Day 14.

Happy Halloween. My favorite holiday, except this is the first year I didn't dress up - unless you count getting dressed up for church, in which case I guess I did.

My mom and I sat there and heckled the sermon. My dad slept. It was church as I remember it, except there were no conventional hymns, just contemporary music with the full band and a video slide presentation. It was creepy. The sermon was all about shedding individuality and becoming a mindless drone. I brought this up in my heckling and my mom agreed. We were going to harass the pastor, but he made himself scarce at the end instead of thanking us all for coming. I thought that strange as well...

My fiancé tells me she's ready to come home. I'm ready for her to come home, too.

We had no trick-or-treaters tonight. I guess that's okay, because I totally spaced on buying candy.

Well, time to watch the news and hit the sack. Only another 48h until the bunny comes back from foreign soil... I might as well sleep and work away as much of that time as possible.

Day "Baker's Dozen".

It's been a long time since I just hung out at the Seattle Center. I was there for nearly two hours today, since the band was meeting there for a nice free rockstar lunch. Whatever beer that was, by the way, tasted like ass...

I watched the International Fountain for a while. It shoots that water really frickin' high at times. I watched the special janitor-type people chase leaves around just to sweep them up, or have way too much fun bussing tables. Made me think that intelligence brings with it a level of depression.

We had a brief practice. I was really tired from having awakened at 3am and never really gotten any sleep after that. Bob was tired from having gotten to bed really late after having gone to the show at the Manette that I originally had planned on attending. Al was just hungover.

Bob caught the ferry back with me, and we talked about drummers and equipment. We've got leads on a couple more drummers now, but it's really boiling down to just being able to get one of them to meet with us.

I got home and made some food. The cabinet that houses the garbage in the kitchen was open yet again. Morgan doesn't seem to get the point that she's not just hiding in the garage. He has, however, totally given up on her room. He hasn't hung out there in over a week.

I spent the rest of the evening on StarMUD. Though I did spend a significant amount of time playing, I also made a review of some of the professions bonuses & penalties, and offered my suggestions on improvement.

Although I'm not particularly tired, I've been invited/convinced to join my parents tomorrow morning for church. At least I'll get another free meal out of it. I just don't know how to convince them that we're flatly not interested in the "following the herd" mentality.

Day 12.

I got home this evening to find that every cabinet in the kitchen and laundry room was open. Someone has learned a new skill.

I'm going to shower and go to bed now. I feel like ass.

Day Eleven.

I woke up this morning with one hell of a headache. To top it off, my stomache was a little queasy too. If I hadn't known better, I'd have guessed I was hung over... but I knew better.

You see, last night at the show, I only had one beer. That's all the recreational drinking I did. It wasn't even a very good beer, but goddamnit, I paid for it, so I drank it.

So, I took a shower, popped some Aleve, drank some water and orange juice, and went back to bed. After all, I'd awakened after about 3 and a half hours of sleep.

Underbunny called about an hour later. It was a long and pleasant conversation, mostly about the show, but about other things as well. After we finished talking, I decided to get up, since I had to take my parents' camera back to them, and should probably think about heading to work. So I did both.

In the evening, I left work temporarily to have dinner with my parents. I almost always feel bad (or am made to feel bad) about the dine-and-dash. In this particular case, they knew when I got there that that was all I was there for, yet somehow managed to get another 20 minutes of visitation out of me before I could head back to work.

After work, I came home and watched some of the Smallville episode that they'd recorded for me. Unfortunately, they don't have cable, and the reception for the recording (which is pretty static-y already) dropped audio enough within the first 10 minutes that I simply couldn't watch the rest. So, it's time for bed.

Day X.

Today was Underbunny's day. Of any day during her holiday, this was the one day for my anti-holiday that was chock-full of reminders and references.

I shaved this morning. The last time I shaved was the day I took her to the airport. Likely, the next day I shave will be the day I pick her up.

I've been thinking about Hayden all day long. The fact that CoryJ, who sits next to me at work, was also going to the show, wasn't hindering these thoughts. I was, obviously, introduced to this Canadian phenomenon by her, and just thinking of Hayden reminds me of her. Her car. Her room. Her music.

Also, all day, I've been craving Dick's. I mentioned this before. However, one of the last times I was at Dick's was with her, and the black pearl on her engagement ring came off when she opened the door. I crawled around on the greasy pavement for like 10 minutes, including moving my car once, in order to find it. I did, and it was reattached.

While at work, I noticed that the ticket claim that I had said that I would need to provide the credit card that the purchase was made with when attempting to pick up the ticket at will-call. This frightened me. I didn't buy the ticket. She did... and I wasn't sure with which method she purchased the ticket.

So, after work, I came home to grab our creditcard and check up on any additional details I might have missed from the ticket claim. According to the FAQ, nobody else can pick up your ticket. Now I was seriously worried, but had convinced myself earlier that if unable to get in thru will-call, I could always just pay the entry charge.

I went to get gas. My tank was only about 3/8ths full, which is sufficient to get to Seattle and back, but since I wasn't sure what other driving I would be doing, I wasn't willing to risk an empty tank. Time at this point was quickly ticking away until the ferry I absolutely had to catch.

As I left the gas station, I was about 10 minutes behind a comfortable time-table. I started talking to myself, complaining about drivers in front of me, telling myself how many minutes remaining until the ferry leaves, generally convincing myself that I had to get gas. Just then, I noticed the moon.

The dark side was brighter than normal, looking dark grey on a very dark blue sky. Then it hit me, there was something seriously wrong with this picture. The curve of the dark side didn't match the curvature of a sphere (I'm a big dork, and this logic only gets dorkier - move along). Also, the light side was on the upper east side of the moon, which would place the sun, if it were to illuminate the moon in such a way, at about the 11am position during the day: high in the sky to the east. Since it was after sunset, my mind was having a hard time grasping this, and an even harder time grasping that I'm controlling a 1969 Chevrolet Impala cruising at 60 MPH on a freeway.

Then the whole lunar eclipse thing dawned on me. The fact that The End was playing Man on the Moon by REM didn't sink in. After the song, however, the DJ proceeded to mention a couple of other moon songs in the block they were playing... and mentioned the lunar eclipse, and suddenly it wasn't nearly as puzzling. He was even so kind as to mention times of complete eclipse and completion.

I made the ferry with about 8 minutes to spare. Even after crusing at 40-45 MPH in a 55 zone behind some crackerassbitch in a Saturn. I complained aloud to myself, saying at one point, "If you slow down and I miss this light, I swear to god I'll... I'll... well, I'll probably just sit here and keep on bitching."

I realize at this point I've written an essay, and I haven't even gotten to the show... FF Mode: Picked up Al & Bob, got Dick's, got to the show. Will-call was no problem, they didn't even check my ID (or rather, wouldn't have if I hadn't shoved it in his face after he crossed my name off the list). We got drinks and went in to watch Cuff the Duke. I stood towards the back near some guy, and Al and Bob stood behind us. I noticed the guy looking me over, so I looked over at him and recognized him and gave him the guy-nod.

Then, as I looked back towards the stage, I realized it was Hayden. I'm such a tard. I let Al & Bob know it was him. Shortly, CoryJ and Heidi showed up. I pointed Hayden out, and as he had taken a step or two forward, I took a picture of him and Skinny (?).

Cuff the Duke ended, and Al & Bob urged me to give Hayden our CD, so we went out to my car to grab one. Prior to leaving, I noticed an old frat brother and his gf/wife so I grabbed a disk for him, too. I think Al & Bob were daring me to do it... I went up to Hayden, offered him our disk, told him that I love his music, and that this was my third show. I told him our music is quite different than his, like blues-rock, but that I hoped he enjoyed it, and wished him well on his performance. He thanked me, and again, and thought it was cool that I'd seen him so much, and thanked me a couple more times. Such a polite young man; his parents must be very proud. =]

Andrew Bird sucked. I don't know what drugs he was on. Moving right along.

Hayden rocked. I was astounded. The performance was strong, sounded beautiful with a full band, and he was funny as ever. He accidentally spilt his $7 bourbon on his pedals and said that it was the worst thing to happen on his whole tour. He also stated that Home By Saturday and Dynamite Walls (his first two songs) were about being on tour... but that they're both bad. Not that this tour is bad...

He played more, and I wished I was more familiar with song titles, or that I'd beat that fucking jackass to the setlist when it was over, but figured the forums would have at least one person to post the setlist. On his encore, I shouted out Woody, and he said that normally he doesn't do requests, but on this tour he's trying to play things people want to hear. He played Woody, then As Bad As It Seems and broke his D-string just before Trees Lounge where he played bass - the only song he played bass. I was thrilled.

I took seriously like 70 pictures. It probably took 40 of those to figure out how the hell to operate my parents' digital camera. I'll have some seriously hi-res blurry photos to examine in the next day or two...

She called during Hayden's set. From when the message was left, it seems like it was during Dynamite Walls.

I was the last car on the last ferry after performing my typical driveby dropoff of the boys. CoryJ and Heidi were there. We chatted, and Heidi thanked me for bringing Hayden into their lives. This, once-again, silenced me, because it was Underbunny who brought him into mine, and also helped feed CoryJ's increasing addiction...

As I was driving home, I saw a bunny sitting on the side of the road (alive). All I could think as I drove by was that somebody's car door wasn't secured...

Day 9.

This morning I was awakened by my love. It was 7:20am, but I was so happy to hear from her that I wasn't really concerned with how early it was.

So, I went to work early today, and left at a reasonable time. I then went over to my parents' friends' house to pick up my parents' digital camera (because I don't have one of my own, and am not about to take a pricy 35mm to a bar) for the show tomorrow night. CoryJ and I are both pumped to see Hayden, but it seems at least one person who we convinced this weekend has decided to wuss out on us.

I've been craving Dick's Deluxe hamburgers today for some reason. Based on that, I've decided to go to Dick's Drive In tomorrow prior to the show. Maybe I'll be nice and pick the boys up first...

Since about 7:30pm, there have been no less than 4 cold-calls. After the first one, I decided I would actually listen to the entire pitch, then back out. The first call was just a click, but just as I hung up, I decided that any further calls would get my full attention, while I clacked away at my keyboard. =]

There was a call for Ms. Holiday... A job offer, if I'm not mistaken... Then the next cold call. It was just minutes later. Some guy calling to say that they had this life insurance plan for me where if I were dismembered or handicapped, they would give me or my family (horrid grammar included) some obscene amount of money, and all I had to do was have $14.95 charged monthly to my Bon-Marsh card. To add insult to injury, after I declined his offer, I instructed him how to say "Marche". Additionally, why the fuck is the Bon giving out my goddamn account info to fucking ass telemarketers...? I opted out. I opted out. I opted out... motherfuckers.

Moving right along. The next call was a tape recording right at 8pm for some political candidate. I decided I'd just hang up.

A little while later was another immemorable call, but at 8:45ish was one asking me if I live where I live and what interest rate I have. This instantly reminded me of the motherfucker who called this morning right as I was leaving, very persistant that his company could offer me a better rate and lower payment than I currently had. I told him three times that I wasn't interested, and the third time just hung up on him. How can you possibly think that continued badgering of a potential client is a good fucking idea?

Well, the lady who pestered me this evening was much more willing to get off the phone. As soon as I suggested that she didn't need to be asking me such privacy invading questions, she thanked me for my time and excused herself. Why all telemarketers can't be like that, I'll never know.

Day 8.

I can't believe an entire week has gone by. I can't believe how much Morgan's gotten on my nerves. I can't believe how broke I am...

I woke up at 7am this morning, took a shower, then called to schedule an appointment to take my car in today for an oil change and various other fluid and filter things. I also had my power steering system flushed. That was pricy. Turned a normal fluid/filter job of about $30 into a freaky $155 incident. I had to actually transfer money to cut the cheque.

It was a short day at work. I had to retrieve my car in the late afternoon, and after getting home, then having dinner and working out, I didn't much feel like returning to work. Plus, considering how exhausted I am currently, I'll probably go to bed real soon, and in turn, wake up early again tomorrow, but without the delaying factor of having to drop my car off somewhere and hitch a ride with my parents.

So, what does one do when one does not go back to work? One watches Goldeneye. Or rather, one watches most of Goldeneye until their brain shuts down and the couch seems like a real good place to call it a night. And this is the point where one gets online to waste some time and update the anti-holiday blog.

Day 7.

I cannot believe how goddamn needy our cat has gotten. He won't get off my desk. If I put him down, shove him off, or throw him off, within a couple seconds he's right back on my fucking desk.

I played with him for nearly 2 hours. I was very bored and tired of being bit. At least if he had claws the fights might have been more interesting.

My parents gave me a stuffed Halloween kitten thing on Thursday, and that night when I brought it in and set it on the couch, he deemed it an immediate threat... so when I was tired of fighting, and the laser wasn't making him run around and howl, I decided to toss the black cat at him. He pounced it and growled and bit at its ears and well, it was great. I can only imagine the damage he'll do to a real kitten...

I had a tombstone pizza for dinner. The whole thing. I didn't mean to eat it all, but I did, and I've felt like throwing up for the past 30 minutes or so. As a result, I've decided to retire early tonight.

I just wanted to add to Day 6's post that at the little afterparty gettogether, CoryJ and I may have further influenced 2 or possibly even 3 more people to go see Hayden Wednesday at the Tractor Tavern in Ballard.

It seems Hayden has turned viral. One person gets two others to see him or listen to his music, and suddenly he's got fans all over the place. He's good too, so he deserves it. Give him a listen if you haven't.

Day 6.

I bet you thought I forgot to post at the end of Day 6... well, I've got news for you, it's 5:30am, and I'm just now ready to call it a night.

This morning started out like most Saturdays, getting up, fiddling around for a couple hours before getting ready to head to band practice, going to band practice, and practicing. Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself, since practicing is really soft of an afternoon thing. On my way to practice, my betrothed called, though I believed her to be tucked away in some primitive corner of the world cut off from all communication and niceties, but she had access to a pay phone. I'm always happy to hear her voice and just want her to talk, which makes me very quiet for most of these calls we've had. It dawned on me this morning, however, that she may feel the same way, and just want to hear me...

Practice was rockin' and fun as always. I think I may have even convinced Al and Bob to come see Hayden next Wednesday, since as I'm going, I have been forced to trump practice. I tried to convince them to come see CoryJ tonight with me, but Bob was going to see Norm MacDonald and Jo(h)n Somethingorother, and Al had to work in the morning. They both pussed out.

At a little after 8:30pm, I showed up at the CoryJ event, having just gotten home, grabbed a bite to eat and some MapQuest details, and then heading to the Hansen's bar that I'd never been to before.

CoryJ seemed a lot more nervous this time than any other time I've seen him play. He still put on one hell of a show, and his banter was some of the best I've heard... especially when he sang his soundcheck mocking the little bastard guitarrist from the name-withheld band who followed his act. Alabama Coal Miners is really growing on me more and more now that I've learned that it's an original.

After the show, including the other *ahem* band... a few of us retired to CoryJ's abode for some after-hours entertainment. There we were treated to a few private songs, and the guitar was passed around, including to myself where a very shitty version of The Gambler was performed. Around 4:45am those of us who remained called it a night and headed home.

I had to get some food in me since my stomache was bitching about the chainsmoking, and now that I've done that, and typed for nearly 15 minutes, I think it's time to retire. (Waiting for the dynamite... dynamite.... Waiting for the dynamite to blow.)

Day 5.

A splitting headache. That's what I have. Rather, that's what I left work with, hoping that I could drive about 10 miles on E to get some cheap-ass gas for my car. I made it, but there were a couple of times where I thought I finally ran out of gas and my car was going to stall.

Of course, the fact that for the 5th day in a row now, I've forgotten to call the auto shop to get an appointment to bring my pImpala in for some winterization. I mean, that doesn't help my headache any.

Today was payday, and after getting gas, I took my headache into the grocery store and bought way too much shit. What the fuck was I thinking? It's not like I was hungry. I just bought some stuff to tide me over til my baby gets back. Well, I've got enough to do that, and the month afterwards as well.

I'm waiting for the Aleve to kick in, and drinking another gallon of orange juice. The damn cat won't shut up, and I'm in no mood to appease him. And he's in no mood to be toyed with. I've literally thrown him off the desk twice now, and currently he's sitting on my desk next to my right elbow. If he weren't being good, I could easily pop him in the nose.

See? I'm in no mood. I'm all talking shit about how I could beat up our cat...

Day 4.

Again with the posting after midnight. I really need to stop that.

So, today after a relatively average day of work, I went to work out, and then spend the evening with my parents for dinner. We had meatloaf, as I had requested, and we talked about the landscaping that they're having done, how skittish one of their cats is, and generally how life's been treating us all.

The funny thing is, all three of us bounce from topic to topic quite a bit, so I'm not entirely sure that any point of interest was ever really seen to conclusion. At least we spent some time together, which is usually pretty nice, though has, at times, been quite stressful. Well, it is family, afterall. I guess I can't really expect anything else.

I somehow managed to miss yet another call from my girlie this morning. I'm starting to think she just has the most painstakingly accurate timing you could possibly imagine. Her message was lovely as ever, and makes me miss her even more. I'm still not sad or sulky or anything like that, but I have found myself a bit lonely at times. Even Morgan isn't nearly as vocal as he was the first few days. Now he's just annoyingly starved for attention. I've had to take numerous breaks from typing this just to hold him, pet him, or toss him off my desk.

Day 3.

I'm exhausted. Technically, it's day 4 since at this point it is a couple hours after midnight.

Wednesdays are one of a couple of typical band-rehearsal days where Verdigris gets together at our practice space in Seattle and jam for a few hours. Tonight we had to meet because rent is due, and we have some new material that we're still developing in lieu of breaking in a drummer.

Earlier today, I actually got a chance to speak with my bunny. She's having a good time on her holiday so far, and will be venturing even further into her holiday over the next few days.

I also played the part of the good son and gave my parents a call this evening to confirm my presence at tomorrow's evening meal. For some reason I requested meatloaf and peas. I'm not sure what's wrong with me. My parents had such better meals than meatloaf... I guess it was a spur of the moment sort of thing.

Even though I'm completely exhausted, for some reason, I'm not yet tired, so I guess I'll retire downstairs and watch more of Boondock Saints while I wait for the NyQuil to kick in.

Day 2.

I awoke this morning a few minutes after 8am, and was in to work before 9. I put in about 10 and a half hours before returning home where I was greeted once again by the cat in a very happy-to-see-me sort of mood. I was shadowed for the rest of the night (including now, where I have a cat's butt in my way).

I emptied the litter box and proceeded to do a couple of loads of laundry. Al called for his typical day- or hour-before practice phone call to verify that everything was going according to plan.

I watched about half of Boondock Saints just because I wanted to see the opening segment conclude with the MacMannis Brothers turning themselves in. I stopped the movie a little after they got in the elevator for the middle segment of the movie.

I got a call this morning from my woman, who sounded beyond cute, but thouroughly exhausted. I was indisposed at the time, so it is thankful that she left a message.

Day 1.

This morning started the two-week-long "holiday" for my love. As a result, I've decided I'm going to document my experiences during this vacation of hers as my own sort-of anti-holiday.

I drove her to the airport, and after being separated at the security checkpoint, I proceeded to stalk her behind the frosted glass as they ushered her down a special "selected" lane for further violation. They had her remove her boots and jacket and stand in line behind a few other lucky people. When it was her turn, she got to sit at a little table while they dumped out her bag, rifled thru everything, and then both wanded her and then patted her down.

All the while, time was getting dangerously close to the time she was supposed to be on the plane. Finally they let her go, with about 4 minutes before her flight left, unless my watch was fast...

Then I drove to work. A little over 90 minutes later I arrived at work, where I spent about half a day very tired and very sluggish. I don't think I slept well last night, even though I probably had 6-8 hours of sleep.

So, I'm back home now, having watched about 8 minutes of Friends reruns, and eatting some soup. I've since tried to convince Morgan, our cat, that no amount of howling at her door, or the garage door, is going to mystically make her appear.

After posting this, I think I'll dork around online for a while, and then go to bed early. I'm still really tired. I can't figure it out...

At least I have some NyQuil now, so my consciousness won't be hindered by much of anything - especially the incessant howling from the cat.

Happy birthday, Underbunny!

I bought a suit.

It took a few days, and a silly 100 mile runaround before I got it, but I bought it, had it altered, and picked it up.

It's pretty nice. It's my first real suit since those HS days with the JCPenny's Stafford special piece-of-crap cheap-ass suit.

Well, a friend is getting married this coming weekend, and I'm involved in her party, so I needed one. Everyone keeps wishing me luck on my wedding. It's not my wedding. I don't get it...

I finally found the directions, gift registry, schedule of events, and other important things I should have had handy, and thought I did.

So, yeah. That's what's going on.

Oh, and rehearsal's on my bunny's birthday, so I'm sure I'll be in deep shit sometime this weekend...

/b ...er, why would you be? /b

/s You're cute. =] /s