"I've seen your hand turn saintly on the radio dial..."

Day off.

Jeannie and I are going in to CSC to work on the set.

Tonight we're going to have our date, which looks like it's going to consist of a dinner at Applebee's (we have a gift certificate) and then maybe a trip to the library! Is this lame? It actually seems really fun...does that make ME lame? Am I lame?

I have begun reading 'The Imaginary Invalid,' and it's not too bad. And it feels kinda good to get a head start on things and actually start thinking about the lighting before I'm on a ladder hanging lights. So thank you Ellen-stage-manager-of-Imaginary-Invalid-who-got-me-to-get-off-
my-ass-and-get-started-early.

Tried to record yesterday but am experiencing some technical difficulties. Must be having problems with my computer or my equipment or the cables connecting the two.

I'm using a gift certificate that Jeannie and I recieved as a wedding present from my aunt and uncle to put towards the purchase of a new MP3 player. Jeannie has assured me that she doesn't mind using something that was given to both of us towards what will essentially be a present for me. She's always very nice that way. Anyway, I'm going to get a 40GB Creative Labs Zen Touch. I am very excited, as we will be able to fit our entire music library on it and still have room to grow.

My brother might be coming for a visit in March! Which is a very pleasant surprise, indeed...

I love it!

Rich's 'Sodalicious' machine strikes again! I love it! I am absolutely enthatlled by this machine. I want to take a pilgrimage to Chicago just to see it and put money in it and try to get a whole bunch of sodas... 12 sodas for 65 cents! Doesn't that put the best mental image in your head? It does for me...

If you don't know what I'm talking about, click on the link over there to the right for "Rich's Blog" and look at his entry for Friday, December 2. Then read the entry for January 11th.

Yesterday was a fine day. Some highlights include doing some cooking and cleaning, and especially a phone call from one BJ Gailey. BJ Gailey is now teaching the college-aged youth of America, which is frightening, funny, and also creates wonderful mental images. Also, he informs me that he is sporting a beard and short hair, which I think is his best look (aside from the MEDEA ring-of-hair-around-an-entirely-bald-top-of-head). Maybe I think it's his best look because it's MY look. That is a frightening peek into my own personal psyche, I suppose.

I finished the DFW book. I would catagorize it as "good." I skipped one essay, which isn't too bad, but there also wasn't any essay that was tremendously awesome.

Right now I'm going back and forth between strumming a B7 and an Em on my first guitar, a junior-sized acoustic that my mom got for my dad one year for Christmas but which sat under a bed until my mom asked if I wanted to take guitar lessons when I was, I think, eleven years old. The guitar is now old and doesn't stay in tune very well, but for some reason I still like it's plunky sound.

I'm off to grab a bite to eat and maybe attempt some recording.

A full plate

It's getting harder and harder to come up with titles for these blogs when most days are very similar...

Right now I'm staring at a plate of 3 hot dogs, with relish and ketchup (no mustard for me, thanks) and sipping a warm FRESCA (the FRESCA is courtesy of one Mary Ann Walsh, who came over for dinner last night with me and the Jeanners. The menu was baked potato, salad, and BBQ pork roast was also available, although I don't think anyone ate any.).

Anyway, today is my day off, and though it is only noon-time, I have already accomplished many of my goals for the day. They were:

Go to B&N for errand-type business. Go to the gym. Answer qustions posed in an e-mail from the stage manager for 'The Imaginary Invalid' regarding lighting issues. This e-mail has put me into a slight panic mode about the show, despite the fact that tech week doesn't begin for another 17 days. But, I'm realizing that I'm actually going to have to break down and 'read the script.' (shudder). And do some actual design-type things instead of just hanging the lights, asking the director what he/she wants and adjusting the instruments and cueing according to what the director tells me.

Also, I was planning on playing hookie (hookey? hooky?) from work tomorrow, but have decided to just go to work and not call out sick. This is for several reasons: 1. I'm scheduled to close tomorrow night with Jeremy, and I haven't closed in awhile and I'm kind of looking forward to it; plus, I like Jeremy, and we're going to have a discussion about whether he should quit his job as a high school counselor and go into some sort of private practice or just stay a high school counselor. 2. I found out that I absolutely have to call out sick from work on Saturday in order to attend a 'design run' for IMAGINARY INVALID. I'd rather not call out 2 days in the same week, especially since doing so would mean that I was away from work for 4 days straight.

Jeannie and I are planning a date for Friday night.

Finally, probably only Jeannie and Mary Ann will get this, but here goes...

Chuckie, if you're reading this on your dad's computer, GET THE HELL OFF THE COMPUTER!!!

Saved the Day

Well, I was blah again today, work was boring, blah blah blah, poop poop poop. But then the Jeanners and I took a nice long walk to go check out the new Daedalus (sp.?) bookstore that's opening near our place (it's not open yet). On the way home we stopped at the Giant G and picked up some groceries, including a nice pork roast that we're going to chuck into the mofo crock pot and let that bastard cook while we're sleeping.

Then I called my good buddy Rich R. and caught up for a little while. 'Twas good to talk to him, it sounds like he's doing well, and I'm interesting in reading how his next couple of weeks plays out.

I wanted another vanilla bean frap today but I made myself abstain so I don't get addicted.

It's amazing how a nice long walk can change my attitude. At least for tonight.

The Lord's Day

A few awards to hand out tonight:

1. Favorite drink at the B&N cafe: a grande vanilla bean frap. With the employee discount, it ends up being a buck seventy. And damned if it ain't deliciouso.

2. Absolutely, hands-down, the best public restroom in the world: Trader Joe's in Towson, MD. Here are some of the qualities that set this one apart: it's a large single occupancy room, with a nice lock on the door and nice thick walls. A constantly running fan right over the commode. Fake plants, a scented candle, nice fake wood cabinets hanging on the walls with extra paper towels and TP, some decorative Pier 1 style small mirrors hanging on the walls. Jesus, I love to go poo in there. All it needs is a nice hand-held Soduko game (maybe chained to the toilet) or a magazine rack.

I've been a little sad lately, don't know why. Not too bad, though. Also, I have what may be an ingrown toenail (although I'm not convinced that that's what it is) and it hurts like a mofo.

The David Foster Wallace book has peaked and is starting to go downhill. I actually skipped most of an essay on Dostoevsky. And I like Dostoevsky. But the essay I'm reading now is starting to get interesting, so maybe it'll pick back up.

"Magical Markers"

Well, yesterday turned out to be a pretty damned good day. Talked to my buddy Mary Ann for a little while, Cooked a delicious roast and some mashers and some brownies for me and my lady's dinner, did some chores, and then went to the Baltimore Art Museum (BMA) with the Jeanners because on the first Thursday of every month it's free to go to the BMA. When we were done at the museum we were walking through Charles Village back to our car and it made us both really want to move there very much. So I think we decided that we're definitely going to move to Charles Village when they kick us out of here (sometime before August).

Today was good as well. Spent all day working at CSC, building a frame for and hanging some double doors. It wasn't too bad, and Chuck Leonard was there to help for part of the day, so it was enjoyable. They turned out better than I expected they would. Hopefully I have not screwed up my back like I did last time. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

Jeannie and I are starting to plan our next visit to St. Louis, which should be at the end of February, and I've got some days of vacation to use up so maybe it will be a nice, long, leisurely visit. Maybe we could stop in Columbus for awhile? I'll have to check it out with the cool kids. Either way, I'm looking forward to it.

Not looking forward to work tomorrow, though. That's fo' damned sure.

The David Foster Wallace book is very good, if you're like me and you think that DFW is just about the most awesomest thing to happen to literature in a long long time.

What to Do?

Ahhh, so nice to have a day off. Tomorrow I'm going to be working on the set at CSC for most of the day, so I'm going to have to try to enjoy today extra hard.

The Ipod is officially dead. RIP Ipod. I'm thinking of smashing it with a hammer just for therapuetic closure.

Things I am thinking about doing today:

1. Depositing some cash at the bank.
2. Dishes
3. Laundry
4. Picking up my gratis copy of Season 1 of FAME from the B&N because the copy that we were playing in the store is no longer being played in the store and I claimed it.

I'm guessing I'll do #'s 1,2, and 4 but doing laundry today just seems like too big of a task. Maybe we'll do it tonight after Jeannie gets home. Laundry, that is.

Side note: many thanks to Eric Elz for the "Greatest American Hero" season 1 Christmas gift. Jeannie and I have watched the pilot episode (which I believe was 1.5 to 2 hours long [probably was a 2 hour TV movie when it included commercials]) and the first episode, "The Hit Car." When I watch it, I feel the same mixture of entertainment and embarassment that I feel when my sisters play their home movies from when I was 11. So bad it's good.

CSC had a meeting the other night at a Chinese restaurant regarding the upcoming summer shows. We're doing 2 shows in rep this summer, and it's going to be a big job, but it looks like I'm going to get by without actually having to do much of anything. Woo-Hoo! I think we've finally reached the point when other people (i.e. Chuck Leonard) are finally stepping up to the technical plate. Which means I have to do far less, which makes me happy. And the meal at the meeting was pretty good, I had been craving chinese for awhile, and I enjoyed the car ride with Pat.

That's it. Oooo, I'm going to add a #5 to things I'm considering for the day:
#5. Grocery shopping.

Exciting, I know.

Many boxes of receiving!

If you worked in the music dept. at B&N, you would understand what I meant when I told you that it was a changeover day and we recieved almost 20 boxes of merchandise. Since you don't work at B&N, I will translate for you: today wasn't fun.

I just finished 7 days of work in a row, and I've got the next 2 days off, which I'm looking forward to. My boss won't be coming to work for the next few days because his kid has....scarlet fever. Which is either very terrible or the worst excuse to take several days off work that I've ever heard.

Today a woman came in with her boyfriend/husband and her infant daughter. I thought she was annoying because she kept asking a lot of questions about where different cd's were when most of them were right in front of her. Then, as she was paying, I gave her 63 cents in change and she said she was going to put it in her daughter's college fund. It sent shivers down my spine and made me feel like crying because it was so sweet.

I'm hungry and my Ipod isn't working again.

I'm reading the latest David Foster Wallace book of essays, "Consider the Lobster." I usually am not a huge fan of his essays because they're way too brainy for me and not always on subjects that I'm interested in. This book has been pretty good, though, because the overly brainy ones have been very short.

I love my girlfriend!

New Year's Eve

How shall I spend this last day of 2005? Here's how it's gone so far: worked today, home around 6pm. Put in a call to Rich R. but the boy weren't at home. Sat on the can for awhile playing my new handheld Sudoku game. It's pretty great, perhaps even better than handheld Yahtzee for playing in the bath-room.

Right now the song "Darkness on the Edge of Town" is playing on the Ipod. There's 3 hot dogs starting to boil for me, Jeannie is at a dinner with some folks from her old job, and I've got some Guinness getting cold in the fridge.

How has the year been? Well, if you leave out Jeannie's throat problems, it's pretty much been the best year ever. But unfortunately, I can't leave out Jeannie's throat problems, so as it was it was a pretty damned fine year. Being married is great, better than I thought it would be, somehow. The job is fine, I got a lot of work done on music, and got to see a lot of friends and family.

Things to do for 2006: Jeannie and I should move to Charles Village, I should get a job managing the music department of the new B&N in Charles Village. Be better at retunring people's e-mails. Finish up the CD and send it out. Visit home more often than this year. Visit Ohio more often. Try and make a little bit more money, save up for a howse. Reach a point of total Zen where I don't care about anything.

That's about it for now. Happy New Year!

We're Back.

Well, we're back from what could be "The Best Christmas Ever." We really had a good time and got to see a lot of people and eat a lot of food that tasted really good and gave us bad poops and gas.

Some highlights:

1. Ice skating at Steinberg Rink on the day after Christmas. My family goes every year, this year Jeannie's mom and dad came, and her brother Seth.

2. Hanging out with Eric, Drew, Karista, J. Knese, and Colette at O'Connell's. Eric's tales of falling asleep with food in his mouth and pouring barbecue sauce all over himself inhis sleep, Drew's tales of sucky oral surgeons and sucky economics classes.

I was saddened to read that Stevie Earl Jacobs has been killed. I was sad to hear that part of the reason is because of the book we sent to Rich for Christmas. Part of me agrees with Rich and understands why he's doing it, but I feel like he's overreacting a bit, too. Stevie is different, most notably because he's a real person. Reading about Stevie through his BLOG is nothing compared to encountering Stevie in real life, and I think that the performance is where his beauty is. the Robert Hamburger stuff is funny jokes on the page, but a run-in with Stevie is what I imagine a run-in with Tony Clifton must have been like. Anyway, I hope that Stevie ain't really dead.

In other news, I have just purchased the latest MY MORNING JACKET cd, put out by Sony BMG, and it's loaded with all of this copyright protection software, and it's absolute BULLSHIT. It's a major pain just trying to put the thing on my computer or to make a backup of the cd.

Be Home Soon

What a good day yesterday was. It was one of those rare good days that didn't go by super-fast, but actually felt like a nice, long, good day.

It started off not too fun, because my Ipod went back on the fritz, so after a couple of hours of screwing around with it, I popped the damn thing open with a knife, disconnected the battery and the hard drive, then reconnected them and now it's working better than ever. So I'll have nice tunes to listen to pn the plane today.

Got to spend time with Jeannie yesterday, too, which was awesome. I did some dishes and worked on laundry, and cut little tape strips from a roll of packing tape because she was wrapping presents and we didn't have any scotch tape.

We fly out of here this afternoon, then it's off to Jeannie's family gathering, mass at SLUH, and then the Ritz for our (now) annual tradition of drinks with Eric Elz at the Ritz on Christmas Eve. Much to my chagrin, Senor Bosco and his wife Susan will not be joining us for drinks this year, as they are in Wichita. That definitely puts a damper on the party.

Hope everyone has a very merry, safe, and happy Christmas and New Years. Also hope to see as many folks as possible while we're in St. Louis. We'll be back on the 28th.

Aaaaaah.

Woo Hoo! Done with work until after Christmas! Yee-Haw!

Today was surprisingly easy. Very busy but we were well-staffed so it wasn't so bad.

Tonight Aimee stopped by as Jeannie and I were making breakfast-for-dinner, which was nice, and then Jeannie and I sat around and did not much of anything. We're both pretty tired.

And if anyone wants to know what happened on 'Without a Trace," the autistic boy was found and nobody had done anything bad to him. It was revealed during the course of the show, however, that he wasn't the biological son of the guy who everybody thought was his dad. But all in all, the show was pretty darned dumb.

Feeding Frenzy

Well, we've reached the point in the holiday season when things are absolutley crazy and the store starts resembling a market in Calcutta. Today was insanity, which actually at times put me in a very Zen state of near total calm. The only part that wasn't very Zen-like was that at the center of the calm was a burning hatred for whatever customer I happened to be looking at or speaking to.

As I was walking out to my car, it was sunset, and I saw somebody who looked a lot like BJ Gailey and I instantly missed him tremendously and I felt like I wanted to cry for a minute.

What a fun evening last night. Mary Ann and Pat came over, and Jeannie gave me a Christmas present early, the game APPLES TO APPLES, which holy jeez is it a fun game. We also ate lots of yummy soup (gonna have more tonight) and homemade bread. Fun stuff.

One more day of work and then I'm done with all this Christmas nonsense.

Dec. 19th and counting...

Right now I am unfortunately listening to David Bowie and Mick Jagger singing "Dancing in the Streets." Listening to it makes me picture a mid-80's Bowie and Jagger jumping around in tight pants, while African-American women sing back-up wearing colorful blazers with large shoulder pads.

There's so much to write about, where to begin?

I will begin with a couple of shout-outs. First a shout-out to Seanyboy in Alaska, who wrote to tell me that he, too, has pee'd where it's not cool to pee. On at least one occasion, though, he was awake, so his is far worse than mine.

Second, a big Cross Keys Cougars shout-out to my old friend Colleen, who wrote to tell me that she occasionally reads the blog and likes Eddie Murphy's "Party All the Time." Colleen has been a friend since the 7th grade, when I looked like this:


So she gets sent mad props for befriending me when I wasn't the cool guy who sits before you now.

The song has now switched to Tom Waits', "What's he building?" If I could have the career of anyone on earth, it would be Tom Waits. He can do whatever he wants.

Work has been maddening in a big way. I'm just tired of looking at and listening to people. 3 more days until I'm off and then I'm off for Christmas and Jeannie and I head home for a few days and I absolutely can't wait.

Jeannie is at painting class, she's been working on a series of nighttime cityscapes that I've really been enjoying. They're dark with little drips of light showing through every now and again. Good stuff. She's been cooking a lot lately, we've busted out the ol' crock pot and made a roast a few nights ago, and she's making another batch of potato soup tonight and we made a couple batches of chocolate chip cookies on Sunday.

I screwed up my back working on the set on Friday, and the pain has lessened in my back but spread to my ass and leg. It makes work extra-not fun. But I have learned the joys of a piping hot heating pad.

Strange Days.

Well, interesting things have happened. It goes like this...


I went out last night with Patrick and Elizabeth from work to go see Flora's band, THE METAL HEARTS, at the Ottobar. The band was very good, even better than their cd, mainly because they've added a live drummer which really helps fill out their sound. I drank way too much, then drove Patrick home and then drove myself home. By the grace of god I made it home safely, had a conversation with Jeannie that I don't really remember, and went to bed.

The rest of this story is related to me by Jeannie, I don't really remember it beause I was asleep. As far as I know, the whole thing could be a lie she made up, but anyway, here's what she tells me: at some point in the middle of the night, she woke to the sound of some splashing noises and saw me standing by a cabinet near our bed taking a leak in the corner of our bedroom. She told me to stop and I said, "What...it's just a CD," and she said, "No! It's a cabinet" at which point I stopped peeing, got back into bed and went back to sleep.

So....

This morning I woke up and Jeannie was already at work. I felt pretty bad, puked some water and felt better, then went to the CSC offices to work on the set for the next show. When I got home I cleaned up where Jeannie told me that I pee'd (the pee must have dried up or something because there wasn't any pee there when I got home) made some dinner, and now Jeannie and I are back up here at the CSC offices because she wanted to paint some cityscapes and I came along to keep her company.

What have we learned from this?

1. No more drinking and driving. I've been far too lucky with that shit, and it's absolutely one of the stupidest things in the world to do, so I'm done with it.

2. It seems that I have about 1 session of heavy puke-inducing drinking per year. I would like these sessions to spread out even more as time progresses.

3. I would like to keep bedroom urinations to an absolute minimum. They are embarassing and they make your wife mad at you. They're also bad for hardwood floors.

Good News

I'll start with the good news: Jeannie's throat is A-OK. She had her doctor's appointment and they stuck the ol' camera down there (her throat) and said it all looks normal. Her voice might have been feeling funny because the cadaver-skin injections that she got a few months ago might be wearing off....and yes, I included this sentence just to show off the fact that my wife has had cadaver skin injected into her throat.

Now on to the b-crap....

Aimee and MAW came over for dinner last night, Jeannie cooked up a delicious potato soup from scratch, along with some homemade bread...damn, 'twas good. Made my pee pee smell like onions. We sat at our table like a family and it was fun. Then Mary Ann and I went to B&N for some late-night employee discount usage. Came home and Aimee had fallen asleep on the couch. Hopefully she made it home alive.

Work has been fine, busy, annoying, but the mantra has helped. I want to kill my boss because I have been busting my ass and working overtime and he doesn't seem to be putting in any extra effort for the holidays.

I enjoyed reading my friends' blogs tonight. Nice to hear that Ricky Elz is still alive (think of me when you watch Zisou) and that Richie Rich listens to country music while driving on Midwestern highways. Learn something new every day.

Today I got in an argument with an old woman who was upset that our signs say "Holiday Music" instead of "Christmas Music." I ended up telling her I was Muslim and that I refused to have this conversation with her. It's all so very, very stupid.

Tomorrow night: going to see the Metal Hearts at the Ottobar with people from work. A couple of firsts: the first time I'm going to hang out outside of work with people from work, and the first live music I'm going to see since I've been in Baltimore. Wait, I take that back. Jeannie and I went to see the Twilight Singers at Fletcher's. My ears rang for about a week and a half after that show and I was very worried that I had some permanent nerve damage.

Sweet Sweet Guinness

Today was one of those days that makes me understand why holiday retail workers are portrayed as frazzled alcoholics. It started off with me yelling at my boss for no apparent reason when I got to work and went steadily downhill from there.

The good news: Danny Dolan has apparently successfully pimped me out once again. He said he gave some of my music to the director of the movie he's working on and the director is interested in using as much as possible for the movie. So far this is all still up in the air, but it's good news, nonetheless.

Jeannie is, I assume, at painting class. She's not here. I look forward to seeing her when she gets home because she's good at making me concentrate less on my job and more on my awesome wife. At the moment we're worried that her throat thing might have grown back. She has a doctor's appointment on Wednesday to check it out.

I'm going to go pop some corn and become a vegetable.

Autopilot

Well, I'm thinking not much interesting will happen for the next couple of days because I'm just going to be working a lot. And work's been busy but un-interesting, which is good at this time of year, no horror stories yet of terrible, christmas-ruining customers. My co-worker Brian always points out a customer when she comes into the store, "There's the lady that ruined my Christmas 2 years ago." None of those yet. My mantra has been helping.

Had a good time last night dining out with Jeannie and Aimee, celebrating Aimee's birfday and then hanging out shooting the shit at home.

Today was a long day, but it's good to be home with Jeannie and stinky gas and a delicious, relatively strong G&T. Stronger than I thought it would be.

"We say, when a horse is on the grass, it is like when a man is on the grass."

Does anyone get that reference?

Lazarus, come out!

Today was a damned good day, for a variety of reasons, but one of the main reasons is that after extensive internet research I have managed to bring my Ipod back from the dead.

It died over a year ago, and I tried to fix it to no avail, took it to the Apple store and they told me that the hard drive had failed and that for the cost of repairing it I could get a new one. So it's sat in my desk for the last year because we don't have the money to fix it.

So today I decided to do some more research and found some stuff on the internet that was very helpful, and eventually I got it back up and running. Woo-Hoo!

Pat came over tonight for homemade pizza and Ali G watching. Fu-hunny.

Work tomorrow. I've decided not to get bent out of shape over anything that happens at work. My holiday mantra is: "I will take my time and help every customer to the best of my ability. The rest I don't care about."

I'm Tired.

Nasty day at work today. Glad I'm off tomorrow. I wish that I could go to sleep and when I woke up it would be 11pm on Dec. 24th and I'm sitting at the Ritz kickin' it with Ricky Elz and some cupfuls of G&T.

This morning I saw a woman doing tai chi on the lawn across the street, which was not odd because she's often doing tai chi in the morning. But today ahe was doing tai chi and had a big damned sword. The sword part was odd.

Jeannie's cooking black beans and rice, and it be smellin real fine.

I finished the book I was reading, "The Tender Bar," (it was ok), and it referenced "the Great Gatsby" a lot, which I have never read, so I'm thinking about reading "The Great Gatsby." Part of me is worried that it will be kind of lame. For all of you who read "The Great Gatsby" in high school, if I read it now will it be lame?

What the Heck's Been Going On?

Has nothing really been happening? I have scoured my thoughts and feelings, replayed the last couple of days in my mind to find anything interesting that's been going on, and come up with not much.

I think I'm still in Thanksgiving withdrawal.

Here's what's been going on:

1. I am tired of looking at Eric Elz' post, "The Fruits of My Labor." Eric, are you dead? Come on, man, wake up! I mean, the picture looks great and all, but move on!

2. Rich Riley's post, "Sodalicious," is perhaps one of the greatest things I have ever heard. Magical, wonderful, the stuff of which dreams are made. What a great piece of enchanted machinery.

3. Jeannie and I are toying around with the idea of going to the bank and seeing if it's even possible for us to think about buying a house. It's probably not. Poor folks like us is meant to rent.

4. Jeannie's working on a painting (actually, she's working on copying a painting), and I've been taking pictures of it as it progresses. Could make for an interesting album cover.

5. Reading "The Tender Bar," on the recommendation of my father. It's ok. I'm just surprised that my dad has recommended a book that makes at least occasional use of the word "fuck" and has scenes that contain sexual situations. I feel all growed up.

That's all. It's pretty boring. The holiday season is here and that gives work the potential to suck every day. So far, nothing terrible.

Blog etiquette?

I just read Rich's justifiably outraged post about people using cell phones while they make brown, and now I'm wondering if it's in bad taste to blog while on the can. If so, I present to you my sincerest apologies. Pretend I'm sitting at a charmingly cluttered rolltop desk, smoking a pipe as I write this...

It's windy outside. Whoa, is it windy outside.

Busy, boring day at work. One more day of work and then two days off. Looking forward to it.

I pick up my ladyfriend from the airport tonight! Yea!

Hung out with Pat Kilpatrick last night, went to the Rec Room for 1/2 price burgers and I had a couple of beers, and we just chatted about stuff. He seemed very happy to be getting out and having some company.

Some things on my Christmas list, for any of my wives that might be interested:

1. New goddam pajama pants. Not too heavy, not too light. Just damned right.
2. I guess some new black socks.
3. Maybe A MIGHTY WIND, able to be purchased during B&N Employee Appreciation Days (Dec. 9-18th) for a tidy $6.66.

That's about it.

Feel like I've been at work non-stop since I've been back in town. Not really, though, although I have been working a lot. Looking forward to my days off on Thursday and Friday. Miss Jeannie a lot, but I got to talk to her on the phone yesterday which was great.

Ways in which my life would be different if Jeannie and I weren't together:

1. I would drink a lot more beer.
2. I would be a lot fatter.
3. I would reuse dishes with a minimal amount of cleaning them.
4. I would feel that my life is pretty much pointless.
5. Life would be much quieter, and not in a good way. In an empty way. I would have to find some outlet at home for just talking. I guess it's been awhile since I've lived by myself and I'm not used to it anymore. I remember that when I moved to Baltimore I was unsure if I could handle going back to living with roommates after having lived by myself for a few years.

Strange dreams last night. I remember part of one very vividly, my tooth fell out, which is a recurring dream I have, and one that I hate. Donald Trump showed up in one of my dreams, too, and I feel like he's shown up before. That can't signify any sort of mental health, I'm sure.

A Plea.

Jeannie, for the love of Jebus, come home.

A Couple of Firsts

Some new things happened today:

1. I worked my first "Black Friday," i.e. the day after Thanksgiving. It wasn't busy at all. Probably because B&N doesn't have any special sales.

2. I was helping a customer find a SCISSOR SISTERS cd. A little while later, he called back to ask if I was gay. I told him no, and he seemed surprised. He said I should be flattered, but now I'm just wondering what kind of vibe I'm giving off. I'm attributing it to the fact that I trimmed my beard this morning, so I'm looking a little bit more anal than I was 24 hours ago. Also, I knew right where the SCISSOR SISTERS cd was.

Wish I was in Ohio with my wife and friends, listening to strange records.

Acting Suck It Champion (or, There and Back Again)

Well, I am back in Baltimore as of a few minutes ago. I am very tired, but made it here in one piece. I got a damned speeding ticket on the way home, because I was blasting my music at an extremely loud volume and not paying attention to how fast I was driving. I have gotten several tickets in this manner...

So many things to write about, but so tired....

First, a short recap of the holiday, for posterity:

Monday night arrived and sat around talking. Went to bed, cold, but slept well and Jeannie slept the whole night through, which hasn't happened in awhile.

Tuesday Brad and Henry to work/school, Jeannie worked on putting some canvases together; Jen, Rich, and myself have a SORRY! (aka SUCK IT!) tournament. Schlueter is the winner. While all this is happening, the bird is cooking, boob side down as an experiment. Brad and Henry get home, we eat a huge Thanksgiving feast, I immediately fall asleep afterwards. At night, Scattergories.

Wednesday everyone stays home from work/school. Playing with Henry, eating leftovers. Schlueter and Henry take long nap while Jeannie, Rich, Brad and I have another SORRY! (aka SUCK IT!) tournament. I win after a few very close, intense games. My 2 day total victories are more than Schlueters, so I name myself acting SUCK IT! Champion until Schlueter and I can face off head-to-head. At night, Brad tells us his jury duty experiences (very interesting), and then Rich and Brad confess all of their childhood sins. All is forgiven. Schlueter gets tipsy in a laughy, slurry, stumbly way (very amusing).

Thursday big Down Home Country Breakfast. Then Jeannie and I pack up and leave. I drop her off at the Columbus airport (she's flying to St. Louis for her high school reunion) and then continue on to Baltimore. Work on lyrics for new song, also listened to latest Sufjan Stevens album (enjoyed it) and a Sun Kil Moon mix (liked their earlier stuff better than the new album). Listened to BJ's mix again. Got a damned ticket. And here I am.

What a great trip. No puking, great conversation, wonderful people.

Tonight I have to sleep in bed alone, which means I'll sleep great but wake up lonely. Miss you, Jeanners.

Tuesday

Well, we are here in Ohio, and in the few hours that we've been here and awake, it has proven itself once again to be the best time of year. Rich R. is here, Jen Schlueter-Steinmetz is here, and Brad and Henry Steinmetz are here but are currently at work/school. Initial preparations for our Thanksgiving feast have begun and there's a trip to the art store in the works.

On the drive here, I finally got a chance to listen to a mix CD that BJ Gailey had given to me when he was in town. I am always entertained and surprised by his mixes. He manages to put together songs that I would either never listen to or never put on the same mix, and somehow the mix works, and they always broaden my musical tastes. His mixes tend to swing wildly between different styles, whereas mine tend to be more linear and there's less differences between consecutive songs. So thanks to the BJ.

Also listened to a mix that Jeannie's friend Kris had made for her, and enjoyed that as well.

Lots of laughs and conversation after we arrived last night a little after midnight, and then to bed around 2am.

Started recieving some preliminary e-mails for the next show, THE IMAGINARY INVALID. It's in February. I have a hard time getting motivated for something that far in advance, especially since the majority of my work won't be done until the week before the show. Oh well.

More later.

Sunday Night

This is Samuel. He lives upstairs, and on Saturday and Sunday nights we babysit him overnight while his mom works at a hospital. He's cute and nice, but tonight he was kinda sick and in a bad mood so he didn't like me very much. He still liked Jeannie, though.

Hopefully within the next 26 or 27 hours I will be hanging with my friends in Bellefountaine, OH.

Hamburglar

Went in to CSC this morning to work on cleaning the storage areas. About halfway there I realized that when I lost my keys earlier this week, I lost my key to get into the offices. Didn't feel like going home so I decided to just figure out a way to break in when I got there.

Well, when i got there, I tried my usual break-in techniques, but they didn't really work. Then I noticed an exhaust fan above the set of double-doors, and I climbed up on a trash can and gave the fan a good yank and it came right out of the wall, leaving a nice 2' by 2' hole for me to lean through and undo the lock. Then I put the fan back in the wall (it wasn't hooked up to anything. Most things in the building aren't).

Then I started cleaning and tidying, which was fun because I brought along my copy of the new Wilco live double CD (burned for me by Patrick at work), and cranked it up while I was working. All-in-all it's a good album, with high points and low points. But Gawd, if there was one person whose voice I could have it would be Jeff Tweedy. His voice is able to sound strong and ragged at the same time. It's also right in between a speaking voice and a singing voice. So he's able to get away with very conversational lyrics and have them turn out to be poetry. He's got the skillz to pay them bills.

Babysitting tonight, then strike, then work early tomorrow. The Jeanners has been driving down to Annapolis the last few days to help MAW's parents paint the inside of their house. Aimee over last night for low-key evening of chatting, popcorn eating, and a Guinness for me. Wore my PJ pants and didn't feel embarassed.

Lu Lu

Last night Jeannie and I went out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary, and I can't help but be amazed that, despite the fact that we had a $100 gift certificate, we still ended up spending more on dinner than we normally do when we go out. How do people afford dinners like this? Yes, the food was good, and we had wine and dessert and a "microsalad" (which means very very tiny salad for $11.00), but I still can't believe that there are people who regularly spend that much on a dinner. Well, it was fun, and I'm glad we did it. I'm also glad we had the gift certificate.

Yesterday was a pretty damned good day. Worked on music all morning, and ended up with a rough draft of a song that now just needs lyrics. It's got a melody line and chorus already, so I really just need to come up with verses. What's this song about? I like the music, it's very U2-ish, with some good rough guitar sounds.

Also did laundry, ate a big bowl of pea soup (which I got a lot of in my beard), and took a very relaxing bath with incense, tea, bubble bath stuff, and Brian Eno book.

Work tonight. Not looking forward to it, but not dreading it, either.