Skinning Out Without Remorse Listening: All, all I want to do, you'd better listen from now on.
This weekend turned out to be peachy. Nothing bad happened per se. It was just a decent weekend.
Friday after work, I rushed home, changed and went to dragon boat.....
Okay, I just had a really long meeting and a ton of things to do. I have no time to post on the weekend right now. I should have plenty of time to post tomorrow. Grrr.... I have pics of the food I cooked. Hopefully they'll be up tomorrow. Time to fly.
It Is... Listening: Tomorrow we could drive around this town and let the cops chase us around...
HOT AS BALLS! That's right. I said it was hot as balls. The heat index is at ninety nine degrees. How did we go from under sixty degress to a heat index of NINETY NINE FRIKKIN DEGREES within the span of a week or a week and a half? It eludes the hell out of me. Maybe the gods are saying, "Hey, I was talking to god number five hundred and seventy two and he was telling me about this process called tempering which the humans do to their metals to make them stronger and stuff. Let's see if we can do it to the humans. This'll be a good laugh.... Let's do it to Boston, because they have all of those nerdy MIT students, stuck up Harvard students and loose BU students. That'll be GREAT!" Ha ha. Funny joke.... NOT!
Yesterday, after work, I went to Tweeter to buy myself a new discman. Yeah, I bought one. It cost me a pretty penny too. I even bought the extended warranty against my better judgement, because my last discman craped out just over a year after I bought it. My old discman had a better carrying case and was slimmer. *sigh* How I wish that they still had the one that I bought. I can only guess that the reason that they don't have it is because there was a design flaw with it and they took it off the market. But, alas, for the first day in months, I walked to work with tunes. It was glorious. I even like the new jog lever that it came with. At first, I looked at it and said to myself, "My old one is better, so I'll prolly just switch it out." But when I used the new one, I realized that the new one really was a whole lot better than the one I had on my old disc man. I don't know what to do with my old discman. It doesn't really work.... Maybe I should give it to Goodwill or something like that.
After making my purchase, I went home and crashed out for a while. The Violent One came over with some food that I said that I would store for Ye-ah and then she went to a discussion on Japanese Internment during World War II. I crashed out again. After the discussion was over, she called me up for dinner and I called Booch up. On my way out the door, I ran into my brother and his friend who decided to stay another night in Boston, so I invited them along. So, we all piled into The Violent One's car and headed off to Super 88. For the second time this week, I had Okdol Bibimbap. Mmmm... yummy rice goodness... gotta love the stone bowl. We also had bubble tea. I had lychee green tea with pearls. Bubble Tea Girl wasn't there. I was looking pretty good that night too. I had a nice tight t-shirt on showing off my reasonably okay body. ^_^ Hey, can you see how vain I am? Vanity... definitely one of my favorite sins. Haha.
After dinner I called it a night and cleaned a bit. For the first time in ages, I listened to music as I fell asleep too.
Work... Work was work. The more I think about it, the more I hate it. The more I hate it, the more I think about moving out west. OC Girl has been tempting me a lot. Yesterday, when I went to check the mail, I got two more packages from tourist bureaus in California. I really did get a good chuckle off of it though. Today, when I wrote her an e-mail about it, I couldn't help but smile and laugh. I acn't help but really wonder why she's so insistent that I move to California. It's weird. Maybe I read too much into things and it really is just a joke or something to keep my brain churning. I don't know. I'm just gonna keep riding things until it's time to leave the Corporation.
Tonight, I've got dragon boat practice in the ninety nine heat index and tehn I'm going to see Carl Cox at Avalon. I don't even know who's coming with me. I think Carpenter and Harley are coming. Boochie might come as might THE Hustler. It should be a good show. I hope my contact put me on the list and stuff. I haevn't heard from her in quite some time. She hasn't heard from me in quite some time either. She is wikkid pretty. I think she might be better looking than most girls that I look at. Yummy. Well, it's time for me to go. I wanna get home, maybe take a nap before practice. Gonna double up on the water today.
Another Late Night Listening: She lights her cigarettes between her toes and lets me hold her hand when it's cold outside when I need a ride. She even likes my band.
So, Blogger was messin' with my account yesterday, so I couldn't update. There's not much to say. I've been busy as hell at work. I've just been working myself to death. For a job that I absolutely hate, I do a lot of work for it. Yeah, that's right. I work hard for something I hate. You've got to wonder what I'd do for something that I love. Right now, my mouth tastes like mozzarella and pesto sandwich. You know, it's really great while you're eating it, but once you get beyond that, it's not so nice. The salt and vinegar chips aren't doing all that much for it either. Today's list of food consumed is as follows: One large iced coffee, One mozzarella and pesto sandwich from ABP, One bag of Lay's Salt and Vinegar Chips, and one bottle of Nantucket Nectars' Half & Half. I'm doing alright so far tonite. Maybe I'll make some pasta for dinner.
I'm not doing much tonite. Ye-ah is coming over to drop some stuff in my freezer so that he can defrost it while he's away. I have to clean the apartment. Other than that I have no clue. I don't really want to stay out all that late, because I have been getting up late for work. Three out of four days this week, I've woken up late. It hasn't been good. At least it's been sunny, so I could scooter to the T insead of walking. The scootering makes me much less late than I would have otherwise been. I didn't scooter into work today, though. I didn't feel like carrying it up to the office. I just wanted to walk.
I think I'm going to go to Tweeter to buy a new discman today. I've been walking to work lately with no music. It seems like my discman and my MD shit the bed at just about the same time. It as a few months ago, but with some of the trips that I'll be taking in the coming months, I think it's time to go and buy a new discman. This one had better not crap out on me though, or else I'll be pissed.
Anyways, I'm tired. I'm gonna surft the net for a few more minutes before I bust on outta here to sweat my ass off in this heat. I'm not complaining or anything. It is just hot as balls today. I beats the dickens out of being cold though. This, I tell you. Finally, it's summer.
Gettin' My Arse Whooped! Listening: Don't give up. You know it's true. You've got to do what you want to.
For the past couple of weeks, work has been kicking my ass and it's left me reeling. It's pretty damn frustrating. I woke up late today too. It's just been an all around bad scene here at work. I don't quite know what to do about it. It's four o'clock and I'm off the clock. I really do want to leave right now. I have to go to the Fleet Center to see if I can go and get some tickets to see the Dalai Lama speak at the Fleet Center in September. I'm trying to secure seats for myself, OC Girl, Ye-ah and The Violent One. I have my scooter with me. I'm not entirely sure how to scooter to the Fleet Center, but I'll figure it out. It's too nice to be stuck in the T.
Tonight I'm going to see Guster with Booch, THE Hustler and Carpenter. Should be interesting. I have to be honest, I don't know much of Guster's music. None of it has ever gotten stuck in my head, but I'm really going for the company anyways. After the concert, we'll get dinner. I should prolly go and get something to eat before then, because I'm frikkin' hungry as hell. I've been working all day long with no food in my belly. I've had some Girl Scout cookies, a ginger ale and a bag of potato chips (snack sized). What happened to the days when Junior and I used to take hour and a half long lunches to go get ramen on Newbury Street? What happened to that?
Anyways, I 'm gonna go now. I can't bear to stay here any longer. BLAH! I need a nap.
After Five Hours of Shopping, Four Hours Of Pre-Game Prep-Work, Four Hours Of Normal Prep-Work, An Hour Of Cooking, A Half Hour Of Plating And Two Hours Of Tasting, I Dub Myself Plastic Chef New American! Listening: Come away with me an I will write you a song.
So, here's how my weekend went down: Right after I finished blogging on Friday, I went downstairs to meet Ye-ah. He was getting in with me on the dinner, because he wasn't sure what to get Glare or Totoro for their birthdays and I knew I would be spending bank on the groceries to make the dinner, so we split the cost right down the middle. Actually I owe him about thirty more dollars, but that's all just the details. So, I meet up with Ye-ah at Downtown Crossing and we head down to Haymarket. I made a list of things that I needed for the dinner, but evidently, I didn't put it in Haymarket terms. This made me feel like I was being extremely unproductive and unprepared to go shopping. But we muddle through. We didn't even get close to everything that we needed. We managed to get blueberries, strawberries, potatoes, mangoes, scallions, nectarines, green peppers, tomatoes, a pineapple, some kiwi fruit and assorted other things that I can't quite remember. We were there for a couple of hours. From there, we kicked it back to my place.
On the train, Ye-ah had a rather large box of raspberries and blackberries on his lap. When we get to North Station, a girl getting off the train says to us, "Wow, those berries look great!" She then paused for a second in the train doorway. "Somebody's going to have a good breakfast tommo..." The doors had closed on her. When they opened back out, she fell out of the train onto the platform, popped back up and said, "I bet you've never seen that bofore, huh?" It was absolutely hilarious. Even funnier was that if she had taken a good look at some of the boxes of berries, she would have noticed that some of the boxes were moldy. That's right. Some of the berries were moldy. We paid a buck for like twelve boxes of raspberries and blackberries. When we got home, Ye-ah and I evaluated every box/berry. We neded up only keeping one pint of raspberries and like six pints of blackberries. The blackberries were definitively better.
After that, we waited around for The Violent One to finish with her nap and to come pick us up so that we could go to Bread And Circus for some of our other ingredients that we couldn't find at Haymarket and then to Shaw's for the random stuff that we didn't want to pay a crazy price for at Bread And Circus. Picked up pork chops, apple sauce and some salad stuff for dinner. By the time we got home, it was a quarter to eleven. We ate dinner at around eleven thirty. They left around half past midnight/a quarter to one. After I finished doing dishes, I started to get to work.
One o'clock, I started to work on my prep. I spent about an hour on making a mango salsa. At first, I was going to follow a recipe. I had about three recipes in front of me. A couple were simple, a couple were more complex. I made my own simple mango salsa. I peeled, pitted and diced two medium sized mangos, added a third of a medium sized red onion, one finely chopped green onion, five or six fresh basil leaves (I could have used cilantro if I thought that it didn't taste like arse), and the juice of one lime. One of the mangos was under-ripened, so it still had a sour taste to it. It just gave the salsa a different layer of taste. I don't like raw onion or green onion, but this slasa came out really well and really edible.
Next, I started on the sauce for dessert. I took the raspberries that I had left and about half of the black berries and put them into a bowl with some sugar. I then began to smash them up, really juicing the berries. Meanwhile, on the stove, I had a couple of glasses of red wine heating up. I reduced the wine by a third and then put the sugar and berries in and let it cook for an hour or so longer. It reduced down to a nice syrupy consistency. Once I reduced it down to my liking, I put it in a container to cool and I went to sleep at around three in the morning.
The next morning at about half past nine, The Violent One called to wake me up asking me what else I needed for her to pick up from the grocery store. The answer was whipped cream and angel food cake. At about eleven or so, she showed up at my house with some chili paste and I marinated the chicken. From there, we got our shit together and headed down to the cape. (I swear to god that I will post the recipes and pictures later, but I'm short on time and The Violent One needs to burn the pics onto a CD for me.).
We got down to the cape at around three o'clock and I immediately started making the gazpatcho. Oh, it was so good making the gazpatcho. The funny thing was that we forgot parsley. So we had to send The Violent One and Totoro out for parsley and charcoal. The funny thing was that it took them a few tries to get everything. Yup. First they returned without either of them and just picked up some random stuff. Then we sent them back out and we remembered that they didn't get the charcoal, so we had to call them while they were out to go get it. It was all in all pretty amusing.
The gazpatcho got finished early as did the marination of the red bliss potato slices in fresh dill and white truffle oil. The asparagus was cleaned and the chicken was marinated. We fired the grill up at about seven, and the first course was served at a quarter past eight. The full menu was as follows:
Appetizer: Gazpatcho garnished with a slice of cucumber sprinkled with fresh chopped parsley
Main Course: Grilled breast of chicken marinated in chili paste plum sauce, soy sauce, garlic and cooking sherry
Sides: Grilled sliced red bliss potatoes marinated in freshly chopped dill and white truffle oil
Grilled asparagus brushed with extra virgin olive oil
Dessert: Angel food cake served with seasonal fresh fruit (mango, asian pear, strawberries, blackberries, kiwi fruit, nectarine and blueberries) topped with whipped cream, a blackberry/raspberry wine sauce and a spig of fresh mint.
I wish that I could write more right now, but I can't. I have to get home to change before practice. I'm sure I'll talk more about this meal for the next week.
Branch May Give Me Wood, But She Can Be As Two-Dimensional As Paper, But The Chicks Would Get My Cock Listening: That's right, I said mattress dancing!
So, last night, I get home, and I'm tired as hell. I get in touch with Ye-ah to set up tonite. We're gonna go grocery shopping, first at Haymarket and then in a grocery store at a quarter past five today. Then, instead of going and getting food, I pass out on the couch for an hour. By that time, it's seven o'clock and the doors open at the Fleet Center at half past. So, I kick it to the T. On the way, I stop at Aram's to grab a slice. No dice. I'd have to wait five minutes. That's five minutes that I didn't have, so I continued to the T. I get to the Fleet Center at twenty past. There's a clash between the fans and the protesters. Freakin' idiots. It was dumb.
As I'm walking into the Fleet Center, I see that I really am the wrong demographic to be going to this concert. Okay, first, forget about the fact that I am Chinese-American. I was a single, male Chinese-American. I wasn't a teenage girl. I wasn't a middle aged woman. I wasn't with family. I wasn't with a significant other. It was just me. There were families to my left, gaggles of girls to my right. I felt like if I stayed any longer than the concert, I would have a period and would be on all of their cycles. Yeesh! Yah. So, when I sat down, there was this elderly woman there with some family, I think. She was rockin' out with a beer in hand. It was kind of amusing. After I sat down, two seats down there were these college aged looking girls with cowboy hats on. One had a leopard skin print and the other a zebra. They left one seat in between them and me. I was like, "Great! Now it'll look like maybe I bought the tickets for a girlfriend who dumped me!" But about three songs into Michelle Branch's set, they were shooed away by a group of thirty-something year old women who really had tickets to those seats. So it was painfully obvious that I was by myself at the concert.
Since I've been downgraded to MARS (Minor Acute Respiratory Syndrome), I still cough quite a bit, but I don't hack up mucus or anything like that anymore. I coughed throughout the show. By the end of the show, the elderly woman to my left was coughing too. I think I might have given her my SARS. Dammit. I didn't mean to. I just couldn't stop coughing. Blech! Anyways, here's the real review of the concert.
Michelle Branch: beautiful girl, good musician, good song writer, uncharismatic. She really didn't do it for me on stage. She didn't interact with the audience much. It was theater in the round, so she was always paying attention to one side of the crowd or the other. I was in the balcony right across from one of the corners of the stage. Musically, she executed all of her songs rather well. She sang them. She sang them in tune. There wasn't much improvisation or alteration of the original piece of music. She played all of her hits like "Everywhere," "Goodbye To You," "All You Wanted," "Game of Love," and "Are You Happy Now?" I just wished that she had done something with the songs. "Game Of Love" was done a little different than it is on the radio. It was all acoustic, you know, with bongos and stuff. But other than that, it was all pretty much straight off the radio, sung straight at the audience, sometimes turning to her band. She did a little bit of rocking out, but not a lot. This was her first concert opening for the Dixie Chicks, so I'm gonna guess that she's gonna get better as she's on the road longer and is more secure with the stage setup and the songlist. The girl's got a lot of potential, but she's not shakin' her money maker yet. I'm sure she'll get better with time. Madonna hand picked this girl to be on her Maverick record label (which she sold not long after). Girl's got talent. Now she just has to learn how to present it.
Okay, the Dixie Chicks are cool as hell. They played all but one song that I wanted to hear. They didn't play "I Can Love You Better". It was a bit of a disappointment. They opened with "Goodbye Earl", which was good, because it got that song out of the way. I've heard that song so many times that I'm glad that they didn't close with it. When they hit the stage with that song, it just blew the doors off of the arena. They played my favorite, "Cowboy Take Me Away", a little more than halfway through the set, and closed with "Wide Open Spaces." Their encore consisted of the songs "Top Of The World" and "Sin Wagon." They were all wearing relatively punky outfits. Both Natalie and Emily had their hair up in these strange ponytails that made their heads look really tall, kinda like coneheads. Martie looked normal though. She's my favorite anyways. Whenever Martie would play a fiddle solo, the whole crowd cheered. It was great. I really think that her fiddle parts add to their music. They were always running around the stage, each one of them playing to a different side of the crowd. Martie... Yummy.... Anyways.... They spent time talking to the crowd and about "the incident," as they call it. They didn't get overly political or anything. They just said that people shouldn't tell other people how to think. It was pretty chill. When I saw the band, I thought Lloyd Maines (Natalie's father) was the steel guitarist, but when they introduced the band it wasn't him. It was some other guy. I was gonna be psyched if it was Lloyed Maines. He's supposed to be one of the best steel guitarists in the world. All in all, I had a good time at the concert. I wouldn't say that it was the best concert that I've ever been to, but I would put it just outside of the top ten. It didn't get any points for being in an arena. I really do prefer smaller club concerts. I think seeing the Chicks up close in a small club would really be an experience. They're such dynamic individuals that I'm sure they would really draw a small crowd in and would own them.
I think that my top ten concerts would go as follows:
1. The Basement Jaxx - Avalon Ballroom '01 2. Dido - Avalon Ballroom '01 3. David Bowie - Area 2 Tour Tweeter Center '02 4. Barenaked Ladies - Govenment Center '99 5. Billy Joel & Elton John - Fleet Center '02 6. Tracy Chapman - Mixfest Suffolk Downs '00 7. Violent Femmes - Mandel Hall '95 8. Belly - Mandell Hall '95 9. Groove Armada w/ Weekend Players - Paradise Rock Club '03 10. Morcheeba - Avalon Ballroom '03
Some people are completely surprised when I say that I like the Dixie Chicks. There are a lot of very good reasons that I like the Dixie Chicks, other than the fact that they are three extremely talented, good looking chicks. A lot of people are turned off by country music. I'll admit that I don't particularly dig most country music. But, I do dig jazz and blues. Country music is a derivative of blues and jazz. That's where the minor keys came into play in country music. It came from the blues influence. I hear a lot of blues and jazz influence on the Dixie Chicks music. It has a lot to do with their instrumentation. That is another thing that I like about the Dixie Chicks. Their music uses a lot of instruments that I have an insane amount of respect for, namely, the steel guitar, the fiddle, the upright bass and the banjo. These are all underappreciated instruments. I love the sound of the steel guitar more than you can imagine. When played properly, it just sings. I like it more than I like the slide guitar. I played the fiddle and the bass. The fiddle, I didn't realize what kind of instrument it was until about five years after I stopped playing. It can work on so many other levels other than in an orchestra or in chamber music. It's more versatile than most people acknowledge. There's just something wonderful about the sound of an upright double bass. I love hearing a walking bass line. It's music to my ears. Finallu, the banjo. It takes balls to get up in front of a crowd that grew up north of the Mason-Dixon Line with a banjo. I have complete respect for Emily for doing that. She does it well too. She makes it work and she makes it accessable. Anyone with an open mind would probably like at least one or two of the Dixie Chicks songs. They rule!
Today, work sucked. There was no way around it. Two people were out. They made mistakes or had problems yesterday and didn't bother to fix them. I was running clean-up all day long. It sucked so bad. BAH!!!! At the end of the day, I had my music turned up hella loud.
One amusingly fun thing today was that there was some major discussion on a missed connection that I posted on Craig's List. I think Hardcore knows the girl I posted about. I hope he hooks a brotha up. Who knows what'll happen? Too bad it won't be happening this weekend. It's produce shopping now, cooking later on, cooking tomorrow and hangin' out on the Cape on Sunday. It should be a lot of fun. Well, I gotta go grab some cough drops before I go meet Ye-ah. I hope I have time. Laterz.
I'll Be Your Dixie Chicken If You'll Be My Tennesee Ham Listening: We listen to the radio to hear what’s cookin’, but the music ain’t got no soul.
So I told The Violent One that I would be home at around five yesterday evening. I didn't get home until about ten or a quarter past five. Blech! I swear I meant to get out of here on time, but again, my boss was talking to me. I like the dood and all, but sometimes he chooses inopportune times to speak with me. Then again, not everyone has good timing.
So, I get home, change, put together some records and jump into The Violent One's car and cruise out to Allston to pick up a gift for one of her friend's birthdays. From there, we stopped at Super 88 so that I could buy Boochie some pearls to make herself bubble tea at home along with some big straws and a can of Jasmine tea. We also stopped in the food court for some bubble tea made by professionals. Is there such a thing as a bubble tea professional? Anyways....
After we got our bubble tea (with an extra Thai iced tea for Booch), we cruised over to Booch's place for dinner. I was elated that I had a green straw. I know. It sounds weird, but green is my favorite color. I was just in this completely weird mood. Goofy as hell. Anyways, we got to Booch's place around seven or so and chilled for a bit chawing on rosemary roasted walnuts. It was tres good. Booch roasted up some chicken and some potatos and some asparagus. Did I ever happen to mention how much I love asparagus? Yeah. We chatted, ate and listened to Badly Drawn Boy playing from the speakers attached to Booch's computer.
At around nine or so, Special K picked me up and we cruised over to his place so that he could show me his new mixer. It was a Numark mixer. At first I was skeptical. Numark mixers have been nothing than glorified volume controls in a plastic box. I've never had respect for Numark mixers. I'm strictly a Vestax and a Rane man. Occasionally, I'll dig a Pioneer, but I have no love for Gemini and Numark. This mixer that Special K was beta testing kicked mad amounts of arse. It had an effects panel with five effects: CopyX2, Tape Echo, Echo, Flanger, Phaser and Filter. Awww... it was so sweet. If used correctly, it can make a house track sound like a techno track or a drum & bass track. The ability to mix records that were otherwise less mixable is easier to master. You just fudge the track with a properly used effect and you're there. Cuts can happen very easily and with very little indication that you just had no clue what you were doing. I'm not saying that it's an idiot box, but it A) makes mixing a bit easier (not that it should) and B) allows you to add more interesting stuff into your mix without needing to spend another four hundred dollars on an effects box. It was sweet. I almost spooged all over the decks. The kill switches really killed the ranges. If you clicked the kills for all three, bass, mid and treble, there was no sound coming out of the mixer. Very nice.
After a few beers and an hour or so mixing (I didn't bring many records, because I wasn't sure how long we'd be spinning), we headed off to The Phoenix Landing for another beer and listened to a god-awful DJ. This guy was horrible. All of his mixes were obvious and were transparent as hell. There was no excitement to him. His set didn't go anywhere. He was trying to be a rockstar. You know, you can't try to be a rockstar and actually be a rockstar. If you try to be a rockstar, the best thing you could be is a starfucker. No one likes a starfucker. The sad thing is that when he would mix between records, the crowd would cheer. I was like, "You have to be fuckin' kidding me! That mix sucked. His mixes were about fifteen seconds long and you could tell that he was mixing. Fifteen seconds. It's like the dood didn't know how to hold his load. It was unbelieveable. The only thing that made it worse was the fact that the crowd thought it was the shit. Poor lost sheep. That's what it was. It was just a bunch of sheep being fucked by a starfucker. It was so unfortunate. We only stayed until half past midnight because it sucked so bad. That, and I was tired as hell.
This morning, I woke up at a quarter to six, took a piss, and went back to sleep. I was then woken up every ten minutes until ten past seven. Yeah, I got up late this morning. I've been tired all day long. I had breakfast, but no lunch. Actually, for lunch, I had a small bag of Chex Mix and a Pepsi. Healthy, no?
Tonite should be fun. I'm going to the Fleet Center to see The Dixie Chicks. Michelle Branch is opening up for them. I am going by myself, because I couldn't get a second ticket through Ticketmaster. I hate Ticketmaster. It pushes up the price of the concert tickets and is a real pain in the but as far as customer service goes. But I'm really looking forward to this concert. It's only my second concert at the Fleet Center. The other concert I saw at the Fleet Center was Billy Joel and Elton John. That was a damn fine concert. Billy Joel forgot the words to "Piano Man" and Elton John pointed it out. It was really great. I was in the nosebleed seats, but I didn't mind so much. I could see just fine. I bought a long sleeved tee at that show. I have a feeling that I won't be buying anything tonite. I don't know if I can respect myself if I'm wearing a Dixie Chicks tee. Maybe if they were naked on the front of the shirt, I could respect myself, or at least laugh at myself. Should be a good time.
I have to call Ye-ah sometime tonite to see if he wants to come produce shopping with me tomorrow. I hope I can find all that I'm looking for. Time to fly. I gots to go home and eat a respectable dinner so I don't pass out at the concert.
A Rather Nice Evening Listening: You wave your hand and they scatter like crows. They have nothing that can capture your heart. They're just thorns without a rose.
Last night was awesome. After work, I scootered through the Boston Common picking up speed down the hill by the Frog Pond and through the Public Garden. Oh, it was a glorious day. The sun was warm. There was a cool breeze. I was speeding around on my scooter whizzing past suits and students. It was fantastic. The wind felt nice on my face. I scootered all of the way to Copley Square and the music began just as I pulled up. There were so many people there. I knew one guy there, but he was a ways away and I didn't feel like going over and bothering him. Besides he was with a girl that I didn't know so I figured, whatever. I sat there for a good hour and a half listening to the jazz band. They played a Strayhorn tune that I really dug. I actually didn't sit. I stood there with my scooter. Periodically, I would look around at the crowd to see if there was anyone else there that I knew, but there were just so many people there. There were a couple of attractive ladies there, but I really didn't feel like talking to anyone so I kept to myself. You know, I don't know if we Asians like jazz or if we just like free events, but there were a hell of a lot of Asians at this little concert. Most of which, I believe, were Japanese. I found that fact rather amusing.
After the concert, I scootered over to Ozone, almost running over several college coeds, an elderly man, and a rat-dog. I don't know if it was a dog the size of a rat or a rat the size of a dog. But anywas, I went over to Ozone to check out what was on sale. There's still nothing I want to pay the money for. Plus I have enough clothing. I can't justify spending fifty dollars on a pair of shorts at the moment. Maybe when it gets really hot.
From there, I began walking back up Newbury Street when something made me say to myself, "Hey... Why not just poke your head into Newbury Comics." So, I did. It turned out that Newbury Comics was having a sale and all used CDs were thirty percent off. I was psyched. I came out of the store with two new acquisitions. I bought Cowboy Junkies' Studio and a Japanese import of Everything But The Girl called Everything But The Girl 82-92 Essence and Rare. I've been looking at that Everything But The Girl CD for a long time now and even used it was priced at twenty two dollars. I'm not paying twenty two dollars for a freakin' one CD import. But I would pay fifteen. Actually I had three other CDs in my hand before I decided that I should only buy two CDs. I had Mazzy Star's Tonight So That I Might See, Everything But The Girl's Walking Wounded, and a Hed Kandi two CD mix set called Winter's Chill. Sometimes I think I should have bought them all, but I decided that there will be other times. The two CDs that I did buy are awesome. The Cowboy Junkies CD has a lot of great tracks on it. I now, finally, have "Sweet Jane" on CD. This version was recorded with only one mic in the Trinity Church in Toronto. It's very raw and very touching. They also do a song called "Blue Moon Revisited (A Song for Elvis)" which really kicks ass. It's so slow and mellow and has a very "I want to slow dance with someone to this" kind of quality to it. The Everything But The Girl CD kicks ass too. On that CD, they have a cover of Tom Waits' song "Downtown Train". So originally it was done by Tom Waits, and then it was made crazy popular by Rod Stewart in the early nineties. Tracey Thorn gives such an emotional performance when she and Ben Watts sing that together. *sigh* It's so dreamy. There are a couple of acoustic mixes of some of their songs which are equally as heart-felt. "Driving" is quickly becoming one of my favorites.
After going CD shopping, I restrained myself from going down into CD Spins and spending more money. Instead, I headed for Men-Tei for some ramen and a beef bowl. They have this great combo deal where you can get a bowl of ramen and a mini-sized rice dish for ten dollars. It was well worth it. I hadn't eaten all day, so I gorged myself on tasty Japanese food. There were two girls sitting at the table next to mine. They spoke Mandarin. I know Mandarin when I hear it. I just can't speak or understand it any more. One of the girls was incredibly cute. She was tall and skinny. She wore big baggy pants and a tight top. She had a pink Adidas visor on. I think the only thing that I didn't like about her visually was the fact that she had a cross on. Yeah, that's right. A cross. I guess that kind of stuff bothers me because when someone wears a cross, they're saying that they believe in a religion that tends not to be accepting of other religions. Also, many of the people that I know who wear crosses don't exactly lead Christian lifestyles. But then again, I guess that's what confession is for, no? Anyways, in between bites of ramen and rice, I stole glances at her. She was only speaking Mandarin to her friends. Who am I kidding? I'm sure I would have never gone over there to chat her up. I didn't. It's just the way things are.
Surprisingly, when I scooted home after my meal, I amde if from Newbury Street back to my apartment in about fifteen minutes. It was crazy. I thought that the ramen would hold me down or make me feel iffy as I was kicking the scooter, but no. I felt fine. I kicked when I needed to kick and I cruised when I needed to cruise. Dang. Usually it takes me a half hour or so to walk it, but just over fifteen minutes. Dang. I was psyched.
I chilled out for the rest of the night. I listened to my new CDs and watched a little MTV Real World: Paris. It was just a chill night. I was psyched. Tonite is dinner with The Violent One and Booch. Then I'm going to Special K's to check out the new mixer and then we're kickin' it to the Phoenix Landing for a few beers. Should be a good night. I'm blowing off Dragon Boat for the week. This week, it can bite me.
What? Nothing Going On? Listening: She lies and says she's in love with him. Can't find a better man. She dreams in color. She dreams in red. Can't find a better man.
So, last night, since practice was cancelled, not that I really wanted to go or anything like that, I did laundry last night. Yeah, what a novel use of time. Everyone needs clean drawls. If ya ain't got clean drawls, well then, A)there's something wrong with you, B) you're just free-ballin' or C) there's something wrong with you. Are your drawls clean? Take a look. Evaluate. More or less clean. More or less holey. Proper drawls are important. Only lucky drawls are allowed to have holes in them. Even then... If you look and there's only a number of frayed rags hanging from your waistband, it's time to get a new pair of lucky drawls, because I'm gonna guess that you're not gonna get lucky in them.
Anyways, I decided to do laundry, because then I would have the entirety of this afternoon free. Yup. The mission was successful. I did all of my laundry and I didn't even have to wait for a machine or a dryer. I love that. The laundrymat was completely deserted when I got there other than these rather unattractive women who talked rather loudly. The time that my clothes were in the machines really flew by. I didn't even open my book to read. I just sorta chilled out and sat on my lazy as I watched the clothes tumble. You know, there used to be this thing where, like the produce aisle, the laundrymant used to be a hot pickup spot in pop-culture. I look around at the average woman going to my laundrymat and I thing to myself, "Nu-uh." I think the average age of women going to my laundrymat is probably about forty five years old. There's this one woman who goes to my laundrymat who I swear was around at the time of the Roman Empire. I think the youngest actual customer of the laundrymat (meaning not the children of people going to the laundrymat) that I have actually seen has probably been around twenty seven or twenty eight years old. Not gonna date anyone from the laundrymat.
After doing laundry, I went home and tried to stuff as much of it as I could into my new/old dresser. God damn do I have a lot of clothes. I think I have more than the average mall rat and gay man put together. The sad thing about it is that very little of it is actually flashy or "cool." Most of it is pretty practical or are comfort clothing like raver gear. I think I need another dresser. I stashed away a bunch of my stuff from the winter in my hard suitcase, but I'm gonna probably need to unpack it all for Amsterdam.
Speaking of Amsterdam, the plans keep getting more and more firm. Yesterday, after talking to SCUBA, I set my airplane ticket so that I leave Boston on the twenty nineth of July and return on the sixth of August. I'm pushing for the seventh though. I would, ideally, like to stay through the tenth, but SCUBA isn't really budging on the eighth. How I wish that he would budge on the eighth. That way I would arrive in Amsterdam on the thritieth and I would stay for eleven days. I would probably have enough time to go and take the train to Berlin or Zurich. The funny thing is that Blondie is going back to Berlin on the twelfth for his sister's wedding, so we'll be missing each other. He said that he was considering going to Amsterdam while he was in Europe. I'd be interested to see Blondie in his home court. See how he operates.
Anyways, if I'm leaving Boston on the twenty nineth, arriving in Amsterdam on the thirtieth, and then leaving Amsterdam on the sixth, being back at work on the seventh, I'll be in Amsterdam a day before everyone else and I'll be leaving a day or two after everyone else. That's kinda what I'm looking for. When I went to Japan, I really wanted a day to myself so that I could explore cities on my own and so I could sit and write at a coffee house (or tea house in the case of Japan). When I was in Japan, it was perpetual motion. Point A to Point B. No stopping. No "me-time." I think I'll get it when I go to Amsterdam. I'm hoping that if I have a day on each end at least, I'll have a perspective after the first night there and then a contrasting perspective on the night that I leave. I'm sure it would make a really fantastic set of journal entries.
I also think that the extra time would give me a chance to check out places that I would have missed with the other people that I'm going with. Like, say, I'm hanging out with them and we miss the Van Gogh Museum. I can just check it out on teh day that they're all gone! It works out perfectly. There's so much to see in Amsterdam. The torture museum, the Heineken Brewery.... So much stuff. I can't wait. that's my vacation for the year. I think I've decided that I'm going to try to go somewhere new every year. Maybe I'll go somewhere tropical next year. Perhaps a Pacific Island. Who knows?
Anyways, I spent a good chunk of time talking to my mother on the phone about all of these arrangements. She's a worry wart. She's trying to hook me up with all sorts of stuff while I'm there by myself. "Safer hotels," "better locations," "better prices...." It's kinda nice, but I don't need her to be doing it. I'm perfectly happy paying for all of this stuff myself without having to piggyback on the frequent flyer miles or the Marriott points that my father earns through working. I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm grateful. It's just not something I need. It's a perk. I like working for what I get. Call it my "work ethic." Call it my "idiocy." Call it what you want. I could take or leave their help. If they're pushing it on me and it's no skin off my nose, well then, I guess I should just take it, huh?
Today, I discovered another thing that piques my interest as a toy to potentially have. Low rider bikes are so frikkin cool. I can totally see myself cruising around Boston on one of these. One is only a hundred and seventy dollars (though I would want to pimp mine out with grips and stuff). That's less than my kick ass scooter cost me. Holy shit! I just think this stuff is so cool. I would totally ride something like that to work. I'd park it in the cube next to mine and I'd spend my lunch hour waxing the chrome so that I had the complete "bling-bling" effect going on. I'd ride it around and as I passed people walking on the street, I turn to them and I'd say, "Yeah... I work for an investment bank, bitch!" It'd be the fuckin' shit. I'm trying not to think about these bikes too much, because I think that if I think about it too much, I'd buy one. The only problem with it is that I could never lock it up and leave it outside anywhere. I don't care what kind of lock or how many locks you have, it will get stolen. Everyone wants a ride with that kind of shine to it. That's the big drawback.
I brought my scooter to work today. Since I have the rest of the evening free, I can just tool around as much as I want. There's a free jazz concert in Copley Square at five thirty. I'm gonna go scoot my ass over there to check it out. If it sucks, I'll just cruise over to Newbury Street and I'll check out Ozone to see if they have anything cool for sale. I'm a bit lacking in the summer shorts department of my wardrobe (though my wardrobe won't be contained by a dresser). Only if the prices are right. Only....
Anyways, it's a quarter to five. I figure that I'll take my time scooting through the Boston Common and the Public Garden. Maybe there'll be a cool opener or something. Toni Lynn Washington played Copley Square a few years ago for the Jazz Fest. I took a long lunch to go and see her and to dance a bit. That was way back when I was temping for Harvard Medical School. Long ass time ago. That was back then the economy was okay, before there were terrorists in the United States and before Air Marshalls were on every flight. That was back when I didn't enjoy sushi as much as I do now. What to do for dinner... What to do.... I'm sure some options will present themselves.
Dragon Boat Is Getting Painful Listening: (Imagine The Cranberries' "Dreams" sung in Mandarin)
This weekend was pretty interesting. It started off on Friday the thirteenth. After work, I was trying to figure out what was going on. Originally, Boochie and I were going to hit up Swing City (I mean it was Friday the thirteenth and all), because one of our friends from Connect-the-dots (CT) was going to be in town dancing. He just graduated from Princeton and well, I haven't seen him for a few minutes. But, when I called Booch on Friday, she didn't seem up to it, so I went for my backup plan. I called Special K to see if he wanted to show me the new mixer that he was beta testing. He had plans. So, I went home and called Booch up again to see if she would be up for anything at all. We decided on watching a DVD, but that wasn't until later in the night. Until nine o'clock, I reheated leftovers, made up most of my grocery list for Glare and Totoro's birthday dinner, and watched The Boiler Room on USA. At nine, Booch came and picked me up after a night of researching. I had two DVDs in hand, Better Living Through Circuitry and Scratch. So, we ended up watching Scratch. Booch knows virtually nothing about hip hop culture, the DJ, the MC, the breakers and the graffiti writers. Whereas I completely nerd out when it comes to the art of the DJ and where he came from and all things having to do with turntables. I get off on seeing DJs vibrate their hands on a crossfaders or cue in a record. GOD DAMN do I wish I was still a part of the DJ culture. Now I'm more fo a historian than I am a practitioner. I miss it a lot. I miss being top dog on Colby's DJ scene. I miss people thinking I not only had the personal but the technical side of DJing down.
Saturday morning, I woke up pretty early. Well, it was ten thirty. It's early for me. I threw on a CD and hit the showers. I had no clue how hot it was going to be, so I put on a pair of jeans and a long sleeved black hoody-shirt. I waited until one thirty for The Violent One to come and pick me up to go get my new dresser. When she finally came, We sped off to the Longwood area to grab it and a mirror for her. Later on I'll be getting some knives. Then we sped back to my place, dropped off the dresser, and headed over to Chinatown so that The Violent One could go get Totoro a birthday gift. From there, we went to get a few bottles of wine for Totoro's birthday dinner and then out to Cambridge to pick up a wardrobe for The Violent One's new apartment. As you can see, Saturday was kind of a "go go go" day. Then we went to the grocery store to buy cheese and bread for the dinner, dropped off the mirror and wardrobe at The Violent One's new place and went to pick Ye-ah up at his house before heading down to Glare and Totoro's place.
Totoro's birthday dinner was nice. My palz and I from college don't get together in one place all that often. It's usually for a birthday or something, in which this was the case. We sat around, ate homemade pizza, five different types of cheese and bread, baked ziti and cake. We heckled The Karate Kid and talked about Trading Spaces. It was just a good ol' time. I ended up leaving the shindig with a HUGE platter full of breakfast pastries that OMG brought from her grad school's open house. I can't wait to give Glare and Totoro their birthday dinner (as a gift) on Saturday. I'm a bit nervous, but I think I'll be able to pull it off. I'll post the menu and the recipes next Monday (provided I'm not dead).
Sunday, I woke up early and went to practice with a platter full of pastries. A few people said, "thanks" but not a lot. I appreciate the ones that did say it though. I'm not so sure on the other ones. Man, what has happened to manners as of late. I know I can be rude and crude, but seriously, didn't anyone's mamas teach them better?
I'm seriously doubting the general intelligence of ninety percent of the people on Dragon Boat (mostly its leadership though). Now here's my evidence: Hulk has been talking about what kind of team that we're going to be taking up to Montreal. He wants to take a competitive advanced team. He realizes that he has to make some of the practices manditory. He decides to make Friday and Sunday manditory. That's cool, but twice a week? Is that really enough? I think it's bullshit and if you want to have a competitive team, you're gonna have to do a helluva lot more than twice a week. But then again, I'm not going to put more work than anyone else. I've made that clear. I'm gonna take cues off the rest of the boat. Second, Hulk asked me if it was cool for me to run the Monday and Wednesday practices for a while and then as we get closer to the race, I'll run all of the practices. I laughed in his face. If you can't see why that's absurd then, well, here, let me spell it out for you. Manditory practices are to be on Friday and Sunday. Other advanced team practices are to be on Monday and Wednesday. Hulk wants me to be the drummer for the advanced team going to Montreal. If you notice, I'm not running any of the advanced team manditory practices, meaning that I will be coaching the practices with less attendance. Does this seem right to you? Hmmm... Doesn't seem to make any sense to me. I wish people would just stop and think about how to run a team, how to bring our performance up a level. I'm tired of giving people the answers (not that I have all of them, just more than it seems like anyone else has) only to have no one listen to them. This is why I've stopped offering them. If people want them, then they'll have to ask for them and will have to take it all into account and not blow me off.
The second bout of idiocy for this weekend was when Mr. EBay thought it would be a good idea to push me off the dragon boat from the drummer's seat while I had my feet hooked around it. It was so fuct. I ran intermediate practice. I was unloading everyone and when the boat was finished unloading, I was just sitting on the seat talking to someone. Mr. EBay comes over, makes some sort of remark to me about practice and then violently pushes me off of the seat into the Charles River. First of all, I was sick. I've been sick, but have been getting better for the past few days. I've been coughing and hacking a lot more today since being pushed into the river. Second, I had my very expensive ($350) prescription sunglasses on, which do not fit the tightest in the world. Luckily, I didn't lose them. Third, I was kind of holding onto the seat with my feet. This violent pushing motion by Mr. EBay caused my heel to hit the seat really hard as I was falling over. I've been walking rather tenderly on my right heel since the event. You know, I horse around a lot, I joke around a lot, but I never do anything to put anyone in a position where they might be physically injured. Never. It was a stupid thing for him to do and he just doesn't think about what he does. He sent me an e-mail apology and I now have the choice to accept it or not. I haven't decided yet. I am very good at keeping a grudge and very good at making people feel guilty about what they have done. I have to figure out how to exercise my power. I'll think about it for a week or so.
After practice, I went with Shutterbug for lunch/dinner at the Otherside Cosmic Cafe. Damn, I love that place. Shutterbug and I don't get much of a chance to hang out. We've both got very different schedules, so it's hard to connect. I had gazpatcho, of course, a buffalo tom sandwich and a raspberry lime rickey. Mmmm... It don't get much better than that. We did a lot of talking about trying to figure out what you want in life and why life doesn't work like you want it to. She spent a month or two in Vietnam this past winter. Sometimes I wish that I could just get away for a period of time. It just never seems financially feasible. I'm always afraid of not having the money or I'm afraid of what might happen when I come back. I just need to find some balance. I need to find something.
After lunch/dinner, I walked back home in the warm sunshine over the Mass Ave. bridge. I showered, and passed out. Yeah, I passed out. Eventually, I had some chips and salsa for dinner, but that's about it. I was exhausted from the weekend and needed to pass out. Anger is very tiring, but I can't help but be angry about certain things.... Like being pushed off the dragon boat into the nasty Charles River while sick and injuring me further. Grrr....
Anyways, there is no practice today. I'm thinking about taking the week off anyways. I'll try to do laundry tonite and then I'll have tomorrow night completely free. Wednesday, if I opt out of dragon boat, I'll try to get my hair cut and colored. Thursday, I'm going to see the Dixie Chicks. Friday is grocery shopping and some preparation for Saturday. It's gonna be a full week. *sigh* I think I'm gonna need a vacation from this week. Speaking of vacation, I'm still working on my Amsterdam logistics. It's all so twisted. Yeesh! Hopefully by this time next week, I'll have it all set.... ish.
I Am Mean. Well, At Least, That's What My Friends Say. Listening: Hold me tight. Don't ever let me go. Up all night, I'd die for you.
Last night, after work, I went to Chinatown to buy myself another pair of five dollar China flats (kung fu shoes), which I wear around the house. The ones I have right now are starting to turn to rags. Back in the day, I used to buy the China flats with the plastic sole, but about three years ago, I switched to the cloth soled ones, because they were more comfortable, the absorbed shock better, looked nicer and were only fifty cents more expensive. It was really a no-brainer when I switched. I love my China flats. I used to wear them around the dorms in college all of the time. They were my thing. This last pair lasted me about two years.
So, I told you that story so I could tell you this story.... Since I was in Chinatown, I decided I would go into the cute little store a few doors down that has a lot of Sanrio stuff and Chinese CDs. I was going to look for cheap Faye Wong CDs or maybe something from A-Mei. I didn't find any Faye Wong that I wanted and I'm not really familiar enough with the A-Mei stuff to really know what I was buying, so I let it all slide. I looked at some Badtz Maru stuff and scoped out some of the Hong Kong Cinema. Low and behold, just three steps from the Hello Kitty stuffies, I was shocked to see.... Porn. What? Amongst the cutsey little things and the Chinese pop music? Yup. Porn. Weird... I didn't really stop to look at it, but I did see titles like Japanese Sexplosion Vol. X or something to that effect. Porn. Sanrio. Chinese pop. You know, Maybe I'm just out of my gourd, but one of these things doesn't look like it belongs in the store. It's not the Sanrio and it's not the Chinese pop. You take a gander. *sigh* I've been in that store a million times and I never saw porn and now there's porn. Maybe because of SARS some of the shops had to diviersify so that they could attract more business, more of a clientele. Porn and Sanrio in the same store. Next thing you know they'll have Sanrio Porn with Chinese pop music playing in the background. "Oh, yes, do it to me Pochacco!" "Hello, Kitty..."
Following my scarring run in with porn just seconds after I smiled at a Sanrio character, I went to get bubble tea. Mmmm... Bubble tea.
I got home at about a quarter to six and then left at six thirty to have dinner at Booch's new apartment. Always good discussions with her. Ye-ah and The Violent One came over. We had a mildly metaphysical conversation, drank more bubble tea and some other good stuff. Somewhere in the night, it was determined that I was mean. I am mean. Not all of the time, but I can be really mean. The thing is that I don't know if Booch has really seen mean and nasty before. The Violent One has. I don't know if Ye-ah has. I can get downright sinister. Evil. From the depths of hell nasty. I haven't been "from the depths of hell" nasty in quite a while. It was a relaxed evening though.
Today, work was just go go go go go go go. Check this out. Work on this problem. Prepare for this. Send out e-mails about that. Yeesh. It was a bit high pressure today. Freakin' A. I so didn't want to be here today. I got twenty minutes left. The I can get the hell outta here and then either I can chill at home or I can go to practice which may or may not be happening. Later on tonite, I'm prolly going to get some beers with Booch and then over to Swing City. It is Friday the thirteenth. I guess I should do something a little freaky. Yeah, baby, yeah! I haven't been out dancing in a long while. I know for a fact Carpenter won't be there. I think he's down in Atlanta or something. Anyways, I'm gonna go screw around on the internet for a bit before I go home. *yawn* Sleepy.
By Saying 'I've Got Shit To Do,' What I Really Mean Is, 'I Don't Want To Hang Out With You.' Listening: Lately I've been standing in the mirror very slowly picking me apart...
Last night.... Hah... So practice was cancelled and there was supposed to be a meeting for people to talk about sending an advanced team to the Montreal race. Yeah. It was myself, Hulk and Harley there. Hmmm... Does this sound familiar or what? So we chatted for a bit and then they went out for dinner. Yeah, I opted out. I said, "I have shit to do around the house." See, I really didn't have that much shit to do around the house. I had to take out the trash and wash a couple of dishes. I had to finish the grapefruit juice and eat a popsicle. I had to watch The World Poker Tour on the Travel Channel. All of these things that I had to do. Hah. Yeah. I didn't really have to do any of it. I just felt like the three of us are thrown together too much and I'm done with it. "And you've washed your hands clean of this..."
So that's what I did last night. I made myself some pasta and I cleaned my kitchen as I listened to Diana Krall. Damn that Elvis Costello is a lucky bastard. I talked to one of my friends from DC on her drunken walk home. I get a lot of those calls, because she knows that I'll be awake and that she won't embarrass herself going on and on. Overall, she's a pretty good drunk. I like talking to her anyways. She's got guy problems like I got girl problems. We're really good friends. I've known her since the second day of college and I took on the role of "Mommy" when she moved into her own on-campus apartment senior year. I always made sure she was eating well. Heh. Sometimes I miss those days of college when I used to cook for her and her roomies.
Today's been draggin' like a transvestite. It has just gone so slow. I haven't been able to do much besides look at Craig's List, look at the weather, and look at CNN. It's been a mind-numbing day. I was contemplating going to the Scooper Bowl, but, I think I'm gonna opt out and gonna go home to eat leftovers and chill. I may try to drop by Special K's place to check out the new mixer that he's beta testing. He said it has some sick effects on it. Other than that I have no clue what's going on. Maybe if the weather doesn't suck so bad, I'll go out for bubble tea.
I don't have too much more to say other than that. I've been looking online for a good mango salsa recipe. I think I found one I liked yesterday. There was no cilantro in it. That's a big plus for me. Anyways... *sigh* So much to do. So little to do. Duality... Just like the rest of my life.
SARS: The Sure Way To Make Friends Listening: I can love you better than that. I know how to make you forget her...
Well, I'm back at work today. I'm still a little phlemy, but overall I'm one hundred and ten percent better. I woke up this morning very refreshed. If you know anything about how I am in the morning, refreshed isn't quite a word I would use to describe my state in the morning. I would go with "crabby," "irrational," "unintelligible," and maybe even "OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL IS THATTHING!" But today, I felt good. I went and turned on my PopRockz mix, and hopped in the shower. Some U2 and some Sugar Ray later, I bounced on out, put on my favorite dropped-shoulder shirt, my wallet chain and my wooden bead bracelet and I was golden. Well, there was other stuff on me, but I figured it didn't really have to be said. As I bounded out the door, the last song I heard was Heather Nova's London Rain (Nothing Heals Me Like You Do). I love that song more every time that I hear it.
Something weird that has developed over the last couple of days is that the corner of my left eye has been spasming a bit. I don't know if it's noticable to anyone but me, but I can feel it going now and then. It's very strange. I had a spasm in my right eyelid during my senior year of college, which the campus doctor (who no one really trusts anyways) blamed on stress and told me that it would go away with time, which it did. It's just feels weird and is mildly annoying. It just twitches and stuff... Tres weird.
Last night, Ye-ah came over for dinner. He knew that I had been sick, but we had had plans for a few nights now and I actually felt well enough to have company. So, he came over with two bunches of asparagus and I I made us some beef and asparagus over rice. Asparagus is such a wonderous vegetable. Mmmm... Yummy. *sigh* *swoon* So, we chatted for a bit. Talked about all sorts of stuff, maybe the possibility of Ye-ah's current squeeze getting me a job at a club. How great would it be to go and bartend at Avalon or wherever?
As I was talking to Ye-ah, I began telling him about a friend that I had that I really feel supports me. She makes me feel good about myself and gives me hope when I think about life. It think that rocks. I have to get more friends like that. Not to say that my current batch of friends don't do the job, but I just feel like she's enthusiastic about it. It's really quite cool.
In other news, I spent most of the day debating the ban of smoking in all places of business over public e-mail. Everyone seems to be all "Yay! Woo woo! Ban smoking!" but I think they fail to acknowledge the smoking community. I sent some rather well thought out arguements, I think. I didn't change this one girl's mind and she didn't change mine. My big thing is that I think that there should be options as far as smoking goes. I think that I should have a place to hang out with my friends who smoke other than outside on the corner. You can't even have a pint and a smoke at the same time anymore. I am far from a non-smoker and far from a habit smoker, so I think that I see both sides of the equation. I wished that people weren't so hell bent on taking away people's rights. It's just evolving our government into something other then a democracy. It's ugly and inconsiderate. I'm not sure I like where it's going.
Anyways, that's me for now. Practice has been cancelled due to some handicapped kids in power boats that are supposed to be out on the river today. I know, it sounds funny and dangerous, but I assure you it's true and it could be dangerous for the dragon boat crew. Tonite, instead of practice, there will be a discussion over the possibility of sending an advanced team to Montreal. I kinda feel the need to be there since I'm the only drummer on the team with any rhythm. *sigh* Oh the burden sometimes... Heh.
Haaaaaakkk....Pitoooey! Listening: *The sound of the faucet running*
Well, I did it. For the first time in years, I have called in sick. I've called in late before, but I've never called in sick. I'm sick. Blech! Last night I got home at a quarter past four, changed clothes, and crashed on the couch with the TV as background noise until I was woken up at around seven (I think) when Booch called me to see if I wanted to share her dinner. I was sore all over. I hurt like hell. I was coughing up phlem. It was nothing nice. Bottom line, I felt like ass. I finally got myself off my ass at around eight thirty or so to make myself a bowl of soup. I ate it while watching Down To You on FX. You know how I feel about Julia Stiles movies. Then I watched Road Rules and Surf Girls. I guess that explains all of the dreams I had of bikini clad surfer girls splashing through the waves pulling one eighties and stuff. It was a hot night of dreams, I tell you.
Anyways, I went to sleep shortly after eleven and was woken up by the house phone ringing. I chose to ignore it. Five seconds after it stopped ringing, my cell began to ring. *sigh* So I picked it up. It was my grandparents. *sigh* They asked what I was doing. I told them sleeping. They asked me what was wrong, if I was sick. I told them yes. They asked me if I went to work that day. I said yes. They asked me if I was going to work today. I told them it depends on how I feel. They kept me on the phone for a good fifteen minutes. Grrr.... All I wanted to do was sleep. I hung up the phone and looked at my clock. It was half past midnight. *sigh* Back to sleep.
I woke up this morning at seven. I still felt bad. I was achy and phlemy. I just needed more rest, so I called in sick. Yup. I actually called in. I think that I deserve a sick day as much as the next guy, and I believe that I take far fewer than anyone else in my group. So, there! Ha! I ended up sleeping until just past one and got up to eat lunch. After a few hot dogs and a little Food 911 I was feeling a little better. So, I took a shower and came out here to MIT to check my e-mail and to write a little entry. So that's where I am right now.
You know, it's eighty degrees outside, beautiful and I'm sick. OC Girl once told me that I should call in sick one day and just go out to the arboretum to hang out and soak in the trees and the sun. It's too bad I'm actually sick today or maybe I would have. It would have been a great day for that. I can just imagine hanging out on a nice grassy hill with the sun on my face and a nice turkey sandwich in my hand. I'd have my Crazy Creek chair and my book of Hemingway's short stories. Oh, it would be grand. But instead, I'm hacking up mucus. Mmmm... Tasty.
Some interesting news out of the office. Mumbles may be moving to a different group. I tried to contain my elation when I heard the possibility. I did a good job, because it was just as I was leaving work yesterday. I was already delirious. So that's all the news that's fit to print.
"What Sexual Harris Meant." (+10 cool points if you know where that quote is from) Listening: Her boyfriend, he don't know anything about her. He's too stoned, Nintendo. I wish that I could make her see... She's just the flavor of the weak.
I'm kinda hurtin' today. I just don't feel all that well. I've known for the past week that I was coming down with something. I think it started last Sunday, when I stood out in the rain for a half hour waiting for people from dragon boat. I think it got progressively worse throughout the week due to a lack of sleep, drinking a bit, and walking out in the rain on Saturday. This morning, I woke up with a cough, a temperatuer (I think), a stuffy nose and a sore throat. It's not as bad as it sounds, but it isn't at all pleasant. I ache all over and just want to go to sleep. I was a half second away from calling in sick to work but I thought to myself, "I'm up anyways, I might as well suck it up." Boy, am I dumb. I tihnk I'll prolly just go home and crash tonite. So, here's how the weekend played out:
Friday night, I got home from work and low and behold, my ticket for Dance Valley has arrived. The online purchase went through. Yee-haw! I iz going to Amsterdam. It should be a good experience for me. I've never been to Europe and I'm going with people who have been before. It should be fantastic! The first thing I did when I saw it was I picked up the phone and called Raver Girl. We jumped up and down together and stuff.
Shortly after I called Raver Girl, PJ got back to my place from helping to move his cousin. He looked immensely tired, so I let him crash out for a bit while I relaxed and then got groceries. At around half past six, we got our asses in gear and headed off to Ye-ah's place for a birthday potluck. Ye-ah said that he'd be there by six o'clock cooking, but he wasn't there when we got there just past six thirty. He wasn't there at seven either. So, PJ and I just stood around with groceries and chatted like we hadn't really gotten much of a chance to for the majority of his trip up to Boston. It's amazing. PJ and I are such different kidz, but we get along really well together. He shoots straight from the hip, much like I do, but we aim at different targets, I think. Anyways, after a nice long discussion, Ye-ah showed up. I immediately began to make the Hitipi and Ye-ah started on his curry. PJ didn't really have anything, so I think that he kind of felt like an odd man out. Soon after we got started, everyone else showed up. OMG, Bombadier, Silent Lush, The Violent One and "The Inlaws" (The Violent One's Parents who were here from out of town). Glare, Totoro and Chocoholic showed up a while later.
So, the party went well... I talked to everyone and I think PJ got along with everyone reasonably well. It seemed as if he had a good conversation with The Violent One's mother. Her mother is kewl as hell, a hysterically funny woman, though I'm not sure she always means to be. PJ also ended up washing the bulk of the dishes. He really didn't have to do it, but I know it was much appreicated by the host and everyone else there.
Right after the party, PJ and his pal skipped town to go back home to NYC. They were gonna see Ichiro the next day.
Saturday morning, I was woken up by The Violent One calling me. I was supposed to get brunch with her and "The Inlaws." I decided to take them to Johnny's Luncheonette over between Central Square and Harvard. Bombadier showed up too, so there were five of us. I had heard a lot about Johnny's Luncheonette from a guy at work, but I had never actually been there. They serve breakfast all day long, so breakfast was what I got at a little before noon on a Saturday. I had three eggs scrambled, french toast, home fries, bacon and coffee. It was a helluva meal. I really enjoyed it. It was the kind of comfort food that just makes you say "mmm...." I picked up the check for that meal, because The Violent One's mother was kind enough to pick up a couple of meals while we were in Japan last March. I owed her.
From there, we walked around Harvard for a bit. It was raining. It wasn't raining all that hard, so I just decided to say, "Suck it up!" and just walk without an umbrella or a waterproof jacket. We walked around and since I hadn't found a b-day present for OMG, I ended up getting her a blue Lamy fountain pen. I love mine. It writes the smoothest out of all of my fountain pens. I love it to death. I figured that since she is a student still, she'd have plenty of use for it. I bought myself a ballpoint pen made by Lamy. It's cool. It looks like a stainless steel tampon and is actually smaller than one (I think), but it extends to the length of a regular pen. It's so cool. It's just as cool as my Cross Ion pen. Bombadier bought himself one of those. Also, on our little shopping excursion, I picked up a little button with the "Happy Bunny" on it and it says, "Love Sucks Big Time." I think that's how I have been feeling for the past few weeks, but I just felt the need to make the statement via a cute little pin. It rules.
At about three or so, we went over to Dado Tea to get some bubble tea. While there, we made arrangements for dinner. Since The Violent One had to be at rehearsal for her movie from five to six thirty, and Ye-ah and I had to be at Porter Square at ten, we had to do a relatively early dinner, but not so early that it would interfere with The Violent One's schedule. So, what was to happen was that I was going back home, and "The Inlaws" where going back to their hotel while The Violent One went to rehearsal. I got in an hour nap, changed for Soul Revival and headed off to the Copley Westin to pick up "The Inlaws" at six thirty. From there, we cabbed it over to Chinatown and got a reservation for eight at Peach Farm Seafood (my favorite new Chinese seafood restaurant). We then waited outside for people to show up. It was to be myself, Ye-ah, "The Inlaws," The Violent One, Bombadier, OMG and Silent Lush. We ended up sitting down to dinner at a quarter past seven and we had ordered by a quarter to eight. On the menu was: two orders of Peking Ravioli, pea pod stems, Chinese broccoli, beef fried rice, spicy dry fried squid, steamed crab with ginger and scallions, and crispy skin chicken. We had the exact right amount for everyone. Everything except for a couple of the harder to eat pieces of chicken were left.
After dinner, Ye-ah bolted home to go and drop off some groceries and to change for Soul Revival whilst "The Inlaws" cabbed it back to the hotel and the rest of the crew went to my place to chill for a bit. We ate popsicles, watched Iron Chef and talked about who our "freebies" would be. When Ye-ah was ready, we picked him up and headed off to Porter Square to meet the others for Soul Revival. The Violent One, Bombadier, OMG and Silent Lush weren't going, they were just giving Ye-ah and I a ride out to Porter.
Once at Porter, Ye-ah and I met up with Paddleback and two of her friends, Fester, Hulk, Harley and Special K. We were expecting Bouldering and Lioness, but they were running late and were just going to meet us at Soul Revival. So we all loaded into the two cars that we had and headed off to the South End. Ye-ah's friend was supposed to come and meet us, but that didn't really happen. He tried calling my phone, which I left in the car. It didn't work out so we. When we got to Soul Revival, Shutter Bug and two other dragon boaters were there. Special K and I tried to get membership to Soul Revival, which didn't happen until the very end of the night. As always, I had a rockin' time dancing. I danced with this one girl, Savannah, who was just a kick ass dancer. Girl could move. Then there was this other girl who pulled all sorts of salsa-like moves, which was hot as hell. Yeah, I had a good time. Others didn't really. Lioness, Shutterbug, the two dragon boaters, Paddleback's pals, and Ye-ah all left early. So, that left, Special K, Myself, Fester, Harley, Hulk, Bouldering and Paddleback. You'd figure that since Hulk and Paddleback live so close to each other, that he would give her a ride home at least. It didn't turn out that way.
We all ended up in Special K's car, Myself, Special K, Fester, Bouldering and Paddleback. In Hulk's car was him and Harley. To me that just seems wrong. You don't do that to your palz. You just don't. You're gonna get fucked anyways, why do you care when? Jeezus, are they your friends or not. The more I think about it, the more I wonder whether Hulk is a friend to anyone on the team, or if he's just a user. I know users. I used to be one. I used to be peoples' friends out of convenience. That was before I learned manners and the power of "Please" and "Thank you." I just wouldn't be like, "Would you mind getting a ride with them?" I know for a fact he didn't say that, but when Paddleback asked him if she should ride with us, he didn't argue. Damn, man. What's this world coming to? Maybe I just have higher standards for people. I just don't think it was right. But that's that.
Anyways, that night, Bouldering crashed at my place, because she locked herself out of her apartment. That kind of sucks. I'm perpetually afraid of locking myself out, because no one else has a set of keys to my apartment except for the grandparents. I've locked myself when they've been around, but never when they've been away. Anyways, she stayed in the spare room and I lent her some of my clothes to go to practice in.
Yeah, I went to practice on Sunday. I actually felt like it was a reasonably good practice. We did interval pieces of four minutes of power and two minutes of light paddle. We followed that up with a series of pairs progression and some race pieces. Overall, it was a good effort. Some people like Bouldering and Harley were dying. I wasn't sure, at one point, if Bouldering was gonna make it. She's been missing practice since the DC race and wasn't quite up to snuff. We'll get her there though.
Following the advanced practice, it didn't look like many people were going to show up for the intermediate practice, so OC Girl and I went to the Otherside Cosmic Cafe for gazpatcho. Yes, the gazpatcho fiend is back! Woo woo. We walked all of the way down Newbury Street to The Otherside and ate and chilled for a few hours. We talked a bit about food and about friends and how I lose faith in karma sometimes. She enjoyed a Buffalo Tom sandwich and a cup of gazpatcho while I had an Otherside Salad and a bowl of gazpatcho. I would have gotten the mug, but I don't think that it would have been enough for me. I want more gazpatcho-y goodness.
After lunch, I headed back to the docks for the novice practice, where there were only six paddlers, including me. I wasn't all that happy to be there with that few people. I was sleepy from the meal and I just didn't have the energy to paddle, but I did it anyways and I did it with full on pressure. I kicked ass. Harley was riding shotgun to my stroke and we, depsite the fact that we were both pretty tired and punchy, put in a great deal of power. I just wasn't feeling practice. It wasn't there for me. Although, I'm never happy with anything less that five rows.
Following practice, about eight of us headed up to Coolidge Corner to go and get some Indian food and some chocolate cake for Harley. I hadn't had Indian in quite some time and I was very happy with the meal. I had lamb vindaloo and curry potatoes with nan bread. Yummm... Spicy yummy lamb.... *sigh* From there we went to Zanthmary's for the cake. I only got a birch beer though.
From there, it was home, shower, and plop down on the couch. I turned on the TV and nothing was on. I put on the basketball game. Just as I was dozing off, Clueless called me and tried to tell me how to do my job on the dragon boat. He's fresh out of boot camp and is currently in officer training school. He was trying to press some of the military ideas of command onto me, but I know that they won't work with the group of people that I have. I don't even know who I can count on in the team. Fester and Hulk seem to be the only experienced people who come to practice regularly. Hulk does his part. I'm not sure what kind of role Fester could take though. Honestly, it's all fucked up. We need some committment from people. I have a hard time committing to the club when I don't see the committment there.
During lunch, while OC Girl and I talked, I said, "Bah... It doesn't matter if I get back for the other practice. It doesn't matter to me." She said, "Why not? Everyone on the team... I am trying so hard for you, so that we can get this team going." And my response was that I didn't see that many other people putting in the time or effort and that I appreciate and respect the work that she's putting in. If everyone on the team was as dedicated to putting in the work and the time that OC Girl and Fester do, we would have a completely different team and we would be doing a lot better than we're doing now.
Something else came up during dragon boat practice.... I guess there have been comments heard around about me not being PC or anything like that and people taking offense to stuff that I say/e-mail/imply. I have never changed my tone around the boat. I joke with them all like they're my friends and I generally only pick on someone if I know them well enough. Other than that, I tend to keep my sick comments pretty general. Some people talk of throwing the harassment policy at me. Fuck that shit. I'm not gonna change how I interact with the boat because of a fuckin' piece of paper. I'm not going to bend to the puritain beliefs that surround this city. Fuck it. Fuck it all. I say that if the team throws the harassment policy at me, I'll call their bluff. (Enter the ZEN!!! Ego) I don't think they have the balls or the resources to bounce me. The have no other drummer. They're already short on coaches. They have two people really providing the leadership to the team. Everyone else is like an absentee landlord. I'll continue to do what I'm doing until they boot me. If people don't understand that it's humor or if they're too squeamish to deal with it, well, then hell, I don't think they belong on the boat. I think that I can personally critique everyone's stroke in a much meaner manner than when I just joke around. Fuck 'em. I'll wipe my ass with the policy.
On a better note, I'm looking forward to tomorrow night. If I'm over this damn illness, Ye-ah will be coming over with a couple of bunches of asparagus and I'm gonna go and buy some beef and we'll have asparagus and beef over rice. I know it's really nice and simple, but I just have so much love for the asparagus. Gonna go home and pass out tonite though.
Schitzo Weather Listening: How can I explain when there are few words I can choose? How can I explain when words get broken?
Really, I meant to blog yesterday, but SCUBA came over to my desk and tried to chat with me for an hour between half past three and half past four. It was ridiculous. I obviously was about to blog and get the hell out, but nooooo.... He just kept talking and talking and talking. And then, another manager came over and started talking too. YEESH! Go back to your own cube, dammit! Lemmie talk smack about people in peace! Fortunately, PJ saved me. While they were in mid conversation, my cell run. Without even knowing, PJ happened to be outside my office and was looking for directions to Newbury Street. I told him to hold on and I would log out and go with him. Yes it was a heaven-sent that he called, or else I'm sure I would have been stuck listening to boring office dribble for hours.
So, this has been the last couple of days. Wednesday night, I blew off practice because PJ was coming into town and I didn't really know when he was going to show up. Plus, the weather blew big ass donkey balls. Misty. I hate mist. If it's gonna rain, let it rain. If it's gonna be dry, let it be dry. So, I found out that PJ wouldn't be dropping in until after nine, I ended up going with The Violent One to get some bubble tea after work. We got one for Booch too and I dropped by her office with it. Since I had no plans for dinner, we ended up having dinner together at Cambridge One, the pizza place on Church Street. It's kinda gourmet pizza, everything that CPK tries to be but fails miserably. Booch spent a fair amount of time checking out this one waitress' switch. She did haev a nice ass, but girl had a very distinct switch. Left cheek, right cheek, left cheek, right cheek... I think you would have to see it to understand how pronounced it was. It was like she rested on each hip during each step. I wonder if that helps her get more tips...
Following dinner, I went home to wait for PJ to show up. I was intensely watching the World Poker Tour on the Travel Channel. I've become very interested in no-limit Texas Hold-'em. I think if I had a great deal of money, I would try to play. I don't have much cash so, I don't think that's gonna happen.
PJ showed up at like ten-something and The Violent One dropped by not too long after. We sat and watched poker and chatted. The Violent One left at about half past midnight. PJ and I chatted until after two in the morning.
So I was in pain yesterday morning. I had bags under my eyes. I originally planned on going home and catching a nap before I met up with OC Girl for dinner, but when PJ showed up at the office, I knew that it wasn't going to happen. Instead, I took PJ and his cousin on a walk around Boston. I showed them the Boston Harbour Hotel, The Moakley Federal Court House, and a host of other things. PJ doesn't have very much Boston experience, so I took he and his cousin around to some of the cooler sights.
Since they had to be at dinner at seven and I had to meet OC Girl at seven, we both kicked it back to my apartment where they hopped in the car to go meet the fam for his cousin's graduation dinner and I quickly changed, grabbed a glass of grapefruit juice and went to the Marriott to go meet OC Girl.
For dinner, OC Girl and I went to Atasca, a Portuguese restaurant near my house. The food was pretty damn good and I had a little coaching from SCUBA. See, SCUBA is from Portugal, so he knows the food. He made a couple of suggestions and I took all of them. For appitizers, we got this grilled whole shrimp in a spicy sauce, served over grilled cornbread and garlic. Mad good. I'm not even a big shrimp fan and I thought that this stuff kicked some major ass. For our entrees, I had cubed pork with clams and fried potatoes in a brown sauce (another one of the suggestions). The pork was a little dry, but I have a feeling that its real purpose was to make the base of the sauce. the sauce was soooooo good. It had cilantro in it and the flavor was so muted from the cooking that I didn't mind it so much. I really just wanted to sop up all of the sauce with a big ass piece of bread. Oh, it was yummy. The sauce really accentuated the taste of the clams and gave the potatoes more dimension. Quality. OC Girl had this big ass pot of shell fish, shrimp, Portuguese sausage and veggies. It was served with a side of rice, which she didn't eat very much of. Finally, for dessert, I had a lemon and port wine flan and OC Girl had a custard tart. We shared. It was nice. The flan wasn't heavy at all. It was very clean and cleansing. The tart had a bit of bitterness to it. It was small, but very tasty. Mmmm... So we decided that the next dinner we have together, we'll go out for a Persian at a place closer to her house. I'm psyched. Hopefully Glare can come out for it.
After dinner, I walked OC Girl to the T and headed home. I was exhausted. I nearly passed out on the couch as I waited for PJ to get back. Absolutely bushed, I went to sleep at about half past midnight.
Today, I actually got to work with time to spare again. So, again, I got me a coffee before I hit the cube. Work has been pretty humdrum today. For lunch, I got bubble tea, a BBQ roast beef sandwich and three pounds of fresh lychee. Yeah, I plurged. I haven't eaten any of teh lychee, but I'm anticipating their sweet goodness.
Tonight, PJ and I are crashing OMG's b-day party. I have to get her something. I also have to get the stuff to make hitipi. After the party, I have no clue what's going on. I don't know if PJ is leaving tonite or tomorrow. Tomorrow night is Soul Revival so I'll be dancing my ass off tomorrow night. I think I'll go to practis on Sunday to see what's up. And that's how everything looks. I'm sure you'll hear all about it on Monday.
Ready, Steady, GO! No, Stop! No, GO! Listening: And if you say run, I'll run with you. And if you say hide, we'll hide.
So, yesterday was a good day. After work was the laundry and the cleaning. I actually finished my laundry just shy of eight o'clock. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do for dinner. I didn't really wanna cook, because cooking for oneself and only oneself isn't really as rewarding as I like cooking to be. I also think that if you cook alone too much, you start to dread it. At least I think I do. I like entertaining people and I like having a couple of people hanging out in my kitchen politely out of my way talking to me as they sip wine and as I make things sizzle and bubble in my pots and pans. Alone, I just listen and sing along with my music and watch as things boil and stuff. During the simmering phases, I have no one to talk to. I don't read while waiting for food. You never know when you'll need that space that the book occupies to put a pot down. I value my books way too much to risk them in the kitchen (unless they're cookbooks).
Anyways, I didn't feel like cooking, so I tried to call OC Girl to see if she wanted to grub. I only have her cell number, and her cell, unfortunately, doesn't get reception in her house. So I said to myself, "Well, fuck... What do I do now?" I ended up grabbing something quick from the grocery store that I ingested rather slowly.
After dinner, I watched a little TV and talked to PJ about the plan for the next couple of days. At a little before ten thirty, I decided to go out for a walk. I walked around downtown for a while. It was absolutely gorgeous out. I couldn't have asked for better weather. I kinda wished that I had someone to walk with, but, honestly, how many people do you know who would come out to take a walk at ten thirty at night? I couldn't think of anyone who I thought I could call for the walk. Ten thirty is generally after my established "Can't call anyone because they may be sleeping or whatever" time. I don't mind being called later than that, but I don't necessarily feel comfortable calling someone out of the blue at that time. Maybe I just find it a bit inconsiderate.
I got home at half past midnight and immediately went to sleep.
Today, I got a lot accomplished at work. I cleaned up some stuff that had been sitting around for almost a month. I was a helpful person. I wasn't stand off-ish. It was pretty okay at work. I, again, found myself looking at jobs in the San Francisco area on Craig's List. I wonder whether a move to SF would do me good. I wonder if OC Girl is right and I would fit in better over there. Paddleback thinks I'm too neurotic to live on the left coast. I think that I may be a little too cynical or assholic to really fit in. I'm "too honest" perhaps? I dunno. Maybe I should just go and do it for a couple of years. I really have wanted to live on the left coast for a while. What is stopping me? Is it the huge friend/fan base? I think that that is the one thing that I really would miss. I guess I might also miss the fact that I know everywhere to go in this town. I'm like the Boston Board Of Tourism wrapped into one guy. But then again, there is something to be said about stepping outside of one's comfort zone.
Anyways, tonite is gonna be low key. I'll be waiting around for PJ to show up. I'm not going to practice. I could if I really wanted to, but I'm opting out. I think it's supposed to rain. It also gives me more flexibility in meeting up with PJ. Maybe if it looks like the rain will hold out, I'll take a scoot over to the docks and just shoot the shit. Who knows where the night may take me? Whereever it is, it had better not be wet.
