Into the Mystic

Jeannie went to Robert E. Lee park on Sunday and took some pictures of the fort-thing that's there. It looks like this:




Pretty magical looking, huh?

I interviewed a new guy for work today. He showed promise, I'm guessing we'll end up offering him the job.

Not too much else going on except work. And it seems like everyone around us is either getting pregnant or having babies.

Little Bosco

Let me be one of the first to welcome tiny Henry Bosco into the world, the new son of my good buddy Chris. Henry arrived six weeks early, and caught his mommy and daddy off guard, as they happened to be in two different cities. So apparently daddy missed a bit of the delivery. Surprise! But I am happy to report that everyone is healthy and doing fine. All of this story, by the way, comes second hand through my mom, so none of it may actually be true. I'm still awaiting verification from Mr. Bosco himself.

Well, it turns out that my sleepless night worrying about the District Manager's visit on Tuesday was for naught, as the visit went fine. So I guess I'm doing ok at work.

Also heard a rumor that old manager FC Wasnock has turned in his 2 weeks' notice to the Noble. True?

Continuing to work on Seanyboy's CD. I'll be sending off a CD to him soon of relatively finished tracks, so he can have copies for his Colin Hay gig if he so chooses. It's been a good time, and I feel like I've learned a lot throughout the process.

Hmm. What else? Jeannie and I bought plane tickets for an end-of-May/Beginning of June trip to St. Louis to see the fams. Should be a good time. Also word that her brother might be stationed in Maryland for a month this summer, which could be fun and interesting. Looking forward to seeing how it all turns out...

Forgetful Jones

As I was driving home from work this evening, I realized that I was totally in the process of accidentally skipping a CSC production meeting. Oops. I hope I'm not missing anything too earth-shattering.

Tomorrow at work is our annual official store visit from the District Manager. Big deal. Everybody's in a hissy. Basically the DM comes in and digs around in your shit and makes sure everything is up to snuff.

Hmmm, what else?

The Jeanners and I had a pretty damned good day yesterday. It's easy to have a good day when you have Chipotle for dinner.

So Drew and Felicity are moving to San Fran. It seems like the West Coast is going to be the cool place to be, what with all the folks moving out there.

Beautiful Sunday

After doing some mixing this morning, the Jeanners and I took advantage of the fact that we both had the day off, and used a gorgeous afternoon to go for a walk in Robert E. Lee park, which is a large wooded area with lots of paths and whatnot. It gave me the chance to see the 'fort' that she and Katie had found in the park a few months ago, which is pretty cool. It's basically a huge teepee that someone has built out of a lot of driftwood and fallen trees. Seeing it made me want to go live in the woods.

Tonight we plan on eating Chipotle and watching ROME. ROME, by the way, is a really good show, one that both the J-Dog and myself enjoy. It's good!

I'm also gonna sew a button on my shorts and sew my sandals back together. Cause they're falling apart.

Grunt Work

Well, I spent most of the day working on mixing one of Seanyboy's songs, and got to a point where I was relatively satisfied with it, only to come back a few hours later and be unsatisfied with it again. Frustrating.

My knee has been feeling slightly better today, but still pretty bad. And it's been f@#$ing cold in our apartment all day because people keep turning the heat all the way down. Which I would normally be fine with except that it's f@#$ing cold in our apartment. Last night Jeannie and I went to bed in stocking caps.

Back to work tomorrow. Kind of looking forward to it. I've got a lot I want to get done.

LOST tonight! Oh yes! I don't think it's going to be a great episode, though...

I'm Back, Dammit!

I just spent the last few minutes reading some of my blog posts from back in the day and thinking to myself, "Damn, Chief, I used to be a funny bastard," when I realized that for awhile now I've been acting and feeling like an old, whiney, grumpy turd with nothing to say. And GAWDDammit, I'm tired of it.

I will preface all of this by saying that I have been feeling like an old, whiney, grumpy turd because:
A) I was sick.
B) I hurt my knee at inventory the other night and I've been hobbling around in pain.
C) I didn't sleep well last night because I was worrying about everything I could possibly worry about that was work-related.

And I haven't been writing in the Blog. Nothing interesting, anyway. But I'm going to start again. I'm going to rededicate myself to the task of keeping a record of what it's like to wear these pants and chomp with these teeth.

SO:

Today I was off work and slept late because I didn't sleep well last night. I worked on some mixing this morning and did some cleaning and gave myself a haircut and hobbled around in pain. That's about it, really. The Jeanners came home from work and we made some dinner and now she's sitting by me on the couch waiting to use the computer.

We found out the other day that the Schluetermetz' are going to be moving to Oregon next year, which makes us sad/happy, and also that hey're expecting another bambino/bambina. Which makes us only happy. So life will be changing in the near future, and I usually like it when life changes.

I've been hamesick recently. Once it gets past the 3 month mark since we've been home, I start to feel it.

That's it for tonight. I'm gonna ice my knee. Tomorrow I'm off again, probably do some more mixing and chores.

Excused Absence, pt. II

Sick, sick, sick.

For the last few days, I've been sicker than I've been since I was a little kid.

Sucks.

Tonight we've got a damned inventory at work that I really shouldn't miss, so I'm going to go, though my wife tells me I shouldn't.

(sigh)

Excused Absence

What a wonderful visit we had with Sean and Nicole. They arrived in Baltimore last Thursday night, and then we got together on Friday morning, and Sean and Cole and I headed to Pete's Grille for some breakfast while Jeannie finished working her half day. Then in the afternoon we walked downtown for a tour of the harbor area. Dinner at Rocky Run and then sitting around shooting the bull. Saturday I went to work while Jeannie ran errands and Sean and Cole headed to Washington for a quick drive-through tour. Then Saturday night we went and got some takeout for dinner, then several rousing games of Catch Phrase over beers.

Sunday we cooked up some breakfast burritos and went down to Fell's Point and walked around to some shops, then had an impromptu lunch at the Sip n' Bite. A fun little place. Then Nicole headed off to the airport, and Sean and I got down to business and started recording. We recorded all day (or almost all day) on Monday and Tuesday, vocals and guitar during the day and then electric overdubs at night. Wednesday we finished up recording Sean's vocals and guitars and then we packed him off to the airport and off he went. It was good to see my old buddy and his great girl. They are truly people who are happy with the life they've built for themselves, and I think they deserve to be happy because they've made lots of good decisions to get where they are. Anyway, it was good to see them.

So, for the last few days at work I've been playing a little catch-up, and in my free time I've been attempting to mix some of the stuff we recorded. I think it's gonna take some time and trial-and-error and hard work, but I think that the songs should end up sounding good. I hope so. It was fun recording them.

Tonight Jeannie and I are cooking up some stir fry, although I must admit that I'm shirking my duties to write this damned blog. Here's a picture of Spiff while he's playing 'Just Your Touch' :

Another week...

Been working a bunch, and not doing much of anything else. Although Jeannie and I did straighten up the place last night in preparation for Sean and Cole's visit. They should be arriving in Baltimore late tonight, staying at a hotel for the night, and then we'll hook up tomorrow morning.

I've been wondering if the Schluetermetz' know where they're going to move to...

I've also been attempting to get back in the habit of going to the gym. I've been a few times this week and last week, which I think is a good start. I'll be taking a break while Sean is in town, but then hope to fire things up in full gear for the summer.

I think Sean and I are going to do a lot of our recording in the bathroom. This seems kinda strange to me but also seems like the right idea.

Hmmm. Not much else. Just a collection of random thoughts. I still owe Rich an e- mail, but I haven't had time to do any research yet. Soon, though. Maybe tonight. Off to work and the gym...

All Possibilities

We've been back in Baltimore for a few days after a good Ohio trip. For me, a very laid back, relaxing trip of eating a lot of turkey, mashers, and green bean casserole and getting a dangerous amount of painful, stinky gas. For the Jeanners, a more hectic, stressful trip of driving and flying and driving and being stressed. But all in all, a good trip.

Been working a lot to make up for the days that I was gone, and also to pre-make-up for the days that I'll be out when Sean is in town. Derrick (old boss) came in to work yesterday, and it was good to see him. He seems to be doing well, although he said he misses the Noble.

Getting all excited about Sean and Cole's visit, which will be in full effect in a week. We're going to be packing a lot into a few days, I'm afraid, but we should have a damn good time. Right now I'm trying to decide where we should go for dinner while they're here. I'm thinking we'll probably eat a few times at home, and go out a few times. Burgers in Towson? The ol' standby Rocky Run? Seafood? Chinese? Sushi? Vegetarian at One World? The possibilies abound. I think we'll definitely hit Pete's Grille for breakfast at least once, and have bacon and schmeggs at home, too.

Hmmm. That's it for now. Off to work this afternoon, taking care of laundry, recycling, and errands at the moment...

"Save Your Anger for People."

These are some pictures that I'm stealing off of the Schluetermetz' computer. Pictures back from when they visited a few weeks ago.


Cool kids at the art museum.


Henry and the Jeanners and I make some breakfast.


A beautiful and complicated panoramic shot taken by Brad in which everyone looks bad.


I show off my bald head while the Jeanners and I cook some bacon n' schmeggs.


Ah, memories. Today's been a lazy day. The Jeanners headed to the airport early this morning, and I stayed in bed pretty late. Then got up just to lay around. At around 4, however, the menfolk decided to do some bowling, courtesy of a Bellefountaine coupon book that enabled us to bowl for free! Sweet stuff, indeed. Tonight, a spades tournament is planned that is looking like it's going to be downright bloody. I think that friendships could get shattered as a result of this spades game.

Greetings from Asbury Park, OH. Actually it's Bellefountaine.

Well, well. We are here in Ohio for the Fake Thanksgiving festivities. We got in last night at around 3am, after a relatively uneventful drive. Only bad part: we forgot the lasagna that Jeannie made. Left it in the freezer. Oh well, looks like the J-Dog and I will be having lasagna for dinner next week.

I've finished an 8-day stretch at work (which was pleasantly boring) and am now looking ahead to 4 days off. It was nice, though, having Elizabeth back in town to shoot the shit with and help the days go by a little faster.

The Jeanners is heading to Booneville via St. Louis tomorrow, she'll be back on Sunday morning. I will miss my baby.

Well, I've got a day full of relaxation, conversation, digestion, and game-playing to look forward to.

Mr. Jerk

Last night I had a dream that the thief who's been stealing stuff at the B&N lately came into the department and wanted to order a CD. "Oh boy," my dreamself thought to my dreamself, "Now I'll find out what his name is when he places his order." Unfortunately, he outsmarted me and gave me the obviously fake name, 'Mr. Jerk.' So now this new guy has his official Name in My Head. He will forevermore be known as Mr. Jerk.

When did I start going to the bathroom like an old man? When I was little I was always a little surprised by (and wary of) older men who made noise while peeing at a urinal in a public restroom, i.e. farting, loud sighs, etc. I now find myself doing both with increasing regularity. It's an alarming trend that I'm going to have to keep an eye on...

Lately I have found myself missing Nature. I have started feeling officially Urban. Maybe it's because I've been in contact with Sean more, so I've been thinking about Alaska and how different it must be there, how much they're totally surrounded by nature. And throughout my life until the time I left Missouri, I always had at least semi-regular contact with good ol' Mother Nature. But it's been awhile since I've been somewhere away from everyone else.

This is also all tied in with the fact that I've been feeling less Midwestern, too, but at the moment I'm not really missing feeling Midwestern. I am missing nature, though. Perhaps going to Ohio for a few days will help. For a good portion of the drive we'll be surrounded by a lot of dirt. (I mean outside of the car and not inside). Perhaps during some downtime in Ohio I shall have to take a drive out to one of the numerous surrounding rural areas and commune with the dirt for awhile.

I worked a long day at work today and thus I am sleepy. Jeannie's making some sort of crazy shit for dinner so we'll see how that goes. I love my girlfriend (and not just because she cooks good dinners).

Preppin'

It's been almost a week again. What the hell.

I've been spending my free time this past week recording versions of Seanyboy's songs, getting acquainted with songs I'm not as familiar with and getting reacquainted with songs I haven't played in awhile. He and Nicole are coming down from Alaska for a visit at the end of the month, and he and I are going to work on a CD of his songs that he can sell at gigs (like when he opens up for Colin Hay in May...) I am very pumped about this vist for several reasons. I haven't getten to see Seanyboy nearly enough in the last few years, and I have only gotten to hang out with Nicole on a few occasions. I think this will be a fun visit of talking, hanging out, seeing Baltimore, maybe heading to DC, and recording some songs. And good songs, at that. It's nice to work on recordings and not worrying about writing the material as the songs are being recorded.

The Jeanners and I are also getting ready for our upcoming 'Fake Thanksgiving' trip to Ohio next weekend. We always look forward to seeing the cool kids. And, of course, a nice long drive. We haven't gotten to take a nice long drive in awhile, and we've got some good tunes to listen to (John Denver, anyone?), so it should be a good time.

Elizabeth is kicking it Baltimore-style in the Bahamas right now. And, for those of you not in the know, Baltimore-style means pasty-white and rude. Ha! Can't wait for your return, E-beth...

The Band

I continue to listen to The Band with ferocity. On a side note, "Listen to the Band" is probably my favorite Monkees song, and the only Monkees song I know that's sung by Mike Nesmith. I wonder if it's about listening to The Band? One day when I am a rap producer I will sample the horns from that song.

Today at work this guy that always steals stuff came in, and so I spent awhile following him and making sure he knows that I know that he steals stuff. You know, I don't mind if somebody wants to steal stuff, but it sure pisses me off when they come up and are all chatty and then they go steal stuff. Don't talk to me and then steal my f@#$'ing CD's.

Last night the Jeanners made a delicious meat-free lasagna, then we watched Donnie Darko (I was underwhelmed. I had heard good things but I don't think it delivered the goods), then my girlfriend had a craving for some sugar so we walked down to Rocky Run for cheesecake and a beer. It was a nice little date, although we smelled like smoke afterwards. I remember when that was a good thing.

Had a production meeting about the summer shows tonight after work. Enjoyable, well-run meeting. It looks like my workload will be exactly whatever I want it to be, which is nice. Nothing official, which is nice.

Tomorrow: the banking day that we were supposed to have last Friday but postponed due to talking things out.

Canadian coldfront moving in...

I have been listening to the song "Acadian Driftwood" by The Band in a near-manic fashion for the last week. It's a damn good song.

On Friday the J-Dog and I talked things out in a way that only true lovers do, then we made a big stir-fry and General Tso's tofu dinner. Yum! Then we walked until I had to go pee, so we went home and I pee'd. Then we went and bought beer.

Then today it was a boring work day. Same tomorrow, but maybe tomorrow night me and my ladyfriend will have some fun.

Back to Normal

Things are getting back to normal around here, at home and work.

We have been spending the last couple of days re-mouse-proofing our apartment, with mixed results. Although as of last night we haven't seen any mice or mice shit, so maybe they'll be gone again for awhile. There's so many damned gaps in this old house. Oh well.

I've been listening to bunches of Seanyboy's old songs, getting ready for his visit, trying to come up with ideas on what to do with each song. It's fun. And I'm reminded of how good a lot of his songs are. Hopefully we'll get a lot of good work done while he's here at the end of the month and still have time to see the sights and hang out with our ladyfriends.

Off work tomorrow. The Jeanners and I head to the bank to figure out some money shit and then we do laundry. Is there a better way to spend a day? Probably. But I'm looking forward to hanging with the J-dog.

Weekly Roundup

It has now been OVER one week since I posted. That hasn't happened in awhile...am I becoming less of an egomaniac? Don't bet on it...

Some quick sentences:

El Debarge is the person, Debarge is the group.

Last night I fell out of bed and stayed asleep (on the floor but with my foot caught in our jail-bar-esque footboard) for what Jeannie says was "10 minutes" while she asked me if I was ok. I was tired.

BJ is no longer in town. Both Jeannie and I expressed sorrow at his leaving. I will be honest, however, and say that I really enjoyed having nothing to do last night. But things are always much better with BJ around. Some expressions that have entered the lexicon during his visit: "_______________, you are so cute." , "Snapadoodle", "Mouse House." , "Suck Ma-duck," "Spuke (beef, chicken, or vegetable varieties)".

The last week or so has been a little too busy. Brad Maune visited (he's exactly the same as I remember him, in a good way), the show closed (after getting the worst review ever!), the Schluetermetz' visited (hot damn it's always good to see those folks, can't wait for fake Thanksgiving) and then, of course, work.

Been thinking a lot about Sean's songs and what to do with them when he comes in for his visit/recording session. Been having fun playing around a little bit with them.

Work tonight. More later.

Every Dharma is a Dream

So sayeth my new spiritual advisor, Pema Chodron. Jeannie had a book of hers laying around that BJ just read, and he was quoting a little bit from it, and it had some nice easy Buddhist stuff in there that I used to enjoy but haven't read much lately, so I decided to read it. Some of it's a bit too hippie-hippie woo-woo for me, but I think it will help me transition into the tea-drinkin', rice eatin', exercisin' phase that I need to go into during the next couple of months.

This week we look forward to the arrival of B. Maune, who will be visiting for a few days and who I have not seen since college, I believe. Should be fun. Then at the weeked our good friends the Schluetermetz' will be coming in for a quick trip to see the show. The Front Page is one of Schlueter's favorite shows, though she's never seen it staged, and it's pretty well known that I enjoy ruining things that Schlueter likes.

Work. What to say about work? It was good to work with Elizabeth today. I think one of the reasons that I have been hating work som much lately is that I've always been working by myself. And everybody in the department's been working by themself, so I'm guessing everybody's pretty sick of work right now. Hopefully it will get better soon...

That's it for now. Tasty dinner tonight of chicken and rice and vegetables.

The Good Life, pt. 2

Me and BJ and Pat. Good times.






p.s. that thing underneath my glasses is my goddamn face. Scary, ain't it?

The Good Life

I think that there is little in life that is better than bacon and eggs. I also think tea is good--whenever I drink tea I always feel more relaxed, more focused, more thoughtful than when I'm not drinking tea--but the reason that bacon and eggs is better than tea has to do with the act of preparation. Tea, you pretty much just put on the pot, turn on the fire, and walk away. But with bacon and eggs, you've got to tend them while they cook. And while you're tending them, your mind can drift and it gives you a chance to remember Sunday mornings, when dad always would cook breakfast--eggs and bacon or sometimes sausage, coffee, toast, juice. Always, for some reason, calling me in to butter the toast, as though people couldn't butter their own damn toast. I always hated buttering everyone's toast. And I remember weekends when Jeannie would come up to visit Kirksville, me living in Schmor's old house with its 'breakfast nook,' cooking up big breakfasts and singing songs and then going back to bed to lay around and fool around. And, of course, the Down Home Country Breakfasts that have occured throughout history, the first one I remember happening at the Schluetermetz' house back in Kirksville, Rich coming home early from his factory job and cooking while everyone was still asleep, being woken up by the song, "Down home country breakfast, fresh from the farm..." And then, bacon and eggs has the guilty-pleasure aspect of being probably really bad for you, which just makes everything seem better.

Anyway, sorry to be so nostalgic on a Saturday morning, but god I like bacon and eggs. How can a world that has bacon in it be a bad place?

Never think of others

This morning I thought about calling out sick to work, because I have a lot of sick time that I haven't used this year, and because I was scheduled as a mid-shift, so it would've been a good day to do it. But then I thought, "No, it's Elizabeth's first day back after her vacation, and she'd be sad if I called out," and I went in to work. Only to find that Elizabeth had called out sick.

This is, officially, the last time that I will ever attempt to do anything nice for someone other than myself. From here on out, I shall only look out for #1.


Last night Jeannie and I watched some MAD ABOUT YOU. Which is a show that I've found most other people on the planet dislike, but damn if me and the old lady don't love us some Paul and Jaime.

Snow Day!

Today, for no real good reason, the B&N is closed. Woo-Hoo! There's maybe 3 inches of snow on the ground, and a little ice, but the roads are not too bad. I know because I had to drive into work before I found out that work was closed. Still, though, SNOW DAY!

Fugg Yeah!

I wish my girlfriend didn't have to work so we could have a snow day together.

Last night Jeannie and BJ and Pat and I drove into Towson to have .5 priced burgers only to find that the Rec Room was in the process of closing due to bad weather. Bah! So we ended up having bad food-court food. But Jeannie and I went back to the eye-doctor place to pick up her contact lens and the guy working there was much nicer than the dickface of a doctor that works there during the day. So now I feel less hatred towards Pearle in general, and my hatred is directed specifically at the dickface of a man that calls himself an eye-doctor.

Last night, for the first time in awhile. we watched some Law and Order.

You Belong in a Zoo...

My beautiful sweet wife on her birthday.

Le Cake

Tonight BJ and Pat went to see a movie, and the Jeanners and I spent a quiet night at home making her birthday cake (from scratch!) and listening to tunes. We also made me some chicken salad for my lunches this week.

Many thanks to Korn, who has earned her spot in the blog by agreeing to switch shifts with me so I can have a celebratory birthday dinner with my ladyfriend.

Last night I had some sort of food poisoning, waking up in the middle of the night to explode from both ends. I place blame on either the strange dessert that I ate, or the 1/4 gallon of ice cream that I ate after the strange dessert, both shortly before bed. I think that sometimes my eating habits betray the fact that I will always be a 5-year-old at heart.

I've got a long day at work tomorrow. I got real tired this evening and ended up taking a brief, unexpected nap. Now I'm hoping I'll get tired again soon so I can get to bed at a reasonable hour. Mo' later...

24.5 hours

In a little over a day, my wife turns the big 3-0. Ha! She hates birthdays. Hopefully we'll celebrate right and have a good time. I have to try and fix some scheduling boo-boos I made at work so that we can have a birthday dinner.

Anyway, we've been doing the show the last couple of nights, and it's been going well, but, as the Beej and I discussed on the car ride home, there are some inherent flaws in the show that we just can't put our finger on. Maybe when Jeannie gets home tonight we'll get her input as to what works and what doesn't.

I went back to work today after my days of vacation, and I was absolutely dreading it, but it wasn't too bad. I worked with someone who shall remain nameless who I haven't worked with in a long time, and that was cool.

Anyway, that's about it. It's been a long day and I'm tired.

The Front Page

Well, the show opens in 2 days, and we're having a preview night tomorrow night. Will it be ready? That's the question on everyone's mind. We've been making large strides the past couple of nights, but there's still some distance to be covered. The set is looking decent, though, which is nice because I wasn't exactly sure how well the set would work. But it seems to be just fine. I had predicted earlier that I thought it might be the technical issues that would cause problems, but it seems that I was wrong. The tech seems to be running pretty well and actor problems are what are holding us back. Anyway, here's a sneak peek of what the show looks like:



I have been enjoying my days of vacation, working on the set, but I've always got the nagging feeling that when I go back to work, it's gonna really suck. But usually when I go back to work, it's never as bad as I worry that it's going to be.

Candidate #2

Ok, here's the second option. I call this one, "The Smug Bastard."

Drunk on Dick? Drunk on Dip.

I have taken a few vacation days in order to work on the set and so I'll be available for each night of rehearsal this week. It's pretty sweet. I had a lot of vacation that I needed to use up by the end of February, anyway.

Yesterday we had rehearsal and then went to Aimee's kick-ass Superbowl party. Everybody got drunk on dip. And it was a very gay day.

So last week BJ and I got headshots taken by photographer extraordinaire Teresa C. Apparently, CSC decided that folks needed new headshots so we don't all look like A-holes in the program. So they sprung for a photographer to come in and take headshots of people. Here's one that I'm considering using:



I'll post more over the next few days and then we can have an online voting session and the winning picture will be featured on the cover of my fanclub magazine!

Back that shit up.

I realized today that I totally forgot to write about our sleepover/fondue party last weekend. Well, here's how it went down:

Last Saturday night, Aimee came over for a sleepover, and she brought her new fondue pot (or as she called it, a 'fondue machine') and I went to the grocery store and bought some fruit and pretzels and shit, and the Beej and the J-dog and the A-train melted up some chocolate real good in the fondue machine, and then we dipped the fruit and shit into the melted chocolate and then we ate that junk up.

Then after we ate fondue, the Beej and the Jeanners looked on the internet and watched a video of a calcified fetus (!) being removed from a man's (!!) stomach. Aimee and I watched the Beej and the Jeanners watch the video. Their reactions were funny. I videotaped them watching it, and I thought about posting it on YouTube so I could link to it in this here blog, but I don't think I'm ready to get into all that yet. Anyway, I did take some photos for posterity:



The Jeanners slices fruit. BJ and Aimee prepare the melty chocolate. Yum!


The delicious fondue is consumed and enjoyed by all!


BJ and the Jeanners do google searches for things like "calcified fetus" and "the world's largest..."


Then, at the end of the night I took this picture out of our bedroom window because I liked the way the light looked coming out of our neighbors' window. The picture doesn't really do it justice, though.