A Chance Encounter At A Movie Theater Listening: We believe in tomorrow and a better day. We lie down to sleep so close, yet so far away.
Today was just an odd day for me. I woke up at a normal time and got into work at a normal time, drank my normal coffee and gor fuct by my normal work. Things weren't working and no one could give me answers. It was to the point where my manager was like, "Yeah, just fudge it for today and hopefully it'll take care of itself by tomorrow." Yeah. There are some quality controls. The shitter about the whole thing is that if it doesn't fix itself tomorrow, it carries over through month end. I really hate it when people can't give me answers that I'm looking for. So yeah, tomorrow begins month end reporting. Woo woo! I spent today, all day working on essentiall two problems. One was fixed and the other was fudged in the hope of a better tomorrow.
The thing about the problem that we fudged was that it took a long time for processes to run in between checking to see if it all worked (which it didn't). So I had a lot of time to sit and think. We all know what happens when I think. It's not a pretty thing. My brain melts and oozes out my ears and eyes until it's a puddle on the floor, taking my little bug eyes with it. I had one of those days where I thought a lot about a lot of stuff that pertained to my future. Isn't that the worst? Trying to map out your future, whether it has to do with your professional life or your personal life? You only have so much control over things.
So, by the time I got out of work, I was kind of in a mood. You know, one of those moods that I get in after I think too much and have too much to say, but no one to say it to in front of me. So I came home, shut the door, turned on the lights, changed into shorts, washed and started the rice, washed my face, and fired up the decks. It was weird. I hadn't touched my hip hop records in quite some time, and when I went to go play a track, I noticed that someone had put the vinyl back in the cardboard sleeve without properly putting it in the vinyl sleeve. That bothered me because A) no one should be touching my decks, B) no one should be touching my vinyl, and C) no one should be even contemplating looking at it without me being in the room. Let's just say it was disturbing and I have no clue who was working my hip hop records. Anyways, here's the set list. I think you'll be a little bit surprised:
Naughty By Nature - O.P.P. Craig David - Fill Me In (Sunship Remix) Basement Jaxx - Just 1 Kiss (Sunship Remix) Everything But The Girl vs. Photek - Everything (DnB Remix) Massive Attack - Angel (Album Mix) Grooverider - Space & Time Beth Orton - All The Stars Seem To Weep Pauline Taylor - Solo Flying Mystery Man Zero 7 feat Sophie Barker - In The Waiting Line (Album Mix) Sarah McLachlan - Angel (Dusted Remix) Circulation - Cerise Faithless feat Dido - One Step Too Far (Rollo & Sister Bliss Mix) Planet Core - Duel Of The Fates (Quicksilver Mix Mit Intro) Everything But The Girl - Lullaby Of Clubland (Ben Storm Mix)
Yeah, I went from hip hop to garage to drum 'n' bass to downtempo to house to trance and back to house. It was weird. Some of the mixes really worked and some just didn't, but I pulled it off well. The crowd (which was just me) was pleased with the performance.
Though it always feels good spinning records, it still didn't really get my mind off of what I was thinking about. So, I ate my dinner of leftovers, watched about half of the movie The Bubble Boy on Comedy Central, and headed out of my apartment.
Ever since I saw that Before Sunset was playing at the Somerville Theater for six bucks, I planned on going to see it again. I had been plotting it for weeks, but something always came up. Tonight was the perfect night to see it. I was in the mood to see it. I was in the slightly blue/melancholy mood that would be particularly responsive to the movie. Well, actually, I think I would always have a response to the movie. Both Before Sunrise and Before Sunset have such a deep place in my heart that I don't think that there would ever be a time where it wouldn't get a response from me.
Anyways, I headed out, paid the six dollars that I saved on lunch today to see the movie that I had heard about a half a year ago, and saw with my girlfriend a few months ago. When I walked into the theater, there was only one other person in there. I arrived about ten minutes before the movie started. By the time that the movie actually began, there was on older guy who came in and three other couples. As the previews were coming on, one last person entered the theater. She walked right in front of me and I could recognize that silhouette anywhere. It was Paddleback. So, I said her name. She turned around, recognized me and came and sat down next to me. She asked me if it would be a problem if she hadn't seen the first movie. I told her that it's not really that central to understanding the movie, but if you had seen the first one, you would realize how important this movie was to the fans of the first one.
So we sat and watched the movie. At the end, she was so depressed over it. After talking for a bit in the theater as the credits rolled, we decided to grab a cup of coffee at the Diesel to catch up. It turned out that she was feeling a little bit off too that night and that's why she decided to go see a movie. It was really great running into her. It seems like we both have a lot going on in our lives and in our heads. It was nice to catch up with her and to just have someone to talk to tonite. I think that I would have been deeper in the mood that I had started in if I hadn't run into her. She tried to convince me to go to the early morning dragon boat practice.
To be honest, as I was crossing the river today, I had a real hankering to get back out on the water and pound the paddle a bit, not in a racing capacity, but just to focus myself a little bit more. I just wanted to shut up and paddle. I didn't want anyone to talk to me or to hear anything from anyone. I just wanted to go.
At half past midnight, I caught the last train home and here I am, typing away. It's two in the morning now and I should be heading off to sleep sometime soon, but I'm not tired. I didn't even have coffee. I had a raspberry lime rickey. It was refreshing. I don't know what I want to do, but I don't want to go to sleep yet. Maybe I'll just go and read. I've been reading The Little Prince over the past few weeks. A few pages here and there. Maybe I'll get back to it.
Money Ain't Nothin' Cause I Got Tickets For Free Listening: I haven't slept at all in days. It's been so long since we've talked and I have been here many times. I just don't know what I'm doing wrong.
Overall, this weekend has been pretty good. Friday night, I spent the night in. It was great. I got home from work and there was no one in my apartment. The A/C was on and I was alone. Ahhh, it was so nice. No one was home. It's been so long since that happened. There's always been someone living at my house or in my house or calling me. For most of Friday night, it was nobody. I made dinner, watched Big Fish, and just chilled out like old times. Old times, good times.
At about eleven o'clock, my phone rings. Who could be calling me? It was my friend from D.C. who was in town visiting her high school friend who lives in Lynn and was also attending a bachelorette party of someone we went to college with. It turned out that the bachelorette party was miserable and she didn't want to try to find her way back to her friend's place in Lynn by herself at that time of night. To be honest, I don't think that I would have wanted to go to Lynn at that time of night either. So, she ended up coming over to my place and crashing out on my futon.
The next morning, she had to get back to Lynn, because her friend was having a house warming party. But, before she left we went and got a couple of bagels and some coffee and caught up some more. The rest of the day, I spent cleaning my apartment and talking about real estate with my mother and brother who came by to use my internet connection. Doesn't cable modem rule?
Yesterday evening, I decided to try out something that my mother heard about on a NPR radio show hosted by a guy named Clark Howard. He said that if you go to a concert without tickets, and wait for the band to start playing, the scalpers will start to drop the prices of the tickets. The Corrs were playing at the FleetBoston Pavillion yesterday, so I decided to give this a shot and decided to drag The Violent One with me. Unfortunatley we got there a little too late and there were no scalpers there to shake down, so we just decided to hang out and listen outside. We were also looking for other people who wanted to ditch their tickets, but that didn't happen. After about three songs of The Corrs' set, this old couple came out and offered us their tickets, because they said that it was too loud and was bothering the man.
With our newly scored tickets, we went to the front gate. We walk up to the ticket checker and show him our tickets. "I'm sorry, there's no re-entry," he said to us. Bummer. We knew it was too good to be true. So, we stood outside as The Corrs continued to play. After a few minutes, we decided to check around the side to see if there was any better place to either catch a glimpse in or hear the music a little clearer. When we were on one side of the arena, we figured there was nowhere better to see than this one place outside of the usher exit. While we were standing there, there was a usher there waiting for someone to pick her up. She was an older woman in her late fifties or early sixties. She noticed that we were standing there and asked us why we weren't going in. We told her what had happened and she asked us why we didn't just go in. She told us that it was the usher exit and that no one ever checks it and that if we have tickets, we should just go in through the exit and enjoy the show. And not to tell anyone that she told us to do it.
So, The Violent One and I looked around. We saw that no one else was watching, so we snuck in! It worked. Before we knew it, we were twenty or thirty rows back in the center and were rocking out to The Corrs. It was excellent. Next to us were these crazy rowdy Irish couples. They were great and were a lot of fun.
The show was fantastic. The played a good mix of old and new stuff. I was so happy that I got into the Pavillion in time to hear "Runaway," "Radio," and "I Never Really Loved You Anyways." I couldn't believe how good the seats were. The Violent One and I tried to rush the stage, but there was no place for us to go. Everyone had seats. We thought that there were people in the front who had no seats, but when we got up there, they all did. Oh well. They were down one Corr though. Caroline was at home in Ireland because she was eight months pregnant and didn't have approval to fly being so far into her pregnancy. I did find out one thing though. On the song Unplugged album, there's a song called "No Frontiers." I always thought that the melody in that song was passed between the sisters. What I found out was that it's actually Sharon singing the entire time. She was absolutely amazing. I thought she did a phenomenal job and I think that she should sing more.
Man, it was so cool sneaking into the concert. I may have to try that again some other time. B.B. King is playing this week. Ha ha ha.
Today was a really nice day. I woke up at the time that I wanted to get up. I chilled for a bit in the morning, showered and then started my tasks for the day. I turned on my music and went to work on my gazpatcho. It was such a good time. I had good music, no one bothering me and I was cooking. It was fan-tastic. I was so in the zone in the kitchen. I'm finding it hard to articulate exactly what was good about it. It was the combination of the music, the act of doing something that I like doing and the fact that I didn't have anyone bothering me. It was just me, the music and the food.
After I finished off the gazpatcho, I sat down on my couch to rest, looked at my computer, and low and behold, my girl logs in. Woo woo! I got to talk to her for a while. It was nice.
After the chat, I finished cleaning my apartment. Now it's immaculate. It's so clean, you could eat off the... Umm... Table? Yeah, I still wouldn't advise the floors, but the tables are all really clean now. It hasn't been this clean in my apartment in months. The environment is back to what it was six months ago. Visually if you were to look at it between then and now, you wouldn't see much of a difference. A few more nick nacks, a different selection of beers in the fridge. But over the last six months or so, my world has been turned upside down. I've had people move in and out. I met a girl. Family come and go. And I have decided when I will call it quits at the Corporation if they don't send me to Europe. Back to normal, but not back to normal.
Anyways, that was my day. I had dinner with old family friends and now I am home. I really have no desire to go to work tomorrow, but I will. I'm actually pretty tired. So sleep time for me.
Talk The Talk. Now, Walk The Walk. Listening: Where my hustlers where my boosters at? I don't care what you do for stacks. I know the world glued you back to the wall. You gotta brawl to that>
I'm supposed to make gazpatcho on Sunda because my mother, brother and I are having dinner with some old family friends. So, today, during lunch, I headed down to Copley to pick up some stuff that I knew that I couldn't find at either Haymarket or in the regular grocery store. Man, I must have taken three or four passes at the row of vendors just to size up who had the best heirlooms and who had the best prices. Weigh out the two and decide what I want.
When I was at my final stand, I was picking through a mass of plum tomatoes with a middle aged woman next to me. She muttered, "Hmm... These tomotoes are going to take a little while to ripe." I turned to her and said, "Yeah, they're a little firm, but they'll be good to go in a couple of days." "Yeah," she said. "But you know how it is when you get the itch to make something and you kind of want it now." I told her I knew exactly what she was talking about and that I was lucky that I was going to have a few days before my plot to make gazpatcho came to fruition. She turned to me and told me that she too had plans to make gazpatcho, but she wanted it tonite. I chuckled and then we started discussing recipes and ingredients. I told her about the last couple of batches that I had made, which included the four tomato gazpatcho that I made fo the Memorial Day dinner. She was thoroughly impressed. We got talking about ingredients and about how I used different varieties of onions and tomatoes and peppers to get different effects. Actually, it was more of her picking my brain. After about ten minutes of discussion over varieties of onions, tomatoes and peppers, and my absolute requirement of fresh herbs, she checked out and went on her merry way leaving me to pick through more tomatoes.
Just after she left, one of the farmstand workers came to refresh some of the tomato bins and asked me, "Are you buying for a restaurant?" I told him no and he then said, "Wow, it sure sounded like it the way that you were talking to that woman." I thanked him for the complement and told him that I hoped to be working in the industry someday.
So, that was kind of an odd/cool experience. I never really thought about how much I know about food. I know that I know more than the average joe, but I by no means believe that I know as much as someone who has gone through culinary school or who has extensive experience in finding quality produce. But, hey, this farm supplies some pretty good restaurants in the city. If I can fool them, maybe I really am on my way to something.
Confused Characters Moving Through A Comfortless World Listening: Well I'm in no hurry. Don't have to run away this time. I know you're timid, but it's gonna be all right this time.
Over the last couple of work weeks, I have had a number of people come up to me and say, "Hey, dude. What's wrong?" or "Dude, you look miserable." I know exactly why they're saying it too. I walk around all day with a furrowed brow and pursed lips. I do this, not on purpose, but because I'm usually deep in thought about one thing or another as I am making my way around cubicle land. I don't stop and talk about sports with the other guys. I don't go visit other people's cubicles and I don't really find myself with much to say. I think about a lot of things as each day wears on and I find that I can't quite come to terms with what's up and what's down about life. Prior to the other day I couldn't really articulate how I felt about my life. I couldn't address the state of me completely.
Over the last couple of days at work, I have been reading a lot of Salon.com. It all started with me looking for information about some movies, namely Before Sunset and Garden State. I came upon an article called Lost At The Movies. This article examines a growing trend in movies where the idea of "home is in a constant state of flux," and about how despite technology making the world smaller and smaller, people feel lost in the bigness of the world and in their own lives. It mentions movies like Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Chungking Express, In The Mood For Love, and Lost In Translation.
I like most of these movies. And I think the reason that I like all of these movies is because the characters in them are just as lost as I am when it comes to life. Who am I? Who am I supposed to be? What am I doing? Where am I? Is this the best me? Is this the most honest me? They struggle with all of the questions that I struggle with every day. It's not a clean, cookie-cutter happy ending that you see in movies and in Abercrombie & Fitch ads. It's the daisy in the gutter and the gob of chewed gum on the pavement. It's the struggle of reconciling the fact that you may or may not belong where you are, but you're there nonetheless. Then it's the struggle of figuring out how to remove yourself from the place where you're at and bring yourself to where you belong. That also requires one to figure out where they do belong, lest they become a daisy that moves itself from the gutter to the dumpster, because they don't realize that they belong in a vase.
It's something that I not only see in myself, but I also see it in many of my friends. There are question of how to navigate life and how to find a connection. It's a hard thing and there are no right answers. I think about those who know exactly how to go from point A to point B and see them all as lucky folks. No one can tell anyone how to achieve happiness or how to get to finally feel comfortable in their own surroundings. It just sorta has to happen. And by happen, I don't mean that you can just sit there while the world fluxes around you. You need to change your situation, trial and error, until you get to the place that fits like you want it to fit.
I think my problem is that I fear the unknowns and the what ifs. I have been raised to fear. I need to find a way to overcome this fear. I've said it a million times. I need to give up fear. I need to give it up and trade it in for hope. This is not to say that I am hopeless. There couldn't be anything that's further from the truth. What is true is that I posess a lot more fear than I do hope.
I have a lot of good things in my life right now. I have some killer friends, an amazing apartment, large quantities of music.... What I'm searching for now is where I fit into the world on a global scale. Am I to be a cog in the corporate machine like I am now for the rest of my life? I don't think so. I have always thought that I was destined for something bigger. What that bigger thing is, I'm not sure. It could be as an acclaimed chef or a popular restauranteur. It could be as a DJ or a club owner. I don't know. All of the things that interest me involve hard roads. Those roads are paved with bodies upon bodies of people who have been trampled by the industries. Will I be one of those bodies?
Anyways, enough of the darkness. I figure you have had enough. I'm just in a pensive, philosophical mood. I definitely need a nap when I get home. As for what I'm going to do tonite after that nap, I haven't a clue. Maybe I'll go out and I'll stroll around the city. Maybe I'll just chill at home. Maybe I'll spin some rekkidz.
A State Of Mind Listening: I drink good coffee every morning. Comes from a place that's far away. And when I'm done I feel like talking. Without you here there is less to say.
The last couple of days, I have felt a little bit zoned out. I dunno why, but I just feel like there has been a haze hanging in front my my eyes. I'm unmotivated and unproductive. So, I'm sitting here at work, waiting for work to roll in or waiting to go to Copley to check out the farmer's market, whichever comes first.
Sunday, though a bit in a daze, was a good day. For some reason I woke up at ten in the morning. It was a Sunday. I should have been sleeping at least until noon. My brother was clattering around the apartment and I guess I just couldn't get back to sleep. I guess it also didn't help that my blinds are sometimes powerless against bright sunlight.
After waking up, my brother left to go check out some places and I chilled on my couch for a good couple of hours. I did a lot of snacking around. I really haven't been eating well lately. I don't know what it is. I've lost my motivation to cook when I get home from work. I'm just so exhausted from my mind cranking all day that I I just don't feel like getting off the couch. It's weird. I've been eating a lot of crappy carbs and complex sugars, which aren't all that good for me instead of real balanced meals. What's going on with me? I think I just need to get back into that groove.
Anyways, around mid day, I went to go check out some places with my brother and mother, came home and vegged some more before going to see Garden State with The Violent One and Photogenic.
I have to say that I really enjoyed Garden State. I thought it was a very different movie. The movie follows an emotionally numb guy as he comes home to New Jersey for his mother's funeral. Zach Braff does a VERY good job throught the movie showing the growth in the character. Natalie Portman also does a very good job. Her accent in the movie is VERY cute. There was a point where I thought the Natalie Portman was hot as hell and so on and so forth, but that faded a few years ago. With her poor performances in the Star Wars prequels (though not even the most brilliant acting could have helped those scripts), she just sort of dropped off my radar. But this character was amazing. She was the compulsively lying, quirky love interest of the protagonist.
The end of the movie really got me. I mean, it really got me. I'm not going to give away spoilers or anything like that, but I will tell you this. It had me thinking about my girl a lot. I think it got to The Violent One and Photogenic as well. Actually, I know it got to The Violent One. I think I played it off enough though.
Another really great part of the movie was the soundtrack. The music in the film was excellent. I guess I'm saying that because I already had half of the music on the soundtrack before I even heard of Garden State, but still. The music worked really well with the visuals and it just added that extra depth and dimension that you can't say that other soundtracks add to their respective movies.
After the movie, the three of us went out for Indian food and chatted it up. I had a very spicy lamb vindaloo and some lamb samosas. Good god do I love lamb. Lamb rocks my world. After dinner, we headed over to 1369 for some coffee. Well, I'm the only one who had coffee. Photogenic had iced tea and The Violent One had hot tea.
I hang out with The Violent One a lot, but as of the last couple of months, I haven't got to hang out with Photogenic as much. She had gone into hiding due to work and classes and so on and so forth. Now that she has resurfaced and is looking to move in with The Violent One, I have a feeling that I'll be geeting to see her a lot more. Yay!
Yesterday, well, that was a dead day. It was my first day back to work. It sucked as usual. At least there weren't a lot of stupid little problems to fix like there are today. Last night, though, I spent cleaning my apartment. I spent most of the night picking up, only to realize that it wasn't getting any cleaner. I did happen to do all of my laundry and clear off part of my dining room table. I think I need to mix some records tonite. I think I'll forego the television when I get home and I'll hit the decks. When it hits eight, I'll cook myself some dinner. A good wholesome dinner. So that's my plan. I'm off to Copley to meet The Violent One at the farmer's market. Hopefully I'll find something yummy.
The Cape: Part II Listening: Today is whatever I want it to be.
When I last left you, I had gone off to dinner with Glare, Totoro, and Glare's parents. We went to a place called Clancy's in Dennisport, not far from where we were staying. I couldn't believe how long it had been since I had seen Glare's parents. I guess that may seem like an odd statement to those who don't know. Glare and I have been friends since freshman year of college and we have stuck it through thick and thin. And I have met her parents on a number of occasions since we met. Glare's mother even asked me to be the groomsman to walk her down the aisle at Glare and Totoro's wedding. I like Glare's parents a lot. They're very different, but really cute together. I really can't put my finger on what it is exactly that I like about them, but they're just fun to be around. Glare's mother is a riot, though most of the time she doesn't necessarily mean to be. Glare's father is just a chilled out likable guy.
Anyways we went to dinner and had a fine time eating and chatting away about everything from ideal vacations to whether it's apropriate for a thrity two year old man to date a twenty one year old girl. Good times, good times.
The next morning, we got up, and chilled for a while. Glare made up a scramble and I think I just sort of zoned out on the lazy boy chair. I think there was something on TV that I was interested in. It could have been something having to do with the Olympics.
After we all got off our asses, well, after I got off of my ass, we headed off to rent some kayaks. Yeah, kayaking! I had a great time. It was only the second time that I had ever been kayaking, but it was really easy to get a hang of the first time and even easier the second time. We paddled our way around twists and turns of a salt water river down to a beach on the ocean. On the way to the beach, we were fighting the current and the wind most of the time. At times, it was tough work going up against that wind. Of the three of us, I think Totoro had the hardest time. He attributes it to the fact that he doesn't have very god fast twitch muscle fibers. I just nod and smile. I think he was just being all leisurely. Hey, he was on vacation. He can do whatever he wants to do.
When we got to the beach, Totoro opted to stay on the beach while Glare and I went out into the ocean. I really haven't been in the ocean for a long while. I don't really count Revere Beach, because, well, it's a bay beach, not an ocean beach, and it just doesn't have the feeling that a real ocean beach has. There were shells all over the shore. I think Glare, the environmental expert, called them lady slippers or something like that. There were also clam and scallop shells as well. The beach that we were at had a number of sand bars under the water, so it was REALLY shallow for a lot of the way. It only came up to my knee or waist for yards upon yards. Sometimes the waves would come up to my chest, but never much more. I had to make a real effort to get anything above my chest wet.
It was as I was walking in this shallow water that I was scarred for life. I'm just walking along in the water, minding my own business. I can feel shells below my feet and rocks and sand, then all of a sudden... "OUCH, MOTHER Fu...uh..." I look around and see a number of kids. "reak..." Something pinched my toe and pinched it hard. It must have been a crab. I quickly went to the rocks along the shore and sat town. Surely enough, I got pinched. I spooked Glare a bit. She thought that I had been stung by a jellyfish or something. So, for the rest of the time that I was walking in the water, I was being very careful of anything that could be a crab. What was funnier was that I saw a girl run by me holding a tiny little crab. When I saw her, I said, "That's the guy that pinched me! COOK HIM!!!!!" The litte girl turned around, laughed and said, "No!" in the cutest little voice.
Before we turned back to return the kayaks, I tried to take the kayak out into the ocean a bit. I got out there, but not too far. The tide had really picked up as well as the wind and I fought a hardcore uphill battle to get even as far as I did. I did get to ride some waves back into the channel, which was fun. The ride back to the rental place was ten times quicker than getting to the beach. We had the tide and the wind so it was virtually effortless. As we passed several groups of people going towards the beach, they all commented on how it looked so much easier the way that we were going. Another funny thing was that I was passing a tandem kayak which was being paddled by a mother and a daughter. They were struggling and they pointed me out as an example of good form. I was amused. Little did they know that it was only my second time in a kayak.
The rest of the day was pretty lazy. There was a lot of lounging and a bit of cooking. After a big burger dinner, we headed off to Chatham to check out some shops and to kick around a bit. It was a pretty chilled out last night.
This morning, we got up pretty damn early, packed up the Forester and headed out of the Cape. We got out of there early enough that we beat all of the Cape traffic. It was pretty damn cool. We stopped at a place called Percey's in Plymouth for brunch before heading to Glare and Totoro's to drop stuff off.
After we dropped stuff off, Glare drove me back to my place with all of my gear. We got trapped in traffic for about an hour. A big trailer got jackknifed on 93. Luckily, 93 was only closed for one exit, so we could get off and back on and be past the road block.
The rest of the day, I chilled out at home. Even though I went on vacation, it wasn't nearly as relaxing as I had hoped. There were too many people coming and going, including me. First full day Japanaphile, second, Totoro and The Violent One, Third, me, fourth, Shaft. It was just a lot to keep track of and to worry about. I think next time we'll do it better.
Tonite, I hung out with The Violent One, Photogenic, Digitaldewi and a couple of her friends from D.C.. We went to the Enormous Room and chilled out. I had a really good time. There was a lot of catching up going on. I think it was quite a fun evening. The DJ was even good. I was psyched. I wasn't really psyched that they were projecting Ninja Scroll wall, but oh well.
At around half past midnight, The Violent One and I decided to go home and the rest went to go hang with some other people at another bar. It was a quality use of a Saturday night.
Intermission: The Show Listening: Just can't stop writing songs about you. I love you so much. I just can't wait to get my arms around you and feel your touch.
Well, I'm back on the Cape after a less than twenty four hours back at home. I was back at home by five in the evening, checked my e-mail, cleaned up my place a bit and read up on blogs. A mere hour later, TMI was at my door, with my mother and brother hot on her heels. It's amazing what kind of timing my mother and brother have. Sometimes it can be quite annoying.
A half hour later, TMI were eating dinner at subway. Fifteen minutes after that, we were in the Fleet Center listening to The New Power Generation rip shit up on stage. Prior to the concert, I was wondering who could open up for the Purple One. Now, you know it can't be some random schmo. Someone unknown would be eaten alive. I was thinking that I could be people like Alicia Keys, Jill Scott, Raphael Saadiq, Arrested Development, or someone of the like. Unfortunately none of those happened. Fortunately, the openers were the members of The New Power Generation. Back from when I saw Prince get inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame on VH1, I knew that the drummer of The New Power Generation was off the hook. He had rhythm and flair and just seemed to let loose on every single song. He layed down the foundation of funk that carried the rest of the band. What surprised me was that one of the members of the band was Candy Dulfer. I remember her name from back in the early nineties. She was a very popular sax player. I was thoroughly excited to see her play. In fact, she was a very important part of the Prince concert as well.
When Prince came out on stage, it was built up to a proper initial bang. The show started off with video of Alicia Keys's speech inducting Prince into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. It really was an amazing speech. It addressed the entire span of his career. At the end of the speech, there was Prince, in the middle of the stage in a cloud of smoke kicking into "Musicology." During that first song, he informed us that he was going to tear the roof off and he delivered as the night went on. It's really difficult to put into words what kind of performance Prince delivered, other than to say that it was THE best large venue concert that I have ever been to.
There were a lot of highlights in the concert for me. From "Musicology," he kicked straight into "Let's Go Crazy" and then a medley of a lot of his early eighties hits. I was convinced that he was just trying to get it all out of the way. I recognize that if you're an artist like Prince, you may have to play all of these obligatory songs. The medley was just a really creative way of covering all of them without disappointing. I think my favorite part of the show was the middle third of the show. He went off stage for a costume change and came back, rising from the middle of the stage on a stool that had a microphone attached to it and swiveled with an acoustic guitar. For that whole middle section of the concert he played alone, acoustic. He played songs like "Little Red Corvette," "Raspberry Beret," and "Cream." The transition song between the acoustic and the return of the full band was my personal favorite moment of the night when he sang "7." I was standing and singing at the top of my lungs. Oh, man, it was awesome. The end of his concert ended with the encore of "Purple Rain," as expected. It really was an amazing show. Another amazing part was where Prince, Candy Dulfer and the bassist (whose name I can't remember to save my life) sang "I Feel For You." Ahh it was a great night.
After I got home at around midnight and TMI was picked up around a quarter past, I settled down, did some laundry, talked to a friend from D.C. on the phone, and took care of some e-mail business. I ended up copying some recipes for my girlfriend, which hopefully she'll use. After all of that, I ended up watching the Olympics for an hour. McPeak and Youngs squeaked out a win against the Swiss and Paul Hamm won an individual all-around gold. By the time I crawled into bed, it was half past two.
This morning, I was up at half past five and I was out the door by a quarter past six. I had to catch a bus at seven to get down to Wellfleet by nine for a surf lesson. Well, the busses were late and I really didn't get down to Wellfleet until about ten. Luckily the surf wasn't very strong and the company cancelled the instruction for the day saying that it really wasn't worth it. In addition, Shaft still felt like shit. Actually, he decided to go back down to NYC this afternoon. Hopefully, he'll get back okay. He was in horrible condition when he left. to tell you the truth, I don't think that he should have been driving. But that's not really my decision. He was feeling bad enough to say that he needed to see his doctor tomorrow and he was gonna do it.
So, what was once was five then four is now three in the house. It's cool though. Glare called in the cavalry, her parents, and they're coming down for dinner tonite. Dunno what we're gonna do for dinner, but we're gonna have dinner. Should be good though. I haven't seen her parents in quite some time.
Anyways, that's it for now. Tomorrow, hopefully we'll get to go kayaking. Ahh, vacation.
The Cape: Part I Listening: Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life.
It's four o'clock in the afternoon on Wednesday. I'm on the bus from Hyannis, MA back to Boston where I'll be seeing the Purple One at around seven thirty this evening with TMI. Months ago, when we heard he would be playing in Boston, we immediately went to our computers and went to town on Ticketmaster. She was offered balcony seats and I was offered loge seats, so we took mine. Yeehaw!
So far, the Cape trip has been plagued with bad luck. It started a few weeks from a few weeks before we even went down. Originally, there was supposed to be five of us there for the entire week. Myself, Glare, Totoro, Shaft and Japanaphile. Japanaphile made the comittment before he got a job. He knew that he was gonna be looking for a job, but he decided to throw his money in anyways. A few weeks before the trip, he figured out that he was in the running for a job that would require him to skip out on the cape and it turned out that he got it. So, push came to shove and he was only able to come down for Saturday night. He may be back down on Friday night, but we don't know for sure.
Now, the plan for Saturday morning was for Shaft to be at my place Friday night, get up early on Saturday morning, pick up Japanaphile and head to Glare and Totoro's place by eight in the morning. What happened was Shaft and I got up early enough to get going. The Violent One decided that she was gonna take our ride down too, we spent too long packing the bags and so on and so forth that we didn't get to Japanaphile's place until eight, we weren't at Glare and Totoro's until nine or so and we didn't really get down to the cape until just short of noon. Yeah. We were really behind schedule.
The good thing was that the check in time was three o'clock. We ended up going to Chatham for lunch and general shopping. Shaft picked up a couple of hundred dollar pairs of sunglasses, because he has no clue what to do with the money that he makes. Japanaphile picked up a couple of things for his woman, and I looked at a birthday card for my girl. I think I'll pick it up on the way back through.
After shopping, we made it to check in right at three on the dot. Now I went down to the Cape last year with the crew and I really like the Tea House that we stayed at. This place in Dennis, though, kicks ASS! It's got modern everything, a loft, two bedrooms, a sizable living room, an amazing deck with a full six person glass patio table and a gas grill that makes ZEN!!! a happy, happy boy.
That first night, Glare and I went shopping for and made dinner. We had Jamacian Jerk Chicken, roasted potatoes filled with goat cheese and fried sage and grill toasted Portuguese Sweet Bread. I also made the sangria recipe that I got from Jaleo in DC. It was a nice dinner for six though. After dinner, we went and got ice cream from a place called Sundae School. Good stuff. After that, I passed out on the couch.
The next day, Japanaphile had to make his way back to Boston via the exact same bus that I'm on now. But before he went, we went on a litle bike ride from Dennis to Harwich. It was really cool. See, I haven't been on a bike in many, many years. But it's true what they say. You never forget how to ride a bike. It was a good time. It made me think about getting one, but then I thought to myself, where the hell would I put it. So I quickly put that thought out of my mind. It was nice though. I would one day like to ride all of the way form Dennis at the head of the trail down to P-Town at the end of the trail. The question would be: Sure, you can get down there, but can you get back up?
By the time we got back to the car, the skies were beginning to get gray. We dropped Japanphile off at the bus station and went and had some dinner in Hyannis. While in Hyannis, we did a bit of shopping. Glare and The Violent One bought candy and I bought myself a book by Ethan Hawke. We actually split up for a while and Shaft, Totoro and I got back to the cars first. So, I thought it would be funny if we moved the cars. It was great watching them look for the cars. By the time that we got back to the house, it was raining, so we spent the rest of the night watching the Olympics and drinking mojitos.
Overnight and in the morning, the skies opened up and dumped buckets upon buckes on the Cape. Needless to say, it was moist outside. Totoro and The Violent One headed back up to Boston, because Totoro had class and The Violent One had an audition in NYC the following day. Glare, Shaft and I headed over to the Mashpee Commons to go shopping. I oogled stuff in William Sonoma, but in the end the stuff that was on sale wasn't on sale enough for me. I also almost bought a pair of Quicksilver flip flops, but they didn't have the color that I wanted so I decided to say no to a pair of seven dollar flip flops that were the same make but in red. I was actually the only one not to buy anything. Glare bought Totoro a t-shirt and she bought herself a pair of shorts. Shaft bought himself a pair of shoes, a pair of flip flops and a pair of shorts.
The rest of the night, Glare, Shaft and I watched the Olympics. I have to say that I am kind of a whore for the Olympics. I don't care what even is on, I'll watch it. We're talking gymnastics, equestrian events, sailing, canoe and kayaking, swimming, anything. I think my favorites this time around are beach volleyball and the swimming. I have developed a distain for Michael Phelps because he seems like an arrogant piece of shit predicting seven golds. Kosuke Kitajima has been really shady witht he little dolphin kick after the turn in the 100M breast stroke prelim. I really also don't dig the strategy that McPeaks and Young have been using in their beach volleyball games. They make it so that only one of them is an offensive player. It's so lame. It's like overcompensating for a weakness. There are also some athletes that I really dig. Some of my favorite people of the games this time around are Mohini Bhardwaj of the US Gymnastics team, May and Walsh of US Beach Volleyball, and Lenny Krayzelburg.
The next morning, Shaft was feeling like ass. He didn't really leave the couch all day. It was a bit crappy in the morning, but Glare and Totoro decided to head down to a beach in Chatham and I decided to stay behind, nap, watch the Olympics (I told you I was a freak.), and read my book out on the porch while drinking a beer once the weather got better. It was a good time. I burned through my entire book in a day. I haven't done that in a long, long time. I have never just sat still and read an entire book. I can't remember the last book that I did that to.
Today, after a brief breakfast, the four of us took off to go biking again. Shaft still felt like ass, but he sucked it up to go biking just because he couldn't stand to be in the house any longer. We rode from Dennis to Brewster and back. It was a really nice ride again, but by the end, Shaft was finished. He needed to go home. So, while Glare and Totoro drove me to the bus, he went home to sleep. It sucks that he's sick, but I think that if he took care of himself better, it wouldn't be a problem.
So, here I am now, on the bus (and this will be posted once I get home), waiting to get home to check my e-mail and to go see The Purple One, his higness, PRINCE! So psyched. Stay tuned, folks.
Silly Gooseberry Listening: Now and then when I see her face, she takes me away to that special place and if I stared too long, I'd probably break down and cry.
I am counting down the days until I get to go to Cape Cod with a few of my closest friends in the world. I am COUNTING THE DAYS. Today, I was pretty lucky and I got away with only one or two things not making sense. I talked to the guy who checks my work and told him that I really needed to start learning more of the whys and hows of the job so that I can get my ass to Europe. He seemed very receptive and started showing me a few things. He pointed out how some of the info breaks down so that I can start solving more of my own problems.
Anyways, I have been looking forward to this Cape trip for quite some time. Glare, Totoro and I have been talking about it for what it seem like six months or so. This week is the last push. I've been scrounging for all sorts of food ideas. Today's big ideas involved cold soups. I have always been thinking about gazpatcho, but after looking at some stuff on allrecipes.com, I started thinking about other cold soups like some cucumber soups and also some vichyssoise. I have to be honest, I LOVE cold soups. I don't know why. It's something that happened in the last few years. Actually, most of my foodie-ness really exploded over the past four or five years. I still need to hook up some stuff to make my own jerk seasoning for the grill and I need to pick up a bunch of stuff that I don't want to have to buy down on the Cape.
Though I don't know who will be down there during the week, I'm pretty happy with the core group who will be in the house. We all like good food and we all are chill folks. Of course, I wish that my girl was going down with me, but we already had our weekend in New Hampshire. I know that if she could go she would be going down with us. I think Booch may be coming down for a night. I think that The Violent One may come down for a night as well.
I'm really excited to get to do some cooking and also to learn how to surf. Shaft is gonna be coming with us for the entire week and he's bringing his two surfboards. I am psyched. I think there could be some sea kayaking as well. Psyched, I tell ya. Psyched.
So, it's late now and I have a couple of things to do before I go to sleep. They're things that I should have done while I was lounging around on my couch. Oh well, though. I'll check in at least one more time before I head down to Cape Cahhd.
You Can't Escape Idiocy Listening: Now I’ve lost the plot. I’m not the hero I could be, but not the dog I was. Kind of common cry, Kind of common living lie. Color my fast fading heart.
Work, work, work... It dominates a life. If you're a normal human being, or rather an ordinary human being, because the extraordinary people either work more or less, you work eight hours a day. If you're lucky but still ordinary, you work seven hours because you get a forty-five minute lunch and a fifteen minute coffee break. If you're lucky and you don't give a shit, you could work six and a half hours a day, because you take a half hour coffee break and an hour lunch. Me, I work seven hours usually. Sometimes more, sometimes less.
Back before I made my lateral move to the other side of the business, I used to see people from my current side of the equation come over to people on my old side of the equation and ask us to re-do things or ask them for more details. I used to say to myself, "Well, for fuck's sake... Do they not know what the hell is going on? Do they just not get it?" Well, the truth of the matter is that neither people know what's going on. Now that I have seen both sides, I can say that with all honesty. Apparently, there is so much turnover on my current side of the business that they just don't seem to take the time to teach everything that needs to be taught. And what my old side doesn't understand is that the things that don't affect them are the things that gives us conniption fits.
Today, I had to go down to my old neck of the woods and go harass this girl who is about as intelligent as a bag of carrots. I asked her to re-do three things that were all the same. So I asked her, very politely I might add, "So, before you go out and do these things, do you go and check these to make sure they're right?" Her response was (get this...), "Umm... yes, but I'm not very good at it. I'm just learning..." Let's replay that: "Umm... yes, but I'm not very good at it. I'm just learning..." If it's all the same thing and it's happened three times today, two times yesterday and a couple of times the day before, wouldn't you think that YOU WOULD HAVE LEARNED BY NOW?!?! Oh yes, I forgot. You're "just learning." Clearly the lights are on, but no one is home. I think that her brain has defaulted on her body's mortgage. Hopefully she'll be foreclosed on and we'll get a new resident. Seriously. You know I don't understand. When I was back there, I never had people coming over to ask me to re-do things or even explain things all that often, but it seems like I'm having to do it all of the time. If people just knew what they were doing, then this shit wouldn't have to happen. It was because of her that I almost missed my end all and be all deadline.
Other than that, my day was pretty okay. Everything else was working. I had an interesting chat with a couple of people that I work with. It turns out that they're from Hanover, MA, a place where I spent the first six years of my life. They knew the guy I used to hang out with who lived down the street from me, the girl who I played with a whole lot, who I remember had this room with a vaulted ceiling like an attic where we used to play, and the girl I was "in love with" when I was five years old. It was pretty entertaining. The girl who sits behind me who is from Hanover gets IMs from the guy who lived down the street from me all of the time. It was very strange. I was so weirded out that I had to call up Glare, because she too is from Hanover, to tell her.
Continuing in my effort to take things easy, I stayed home tonite, yet again. I napped out for an hour or so after I got home, made myself some dinner and watched some TV. I cruised the internet and just took it easy. I think I'm going to do some reading before sleep too. Gonna call it an early night. I'm sleepy as hell anyways. Hopefully tomorrow's workday will be better. I have my eyes on the prize and I have to just push through and get my ass to Europe or bail and go to California Culinary Academy. Eyes on the prize, eyes on the prize. Don't lose heart. Tuck your chin and push through.
A Means To An End, But Regret Is The Interim Result Listening: While we're talking about all of the things that I long to believe about love and the truth and what you mean to me and the truth is baby you're all that I need.
Work from Thursday through Monday has been a complete bitch. I mean, it has been horrible. It started with things not matching up and no one being able to give me a clear reason why. In addition to this, my counterparts were fucking things up and I had to tell them that they were doing it wrong. Deadlines weren't met, but luckily my end all and be all deadlines were. But, I have to say that it bothered the hell out of me. I don't like it when my work gets fucked up because someone else isn't doing their job properly. Today was actually my first decent day in a while. I finished all of my month end reporting today and began clean-up on my desk. I have papers from the past month all over the place and I just need to archive it all. I guess I've been on edge a bit at work lately. One of my co workers looked at me and said, "Dood, are you alright? You look like you're about to have a heart attack!"
So, yeah, I've been on edge a bit lately. The new job is just "do this, do this, do that," without any logical reasoning behind what I'm doing or how things work. It's altogether very frustrating. Nothing makes sense. Things are pie in the sky, and no one seems to be able to explain anything sufficiently enough for me to fine tune anything to the perfection to which I like. Yesterday (Monday) was so bad that I could barely speak coming out of work. I got home, sent The Violent One and Japanaphile to the grocery store for provisions and popped open a beer while I checked my e-mail. During the day, I got several IMs and phone calls that I really wanted to take, but I was like, "Hey. Sorry. Can't talk. Getting bogged down by work. Gotta go. Laterz." I did, however, get to talk to my girlfriend for a decent amount of time spread out over the day/night. It's difficult figuring things out with the time difference. She did make me feel a bit better about my day though.
So last night, I cooked dinner for The Violent One and Japanaphile. Simple stuff. I really didn't feel too much like cooking, but I really didn't want to go out either. My mother and brother also rolled up into town last night. They brought up a set of dishes for me. Now I have plates that are actually big enough to plate a whole meal. Thank goodness. The little oblong plates that I have been using just haven't been cutting it lately. It barely fits a chicken breast and a scoop of rice. There's no real room for a vegetable without piling it on. Very happy to have it. Props to the 'rents.
Tonite, I spent in. I needed a downtime night. Come to think of it, starting with the girl exit, I have been going no stop. First, Montreal. Then, a work week with all sorts of stuff happening at night from dancing to making dinner with friends to going out to dinner with friends. And then this past weekend I was in NYC to chill with my pal Shaft and to see FKB play at the dragon boat festival.
Speaking of NYC, I had a really good trip. I went to see "Harold And Kumar Go To White Castle" with some of the band members, The Violent One and Fester. It was funny as hell. It was stupidly funny with an intelligent commentary on racial stereotypes. A very good movie. This coming from a guy who doesn't spend his money on shitty movies (aside from the Star Wars prequels and "Matrix: Reloaded").
I also took Shaft and The Violent One to Australian Ice Cream & Chocolates. See, I had the Australian Ice Cream back when I was in Amsterdam with Raver Girl for the Dance Valley #09 Festival. I loved that ice cream so much. I had hazelnut, pistachio and almond ice creams while I was there and I fell in love. It is hands down the best ice cream that I have ever had in my entire life. It beats out Christina's, Toscanini's, JP Licks, Ben & Jerrys and Emack & Bolio's. So good. I brought Carpenter back a set of chocolates as a travel gift, because he's a whore for chocolate way back then. On one of his last trips to NYC, he told me that he saw a place with the same logo, and low and behold, they had, in fact, opened a location in the United States. I was so happy. It was one of my goals this weekend to hit this place up. And I did. I was a bit disappointed by their flavour selection. I saw in the case that they had the hazelnut in the pint, but none for the scoops. *sniffle* I guess I'm just going to have to go back.
But anywas, tonite was nice and relaxing. I folded some laundry, watched some TV, played phone tag with a friend in La La Land and now, it's two in the morning. It's time for me to sleep. Hopefully I'll finish off all of the cleaning of my cube and I'll clear out some stuff from underneath my desk. I'm also having lunch with a friend of mine from swing dancing. Since the last time that I hung out with her, she has gotten engaged, married, and has bought a condo. Kind of like a number of my friends these days. So sleep now.
