My brother’s here for a few days, so here’s downstairs crashing on the comfy sofa. Every time I sleep on said sofa I end up freezing to death. I always feel like an ice cube these days even though it might be a balmy 45 degrees. It’s about 2am right now and I just watched three Food Network shows. There’s something pretty cool about these small diners that offer cheap, good food in places like Kansas or Oklahoma. Maybe I’m just looking for some sunshine and tornadoes.
the more things change, the more the cavs do nothing than ride LeBron until it breaks or leaves for another team. like phoenix.
I never could figure out what that song lyric from “I Confess” by the English Beat means. I really love the song, yet for all I know, they could be musing about Princess Margaret’s underwear or the World Cup. The song seems as fresh today as I first heard it back in high school. (Wait, it might’ve been post-high school now that I think about it. Class of ‘84, anyone?)
This three day weekend thingie went by far too quickly. I blinked and it was Monday at 7pm. I might take solace in the fact that I worked by butt off in the backyard pulling weeds and wrastling with morning glory that found no twig that it couldn’t intertwined with.
I need to tell myself that it’s a short week and that Friday will be here soon enough. The job has gotten a little better and I like the people I work with but a monkey’s job is still a monkey’s job. At least they have plenty of places that sell coffee, right?
I just came home from picking my brother up from the truck storage place. I think he’ll be a week or so.
I’ve been feeling like an idiot all day. Basically, I got a cheap laptop for my other brother. I called home and my day, who’s sick, told me that I was foolish. It didn’t click in until much later. My dad doesn’t usually say thing like that to me. He wasn’t in on the conversation with my either of my brothers. Was it really foolish or am I foolish for letting something affect me? It reminds of the time that I made the cardinal sin of buying a friend a portable CD player. She wanted one and I sent her one because it was one of those rare times when I (1) knew that something was needed and (2) could fulfill that need. Could I afford that CD player back then? I like to think so since I did buy it. Said friend never said that I was foolish but she didn’t have to. Since then, I’ve really held back from buying things for people. I’m not so flushed with cay-sh that I can buy the world a bunch of Xboxes. Perhaps it’s just a fear of rejection or overreaction on my part. Who knows, you know?
I wonder if yours truly has ruined three lives. You could probably find three people who’d attest to that, but I don’t know of three people. College girlfriend? Last girlfriend? Friend who almost got a CD player but felt compelled to send it back? Although I’m a scorpio, I really hate telling people what to do (aside from not voting republican). If I was some sort of puppetmaster who basks in setting people’s lives on a certain course, then yes, I could’ve ruined them.
It’s about 7pm and I’m bored. There’s around 7 or 8 little girls downstairs watching “Phantom of the Opera.” So much for the BBQ that I was going to do, right? I rushed to the store to buy all this stuff and i guess, well, you know how it goes.
One of the things that I noticed around here is that more and more things are closing for second-tier holidays. Places close at 5pm because it’s: Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Guy Fawkes Day, Boxing Day, Office Whipping Boy Day, etc. Does anyone want to MAKE MONEY? Think about it: people who work in SERVICE JOBS make money by the hour. No clock in/out, no Silver Surfer Quarter. So all day I’ve had to go CAFFEINE-LESS because Gypsy Beans, the coffee house that’s literally Around the Corner, is closed for Memorial Day. Do I see an “Impeach Bush” poster on the window? Do I see a “Barista Broke Up With Her Boyfriend Can’t Come In Today” post-it note? Right. Just a couple of weeks ago I walked over there one lazy Sunday with my brother and his friend only to see said coffee sellers locking up the door. You can’t possibly be closing at 4pm for Mother’s Day! Hasn’t anyone ever heard of a belated phone call or bouquet of flowers? I’m all for living La Vida European and closing up shop for the almighty afternoon siesta, but at least let me prepare for it. Let me slowly accept the errors on my capitalistic ways so that I can embrace the sugarcoated conformity of the EU and China/Japan/Korea nexus. Anyway, if I owned a store, it’s be open. It’d be open LATE because I’m a night person and we’re bent like that.
Here in C-Town, late is officially defined as 6pm.
Another person wants to mooch of my books. I’m always surprised when someone wants to read a book that I own, or in this case, have possession of. I stopped changing my “away” message on Yahoo IM at work because people started to irritate me when they asked me what “Show me how you do that trick” or “Shake the disease” meant. Kids.
I want to go on a really long walk. A really long one. My ipod’s battery life is shorter than the Yankee’s playoff hopes, so maybe I’ll have to walk sans tunes.
Ok, so it’s been like 2000 days since my last post/confession/sexual escapade. As I scribble this I’m waiting for my cup of Yogi Sleepytime tea to cool down. I’m such a wimp when it comes to drinking hot beverages. I renewed this account here at bluehost.com for another year. I guess I’ve always had Big Plans for this, that and the other. I cooked some hamburgers on the BBQ tonight but I kept thinking about how effete I feel, and how out of touch with even myself, if that makes a difference. I took Rocky AKA Brat AKA Poopy Boy for a walk tonight. I really don’t like the neighborhood surrounding my abode because it’s so dirty. And dirt doth not stop Rocky from eating food that he finds on the sidewalk.
As I walked down a portion of 58th Steeet tonight, I realized that a few of the houses are empty. Yes, I’ve never been one of those people - how should I say? - notices stuff. One house had a mailbox overflowing with mail as well as yellow and white notes that were posted on the window. I wonder if Cleveland still leads the county in the number of foreclosures. The house next to me is empty because of said foreclosure. What’s almost painful is seeing that empty house with stuff that I gave to the previous owner. There’s that chair set on the porch sans cushions. And the cheap wooden seat thingie I assembled for the kid who wanted to give his mom a present. I know I can always walk over there and reclaim this stuff, but I don’t, and I won’t.
My brother should be back in C-Town next week with one of his bestfriends in tow. Said bestfriend was living a motel with his mom and stepdad. Yes, another foreclosure or episode of Life in LA Sucks. This laptop that I’m using THIS VERY SECOND is my brother’s. I like the touch of the keyboard but hate Vista because of the annoying sidebars and popups not to mention the slow boot-time. Someone at work mentioned that Vista can boot quicker if one jams in a bunch of USB 2.0 thumbdrives. Makes sense but nothing is every fast enough aside from getting aroused from a lesbian scene in the movies. Since I don’t get Skinemax anymore, this is only a guess.
I want to make almond biscotti but I’m too tired. I also wanted to read a little bit tonight but I only made it as far as the sofa chair where I spent an hour watching a combination of the Spurs-Nuggets game and Survivorman. I totally forgot that there was an Indians game on TV too. I still have the 2 opening day tickets on my fridge. I called yesterday and a woman said I can trade them in for another game but I have to do it at the main ticket office at the Jake. Lovely. I hate going into downtown. It’s dirtier than my neck of the woods. Anyway….
I’ve been cutting away drywall for the past hour. Upside down. This 100 year old house has more leaks than HP’s board of trustees. There’s also a good chance that some pipe or fixture will leak again thus ruining all my hardwork. I guess a house has a better chance of being sold if there are holes in the rough. Or dead bodies. If the drywall wasn’t all crumbly, I think it would be pretty easy to X-acto knife whatever geometric shapes suit one’s fancy.
I have the baseball game keeping me company, but I really can’t get into the National League. The only series that had any attraction was one that afforded the joy of watching the NY Spankees lose to some upstart cats.
Work - yes, I have a new job - has been uber busy though I keep feeling that I really haven’t done anything. It’s a mess, at least from my tiny vantage point. The one nice thing is that it’s not in Cleveland but 30 miles south in some semi-bucolic city where there’s nary a graffito or drug deal in progress. And there is a nice independent coffee house there. There ain’t anything near me except the usual Starbucks/Caribou/Paneras axis of evil.
I did notice that today was October 17. It often hits me like a ton of bricks, and I keep waiting for it to fade….away. No, it wasn’t a hurricane or tornado. It wasn’t anything, really.
I got a call from someone wanting a job reference for an old colleague of mine. I always feel strange that anyone would want to hear my opinion. I don’t know if the positions were reversed if I would check anyone’s references. If I were to say “Make the world a better place” and he/she replied, “hit A-Rod in the face” I’d make a job offer right there on the spot.
Song of the day: Ship of Fools by World Party
I had to get up at the butt crack of dawn today because I got a speeding ticket and had to go to court. I don’t know if the Mayor’s Court is a real court since the mayor (?) wasn’t wearing any robes. I was a little bummed that the bailiff didn’t say “oyez!” or “hear ye!” Hell, I would’ve settled for a “here come da judge!” If I had the money, I probably would’ve paid the damn fine, but I pleaded no contest like the impoverished loser that I am. I seem to get a ticket every 5 years, and this last one was definitely dubious with a bike cop literally hiding behind the bushes. Isn’t there any kiddie porn criminal to catch? You’d think that the world is chock full o’ em if you believed the media. My brother the truckdriver has always had much worse luck with John Q. Laws which pretty much proves that reincarnation exists. My big task today is to finish cleaning out his room even if he won’t be back for a few more weeks because: 1. I’m a masochist, 2. I like to hurt myself, and 3. I can resist anything but the temptation of reading.
I think I need to break out my winter clothes because it’s been far too cold and cloudy lately. Is this how we all get older by ending up with the heaters perpetually set to 80 degrees? I’ve been wearing shorts or jeans and freezing my butt off. Time to replace one set of slacker attire for another, I suppose.
Song of the day: Where Does the Good Go by Tegan and Sara
I wonder if I should buy a frame for my diploma (which is on top of the fridge, I think) or realize that the ONE SHARE of Starbuck’s stock can live a happy life with something in front of it. I’ve never understood why some of the better frames cost so much money. Maybe I’m just cheap and maybe I’m simply sans job. I have no idea if I’ll ever use a B.A. in history. Maybe this fossil will get a tax credit once the democrats win Congress.
I had to wire my brother $100. He said that he had exactly $10. I’m not sure when he’ll get paid but he was able to open a bank account located, appropriately enough, inside a Dallas Wal-mart. They don’t have SUPA WAL-MARTS here in C-town, but I have been to one in Birmingham, AL. Ah, the deep south, as if that was only last year. My brother is waiting to get a trainer assignment, and then he’ll get to spend the next couple of months on the road driving a big rig truck. I think I have a better temperment for something like that (being a loner and all), but I’m glad he’s actually doing something rather than take his cue from me. I talked with him today and he said it hit 106. I think it was 82 here. If only the Tribe could win that many games this season.
I know it’s not that hot here in C-town, but I’m drenched nevertheless. I think it’s the high humidity. A part of me thinks that sweating = losing weight, but I know better. I’m not sure when I’ll ever get around to starting a diet. I think it’s hard for me because I really don’t have much to do, or rather, I’m not slaving over a plow or computer. Speaking of the latter, there’s absolutely no computer jobs in C-town. None. Zip. Nada. I really need to find something else. Anything else. And I don’t think a history degree is going to help one iota. I’m off to paint some wood trim thingies. I had meant to do this like 2 years ago but, well…
I talked to my brother today and he seems to be enjoying his first week of truck driving school. He has like a month there in the STL and then he spends the rest in Dallas. At least they put everyone up at a motel with AC: a much better deal than the natives who are sans electricity and avec 100 degree weather.
I had to log onto my brother’s email account to retrieve the # of this friend of his. I don’t want to say that she’s WACKED, but she is. I’ve never met her but I think they go way, way back, and she now lives in NM. Texas, NM, hmm. I think Jimmy has better sense than hooking up with someone whose spent more time on the lam than Scott Wieland and Leif Garrett combined.
I found out that my DNA is haplogroup is E3b which means I came out of NE Africa, or rather, some ancestors did maybe 30,000 years ago.
I wonder why some of my CDs are empty. As I go through the very dusty boxes and bags, I sometimes find empty cases without a CD. It’s strange because I can’t think of anyone who’d want just the CD and not the case. I suspect that the CDs have been doubled up in other cases, so I basically have to go through every one. Yeah, there’s something that I look forward to with vim and vigor.
I don’t know if my brother will be around the next couple of days; that is, I’m not sure if we’re going to see Clerks 2. I can’t remember who I saw the first movie with, just that it was funny. Maybe I’ll catch a matinee or something. Watching movies has lost its luster. Then again, a lot of things have.
It’s cooled down a little here in C-town. It’s still humid enough to sweat a small lake if you take out the trash, but it’s a little better than that 95 degree furnance the other day. Since my brother is hopping on a Greyhound to the STL, I wonder if I should tell him that there’s a good chance that 1. It’ll be 100 and 2. there’s no power or A/C. When I lived in St. Louis ten years ago, it was incredibly hot. I just remember driving with my windows down (no A/C) and drinking a lot of Big Gulps. I don’t think there are any 7-elevens in C-town, just gas station convenience stores that reek of cigarettes and burned coffee grounds.
This weekend I get to help babysit a 2 year old for a couple of hours. I think I do well with kids right up until the age where they can talk coherently. I’m one of those people who doesn’t talk in babytalk or dumb things down. I even talk to the two cats here like adults cats not kittens. Maybe it’s because I don’t remember my grandfather ever dumbing things down. I wish I could be as laidback as he was. I’m far too tightly wound.