today's one of those days where i'm pretty much completely clueless.
yet still managing to do a "good job."
not even trying to keep the desk clean today.
i'm listening to Bob Marley.

the squirrels aren't all that's in my head...bunnies are too.

sometimes people sneak into my blog and post things. sorry.

3 things that sound perfect right now:

1. very good vanilla ice cream with any of the following mixed into it:
reese's PB cups
oreos
heath bar
(extra bonus points if i can take a walk and not gain weight from this)

2. a cubs win (extra points if it's one i get to watch, which won't happen til at least this weekend, probably longer)

3. the new brian wilson live pet sounds album that comes out june 11.

tonight is a night of firsts.

i'm watching Mark Prior pitch for the Cubs. He pitched his first game and won this past wednesday, but this is the first i've gotten to watch him. from what i can tell, the kid's amazing.
(side rant: why the hell are at least half the Cubs game this year on the Fox Sports Chicago channel? a person has to get digital cable just to watch what used to be on national tv via the WGN cable channel...bastards.)

i'm also listening to the new Shots of Perspective material.
impressive, michial. i'm really proud of what you're doing.

so today is Memorial Day and i had it off of work. so i went to the chinese buffet.
i went knowing that there are other ones here i should visit; i've been to this one a time or two before and it's not as good as King's back in South Bend. i guess i just wasn't really in the mood to figure out where else to go. i almost went to a decent Indian buffet in the area but felt like having just a tad more variety.
anyway, it was interesting to go there because of the interesting mix of people. by and large i'm not a huge fan of people, but they're amusing to watch sometimes. the majority of those there were hispanic. this ranged from guys going for the THUG look to ladies who well, it was a hot day and we won't pass judgement but here's a tip: don't wear tight-fitting, lowcut (or highcut in other areas) clothes to a buffet unless you only plan on eating a little salad and maybe a nice vegetable dish....to large families on an outing. i love being around hispanic families, to be honest...they are so animated and loving. the other group that was largely represented there (besides the occasional businessman) were older, obviously retired folks. i'm not normally a buffet person--those of us who are fairly passionate tend to go full force in everything and at a buffet, that will leave you feeling bloated--but when i go, i'm amazed at how many senior citizens are always at the buffets. perhaps the variety is the drawing point, perhaps it's a sitdown meal where you aren't pressured to choose something within an allotted time...i'll be honest, that's why i like them. perhaps it's percieved value; it's not like they're going to eat more at a buffet than they would anywhere else, but the point is that the potential is there for much more food for a similar price, and that's not to be passed up. whatever it is, it's true that buffets always draw a good number from the over-60 crowd and i think that's great.

i need to take this trash out, it's poking over the brim a bit.

my current reading material is The Complete Works of Pseudo-Dionysius. He's an early church writer from Athens whose actual time of living and writing is somewhat debated; some place him as a contemporary (though somewhat younger) convert of Paul (the name is alluded to in Acts), others place him in the 5th or 6th century. Either way, he's an Athenian whose thought is heavily Pauline and Neo-Platonic at the same time. he wrote a good bit on "negative theology," which i'm not up for going into tonight. anyway, it's very interesting reading.

well, this writing was not only to update my blog, but to also warm me up for writing a press kit bio...which i should get to now.

so at my job here, i just had my 6 month review. it was um, glowing? apparently i'm one hell of a guy.
the kicker is i was told i'm a good listener. i've never thought that i am...hmm. |

i'm excited for jeff and walker to be visiting this weekend. i miss those guys immensely.

the last couple days when i've driven carole to work, i've listened to the new lauryn hill unplugged album. mind-blowing.

talked to carter on the phone last night for maybe an hour. it was great to talk to him...i miss him a ton, too. i'm finally really feeling good about the zine now, as well....

it's interesting how the smallest of things can make a significant difference.
at work my old mouse stopped working so i got another one. except this one doesn't have a wheel in the middle...my last one did and mine at home does. so i'm being driven nuts by my wheel-less mouse.

carole makes great pasta. and she figured out on the first try how to replicate zio's cheese garlic bread.

fuzzy. ugh.

one of our culture's lamest joke traditions is that of the "monday."

every monday morning, at every business in Western culture, co-workers greet each other, the first one saying something like "good morning" (or if you're me or ozzy osbourne, "g'murn"). the second person almost invariably is required by cultural law to make some sort of comment referring to how it's monday and therefore, everything sucks. "well, it's a monday." "ok for a monday." "f*** you, it's monday." and so on. if you're lucky, you'll run into someone overly religious who will say "it's monday, but God loves me!"...the f-bomb monday greeting is even more preferable than this.

that said, i try to ignore the general attitude toward monday and go into it with the attitude that hey, it's a new week, i just had a couple days off of work, and i should be able to handle life just a tiny bit better than the following 4 days. unfortunately, occasionally pop culture affects real life and monday morning becomes that kid who decides that hey, whether he's earned the reputation or not, he's got it and may as well live up to it.



Here's a bit of a journal of this monday morning, one of those to embrace me with the subtlety of Chris Farley in a little coat, with about the same result:


6:30am The alarm goes off. I realize that in life, there are battles, there are things that as much as they suck and hurt, as difficult as things are, you must "buckle down" as my dad would say and just do it. while contemplating this truth and letting this realization drive me to get out of bed, i somehow fall back asleep.

6:38-42am I manage to wake up again, realize i somehow feel worse, but manage to get my feet on the floor, grab some clothes, and wander to the shower.

7:06am I'm out of the shower and must now get ready while Carole showers and gets ready.

7:10-7:20am I can usually make it without coffee until i get to work, but today it's needed immediately. i start making coffee and peel open a banana that ends up taking me 20 minutes or more to eat.

7:38am After doing some actual work on the computer, I know that in order to wake up, i'll need some music. Unthoughtfully forgetting that Ryan is upstairs and trying to sleep (i think i forgot i heard him come in last night), i start playing some music. it's impossible for me to have it playing quietly and actually listen to it due to the big speakers, and Carole comes downstairs and reminds me of everything i just typed.

7:50 (or so) I ask Carole if she needs anything done for her for breakfast and she says "poptarts." what she actually says is "grab a pack of poptarts for me" but i hear "poptarts" and grab them, take them out of the package and put them into the toaster, which turns out to not be the best plan.

8:05-20am After several other gaffes i've mercifully forgotten by now, we're on the road. I'm actually doing fairly well with the freeway traffic, we're listening to The Cure, and i only used "adult language" once when the big truck cut me off.

8:25am Carole asks me what that smell is. While i'm thinking about it, i just miss the right place to drop her off and end up a bit farther away from the door than i should be. I realize the smell is pizza.

8:32 Driving to work now, having just finished a killer karoake rendition of "lovesong," I decide that The Cure is going to make me sleepy somehow if i play them any longer. I flip on the radio.

8:36 I pull onto the freeway, singing along with "You're So Vain."

8:38 I somehow decide that Alanis Morrisette's "Ironic" would be bad karma to listen to right now.

And so I finally made it to work, where everyone was really nice.

(editing note: this was during a week or two where i had to give carole a ride to her job after she got in her car incident. normally i work at 8am.)

so yeah, it's been a while. i say that every three times i update, seems like.

i was chrismated into the Orthodox Church and it was one of the most amazing nights of my life. i don't have the time to really recall it right now, but yeah, there's that update.

i think my favorite person on SNL is Tracy Morgan. he's hilarious. i like Tina Fey an awful lot but she's rarely on for more than weekend update so she doesn't count. jimmy fallon is great but he gets all the love.