| Grumpus Strikes (my) Back |
[Jul. 17th, 2009|10:24 am] |
Lately my back has been aching like I'm an old man. I know it is related to my posture at work as I slump in my chair a lot... it is my standard "I've been beaten by this job" pose. It makes doing anything that requires sitting more and more uncomfortable. It isn't a sharp agonizing pain, just a dull ache that won't go away no matter what I do. It leads to fantasies of me floating in zero-g.
I am way under motivated and it is affecting my mood. Being at home at night, I can't get around to doing some very important tasks, like making dinner and doing dishes. At least if I don't make dinner, I don't have dishes to clean.
I'm finding myself once again wishing this year was over. I really need things to look forward to instead of dreading or see as obligations. Anything positive I do for myself comes with a massive amount of guilt that I should be doing something for someone else instead.
Did you know July is DM appreciation month? Urge to game increasing!
Things To Look Forward To...
1. Swimming in Canyon Ferry Lake again
2. Piecing together a RenFair pirate costume by end of fair season.
3. WindyCon
4. Making a SteamPunk costume by November.
5. MovieCamp - getting together with a bunch of people and just making a bunch of short films.
I really need to find time to go camping again. |
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| Montana Bound |
[Jul. 15th, 2009|09:44 am] |
I just purchased my airplane ticket to go to Montana in August. <standard lament> One year I'll pay all this money to go someplace different. </standard lament>
This is going to be a pure family trip. I can't afford to rent a car to go to Missoula this time, so that will sort of suck, but really the purpose of the trip is to spend time with my Mom. Her cancer isn't responding to treatment and the prognosis isn't good. Everyone else got together with her over 4th of July. I had planned to come back to Montana last year for the 20th year reunion so have stuck to that original plan.
Flying in on the 5th and leaving on the 10th. I'm giving myself a day before and the day after for rest and relief. |
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| Wheee! kend. |
[Jul. 13th, 2009|07:38 am] |
Friday - Friday night was a low key night. I watched TV, picked up some Chinese food and waited for Marie to drive into the city. We then watched a few more episodes of Dollhouse.
Saturday - Up early, a small breakfast of tea/coffee yogurt and granola before hitting the road to Walgreens to pick up sunscreen and bugspray before driving to Bristol for RenFair. It was a beautiful day. We grabbed more breakfast at the bakery, watched shows, wandered about and generally had fun. Marie got a beautiful blue corset with a collar, it is an interesting fun design that we both agreed was quite versatile. We got back home and went out for dinner before coming home, watching the last episode of Dollhouse and then playing some video games before crashing.
Sunday - Sunday was all about crashing. We slept in, dragged our lazy butts from bed, went to Cafe Salmarie for breakfast where I ate super rich french toast with marscapone cheese and berries. We came back and fell asleep. Marie finally escaped and went home and I did my laundry. The Roots festival made finding parking impossible and I fear I may have a ticket since I had to park on Western. |
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| The Death of Parking Karma |
[Jul. 9th, 2009|09:13 am] |
The sign outside of my favorite coffee shop said "Welcome to the neighborhood, paybox. Your friend, The sign" To truly understand this you have to have a relationship with the sign. The sign has a personality. The sign not only sells the goods inside the store but is like a happy go lucky character sitting outside on the sidewalk smiling at everyone who walks by.
The paybox, on the other hand, is the destruction of parking karma in Chicago. It didn't hit me until yesterday that with parking meters gone, there is no way to pay tribute to the parking gods. Whenever you leave time on the meter, you are paying tribute to the parking gods. What does this tribute give you? Well, it helps you find rockstar parking. Sometimes it lets you park at a meter, not put in money, and avoid getting a ticket.
The removal of the meters means there is no way to pay tribute to the parking gods and thus, the death of parking karma in Chicago.
Modern philosophers may have killed God, but Daley killed the modern gods. |
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| Three Days To Monday |
[Jul. 6th, 2009|06:30 am] |
Thursday night I gathered with a group of college friends to fete a friend visiting from D.C. It was a good time but much as I feared, conversation jumps to common denominators which at this stage in life tends to be about children, the raising and keeping of. Waking up Friday was difficult since I was out a bit too late Thursday night and was really tired. I did some cleaning and shopping for Saturday. Marie came over Friday night, it was kind of late, and we watched Watched a few episodes of Dollhouse since she hadn't seen them and I love watching them.
Saturday morning we walked down to the North Center farmer's market which didn't have a lot of vendors since it was July 4th. We picked up a collection of foods for breakfast. On the way home we stopped at Jewel to pick up more stuff for Rani's bbq later that day. We got home, made breakfast, watched more Dollhouse, made salads, watched more Dollhouse and then packed everything up in Marie's Suzuki to go over to Rani's. Due to the rain I doubted we'd actually be grilling or else I had this nightmare vision of my having to be down in the backyard, going back and forth with food from the grill. That was not the case. The rain relocated the bbq to Rani's apartment. There was a lot of salads, chips, etc. and we used a grill pain to cook up the Johnsonville's. We stayed until 8 or so and Marie and I came home to watch more Dollhouse until midnight when we both were falling asleep on the sofa.
Sunday I made pancakes and Marie went home. I got my laundry done and decided that I the build up to grill left an unfulfilled need in me so while my laundry was cycling I went to Jewel, picked up hamburger patties and a pork tenderloin. I came home, fired up the grill, and cooked up all the meat which will be my lunches and dinner for the week.
RenFaire starts next weekend! |
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| The Long Dark Weekend of the Soul |
[Jun. 29th, 2009|06:06 am] |
Friday... I got home from work and started playing with my video editing software to refamiliarize myself with it and ended up recutting a movie I made a long time ago but it was too long for YouTube. My recut version is under the 10 minute mark and was able to be uploaded: He's Got Jokes.
Marie wanted to come into the city for her birthday celebratin and I offered my place as a gathering point. That meant I needed to do some cleaning. So that was also done Friday night. I didn't do a very thorough job.
Saturday... I was up nice and early did my laundry, finished cleaning (though still had dirty dishes, I don't know how that happens). Marie arrived after 2pm, we went out for sushi, came back to my place had a margarita, Rani and Robert showed up, wedding talk ensued, Dennis showed up, we ran out of cider, then Dennis, Marie and I headed off to the Grafton. Then to Turkish Cuisine. Then to Hopleaf where we ran into Trey and two of his friends. I overindulged by an estimation of 2.5 beers. I wasn't sick or drunk-druink but I was definitely sluggish. So Marie didn't have to worry about getting home she was crashing at my place.
Sunday... I was starving so I dragged Marie to an all you can eat brunch buffet. Since I had all my chores done and Marie didn't have anything to do, we hung out most of the day, watching TV and movies. Rani contacted Marie and invited her over. I tagged along - it was a good reason to get out and I could make sure Marie got there without getting lost. After snacking with them, Marie needed to get home so I spent the rest of the night watching Angry Video Game Nerd videos.
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| Finales |
[Jun. 24th, 2009|08:11 am] |
I finished my 9-part series on Defending My Life (http://www.seandfrancis.com/grand-salon/defending-my-life-the-ninth-but-not-last-day-of-facing-my-fears/) and am taking a certain amount of pride in it. Pride in what I'm accomplishing and pride in actually completing a half-assed project. Not that I really thought about this when I started, I just sort of jumped into it, which is what this is all about.
I've started, 1.5 years early, to plan my 40th birthday party. Never too soon, is what I have to say. Or more likely, in the field of weddings, anniversaries, baby births, graduations et. al. I need something for myself. Selfish? Yes. But I never claimed to be otherwise.
Over the past ten days, I've done a fairly decent job in writing something everyday, sometimes writing a lot in one day, sometimes only 500 words. It is a pattern I wish to continue but I can't follow up Defending My Life with another self indulgent series and while I enjoy writing my analysis of Worldly Wisdom, it doesn't attract as many readers and I think it is best served out in small doses.
I really need to work on a video project again. CABAMF! went kablooey! - I think it is one of those things that I approached half-assed and really needed all of my ass to be done properly. It may be a good mid-Winter thing, a reason to be indoors and watch stupid movies.
My schedule is getting a wee bit tight and that doesn't make me happy. I don't like having back to back events but I will muddle through.
June 27th - Marie's birthday party (I really have to stop hanging out with women I can't date, it is taking a toll on my ego)
July 2nd - the gang is meeting out at Melinda's to see Ken
July 3rd, 4th, 5th - I'm not sure what I'm doing - I may use this as people avoidance weekend
July 9th - Bachelor/Bachelorette party meeting
I get nervous when I have too much stuff piled on top of each other like this because the random stuff that I don't actually schedule gets squished and I get grumpy as that is the stuff that keeps me sane. Like doing laundry every weekend is a big 'this makes Sean calm and docile' event because it is the one aspect of maintenance in my life to which I do attend.
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| A Post From Fake Uncle Sean |
[Jun. 22nd, 2009|07:58 am] |
Friday - It was a long hard slog getting home in the middle of the rainstorms. The Peterson ramp from the expressway was nearly flooded, I was able to get off there by riding on the upper shoulder of the ramp. It was stupid to do but I sort of committed myself to it and couldn't back out. There was also a location on Peterson that I was unsure if my car would make it through. A few cars had pulled off and were assessing the situation. I followed in the wake of a truck. That is a whole new meaning to drafting. Marie sent me a text wanting to know if I wanted to go see a movie, but there was really no way I was going to drive again. I stayed in and watched Run, Fatboy, Run which is going on my list of top 10 romantic comedies that motivate me.
Saturday - I went out to Gabby's 8th grade graduation party and had a blast. A lot more fun than I fully expected to have since, well, it is a tween-teen party. Luckily there was alcohol. For the adults. I got to learn how to score Bags and watched H2G2 outdoors. I didn't get back until just after midnight. I learned that I am referred to by Kyle and Gabby as Fake Uncle Sean, which is to distinguish me from Real Uncle Mo. The party was at Mo and Cheryl's ginormous house with the ginormous backyard.
Sunday - Up early to do laundry, then came home and futzed about most of the day before going to the Grafton for the Live Irish Session. On Sundays at 5pm musicians from the Old Town School of Music gather to play. At one point there were twelve musicians... flutists, tin whistles, guitarist, fiddlers, and a banjo. It was incredible. I got there at 4 and left after 8. While there a gentleman sat down the bar from me and was drinking Guinness. At one point he knocked his full glass over and Guinness covered the bar. I was unaffected but he insisted on buying me a drink. We spoke briefly and he is from France, lived in Chicago for 15 years and works as an artist. He went on and on about how much he loves Ireland and Irish music. It was one of those refreshing moments of meeting someone that on the surface is a stereotype (effete French artist) but on the other hand totally blows the stereotype away (effete French artist who loves living in the US and drinks Guinness while listening to lively Celtic music).
Marie and I texted back and forth a bit since next weekend is her birthday and trying to see what I was available to do. Looks like next weekend might be kind of busy.
Today, I write, finish some financial stuff, do some dishes, and quite possibly take a nap. |
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| Another Non Success Day |
[Jun. 19th, 2009|11:57 am] |
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Unless I can determine something to test my meddle against, tonight will be a rice night. I may attempt to do something solo tonight. I can't stay out too late since I have Gabby's graduation party tomorrow. |
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| Potato |
[Jun. 18th, 2009|03:21 pm] |
Struggling today to face a fear(anxiety/predisposition towards nihilism).
This is my midpoint of Defending My Life so maybe it is okay to take stock. I received a really nice message from someone from high school who has been reading the Defending My Life entries. It was heartening to say the least, as she related the fact her husband has similar issues tied to his extreme introversion.
There are a few 'real world' tests that I need to face which might be difficult in my nine days. I need to be back in a situation where I see a person I would like to talk to and actually approach that person and talk to them. Okay... her. |
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| The rewards for effort |
[Jun. 17th, 2009|02:34 pm] |
Effort? I'm overstating the event slightly. Day four of Defending My Life, I tackled making a phone call - a call to Comcast to downgrade my cable and reduce my bill. After assuring the person on the other end that I did not want to ADD HBO/SHOWTIME/Etc. to my package and that no, I did not want Comcast telephone, we finally got down to brass tacks and she gave me my current package for $40 less than what I am paying.
Hey, that is $40 more a month in my pocket (for 6 months) and then I can downgrade in 6 month's time.
It's a minor thing in the global scheme, but it is something. |
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| Help A Friend Get a Really Goode Job |
[Jun. 16th, 2009|03:40 pm] |
EDIT: The link is working now. My fault. After all these years working with websites, I still sometimes create malformed links.
So here is the deal...
a friend of mine (and yours) has entered a contest to get a job as a winery's correspondent. To get this job she needs your vote.
http://www.areallygoodejob.com/video-view.aspx?vid=OcYsDH_G1gM
Follow the link, watch the one minute video, enter your email address, and vote for ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) rubybleu !
There is not much time to vote so I'm going to flog each and every one of you to do this up until the last minute. Let loose the mice of war and click damn you, click like you've never clicked before!
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| Gizmo Fail |
[Jun. 16th, 2009|09:03 am] |
Not a good week for me and my stuff. On Sunday one of my monitors at home went dead. I had just finally recylced the old monitor that I bought this monitor to replace and now this monitor has died. Sure it has been three years or so, but dang, I expect my stuff to last longer than that. Now I'm back to a single monitor and I can't barely stand it.
NOT ENOUGH SPACE.
Then yesterday morning my tape deck in my car which I use to listen to my nano died.
The center cannot hold, all is falling apart.
I'm going to see if I can get powerful enough speakers to put in my car that I can hook my nano up to. |
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| A Weekened Among Many |
[Jun. 15th, 2009|08:01 am] |
Friday - Got off work at noon, got gas, did a quick calculation and realized that my car went from getting 21 miles to the gallon to 25 miles to the gallon. I don't know how that works... gas mileage should go down as the efficiency of the system deteriorates. It is possible that due to the muffler noise I don't accelerate as quickly as I used to and thus am getting a mileage boost through driving technique. But I doubt that. Friday night got canceled which was a good thing since I was not really in a people mood.
Saturday - Wasted Saturday. I slept pretty much all day. I'd get up, drink some water, try to read, fall asleep. I guess this caused concern in some people who had become convinced that I had fallen down the well. Saturday night I did go out to Neo. I drove, which limited my drinking opportunity but allowed me to save money on transportation (and alcohol) and get up early enough as to not waste Sunday. eminence_gris was there and did an admirable job in attempting to provide a reasonable attitude adjustment. No, the attitude adjustment was no administered through repeated blows to my head with a baseball bat while screaming "stop your fucking whining!".
Sunday - The lack of productivity on Saturday gave way to mild productivity on Sunday. Laundry and groceries were done by noon. I cleaned my kitchen, did some cooking, put all my laundry away and watched a bunch of movies: Swingers, The Anarchist Cookbook, Defending Your Life, and Slacker. Yes there was a reason for this selection. Swingers and Defending Your Life were watched for life inspiration stuff which culminated in Defending My Life - Nine Days of Facing My Fears. The Anarchist Cookbook and Slacker were watched because I started work on a story about an anarchist bookstore and wanted character inspiration. It is my first attempt at trying to write something intentionally funny.
So why the Epic Win status of the weekend? Well as this is Day 2 of Facing My Fears, I finally asked the coffee shop woman what her name is. She threw hot coffee in my face and said she'd call the cops if I ever came back. What? You don't believe me? Oh, yeah, she acted like a normal human being, extended her hand to shake mine, told me her name and I told her mine. Imagine that. Just like in the movies and books... and real life. It didn't resemble anything from my freakish nightmarish daydreams about the encounter. Of course, I beat a hasty retreat with my coffee after the exchange. I was very content with my victory and didn't want to spoil it.
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| Of Lures and Pursuers |
[Jun. 11th, 2009|08:58 am] |
I finally have my 'line', my way to leapfrog the multi-month awkward friendliness I have with the coffee shop woman. It is a wee bit hokey and a wee bit of a lie, but lies are the grease that make society comfortable to live in.
"When I saw you on the street last week, I realized I don't know your name. I'm Sean."
Yeah, I didn't just realize last week I didn't know her name but it is the perfect explanation as to why I feel a need to know her name now, versus last month, last year, etc. Of course this means I need to be in a situation where a) she isn't swamped with customers, b) she is the one waiting on me, and c) the time between the event on the street and the time I speak to her isn't so significant as it just seems weird I'm still dwelling on that moment. Arguably, a week is too long.
Contemplating this conundrum this moment led me to start thinking about the nature of male female interactions and why there is so much focus on the woman's appearance and not on the man's appearance. I mean the man's appearance definitely plays a role but there isn't an obsession about. What is obsessed about for men is the pursuit ability. We are all but bees and flowers in the grand scheme of the world.
It is rare, even in a more modernized culture where women are being treated more and more equally every day for a woman to pursue, to ask, to initiate the contact. Instead she lures and attracts men to her, enticing him to make the contact. The problem with this methodology, though it is a methodology developed through evolution so no fault of any individuals, is she can't precisely target who she wants to make contact with her. That's a convoluted sentence that shoul dbe rewritten. Oh well. So she sends out her 'attraction waves' and now must fend off pursuers she doesn't want.
Men are programmed through evolution to pursue. Men's appearance is more about 'style' than actual looks. Yes, I know I'm making huge generalities and I am going to be nitpicked to death by ever possible exception the reader comes up with but let's just stick it out and see where this premise leads. The woman has a concept of the type of man she wants to be with. That is who she hopes to attract. Now yes, there may be the very specific man she wishes to target, and at that time she focuses her attaction energy towards that one individual. In general though, it is about attracting a specific type of man and the man's appearance needs to match that style to get her attention.
A problem arises for men when they don't know if they match the woman's style choice or not. The man may begin to think he is supposed to be the one attracting the woman and failing to see the attraction signals the woman is sending out. On the other hand, the man may be completely oblivious and pursue every opportunity that presents itself and gets a significant amount of success based solely on the idea of even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile. The more the squirrel tries, the more nuts he finds. He may find more rocks than nuts but at the end of the day... he will have his nut.
The 'nice guy' problem occurs when the man sees pursuit as potentially annoying the woman. As 'nice guys' we are subjected to the horrid tales of our women friends talking about being hit on by men, how annoying it is, how a woman can't go out and not be disturbed by vulgar men. The last thing the 'nice guy' wants is to be that vulgar man who thinks just because the woman is present that she wants to be hit on.
Guess what? That is the price we pay. If men want dates they have to try and fail and if women want dates they have to be hit on and reject. This happens until a man that fits the woman's type approaches and she doesn't need to reject. So 'nice guys' need to know that they have to annoy, have to pursue, have to be spoken about as a vulgar man who hit on women whom the women have to reject in order to get anywhere.
Of course, I'm trying to use the most direct terms available, but the reality is more subtle. By initiating a more friendly contact with the coffee shop woman, I am hitting on her, though I'm not propositioning her. I'm not grabbing her ass and saying 'hey, let's party in the sheets'. I'm basically sending a signal that "I've seen your 'attraction waves' and I'm moving in closer." It is then her role to either send more waves my way or not to lure me in closer or push me away. And yes, I have to bear with the fact that maybe after I make that move, she goes in private and makes gagging motions and tells her friends that she can't believe that doofus actually hit on her.
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| Lessons from Star Trek |
[Jun. 9th, 2009|08:23 am] |
** Spoilers of JJ Abram's Star Trek Below **
This morning I was struck with a thought inspired by Star Trek and I recorded nine minutes of rambling on my commute this morning based on this thought, with the idea of turning it into a podcast.
In science fiction there is sometimes a belief that there is a True Timeline. Someone from the future comes to the past, something changes in the past that affects the future, and the story is about resolving that conflict. Star Trek as a series does this as well. In Yesterday's Enterprise, Enterprise C comes to the future, being pulled from a space battle that alters the future. Picard needs to send the ship back to its original time to put the timeline back on its proper course. In the series Enterprise, Star Fleet even created a Temporal division that monitors the timeline, keeping it True. Of course we have no idea how the events of Star Trek will affect that far future version of Star Fleet which interfered in the life of Archer... yikes, it is getting messy. I mean why didn't they swoop in to help stop 'the massive Federation changing event'? Bastards where probably too focused on watching Caesar do something.
In A Voyage Home, the crew of the Enterprise go into the past to get whales to bring to the future. During their trip they do all sorts of things that mess with the timeline. One particular thing is when Scotty gives the formula for transparent aluminum to some guy saying "how do we know he didn't invent it?" In the new Star Trek movie, Spock, flung into the past, witnessing an event that cannot be rectified begins to make choices that would have an effect on the timeline if there was a True Timeline. Spock gives knowledge to Scotty about advances in transporter technology that hadn't been developed yet, and he also manipulates people to make sure certain relationships are created. Now he does manipulate things to match his view of the relationships that need to be created. He acts in a very selfish manner, really.
The lesson is Spock makes decisions based on the here and now, not on some sense of a True Timeline. He isn't trying to adhere to an ideal, he is just making the best decisions he can. That is a lesson we all can follow. I think too often, at least I know this is true for me, I am attempting to adhere to some 'correct' path. I look at a decision with all the options and I really think there is an absolute correct choice that needs to be made. I know people act like there is a right choice. With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight they will always question and pick apart the decision made. This is part of the consequence I fear in my decision making. I always imagine courtroom scenarios where my decision making process is analyzed, scrutinized, and eventually deemed unsatisfactory. "You failed to account for the Gorilla Factor in your decision, you should have realized that the .005% chance of apes becoming sentient in ten years would be increased to .0055% if you bought Lucky Charms instead of Sugar Pops! You are a monster!"
Decisions are about doing the right thing at the moment you are in to assist in moving beyond the moment towards some particular goal. If the decision doesn't actually create a change, moves you beyond the moment, then it isn't a real decision. When ordering food at a restaurant, telling the waiter to come back in five is a decision but doesn't move the diner beyond the moment of ordering food. Thus, making the decision to delay is no decision at all. To use a driving analogy, going from point A to point B can provide many opportunities for decisions. Each intersection is a decision point. The idea is at each intersection one needs to make the decision that helps move close to point B. There are simple paths from point A to point B and there are complex paths. The only wrong path is the path that leads away from point B. Yes, the maze of decision making is more complex than how I presented it. Some decisions lead to one way streets that can't be backtracked and sometimes deadends exist. Literally. Spock couldn't change the fact that a universe altering event took place, but he could then make decisions that would create an outcome that at least salvaged something important to him - his friendship with Kirk. His point B was that friendship.
Of course the second part of all of this babble is making the decision as to what the point B should be. As with Spock, it really should be something a wee bit abstract yet simple. A friendship. A belief. A cause. Perhaps this is too nebulous... I'm not sure. I only had ten minutes in the shower to contemplate this and another nine minutes in my car. |
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| My Squee-kend |
[Jun. 7th, 2009|09:03 pm] |
Friday I left work and came home, got my haircut. The woman who cut my hair was the same woman who has cut it the past two times, including the dire OMG I'M BALD haircut I just recovered from. There was no such disasterous bit of communication this time. I like this stylist. She doesn't talk. And it isn't just with me, I saw her with two other clients a woman and a man and besides getting instructions and opinions, she just cuts the hair. I don't have to worry about having something interesting to say. I close my eyes, let her work, answer her questions about how I want my sideburns, if I want the back square or rounded, and get a weird tingly feeling whenever she says "sorry" after spraying too much water on my hair and dabbing it away with her pinky. Though she does it with the scissors in her hand and that is what makes me anxious about haircuts. But she is ... solemn, not exciteable. That makes me comfortable. So she can shave me bald and I won't hold it against her.
After the haircut I went out for lunch at the Grafton but was denied, they are still closed until 4pm on weekdays. So I went to Daily Bar, sitting outside reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I am loving this book. Whenever it gets too boring with the girls talking about marriage and how another woman is conspiring to prevent some man from expressing his love...yada yada yada... Zombie attack. Simple trips between estates on their way to balls turn into "And zombies attack." While having a beer, eating a burger the cute girl from the coffee shop walked by and waved. As she was waving the waitress asked if everything was ok and I had this moment of craziness since I was having a private conversation in my head where I was actually talking to the cute girl so I responded to the waitress with what I was thinking. She must have thought I was crazy since it was such a weird nonsequitor. Oh well.
I took a nap and did get some writing done.
Saturday I was non productive and went downtown to meet Marie for the book fair. We didn't get rained on too much. I didn't find any books that I really wanted but a lot of books I'd like to have. We had drinks at various places and ended up seeing Star Trek, second time for both of us.
Sunday I woke up bright and early to do laundry. On my way to the laundromat a sign that normally warns of road construction ahead had been hacked to warn of zombies instead. As I drove past it I was sad I didn't have my camera. I suddenly took a left turn and drove back home. I grabbed my camera and tripod. Damnit, such moments cannot slip by me!
( See The Picture )
I bought my groceries and decided I was going to make sauce because when Becca was here we watched a few shows that focused on Italian cooking and I felt a need to reconnect to some basic cooking techniques that I've let slide to the wayside. Far too much reliance on the jar for spaghetti sauce. I also bought some brats. I need brat grilling practice because I tend to burn them. Really what happens is I don't give them the attention they deserve when I'm grilling because I'm doing too much at once. Marie pointed that out to me when I was grilling for folks on Memorial Saturday. I rush about too much. So the goal was to truly tend to the brats and get them grilled perfectly. This was also done by playing with coal placement and instead of one solid layer of heat, I created one quaarter of the gril with a stack of coals that flared out, creating two quarters that were moderate heat and a cold zone with no coals I could put the brats on when they were done but needed to be kept warm. It was brilliant.
Didn't get the writing I wanted done, just added 600 words to my horror story and several thousand on another project. Also watched Spider-Man 3 and Hancock. Ending the weekend with Amelie. au revoir.
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