckin' order.

1. 12/24/07, 5pm-ish. Arrive in St. Louis. Eat Foo's egg rolls, which I have heard about for years, and discover that they are as good as everyone says. They may ruin every egg roll I ever eat in the future.

2. 12/24/07, 11pm-1:30am, Drinks at the Ritz with Elz-ee-poo. I give him his Christmas present, the Black Beret Shower Cap.


3. 12/25/07, Various and sundry Christmas festivities. Then that night got a lovely call from J. Knese and met him and his brother and Casey and the Widitz' and K. Lowery. Ended up back at Jeff and Casey's and ate a burrito from QT called "The Bomb." I regretted it almost immediately, but it did end up making an interesting turd the next day.

4. 12/26/07 The Annual Day After Christmas O'Brien Ice Skating excursion. This year joined by R. Riley. Definitely a major highlight of the trip. Nice to shoot the shit. I should also mention that soon after waking up on the morning of the 26th, Jeannie's brother saw me naked. "I didn't see anything but hair." Fairly accurate.



5. 12/27/07 - Running around, trying to see people. More belated Christmas festivities. Aborted roasted vegetables.

6. 12/28/07 - Up at 6am and off to the airport. Arrive in B-more around 11:30, take the train, then a taxi to our apartment. While hailing the taxi, get a call from Korn, wondering where I am. Turns out I made a mistake and scheduled myself to work today at noon. Oops. So I haul ass and get home and then head out the door to work.
So I was late for work today and Korn had to work harder than she should've had to, for which I apologize.

That's it. Of course, much much more happened, but I think that I've covered all the things that I'd like to look back on and remember fondly.

And I'm tired of work and I haven't even been there for the last 3.5 days.

It's All Worthwhile

Work has been busy as hell. But dammit if it hasn't been kinda fun, too.

Peak

Well, we're in the thick of it at work, and I've been getting sick for the last few days. So it was a good day to not have to go into work in the morning. I went to bed last night around 8pm, and then when I woke up at midnight I took some cold medicine so I could go back down for the rest of the night. Which has helped, but I still feel a bit under the weather. Hopefully work this evening won't be too bad.

Work has been extremely busy but not hellish (yet). This weekend should be a killer.

Went to dinner with the Jeanners at Eric (her old boss) and Lauren's place on Tuesday night. It was a good time. I'm feeling more relaxed there than I used to (as was evidenced by the lack of red wine at Tuesday's dinner) and we had a good time playing the game "Loaded Questions." Then after the dinner I went down to the 8x10 to check out John's band, "The Vespertine Movement." Terrible name. The show was decent. I felt very old. Reminded me a lot of Bernard's Pub. I wore earplugs.

That's about it. Right now I'm just focused on getting through work and getting rid of this cold. I'm currently going to try and kill it with a delicious bacon n' schmeggs breakfast, because I hear that bacon is one of the most deadly substances on Errff.

Memories

The past couple of posts have highlighted some problems that I have with my memory, and they're problems that I've known were there, so I'm not too concerned, but it reminds me of a very specific memory problem that I remember mentioning to E. Elz while he was visiting and we went to DC:

I have a vivid vivid memory of going into a Smithsonian building to use the restrooms, and I am with the Schluetermetz' in this memory. The only problem is that I've never been to DC with the Schluetermetz'. But if I didn't know that I've never been to DC with the Schluetermetz', I would swear that this memory actually occurred. I can remember strange details about the building, I can remember the path we took to the restrooms, and I can remember what the bathrooms were like.

I don't mind forgetting shit, but I don't like making up stuff that never happened.

Another Errata post

The Jeanners read the last post and pointed out the following mistakes:

1. It's December, not November. But today kinda felt like a November day.

2. "The Day of the Mind-Blowing Physical Demonstration of the Bell Curve" took place not at the St. Louis Science Center, but rather the Baltimore Science center. And the Schluetermetz' were not there.

Apologies to all.

DOB: Lover of Anorexics

Today the Jeanners and I spent a good many hours walking to and around Hampden, looking for Christmas presents for various folks, and then walked to the grocery store and then home. Lots of walking, and a very weird weather day. Windy, with big menacing-looking impressive clouds. Birds flying around. It was a November day where all the colors seemed very rich, but the predominant feel is a light gray.

Anyway, now we're sitting at the kitchen table, listening to some Carpenters christmas tunes and eating little pizzas.

Somehow I've managed to schedule myself 3 of the last four days off work. Which is nice now, but it does mean that I'll be working a solid seven days in a row right before Christmas. Which means that I'll be good and ready to get out of town and head home for the holidays.

Here's my Christmas list for 2007:

1. Booze. Beer of any kind, or cheap gin. Cheap red wine is a perennial favorite.

2. "Tao of the Tangram." This is a tangram set that we've been selling at the B&N. My fascination with tangrams stems from a day spent at the St. Louis Science Center with BJ and maybe the Schluetermetz'. I can't really remember. That day lives in my memory as "The Day of the Mind-Blowing Physical Demonstration of the Bell Curve." It was the day when the proverbial Zen Master hit me with the proverbial stick and pushed me in the proverbial mud.

3. That's about it, really.

Yes, PKP, there are a lot of Back to the Future references in my blog, and I won't apologize for it. Back to the Future has some sort of mystical role in my life, it guides my ways, and helps me make sense out of a sometimes senseless world. So does The Karate Kid, and while I don't reference it as much in the blog, I assure you that it's taking up just as much space in my brain. I would estimate that, together, Back to the Future (numbers 1 & 2) and The Karate Kid (again, numbers 1 & 2 ONLY) take up about 35% of my available mental RAM.

Finished 1984 today. What a good good book. I liked it in high school and I liked it even more now.

Great Scott!

Last night in the shower I had a startling realization. See if you can follow me...


So in the movie Back to the Future, Marty McFly travels from 1985 to 1955, a time-distance of 30 years. In just 3 short years, someone could make a movie about someone traveling back to the year 1980, and that would be a 30 year distance, too.

Jeannie agreed that this seemed f@*#'ed up. Does anyone else out there feel like this is f@*#'ed up? Doesn't the span between 1955 and 1985 seem infinitely longer than the span between 1980 and now-ish?

Above the Weather

Worked on music all day today, with semi-decent results, I think. I also managed to clean up our kitchen this morning. Didn't get to laundry, though. Maybe tomorrow.

Short and Curlies

There's a short, curly dark hair on our kitchen table. Before you get too alarmed, you should know that it looks more like a chest hair than a pube. I find the spell-checker on this blog to be horribly lacking, as even the word "pube" is getting underlined as a mistake. How can one be expected to compose a decent blog post if one can't use the words "titties" and "pube"?

My baby is back home safe from Tennessee, and is currently (hopefully) asleep in the the other room. I didn't really get to see her today, as she was out of the house by 6:00 this morning and then I was at work when she got home tonight. She called me at work when she got home and said she had a splitting headache, so I hope she was able to get to sleep.

I didn't sleep well last night. Was thinking about work stuff and my mouth was too dry (two unrelated problems), so after tossing and turning for an hour or two I went in the living room and slept on the couch. For some reason, a change of scenery usually helps me get to sleep, and also the living room is usually kinda chilly, and I sleep better when it's cold.

I'm very excited that we might get to see Rich R. over our Christmas trip to the Lou, and maybe again if he's on the East Coast for New Years'.

I have the day off tomorrow, and I'm torn about what I should do. Part of me thinks I should spend the day doing chores -- laundry and cleaning especially, and part of me thinks that the chores can wait and I should play around with recording stuff all day. I will probably end up doing chores. Maybe.

Tonight part of me also felt like using my day off to drive to Atlantic City and do some gambling. Don't know exactly why that came up. It's been a long time since I've done anything like that, which is probably for the best. I think it's fairly safe to say that that's NOT what I will be doing with my day off.

I've been noticing lately that my short term memory is slipping a little bit...too much gin, probably.

Holidays, Skates and Sleighs, It's Christmas Time at O'Briens....

The title of this post is taken from a re-write of the song "Silver Bells," that my family wrote and performed in (I think) 1983 for my extended family Christmas party. All of the families had to take a Christmas song and rewrite the lyrics to fit their family. That's just a little bit about my background....

It's officially holiday time at the B&N, and I have been subsequently busy. Going in on my days off, working longer days, that sort of thing. But so far, nothing absolutely shitty has happened, and no major scheduling snafus, so I'm content. And, I'm looking forward to enjoying a bona fide day off on Thursday, with nothing to do except cook up a big bacon n' eggs breakfast to celebrate.

Last night I went to a Doll's House rehearsal, because I was feeling a little uncertain about the set and about how the set was working with the rehearsals. I'm really glad I went. It turns out that none of us were really on the same page about how the set was really supposed to work, so as a result the set is kind of evolving around what's happening in rehearsals. I like a process where that can happen. I think it serves the production a lot better to have enough time to let things evolve and change based on what the actors are doing. Plus, going to the rehearsal last night gave me a chance to watch Pat and Schlegel do some really nice work. The cast has only had 8 rehearsals, and I think they're already in such a good place that I can't wait to see the finished product.

Jeannie is going to Tennessee tomorrow on a business trip. She's only going for the day, though. Nevertheless, I will kind of miss her.

I finished reading Brave New World. I have no idea why I found that book to be compelling and exhilarating when I first read it. I now found it to be, well, kinda dumb. And I'm wondering if it was actually a different book that I read back then that made me happy. If it was, I can't remember what it was. Anyway, I've moved on to 1984, and that one is living up to my fond memories of first reading it.

Tomorrow: split shift with laundry in the middle. Chinese food?

Damn the Bigwigs

So yesterday and today were supposed to be my days off this week, but because the bigwigs were coming I went in and worked almost an entire shift yesterday, and then went in this morning as well. Needless to say, the bigwigs never showed up. Damn the bigwigs! Plus, I woke up last night at 2am, thinking about work, actually wishing that the store was open so I could go in and straighten things up. What's wrong with me?! I had to go into the shitter and read about Led Zeppelin until I got sleepy again.

I think that the main problem lies in the fact that I rarely, if ever, get any sort of real evaluation at work. So when people are coming who could very well evaluate my work (and not necessarily in a positive way) I freak out a little bit.

So I went in this morning (using the excuse that I needed to do a little Christmas shopping) and was told that there was good intelligence that the bigwigs would not be out visiting stores today. So I did my shopping and came home. I am celebrating my few hours off by cooking a big bacon n' schmeggs breakfast. So the question on the table is: do I want scrambled eggs in a tortilla? Or a bacon. egg, and cheese sandwich? Or just bacon and eggs with toast and juice?

The other night when I went to bed, I felt bad about making a crack about BJ's podcast. The truth is, I always am hungry for new episodes from them, and, (and perhaps more importantly), when I'm done listening to one of their shows I'm always interested in seeing/listening to/reading whatever it was they were talking about (with the exception of the Christian Rock). In fact, while I was at the Noble today I re-bought 1984 and Brave New World (somehow I've lost my copies of those books). I remember when I first read Brave New World,

(HOLY SHIT I JUST DISCOVERED WE'RE OUT OF EGGS)(MUST GO GET SOME...)

when I fist read Brave New World, it was either my senior year of college or the year after college, and I remember finishing the book alone in my apartment, and feeling so exhilarated that I was literally running through the streets to the bars, feeling very excited and full of life. And I went to Woody's (the bar that they built behind the Wooden Nickel)(actual full name Woody's in the Rear) and ended up I think playing some guitar and singing with a Kirksville guy named Buddy. Anyway, I have forgotten exactly what the story in Brave New World is, so I'm hoping that when I finish reading it again I get the same feeling of exhilaration.

Ok, I'm gonna go walk to Eddie's and buy some eggs. I've decided on bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches.

No Sleep till B'more

Probably because I spent a good portion of the afternoon sleeping, I now find myself wide awake and not ready to hit the hay, although the Jeanners has been in bed for awhile, and since I'm working tomorrow I probably should go to bed. But instead I'm up and enjoying a G&T and some chips and salsa. Which, by the way, if you haven't tried Trader Joe's Double-Roasted Salsa, you should cause it's good. Although it would be better with corn in it. But then again, what wouldn't?

I was listening to The Killers on the way home from work and decided that they are the Styx of our generation. Not bad, but a little overblown and kind of embarrassing. Though they probably sound more like Queen. And I really probably haven't listened to enough Killers or enough Styx to make the comparison, but there it is.

Not too much on the brain this evening. Life just seems to be rolling along. The J-Dog seems to be liking her job a bit more than she was a month or so ago. The weather's getting colder and our heat seems to be working at least some of the time, which is a nice improvement over last year. Although it could just be that we're spending less time in the living room, which has the radiator with the most problems. Yesterday I ran low on laundry and had to wear underwear to work that were way too tiny. I felt very European. J-Dog and I did laundry last night, though, so today I'm feeling much better.

When I was a kid, we had a copy of the Styx album Cornerstone on vinyl. I can still picture the cover: a man's bare feet, standing on some sort of moonlike terrain, shining a flashlight on an album that's kinda been placed in this crater, and on the cover of the album it says "Cornerstone." I think. I could be making that last part up. Let's go find it on the web.


Well, unfortunately that's the largest version of the cover art that I could find, so I guess we'll never know exactly what's on the cover of that album that's in the crater.

Well, I'm starting to get a little sleepy but I've still got quite a bit of G&T left (all this typing is getting in the way of my sipping!), so let's keep going...

I'm looking forward to going to see John K.'s (from work) band, which will be playing at the 8X10 on December 18th. It will be only the 3rd or 4th instance of live music that I will have seen since moving to Baltimore over 5 years ago. I'm not usually a fan of seeing live shows because
A) In the words of Huey Lewis in Back to the Future, they're "just too darn loud."
2) They're generally kind of boring and uninteresting and generic.

I do, however, remember going to Frederick's Music Lounge quite a bit when I used to live in St. Louis. I liked Fred's a lot, mostly because I used to get the feeling that I was in some sort of weird guy's basement when I went there. And while there was some general hipster-ness going on while I was there, it was definitely dominated by a spirit of wild inclusiveness and embarrassing innocence rather than coolness or posturing. I don't know. I'll probably spend the rest of my life looking for another hangout like Fred's. It's too bad that it's gone.

But anyway, in the spirit of trying to be more social, I'm looking forward to seeing John's show. I'm not expecting to like the music much, though. We'll see.

Ooo, also on the way home from work this evening, I think I might have summed up in my head a common thread in most of the art I like: the process is the product. I think that a good percentage of the modern or recent art that I've liked has some inherent reference to it's own creation. Probably more in literature than in other stuff, but still, I think it's definitely there in other stuff, too. It's not any sort of huge revelation, but I think being able to sum up things that I like may be useful in the future...

Ok, the last half of this post is starting to sound way too much like one of BJ's podcasts ("wild inclusiveness", "embarrassing innocence", "inherent reference to it's own creation")(ha ha ha)(and I love you, BJ), so I'd better go to bed now...

p.s. Elizabeth called me at work this evening and said "David Bowie is here," and it took me a few seconds before I realized that she was talking about the David Bowie CD that I had sent her...

Doing da splitz

Today I worked a weird split shift, so I got to come home at 1pm, but I have to go back in tonight at 8. And at around 10 this morning, it started snowing a most lovely, quiet, soft, wet, snow. Which was fun. And then after work, Brian G. and I headed over to the Rec Room for burgers. Unfortunately not half-priced, but nonetheless good.

I have to go into work tomorrow on my damned day off because there's going to be some bigwigs there. Bah.

Pickle and the Indians

Crapola. I have a bit of a splitting headache. Busy day at work yesterday, and busy today. The two days have seemed like one long, busy day.

Bewley was in town last night and called me at work. We met when I got off and had some Guinness. 'Twas good to see her.

It's nice to be home. A few minutes ago I took off my shoes and sock and snuggled my feet under the blankets on our bed. It felt good.

I'm having a hard time coming up with things that I want for Christmas.

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!