oh...ok...
apparently she's over it now. i just talked to her... "lah-dee-dah..."
what. the fuck. ever.
d.
Tuesday, September 30
reciprocal hostility...
I turned my cellphone on today only to be greeted by a nasty voicemail from my wife... “I’m having a shitty day, so any time you want to stay home with the kids and take them to the doctor and blah-blah-blah... I’ll be perfectly happy to start applying for full-time jobs... bitch-bitch-bitch... hope you’re having a nice day”.
Hey, you know what...? Fuck YOU. I’m sorry you’re having a shitty day, but how exactly is that improved by leaving a big steaming pile of hostility on my voicemail 5 minutes before I have to go teach class?? You think you can make $70,000 a year all by yourself? Knock yourself out. You want to lay a big fucking guilt trip on me because I fucking WORK 4 days a week, 8 months a year?? Fuck YOU. Point to somebody who has it better. And while you’re at it, stop every few minutes to remind yourself which one of us was the one who was perfectly happy with their life 16 months ago, and which of us was the one twisting arms to have another baby. Having a little trouble dealing with it all? Here... take this big “I Told You So” and shove it up your ass.
D.
I turned my cellphone on today only to be greeted by a nasty voicemail from my wife... “I’m having a shitty day, so any time you want to stay home with the kids and take them to the doctor and blah-blah-blah... I’ll be perfectly happy to start applying for full-time jobs... bitch-bitch-bitch... hope you’re having a nice day”.
Hey, you know what...? Fuck YOU. I’m sorry you’re having a shitty day, but how exactly is that improved by leaving a big steaming pile of hostility on my voicemail 5 minutes before I have to go teach class?? You think you can make $70,000 a year all by yourself? Knock yourself out. You want to lay a big fucking guilt trip on me because I fucking WORK 4 days a week, 8 months a year?? Fuck YOU. Point to somebody who has it better. And while you’re at it, stop every few minutes to remind yourself which one of us was the one who was perfectly happy with their life 16 months ago, and which of us was the one twisting arms to have another baby. Having a little trouble dealing with it all? Here... take this big “I Told You So” and shove it up your ass.
D.
exploring...
I have SO much shit to do today... WHY am I just websurfing from one blog to the next blog? Jesus. I went back to Open Diary and they have revamped their whole site... it actually looks pretty good. Best of all the "find diaries by age" feature is working again... it was the only way to find something to read on there that wasn't written by a 14 year old girl. So I did a little exploring... found a few good diaries, but mostly just reconfirmed all my own biases. I should put together a journal/blogger Glossary which explains the meaning of people's usernames... for example...
the vampire *blank*: I have no friends
a *blank* enigma: I'm excruciatingly boring, but I mistake that for "intensity"
And so on.
Jesus, I even came across some slave so-and-so diaries... you know... the "lifestyle BDSM" crowd. Is there ANYONE more boring than those people? The second you make something your "lifestyle", you immediately suck all the "life" and the "style" right the fuck out of it. If your husnband or Master or whateverthefuck makes you walk around the house wearing a collar all the time or ties you up and spanks you every night... well, how the hell is that any less boring than my fucking life? You think you're living some kind of "edgy" existence, but you've just really succeeding in taking something deliciously kinky and turning it into an act only slightly more interesting than taking out the garbage. Shut up, already...
I'm sorry... I can feel myself slipping into a "mood"...
I really need a nap.
D.
I have SO much shit to do today... WHY am I just websurfing from one blog to the next blog? Jesus. I went back to Open Diary and they have revamped their whole site... it actually looks pretty good. Best of all the "find diaries by age" feature is working again... it was the only way to find something to read on there that wasn't written by a 14 year old girl. So I did a little exploring... found a few good diaries, but mostly just reconfirmed all my own biases. I should put together a journal/blogger Glossary which explains the meaning of people's usernames... for example...
the vampire *blank*: I have no friends
a *blank* enigma: I'm excruciatingly boring, but I mistake that for "intensity"
And so on.
Jesus, I even came across some slave so-and-so diaries... you know... the "lifestyle BDSM" crowd. Is there ANYONE more boring than those people? The second you make something your "lifestyle", you immediately suck all the "life" and the "style" right the fuck out of it. If your husnband or Master or whateverthefuck makes you walk around the house wearing a collar all the time or ties you up and spanks you every night... well, how the hell is that any less boring than my fucking life? You think you're living some kind of "edgy" existence, but you've just really succeeding in taking something deliciously kinky and turning it into an act only slightly more interesting than taking out the garbage. Shut up, already...
I'm sorry... I can feel myself slipping into a "mood"...
I really need a nap.
D.
Saturday, September 27
Thursday, September 25
”take her to the zoo... “
Disclaimer: This is quite possibly the most politically incorrect and immature and socially unacceptable entry I’ve ever written. I’m quite sure it will offend somebody... perhaps. Sorry. It’s my head. It’s my weblog. And here’s where stuff comes out that has no place else to go. So don’t leave me a note about it, ok? I know.
We were at Hersheypark and it happened again... here they come up the hill behind us with their escorts and their wheelchairs and their matching T-shirts.... maybe a dozen of them... clearly having fun... all kinda of fun... and being, of course, quite vocal about it. And I just have to ask myself...
WHY? Why is it that everywhere I go... everywhere... I wind up there on “Bring the Retards” day. Go to the library? It’s “Bring the Retards to the Library” day. Go to the grocery store? It’s “Take the Retarded People Shopping” day. Go to the amusement park? It’s “Half-Price for the Mentally Disabled” day. Fuck!! I went to see Once Upon a Time in Mexico the other afternoon, and guess what? Yup... me... two housewives, four old retired guys, and a half-dozen retards. Jesus.
And you know... I don’t begrudge the developmentally handicapped folks their little trips to the mall or to the zoo or to the McDonalds or whatever. But do they ALWAYS have to be there the same time as ME... making ME uncomfortable all the time EVERYWHERE I GO??
Is it just me?
D.
QUIZ: Bonus points for completing and identifying the title quote!
Disclaimer: This is quite possibly the most politically incorrect and immature and socially unacceptable entry I’ve ever written. I’m quite sure it will offend somebody... perhaps. Sorry. It’s my head. It’s my weblog. And here’s where stuff comes out that has no place else to go. So don’t leave me a note about it, ok? I know.
We were at Hersheypark and it happened again... here they come up the hill behind us with their escorts and their wheelchairs and their matching T-shirts.... maybe a dozen of them... clearly having fun... all kinda of fun... and being, of course, quite vocal about it. And I just have to ask myself...
WHY? Why is it that everywhere I go... everywhere... I wind up there on “Bring the Retards” day. Go to the library? It’s “Bring the Retards to the Library” day. Go to the grocery store? It’s “Take the Retarded People Shopping” day. Go to the amusement park? It’s “Half-Price for the Mentally Disabled” day. Fuck!! I went to see Once Upon a Time in Mexico the other afternoon, and guess what? Yup... me... two housewives, four old retired guys, and a half-dozen retards. Jesus.
And you know... I don’t begrudge the developmentally handicapped folks their little trips to the mall or to the zoo or to the McDonalds or whatever. But do they ALWAYS have to be there the same time as ME... making ME uncomfortable all the time EVERYWHERE I GO??
Is it just me?
D.
QUIZ: Bonus points for completing and identifying the title quote!
and in the west bank bind them...
I clicked on a Yahoo news story yesterday about the leader of Hamas releasing a statement that President Bush was “declaring war on Islam.” (Big surprise!) And the story was accompanied by a picture of this guy... I don’t remember his name... Mullah Abdulla Bin SomeSuch... some kind of cleric... and he’s this old guy wearing these white robes with a hood and he has a long white beard and crazy looking eyes...
Holy fuck, were you people aware that Hamas was being run by Saruman the White?? Are they headquartered in a big obsidian tower?? Fuck suicide bombers... when do the Rigwraiths and the Uruk-hai ride on in to Israel?
That is one very scary looking fucker.
D.
I clicked on a Yahoo news story yesterday about the leader of Hamas releasing a statement that President Bush was “declaring war on Islam.” (Big surprise!) And the story was accompanied by a picture of this guy... I don’t remember his name... Mullah Abdulla Bin SomeSuch... some kind of cleric... and he’s this old guy wearing these white robes with a hood and he has a long white beard and crazy looking eyes...
Holy fuck, were you people aware that Hamas was being run by Saruman the White?? Are they headquartered in a big obsidian tower?? Fuck suicide bombers... when do the Rigwraiths and the Uruk-hai ride on in to Israel?
That is one very scary looking fucker.
D.
belief...
I was talking to a friend about “spirituality” and “transcendence” and whatnot yesterday... and she had written in her weblog about her kids... what do you tell your kids about God and religion and belief? Especially when you’re a hard-core materialist and a question everything anti-authoritarian. Because I’m a scientist and an atheist and a critic of institutionalized religion and a knee-jerk intellectual snob whenever confronted with someone who talks seriously about “God” in the absence of irony. Do I pass that on to my kids? Tell them that God is just a fairy-story people made up because they didn’t know where thunder came from? Because that’s what I believe, in the simplest sense... and isn’t that what we do? Pass on what WE believe to our kids?
But is it just as destructive to spoon feed your kids a narrow worldview devoid of spirituality as it is to brainwash them with a small-minded interpretation of a 2000 year old book? Because, after all... it’s their decision... eventually that is. Is there any way to prepare them for that decision without resorting to preprogramming them with a particular dogma?
It doesn’t help that my wife and I differ on this issue... probably more than any other. It’s not a disagreement in the sense of causing any type of friction... it’s just one of the few areas in which we have different opinions. She was raised Catholic, believes in God, likes the idea of Church... of going to Church... likes the ritualistic and community aspect of it.... but at the same time she’s disillusioned by Catholicism as an institution and doesn’t buy into many of the “official” positions on things like birth control, abortion, gays... so we don’t go to Church except on Christmas Eve and every once in a while the topic comes up... what do we DO about this?
And it’s tough for me, because like I said... my knee-jerk reaction to Capital-“R”-Religion is overwhelmingly negative, which is a result of my Mother’s conversion to fundamentalist, bible-thumping, whack-job Christianity when I was a teenager. It took a long time for me to get past the idea that religion = THAT kind of fundamentalism... it took dating a flaky New-Age Jungian for 3 years and reading a lot of Joseph Campbell... it took growing up and meeting people who were intelligent and who thought about their religion and whose beliefs were part of a contemplative personal spiritual life... it took getting to a place where I could at least be open to the idea of transcendence as an internal mental experience... to become involved in meditation as a kind of experimental amateur Buddhist... to realize that religion doesn’t have to be about a big man with a long white beard who lives on top of a cloud. And so now I’m an adult and I have a more mature view of the whole subject. Ok... so... now I have two kids. What do I do?
Because can you really have your own Home-Sunday-School where every week you learn about a different culture and their religion and their practices and their idea of God? Can you translate Joseph Campbell’s “Power of Myth” into a picture book for 4 year-olds? We’ve joked about it... my wife and I... ”This week we’re going to talk about Hinduism!” Does that work, or do kids NEED something more concrete? Do they need A SINGLE answer?
So it always comes back to the Church question... because my wife sees it as important from a social/community aspect as much as anything. But my knee-jerk reaction just kicks in again... CHURCH??? I’m gonna sit in a CHURCH for an hour every Sunday and listen to somebody talk about God?? I don’t think so. And we’ve even toyed with the idea of Unitarianism, y’know? We’ve looked into it anyway, because we had a lot of friends in grad school who went to the Unitarian Church... intelligent, non-dogmatic people. Thing is... they were all ATHEISTS! And as far as I can tell from the Unitarian weddings and ceremonies I’ve been to and the stuff I’ve read on the web... that’s pretty much the norm. And so I think... well fuck... the only thing worse than a Church where they sit and talk about God is a Church where you sit around and DON’T talk about God. What the fuck is the point of THAT? I might as well stay in bed. And I know it’s more than that... that Unitarianism is open to people who are seeking their own path to spirituality... (I guess. I still don’t really get it.) ... and that’s fine. But do I really want to sit in a room with a bunch of confused people ever week? Because frankly, if feels like a Church created especially for people who feel guilty for not believing in God anymore. I don’t believe in anything anymore, but I’ll come here and sit quietly every week just like my parents taught me, and that will make it ok.
Or something. I dunno.
So that’s it.
Well... this entry was just far too serious, and has made my head hurt.
D.
I was talking to a friend about “spirituality” and “transcendence” and whatnot yesterday... and she had written in her weblog about her kids... what do you tell your kids about God and religion and belief? Especially when you’re a hard-core materialist and a question everything anti-authoritarian. Because I’m a scientist and an atheist and a critic of institutionalized religion and a knee-jerk intellectual snob whenever confronted with someone who talks seriously about “God” in the absence of irony. Do I pass that on to my kids? Tell them that God is just a fairy-story people made up because they didn’t know where thunder came from? Because that’s what I believe, in the simplest sense... and isn’t that what we do? Pass on what WE believe to our kids?
But is it just as destructive to spoon feed your kids a narrow worldview devoid of spirituality as it is to brainwash them with a small-minded interpretation of a 2000 year old book? Because, after all... it’s their decision... eventually that is. Is there any way to prepare them for that decision without resorting to preprogramming them with a particular dogma?
It doesn’t help that my wife and I differ on this issue... probably more than any other. It’s not a disagreement in the sense of causing any type of friction... it’s just one of the few areas in which we have different opinions. She was raised Catholic, believes in God, likes the idea of Church... of going to Church... likes the ritualistic and community aspect of it.... but at the same time she’s disillusioned by Catholicism as an institution and doesn’t buy into many of the “official” positions on things like birth control, abortion, gays... so we don’t go to Church except on Christmas Eve and every once in a while the topic comes up... what do we DO about this?
And it’s tough for me, because like I said... my knee-jerk reaction to Capital-“R”-Religion is overwhelmingly negative, which is a result of my Mother’s conversion to fundamentalist, bible-thumping, whack-job Christianity when I was a teenager. It took a long time for me to get past the idea that religion = THAT kind of fundamentalism... it took dating a flaky New-Age Jungian for 3 years and reading a lot of Joseph Campbell... it took growing up and meeting people who were intelligent and who thought about their religion and whose beliefs were part of a contemplative personal spiritual life... it took getting to a place where I could at least be open to the idea of transcendence as an internal mental experience... to become involved in meditation as a kind of experimental amateur Buddhist... to realize that religion doesn’t have to be about a big man with a long white beard who lives on top of a cloud. And so now I’m an adult and I have a more mature view of the whole subject. Ok... so... now I have two kids. What do I do?
Because can you really have your own Home-Sunday-School where every week you learn about a different culture and their religion and their practices and their idea of God? Can you translate Joseph Campbell’s “Power of Myth” into a picture book for 4 year-olds? We’ve joked about it... my wife and I... ”This week we’re going to talk about Hinduism!” Does that work, or do kids NEED something more concrete? Do they need A SINGLE answer?
So it always comes back to the Church question... because my wife sees it as important from a social/community aspect as much as anything. But my knee-jerk reaction just kicks in again... CHURCH??? I’m gonna sit in a CHURCH for an hour every Sunday and listen to somebody talk about God?? I don’t think so. And we’ve even toyed with the idea of Unitarianism, y’know? We’ve looked into it anyway, because we had a lot of friends in grad school who went to the Unitarian Church... intelligent, non-dogmatic people. Thing is... they were all ATHEISTS! And as far as I can tell from the Unitarian weddings and ceremonies I’ve been to and the stuff I’ve read on the web... that’s pretty much the norm. And so I think... well fuck... the only thing worse than a Church where they sit and talk about God is a Church where you sit around and DON’T talk about God. What the fuck is the point of THAT? I might as well stay in bed. And I know it’s more than that... that Unitarianism is open to people who are seeking their own path to spirituality... (I guess. I still don’t really get it.) ... and that’s fine. But do I really want to sit in a room with a bunch of confused people ever week? Because frankly, if feels like a Church created especially for people who feel guilty for not believing in God anymore. I don’t believe in anything anymore, but I’ll come here and sit quietly every week just like my parents taught me, and that will make it ok.
Or something. I dunno.
So that’s it.
Well... this entry was just far too serious, and has made my head hurt.
D.
Wednesday, September 24
sleep...
I didn’t get to bed as early as I wanted to last night, but I still got to sleep a little bit after 11:00, which is earlier than usual. But I decided it isn’t the amount of sleep that is at issue nowadays, it is the “uninterruptedness” of it. I woke up at 4:00 AM and my brain said “Ok, 5 hours... that’s it for you.” And the thing is, I really did feel rested, because at no point during that five hours did anyone wake me up screaming. What a concept.
(There is this old fat guy on the train eating what appears to be cold Kentucky Fried Chicken at 7:00 in the fucking morning. It’s a wonderful smell to have filling your morning commuter train, I can tell you that. Blucchk!)
And so, before going to bed I had a couple of nice long chats with a couple of friends online. It was nice... I don’t get to chat much. Free time in the evenings is a rare thing. Tonight think I’ll read a book. I’m not even sure I can remember the last time I’ve read more than a page of a book without being interrupted. Some quality web time would be nice too... spend some dedicated time reading friends’ online journals (not just “skimming” them) and leaving notes and wandering around OD and the blogspot webrings looking for people older than 15 and maybe even pulling in a few new readers in the process. This “11-hits-a-day” thing sucks... no offense to the dozen of you who read, but that’s just not enough. I need to get back up into the 20’s at least!
And maybe some of my NEW readers will actually leave NOTES! :)
D.
I didn’t get to bed as early as I wanted to last night, but I still got to sleep a little bit after 11:00, which is earlier than usual. But I decided it isn’t the amount of sleep that is at issue nowadays, it is the “uninterruptedness” of it. I woke up at 4:00 AM and my brain said “Ok, 5 hours... that’s it for you.” And the thing is, I really did feel rested, because at no point during that five hours did anyone wake me up screaming. What a concept.
(There is this old fat guy on the train eating what appears to be cold Kentucky Fried Chicken at 7:00 in the fucking morning. It’s a wonderful smell to have filling your morning commuter train, I can tell you that. Blucchk!)
And so, before going to bed I had a couple of nice long chats with a couple of friends online. It was nice... I don’t get to chat much. Free time in the evenings is a rare thing. Tonight think I’ll read a book. I’m not even sure I can remember the last time I’ve read more than a page of a book without being interrupted. Some quality web time would be nice too... spend some dedicated time reading friends’ online journals (not just “skimming” them) and leaving notes and wandering around OD and the blogspot webrings looking for people older than 15 and maybe even pulling in a few new readers in the process. This “11-hits-a-day” thing sucks... no offense to the dozen of you who read, but that’s just not enough. I need to get back up into the 20’s at least!
And maybe some of my NEW readers will actually leave NOTES! :)
D.
”he starts to shake and cough...”
This is one of those entries where you’re just not sure... is it ok to write about this? Because it’s pretty inappropriate... I mean... more so than usual. What if somebody...? Well... anyway...
So, today after my class... this student of mine... I’ve mentioned her, or at least her “type” before.. the cutoff combat fatigues and black tanktop and tribal shoulder tattoo type, yknow? And tangly black "can't be bothered with a style" hair. The "type" who takes one of my classes last semester, emails me two pages full of questions every week, then takes BOTH of my classes this semester. Yeah. And I don't want to be crass and misconstrue her genuine interest in science for something ulterior... y'know? Because maybe she's just interested... she WANTS to know all these things... you can't just make up two pages full of questions about quantum mechanics every week just for an excuse to get your cute professor to email you back. She's genuinely intellectually fascinated by the stuff, and let's face it... I'm a damned good teacher. But is it JUST that? Like my friend The Philosopher said... I know I've mentioned this quote before, but it really spun around in my head for a long time... "Think back on your whole life, Dave... was there ever ANYTHING that was "PURELY" intellectual??" Yeah. No. So...
And so, anyway, after class today. (the SECOND class!) she comes up to me... "Ummm, Professor, I have a question... well... more like a favor, actually..."
(Fuck!)
"...trouble with Calculus, blah, blah, blah... simple stuff but I'm really lost, blah, blah, blah... I was wondering if you had any free time... blah, blah... don't want to impose..."
Are you LISTENING to this??
My fucking wife and entire family are OUT OF TOWN for a week and a student who shows every sign of having a genuine "Don't Stand So Close To Me" thing going on is standing in the fucking hallway asking me for ONE ON ONE help in one of her other classes???!?!
FUCK!!!
And so there is a part of my brain telling me that I really need to meet this girl someplace conspicuously public on Thursday afternoon and a part of my brain that is now practicing the line... "Well, look - I really have some work to do before class starts... do you want to meet and talk about this stuff later this evening after class"
FUCK!!
The “possibleness” of it is making my head spin.
Bad science professor...
BAD!
d.
This is one of those entries where you’re just not sure... is it ok to write about this? Because it’s pretty inappropriate... I mean... more so than usual. What if somebody...? Well... anyway...
So, today after my class... this student of mine... I’ve mentioned her, or at least her “type” before.. the cutoff combat fatigues and black tanktop and tribal shoulder tattoo type, yknow? And tangly black "can't be bothered with a style" hair. The "type" who takes one of my classes last semester, emails me two pages full of questions every week, then takes BOTH of my classes this semester. Yeah. And I don't want to be crass and misconstrue her genuine interest in science for something ulterior... y'know? Because maybe she's just interested... she WANTS to know all these things... you can't just make up two pages full of questions about quantum mechanics every week just for an excuse to get your cute professor to email you back. She's genuinely intellectually fascinated by the stuff, and let's face it... I'm a damned good teacher. But is it JUST that? Like my friend The Philosopher said... I know I've mentioned this quote before, but it really spun around in my head for a long time... "Think back on your whole life, Dave... was there ever ANYTHING that was "PURELY" intellectual??" Yeah. No. So...
And so, anyway, after class today. (the SECOND class!) she comes up to me... "Ummm, Professor, I have a question... well... more like a favor, actually..."
(Fuck!)
"...trouble with Calculus, blah, blah, blah... simple stuff but I'm really lost, blah, blah, blah... I was wondering if you had any free time... blah, blah... don't want to impose..."
Are you LISTENING to this??
My fucking wife and entire family are OUT OF TOWN for a week and a student who shows every sign of having a genuine "Don't Stand So Close To Me" thing going on is standing in the fucking hallway asking me for ONE ON ONE help in one of her other classes???!?!
FUCK!!!
And so there is a part of my brain telling me that I really need to meet this girl someplace conspicuously public on Thursday afternoon and a part of my brain that is now practicing the line... "Well, look - I really have some work to do before class starts... do you want to meet and talk about this stuff later this evening after class"
FUCK!!
The “possibleness” of it is making my head spin.
Bad science professor...
BAD!
d.
Tuesday, September 23
change of plans...
Because, in my opinion, there is nothing so decadent as going to a movie by yourself in the middle of the day. Except perhaps sitting in the movie theatre with your laptop, typing in your journal while you wait for the movie to begin. You wouldn’t believe how quiet a movie theatre can be at 11:15 AM on a Tuesday.
yeah...
quiet...
I mean... except for the loud on screen promos... you know. But no people... no talking.
quiet..
d.
Because, in my opinion, there is nothing so decadent as going to a movie by yourself in the middle of the day. Except perhaps sitting in the movie theatre with your laptop, typing in your journal while you wait for the movie to begin. You wouldn’t believe how quiet a movie theatre can be at 11:15 AM on a Tuesday.
yeah...
quiet...
I mean... except for the loud on screen promos... you know. But no people... no talking.
quiet..
d.
and so it begins...
Just dropped the family off at the airport. It’s 6:08 in the morning. Yeah. I know I was planning on spending this week well rested but apparently that starts tomorrow. Getting to school an hour early may have its benefits, though. Time to actually sit and make a cup of tea and get ready for my morning class for a change. Anyway...
Plans... let’s see. I think today will be Sleep Day, for the most part. Leave work... stop at a few stores on the way up to Penn Station... take a slightly later train than usual... get home a little before 8:00... go straight to bed. Wake up around 10:30, 11:00... check email, chat online a bit, read a book... go back to bed.
Tomorrow? I think tomorrow will be designated Movie Day. Catch a matinee of “Once Upon a Time in Mexico”... come home and rest... rent a DVD, or maybe catch a late night showing of “Underworld” or something.
What else? Well, there needs to be a Wander Aimlessly Around the City Day.... and of course a Shop For Things You Don’t Need and Can’t Afford Day... as well as a Read Until Your Eyeballs Pop Out of Your Head Day.
Actually, three more Sleep Days would be fine too.
I do plan on walking a lot this week, though. Y’see we went to Hershey Park this weekend. Anyone out there ever been to Hershey, Pennsylvania? Here’s a preview of what it’s like the second you set foot in the town...
Chocolate? Here have some chocolate. Would you like a chocolate? Please enjoy a complimentary chocolate! Chocolate, anyone?? Hey, look... free chocolate!!
I’m back at 200 pounds, and I’m pissed. Pissed at Milton Hershey and his whole bizarre fucking chocolate-obsessed municipality.
Anyway... I have no place to be at any special time after work, so I’ll probably walk up to the train station if the weather is nice.
So there you go. That’s my week at a glance. Wish me luck!
D.
Just dropped the family off at the airport. It’s 6:08 in the morning. Yeah. I know I was planning on spending this week well rested but apparently that starts tomorrow. Getting to school an hour early may have its benefits, though. Time to actually sit and make a cup of tea and get ready for my morning class for a change. Anyway...
Plans... let’s see. I think today will be Sleep Day, for the most part. Leave work... stop at a few stores on the way up to Penn Station... take a slightly later train than usual... get home a little before 8:00... go straight to bed. Wake up around 10:30, 11:00... check email, chat online a bit, read a book... go back to bed.
Tomorrow? I think tomorrow will be designated Movie Day. Catch a matinee of “Once Upon a Time in Mexico”... come home and rest... rent a DVD, or maybe catch a late night showing of “Underworld” or something.
What else? Well, there needs to be a Wander Aimlessly Around the City Day.... and of course a Shop For Things You Don’t Need and Can’t Afford Day... as well as a Read Until Your Eyeballs Pop Out of Your Head Day.
Actually, three more Sleep Days would be fine too.
I do plan on walking a lot this week, though. Y’see we went to Hershey Park this weekend. Anyone out there ever been to Hershey, Pennsylvania? Here’s a preview of what it’s like the second you set foot in the town...
Chocolate? Here have some chocolate. Would you like a chocolate? Please enjoy a complimentary chocolate! Chocolate, anyone?? Hey, look... free chocolate!!
I’m back at 200 pounds, and I’m pissed. Pissed at Milton Hershey and his whole bizarre fucking chocolate-obsessed municipality.
Anyway... I have no place to be at any special time after work, so I’ll probably walk up to the train station if the weather is nice.
So there you go. That’s my week at a glance. Wish me luck!
D.
Thursday, September 18
horrible ending of a day...
My afternoon class is supposed to end at 3:50, but I always wrap it up around 3:30 so I can catch the 4:04 train. The students don’t seem to mind ! But today we did a lab activity, and there was some cleanup involved, so I resigned myself to taking the 4:21. So, I hurry-hurry cleaned up the lab, walked to the subway, waited an inordinate amount of time for a #2 express train, walked thru Penn Station, waited a few minutes for them to call my train, walked down to the platform, got on the train, sat down...
fuck.
I suddenly realized that I had left the AC adaptor to my laptop in my office. Fuck, fuck, fuck. If I worked on Fridays it would have been no big deal, I would have gone home, but I don’t come in to the city again until NEXT TUESDAY, and I need my laptop on Mondays to teach at the Old School. Fuck. I have to get it... there’s no escaping it.
So, I get up, pack up my stuff, walk UP the platform, walk BACK to the #2 express train, wait ANOTHER inordinately long time for a train, ride down to 14th street, walk BACK a long block and three short blocks to my office, call my wife on the cellphone and leave a grumpy, breathless, apologetic message... maybe I can make the 4:40... walk UP to the office, grab my stupid FUCKING AC adaptor, walk back DOWN the stairs, JOG a block back to the subway station... catch a #2 train just in time... ride BACK to Penn Stationto arrive at 4:40 EXACTLY...”Oooh! Did I make the 4:40 train??” Apparently there IS NO MORE 4:40 train. Fuck, fuck, fuck....
By now I’m DRIPPING with sweat.
One McDonald’s vanilla shake later and I’m on the 5:10
fuck.
I did NOT need an episode like that today.
D.
My afternoon class is supposed to end at 3:50, but I always wrap it up around 3:30 so I can catch the 4:04 train. The students don’t seem to mind ! But today we did a lab activity, and there was some cleanup involved, so I resigned myself to taking the 4:21. So, I hurry-hurry cleaned up the lab, walked to the subway, waited an inordinate amount of time for a #2 express train, walked thru Penn Station, waited a few minutes for them to call my train, walked down to the platform, got on the train, sat down...
fuck.
I suddenly realized that I had left the AC adaptor to my laptop in my office. Fuck, fuck, fuck. If I worked on Fridays it would have been no big deal, I would have gone home, but I don’t come in to the city again until NEXT TUESDAY, and I need my laptop on Mondays to teach at the Old School. Fuck. I have to get it... there’s no escaping it.
So, I get up, pack up my stuff, walk UP the platform, walk BACK to the #2 express train, wait ANOTHER inordinately long time for a train, ride down to 14th street, walk BACK a long block and three short blocks to my office, call my wife on the cellphone and leave a grumpy, breathless, apologetic message... maybe I can make the 4:40... walk UP to the office, grab my stupid FUCKING AC adaptor, walk back DOWN the stairs, JOG a block back to the subway station... catch a #2 train just in time... ride BACK to Penn Stationto arrive at 4:40 EXACTLY...”Oooh! Did I make the 4:40 train??” Apparently there IS NO MORE 4:40 train. Fuck, fuck, fuck....
By now I’m DRIPPING with sweat.
One McDonald’s vanilla shake later and I’m on the 5:10
fuck.
I did NOT need an episode like that today.
D.
isabel sky...
I’ve lived on the east coast all my life so I recognize that feeling... the smell... the clouds... even the sound of the wind is different somehow when the leading edge of a hurricane just starts to come in. I really like it.
I’m all gadgeted up this morning on the train. I brought the digital video camera with me to film some stuff in my class today, and so I have it charging here next to me on the seat. Soon I’ll have to start bringing my own “powerstrip” with me on the train! Anyway, I’m thinking I may turn it on and document my commute... hang it over my shoulder, turn it on... hop on the subway... walk to work... capture some stills... make a little photojournal... cuz, you know... I have nothing better to do!
Since I’m an entry “ahead” here, I’m gonna keep this one short. I have some email to answer instead. Ok?
Ok...
D.
I’ve lived on the east coast all my life so I recognize that feeling... the smell... the clouds... even the sound of the wind is different somehow when the leading edge of a hurricane just starts to come in. I really like it.
I’m all gadgeted up this morning on the train. I brought the digital video camera with me to film some stuff in my class today, and so I have it charging here next to me on the seat. Soon I’ll have to start bringing my own “powerstrip” with me on the train! Anyway, I’m thinking I may turn it on and document my commute... hang it over my shoulder, turn it on... hop on the subway... walk to work... capture some stills... make a little photojournal... cuz, you know... I have nothing better to do!
Since I’m an entry “ahead” here, I’m gonna keep this one short. I have some email to answer instead. Ok?
Ok...
D.
Wednesday, September 17
forgot to walk...
My auto-pilot was functioning exceptionally well this morning... I had swiped my MetroCard and was halfway up the stairs when I realized... FUCK! Wednesday is WALKING day! I’m not supposed to be on the Subway!
Oh well...
So instead I had myself a little walking/shopping excursion downtown this morning. Walked over to the Strand with it’s “8 miles of books” and bought a book on the history of quantum mechanics. Then I walked up Broadway to the “T-Salon Emporium” wherein the crazy woman that owns the place had me sniffing 50 different kinds of fucking tea before I was able to escape with a $10 four-ounce bag of Assam. (A “dimebag” if you will.) Then I cut back across to 6th Ave, stopping at this place “Sam Flax” that sells overpriced drafting and office supplies to Manhattan graphic artists. ($120 for an aluminum binder??)
So... that was my morning. Do I know how to have fun or what??
::::::::::::::::
Here’s an interesting thing. I saw this chick in Penn Station yesterday... attractive, blonde... stylish in a “PostGrunge” sort of way. She was wearing camouflage pants... you know... surplus store type stuff... all faded and worn-looking... old army fatigues. Then I realized... wait a minute... this chick is like 5’3” and 130 pounds, and those camo pants are skin tight on her. There is no WAY that those pants once belonged to a guy in the army... or even a girl in the army, cuz they would have had to have been like 110 pounds. They don’t let 5’3”, 110 pound people in the army, do they? No... rather I think that these pants were NOT bought at the army-navy surplus store... rather they were purchased in some NYC boutique that sells fashionable “PostGrunge” clothing for women, and that they came pre-aged and pre-faded in a size 4 and cost her no less than $85.
That’s my theory anyway.
D.
My auto-pilot was functioning exceptionally well this morning... I had swiped my MetroCard and was halfway up the stairs when I realized... FUCK! Wednesday is WALKING day! I’m not supposed to be on the Subway!
Oh well...
So instead I had myself a little walking/shopping excursion downtown this morning. Walked over to the Strand with it’s “8 miles of books” and bought a book on the history of quantum mechanics. Then I walked up Broadway to the “T-Salon Emporium” wherein the crazy woman that owns the place had me sniffing 50 different kinds of fucking tea before I was able to escape with a $10 four-ounce bag of Assam. (A “dimebag” if you will.) Then I cut back across to 6th Ave, stopping at this place “Sam Flax” that sells overpriced drafting and office supplies to Manhattan graphic artists. ($120 for an aluminum binder??)
So... that was my morning. Do I know how to have fun or what??
Here’s an interesting thing. I saw this chick in Penn Station yesterday... attractive, blonde... stylish in a “PostGrunge” sort of way. She was wearing camouflage pants... you know... surplus store type stuff... all faded and worn-looking... old army fatigues. Then I realized... wait a minute... this chick is like 5’3” and 130 pounds, and those camo pants are skin tight on her. There is no WAY that those pants once belonged to a guy in the army... or even a girl in the army, cuz they would have had to have been like 110 pounds. They don’t let 5’3”, 110 pound people in the army, do they? No... rather I think that these pants were NOT bought at the army-navy surplus store... rather they were purchased in some NYC boutique that sells fashionable “PostGrunge” clothing for women, and that they came pre-aged and pre-faded in a size 4 and cost her no less than $85.
That’s my theory anyway.
D.
time for a change...
Have you ever been walking around and seen someone who looks like you, and then you’re faced with the thought... ”fuck... do I really look like that??” Well it happened to me getting off the train yesterday... this guy... scruffy beard, slicked back hair, long greasy ponytail. I mean... he was wearing an old t-shirt and dirty sweatpants, so at least I DRESS better than him, but just the external image... yeah... I think I need to clean myself up a bit. So last night I hacked my beard down to a bare minimum... clean on the neck, down off the cheeks, thin and short all around. I think it makes me look younger... thinner. Next is the hair, which is all damaged and scraggly. I’m not ready for a big change, but I think I’m going to whack 4” off the ponytail. It’s just a mess.
My wife just went all out and completely changed her hairdo for the first time since she...ummm... well, maybe for the first time EVER. She went from long, curly perm with bangs to SHORT (chin-length) feathery-do with bangs. It looks a little like Paige Davis from “Trading Spaces.” She still hasn’t quite figured out what to do with it yet. I’m just glad it turned out ok... I was fully prepared to put up with a weepy, depressed, HairFit for the next several weeks.
I think we both may be depressed... “Depression Makeovers” all around, y’know? So desperate for change in the abstract that we’d actually consider moving to fucking Alabama!
In other body-image-news... (I’m usually not this obsessed with my appearance, really!)... I seem to have leveled out at a firm 195 pounds, down from a firm 202-3. You wouldn’t think that 6 or 7 pounds would make that much difference, but because I only carry body fat in a couple of places, it really does. Now my shirts hang down straight with no outward lumps or bumps... my pants require a minimum of in-sucking.... I’m even down a belt-loop. I attribute the solid weight loss to two factors. One: I’ve been walking in the city as much as possible. Two: Our oven is broken, so I haven’t had a DiGiorno frozen pizza in over a month!!
And speaking of walking, today is Wednesday, which means no subway in the morning... 22 blocks of walking instead. Barnes and Noble stop, perhaps? Always nice. Although I spend so much time in bookstores lately, I feel like I’ve “browsed” everything there already. There are other interesting places along the way, but nothing else is open at 9:00 AM.
Anyway... I’m rambling now... have some stuff I can do instead. You know... productive stuff...
Dave
Have you ever been walking around and seen someone who looks like you, and then you’re faced with the thought... ”fuck... do I really look like that??” Well it happened to me getting off the train yesterday... this guy... scruffy beard, slicked back hair, long greasy ponytail. I mean... he was wearing an old t-shirt and dirty sweatpants, so at least I DRESS better than him, but just the external image... yeah... I think I need to clean myself up a bit. So last night I hacked my beard down to a bare minimum... clean on the neck, down off the cheeks, thin and short all around. I think it makes me look younger... thinner. Next is the hair, which is all damaged and scraggly. I’m not ready for a big change, but I think I’m going to whack 4” off the ponytail. It’s just a mess.
My wife just went all out and completely changed her hairdo for the first time since she...ummm... well, maybe for the first time EVER. She went from long, curly perm with bangs to SHORT (chin-length) feathery-do with bangs. It looks a little like Paige Davis from “Trading Spaces.” She still hasn’t quite figured out what to do with it yet. I’m just glad it turned out ok... I was fully prepared to put up with a weepy, depressed, HairFit for the next several weeks.
I think we both may be depressed... “Depression Makeovers” all around, y’know? So desperate for change in the abstract that we’d actually consider moving to fucking Alabama!
In other body-image-news... (I’m usually not this obsessed with my appearance, really!)... I seem to have leveled out at a firm 195 pounds, down from a firm 202-3. You wouldn’t think that 6 or 7 pounds would make that much difference, but because I only carry body fat in a couple of places, it really does. Now my shirts hang down straight with no outward lumps or bumps... my pants require a minimum of in-sucking.... I’m even down a belt-loop. I attribute the solid weight loss to two factors. One: I’ve been walking in the city as much as possible. Two: Our oven is broken, so I haven’t had a DiGiorno frozen pizza in over a month!!
And speaking of walking, today is Wednesday, which means no subway in the morning... 22 blocks of walking instead. Barnes and Noble stop, perhaps? Always nice. Although I spend so much time in bookstores lately, I feel like I’ve “browsed” everything there already. There are other interesting places along the way, but nothing else is open at 9:00 AM.
Anyway... I’m rambling now... have some stuff I can do instead. You know... productive stuff...
Dave
Tuesday, September 16
goin’ mobile...
I think I mentioned the Mobile, Alabama job a few entries ago, and I was pretty dismissive about it. But it’s moved up on the list, and is actually a topic of serious discussion lately, so I guess I should say something about it.
A first glance at the webpage revealed a non-profit organization committed to science education. They have a new project to develop a science curriculum and a series of DVD videos that would be distributed free to schools and universities. They are looking to hire a Science Director to direct the projects. It sounds like my kind of thing... physics and astronomy education... multimedia development... and the pay quoted in the job ad was enough to really catch my attention. ($40k - $75k) The only downside... the whole Alabama thing.
So I reworked my resume to highlight my multimedia background and sent in an application just for kicks. I get back an extremely enthusiastic email from the President of the company. Too enthusiastic. Apparently the “Foundation” consists of this guy and one-and-a-half employees. Hmm. You’d never know from their webpage that they weren’t a real organization. So that turned me off immediately. But we exchanged a few emails. Turns out this guy was a successful CEO, took his company public, pocketed the money, and is using it to run this Foundation. He mentioned an operating budget of about a million a year. All his own money. Hmm. He asked the “salary history” question, and I decided to go for it. Look, if I’m moving to fucking Alabama, it’s gonna cost them. So I said, ”Well, I make $$$ as a professor and receive $$$ summer grant money, not to mention the $$$ I make doing consulting work with another organization in the area, so I’d be expecting something near the top of the salary range you mentioned in the ad.” Why not... y’know? His response was... “Yeah, I’d expect so too.”
Fuck.
Seventy. Five. Thousand. Dollars?
Seventy-five thousand ALABAMA dollars??? That’s like $130,000 New York dollars! (I checked!)
Fuck, Dave... time to sell out!
A few emails later, the guy was sending me pictures of “my office”. He hasn’t offered me a job yet, but he seems really serious. So I’m REALLY torn as to what to do. Because it would mean not only moving to Alabama, but jumping out of mainstream academia again... when I just got back IN last year. I worry about the long-term effect on my career... I want to be a college professor... am I hurting myself by doing all this other weird shit on the side?? Do I really want to exchange my 3-4 days a week, summers off , cushy professor lifestyle for a 9-5 job with 12 stinking vacation days a year? Do you have any idea what kind of giant fucking plantation house I could buy in Mobile Alabama on $75,000 a year??
So I keep going back-and-forth... The email ball is in my court. I expect I’ll be flying down there for a visit soon. You’ll be hearing more, I’m sure.
D.
I think I mentioned the Mobile, Alabama job a few entries ago, and I was pretty dismissive about it. But it’s moved up on the list, and is actually a topic of serious discussion lately, so I guess I should say something about it.
A first glance at the webpage revealed a non-profit organization committed to science education. They have a new project to develop a science curriculum and a series of DVD videos that would be distributed free to schools and universities. They are looking to hire a Science Director to direct the projects. It sounds like my kind of thing... physics and astronomy education... multimedia development... and the pay quoted in the job ad was enough to really catch my attention. ($40k - $75k) The only downside... the whole Alabama thing.
So I reworked my resume to highlight my multimedia background and sent in an application just for kicks. I get back an extremely enthusiastic email from the President of the company. Too enthusiastic. Apparently the “Foundation” consists of this guy and one-and-a-half employees. Hmm. You’d never know from their webpage that they weren’t a real organization. So that turned me off immediately. But we exchanged a few emails. Turns out this guy was a successful CEO, took his company public, pocketed the money, and is using it to run this Foundation. He mentioned an operating budget of about a million a year. All his own money. Hmm. He asked the “salary history” question, and I decided to go for it. Look, if I’m moving to fucking Alabama, it’s gonna cost them. So I said, ”Well, I make $$$ as a professor and receive $$$ summer grant money, not to mention the $$$ I make doing consulting work with another organization in the area, so I’d be expecting something near the top of the salary range you mentioned in the ad.” Why not... y’know? His response was... “Yeah, I’d expect so too.”
Fuck.
Seventy. Five. Thousand. Dollars?
Seventy-five thousand ALABAMA dollars??? That’s like $130,000 New York dollars! (I checked!)
Fuck, Dave... time to sell out!
A few emails later, the guy was sending me pictures of “my office”. He hasn’t offered me a job yet, but he seems really serious. So I’m REALLY torn as to what to do. Because it would mean not only moving to Alabama, but jumping out of mainstream academia again... when I just got back IN last year. I worry about the long-term effect on my career... I want to be a college professor... am I hurting myself by doing all this other weird shit on the side?? Do I really want to exchange my 3-4 days a week, summers off , cushy professor lifestyle for a 9-5 job with 12 stinking vacation days a year? Do you have any idea what kind of giant fucking plantation house I could buy in Mobile Alabama on $75,000 a year??
So I keep going back-and-forth... The email ball is in my court. I expect I’ll be flying down there for a visit soon. You’ll be hearing more, I’m sure.
D.
Monday, September 15
weekend in brief...
The big story was the traffic. The supposed three hour drive up to Connecticut took us SEVEN HOURS. Then on the way home, an accident on I-95 had us sitting absolutely stationary for 2 hours. Guess we can cross Connecticut off the list of “possible places to live.” Fuck.
Anyway, in between the excruciating car trips, we went to a fair. It was ok. Our daughter had fun. Not much else to say... y’know? It was a big state fair... it didn’t really seem much better than any other state fair I’ve ever been to. There weren’t even that many fancy chickens. It certainly wasn’t worth the $400 we spent on the trip.
The hotel we stayed in rocked, though – Homewood Suites by Hilton. One of those “extended stay” places with a kitchen and a bedroom with a DOOR. The wife and I took the king-sized bed, the kids got the sleeper sofa and a crib in the “living room”... which means that – unlike most hotel stays – we could actually WATCH TV after the kids went to bed. Anyway – it was nice and new and clean and there was free breakfast... I highly recommend it.
On the way home, we stopped at the Palisades Center – the superamazingincredible mall I went to a few weeks ago. Lunch at the Cheesecake Factory... took the kid on the Merry-Go-Round...spent some time in Barnes and Noble... didn’t actually do much SHOPPING... too tired, I guess. Anyway, we got home at around 9:00 PM Sunday night.
So that was it.
And next weekend we’re supposed to be going to Hershey Park in Pennsylvania. Unfortunately (fortunately?) it looks like we’re going to be in the middle of hurricane Isabel leftovers Friday and Saturday at least, so that trip may well get cancelled. Boo-hoo!
D.
The big story was the traffic. The supposed three hour drive up to Connecticut took us SEVEN HOURS. Then on the way home, an accident on I-95 had us sitting absolutely stationary for 2 hours. Guess we can cross Connecticut off the list of “possible places to live.” Fuck.
Anyway, in between the excruciating car trips, we went to a fair. It was ok. Our daughter had fun. Not much else to say... y’know? It was a big state fair... it didn’t really seem much better than any other state fair I’ve ever been to. There weren’t even that many fancy chickens. It certainly wasn’t worth the $400 we spent on the trip.
The hotel we stayed in rocked, though – Homewood Suites by Hilton. One of those “extended stay” places with a kitchen and a bedroom with a DOOR. The wife and I took the king-sized bed, the kids got the sleeper sofa and a crib in the “living room”... which means that – unlike most hotel stays – we could actually WATCH TV after the kids went to bed. Anyway – it was nice and new and clean and there was free breakfast... I highly recommend it.
On the way home, we stopped at the Palisades Center – the superamazingincredible mall I went to a few weeks ago. Lunch at the Cheesecake Factory... took the kid on the Merry-Go-Round...spent some time in Barnes and Noble... didn’t actually do much SHOPPING... too tired, I guess. Anyway, we got home at around 9:00 PM Sunday night.
So that was it.
And next weekend we’re supposed to be going to Hershey Park in Pennsylvania. Unfortunately (fortunately?) it looks like we’re going to be in the middle of hurricane Isabel leftovers Friday and Saturday at least, so that trip may well get cancelled. Boo-hoo!
D.
Friday, September 12
complication...
we're driving to conneticut today. i don't even know where to start. we were supposed to drive to conneticut in 2 weeks. y'see... apparently the new-england-states aren't actually big enough to have their own state fairs, so they have this thing called "the big e" expo, which is like a multi-state fair, and it's in massachusettes and my wife wants to go. you long time readers can probably guess my opinion of giant state fairs. ("Oh, look... a fancy chicken")
and so my wife gets a call from a client for whom she edited a book, and the publisher says the author wants to meet with her in person for 4 days to discuss her changes and rewrites. she tells them she can't leave the kids for that long, because i work and she's still nursing the baby. so they offer to fly her and the kids to st. louis AND fly in her mom from chicago to babysit AND put them all up at the ritz-carlton AND pay for all of their meals and a rental car and pay my wife $250 a day.
ok, then.
so thmy wife's trip to meet this author overlaps with the weekend we WERE going to drive up to conneticut, so the only free weekend we could do the fair became... NOW. so here we go.
is everybody still with me?
and as irritated as i am about being dragged to new england on such short notice, that's more than balanced out by the implications of this trip to st. louis... which, if you haven't figured it out yet means...
I GET THE HOUSE TO MYSELF FOR FOUR AND A HALF DAYS!!!
t-minus 11 days. oh... blissful silence!
d.
we're driving to conneticut today. i don't even know where to start. we were supposed to drive to conneticut in 2 weeks. y'see... apparently the new-england-states aren't actually big enough to have their own state fairs, so they have this thing called "the big e" expo, which is like a multi-state fair, and it's in massachusettes and my wife wants to go. you long time readers can probably guess my opinion of giant state fairs. ("Oh, look... a fancy chicken")
and so my wife gets a call from a client for whom she edited a book, and the publisher says the author wants to meet with her in person for 4 days to discuss her changes and rewrites. she tells them she can't leave the kids for that long, because i work and she's still nursing the baby. so they offer to fly her and the kids to st. louis AND fly in her mom from chicago to babysit AND put them all up at the ritz-carlton AND pay for all of their meals and a rental car and pay my wife $250 a day.
ok, then.
so thmy wife's trip to meet this author overlaps with the weekend we WERE going to drive up to conneticut, so the only free weekend we could do the fair became... NOW. so here we go.
is everybody still with me?
and as irritated as i am about being dragged to new england on such short notice, that's more than balanced out by the implications of this trip to st. louis... which, if you haven't figured it out yet means...
I GET THE HOUSE TO MYSELF FOR FOUR AND A HALF DAYS!!!
t-minus 11 days. oh... blissful silence!
d.
Thursday, September 11
to sir, with...
I saw one of my students at the Apple store, shopping for an iBook. I gave her some advice. She seems like a sweet kid. There’s this one thing, though...
She calls me “Sir.” Exclusively, I mean, like Marcie and Peppermint Patty.
”Sir...?”
I’m not sure how I feel about that...
But I think I like it...
Yeah.
*** *** *** ***
In other news, this older guy sitting across from me on the train is wearing a “NY” baseball cap that still has the tags on it. Even the little “hooky” thing that they use to hang them on the pegs at the store.... sticking straight up out of the top. And he’s wearing a suit. It’s way too funny.`
And today in the 4th street subway station I saw this Asian guy doing what can only be described as Mime-Chi. I have no fucking idea. His motions were expressive yet meaningless... repetitive, yet random-looking. And he had crazy “Einstein Hair” like that Japanese orchestra conductor whose name I can’t remember. Anyway... also pretty funny. New York City can be a pretty entertaining place sometimes.
Oh yeah, and I saw a NY rat on the streets today... the first time I’ve ever really seen one out of the subways. At first I thought it was a squirrel, cuz that’s how big it was... I mean... a squirrel with the tail included... like 10 inches long. He was scurrying around and running up the facades of buildings in a panic... poor little guy... he clearly did NOT want to be on a sidewalk full of pedestrians any more than we wanted him to be there. You could almost read his expression... WHERE THE FUCK IS THE SEWER??? Anyway, while he ran around in circles, a street vendor was cheering him on in what appears to have been Speedy-Gonzales-style Spanish. ”Oh! Oh! Epa! Epa! Ha-Ha!”
Yeah. Thank God I don’t really LIVE here!
Dr. D.
I saw one of my students at the Apple store, shopping for an iBook. I gave her some advice. She seems like a sweet kid. There’s this one thing, though...
She calls me “Sir.” Exclusively, I mean, like Marcie and Peppermint Patty.
”Sir...?”
I’m not sure how I feel about that...
But I think I like it...
Yeah.
In other news, this older guy sitting across from me on the train is wearing a “NY” baseball cap that still has the tags on it. Even the little “hooky” thing that they use to hang them on the pegs at the store.... sticking straight up out of the top. And he’s wearing a suit. It’s way too funny.`
And today in the 4th street subway station I saw this Asian guy doing what can only be described as Mime-Chi. I have no fucking idea. His motions were expressive yet meaningless... repetitive, yet random-looking. And he had crazy “Einstein Hair” like that Japanese orchestra conductor whose name I can’t remember. Anyway... also pretty funny. New York City can be a pretty entertaining place sometimes.
Oh yeah, and I saw a NY rat on the streets today... the first time I’ve ever really seen one out of the subways. At first I thought it was a squirrel, cuz that’s how big it was... I mean... a squirrel with the tail included... like 10 inches long. He was scurrying around and running up the facades of buildings in a panic... poor little guy... he clearly did NOT want to be on a sidewalk full of pedestrians any more than we wanted him to be there. You could almost read his expression... WHERE THE FUCK IS THE SEWER??? Anyway, while he ran around in circles, a street vendor was cheering him on in what appears to have been Speedy-Gonzales-style Spanish. ”Oh! Oh! Epa! Epa! Ha-Ha!”
Yeah. Thank God I don’t really LIVE here!
Dr. D.
Wednesday, September 10
in the bag...
Nothing cures a persistent bout of low-level depression like a bout of un-necessary spending. I finally got fed up with my briefcase... with the weight and the size and the bulk... not to mention the fact that the shoulder-strap has a tendency to unlatch at inopportune moments, sending my laptop and the rest of my belongings clattering to the pavenment. So I’ve been doing some online shopping for laptop bags... particularly bags made to custom fit the Apple iBook. I saw some online that looked nice, but it’s not the kind of thing you want to buy without seeing it and touching it and holding it on your shoulder. Today I walked down to SoHo to the Apple store to try a few out... I even brought my computer with me so I could stick stuff in all the pockets. I had it narrowed down to two... one small one that was $59, and a slightly larger on that was $79. What it came down to was... do you want this bag to JUST hold your laptop, PDA, and cellphone? Or do you want to be able to stick a book and a magazine and a folder full of papers in there too? I opted for the computer-only option... I really wanted something very non-briefcasey... one of those urban messenger bags or one of those slick “hipster” bags... so that’s what I got.
It’s a shoulder-bag only... no handle, and it’s taller than it is wide, so the laptop goes in vertically. It’s dark grey... made out of that ballistic-cordura-nylon stuff... it’s kinda curved so it rests nicely against your hip... like I said... one of those sleek, chic, urban kind of...
OK... IT’S A PURSE, ALRIGHT!! IT’S A “MAN PURSE”!!
That’s right, it’s a fucking Man Purse and I don’t care because I like it, so leave me alone.
D.
Nothing cures a persistent bout of low-level depression like a bout of un-necessary spending. I finally got fed up with my briefcase... with the weight and the size and the bulk... not to mention the fact that the shoulder-strap has a tendency to unlatch at inopportune moments, sending my laptop and the rest of my belongings clattering to the pavenment. So I’ve been doing some online shopping for laptop bags... particularly bags made to custom fit the Apple iBook. I saw some online that looked nice, but it’s not the kind of thing you want to buy without seeing it and touching it and holding it on your shoulder. Today I walked down to SoHo to the Apple store to try a few out... I even brought my computer with me so I could stick stuff in all the pockets. I had it narrowed down to two... one small one that was $59, and a slightly larger on that was $79. What it came down to was... do you want this bag to JUST hold your laptop, PDA, and cellphone? Or do you want to be able to stick a book and a magazine and a folder full of papers in there too? I opted for the computer-only option... I really wanted something very non-briefcasey... one of those urban messenger bags or one of those slick “hipster” bags... so that’s what I got.
It’s a shoulder-bag only... no handle, and it’s taller than it is wide, so the laptop goes in vertically. It’s dark grey... made out of that ballistic-cordura-nylon stuff... it’s kinda curved so it rests nicely against your hip... like I said... one of those sleek, chic, urban kind of...
OK... IT’S A PURSE, ALRIGHT!! IT’S A “MAN PURSE”!!
That’s right, it’s a fucking Man Purse and I don’t care because I like it, so leave me alone.
D.
more than enough...
Well, yesterday was a better day, but a worse night. This fucking kid just will NOT sleep. What the hell can you do? Every hour, every half hour, sometimes three times in an hour... fuck. Go to sleep you little bastard! I’m tired of it... I’m tired of being so fuckingtired...
My classes are going really well this semester, and I can’t even derive any pleasure from it because everything else in my life feels like such a fucking chore.
And I’m too tired to even try to be clever about bitching about it.
D.
Well, yesterday was a better day, but a worse night. This fucking kid just will NOT sleep. What the hell can you do? Every hour, every half hour, sometimes three times in an hour... fuck. Go to sleep you little bastard! I’m tired of it... I’m tired of being so fucking
My classes are going really well this semester, and I can’t even derive any pleasure from it because everything else in my life feels like such a fucking chore.
And I’m too tired to even try to be clever about bitching about it.
D.
Tuesday, September 9
enough...
It hasn’t been a very good week. My wife is in “nervous breakdown” mode after being stuck with the kids for so long... I’m beginning to regret taking this assignment at the Old School because the new science dean and the other science teacher are driving me fucking crazy... that Science Director job I was all excited about turns out to be with a company that only has 2 and a half employees... no matter how much sleep I get, I never feel rested... (I essentially went to bed at 8:30 last night)... everything is just too much...
The only promising portent to present itself today was the words “highs in the low 70’s”. Yeah...autumn...
So... anyway, I don’t really feel much like writing, and that’s exacerbated by the fact that a quick glance at my counter and my notes suggests that only three people read my weblog anyhow.
I dunno... I’ve just had enough of way too many things...
D.
It hasn’t been a very good week. My wife is in “nervous breakdown” mode after being stuck with the kids for so long... I’m beginning to regret taking this assignment at the Old School because the new science dean and the other science teacher are driving me fucking crazy... that Science Director job I was all excited about turns out to be with a company that only has 2 and a half employees... no matter how much sleep I get, I never feel rested... (I essentially went to bed at 8:30 last night)... everything is just too much...
The only promising portent to present itself today was the words “highs in the low 70’s”. Yeah...autumn...
So... anyway, I don’t really feel much like writing, and that’s exacerbated by the fact that a quick glance at my counter and my notes suggests that only three people read my weblog anyhow.
I dunno... I’ve just had enough of way too many things...
D.
Saturday, September 6
end of day one...
It’s 11:30 at night, and I’m sitting outside on the steps. The guest internet access room is right up the stair, so I have a nice strong signal. It’s quiet here... running water and frogs... distant laughter... it’s a little too cold out here, and my battery is a little too low to stay very long. I’m really tired, but it seems a waste to spend this perfectly good solitary time asleep!! I need to savor it a bit.
The “retreat” has been ok in general... lots of semi-productive conversations about things I really don’t have much more than a vague interest in. It’s hard to take part in the long-range planning of an institution you’ve been with for one year and plan on leaving in one more. I know it’s my job, but... still... tough to care.
A brief aside... One problem using your laptop outside at night... the screen attracts bugs.
Anyway, so the morning begins at 8:00 tomorrow. If I get to bed by 1:00 I still get almost seven hours of UNINTERRUPTED sleep, which is more than I’ve gotten in 8 months. That’s worth quite a few boring meetings!
D.
It’s 11:30 at night, and I’m sitting outside on the steps. The guest internet access room is right up the stair, so I have a nice strong signal. It’s quiet here... running water and frogs... distant laughter... it’s a little too cold out here, and my battery is a little too low to stay very long. I’m really tired, but it seems a waste to spend this perfectly good solitary time asleep!! I need to savor it a bit.
The “retreat” has been ok in general... lots of semi-productive conversations about things I really don’t have much more than a vague interest in. It’s hard to take part in the long-range planning of an institution you’ve been with for one year and plan on leaving in one more. I know it’s my job, but... still... tough to care.
A brief aside... One problem using your laptop outside at night... the screen attracts bugs.
Anyway, so the morning begins at 8:00 tomorrow. If I get to bed by 1:00 I still get almost seven hours of UNINTERRUPTED sleep, which is more than I’ve gotten in 8 months. That’s worth quite a few boring meetings!
D.
intentional slowness...
So my college is having this “faculty retreat” this weekend in Upstate NY. I left a little early so I could take my time driving up... do some exploring... make a few stops. I’m writing now in a Barnes and Noble in West Nyack at 9:00 in the morning.
I’m in heaven.
I have seen the Promised Land, and it is in West Nyack, NY. They have this mall here... fucking hell... it’s amazing... things I’ve NEVER seen connected to a mall before... Target and Home Depot... Best Buy, CompUSA, Circuit City... Barnes and Noble... even an Apple Computer retail store... plus all the regular mally stuff, PLUS things like Outback steakhouse. As soon as I get home, I’m checking out the real estate listings for this area.
Anyway... as hard as it is not to feel guilty about leaving the wife for 36 hours with the kids... the utter silence in this bookstore at this hour of the morning is making it a LOT easier to sweep that guilt off into a corner!
So, I may be writing a lot this weekend... probably not posting until Monday. Doubt if I’ll have a net connection at this resort they’re putting us up in. It’s one of those places oozing with “Victorian Charm” or whatever the fuck... no TV’s in the rooms, because that would distract from your peaceful escape from the day-to-day. Uh-huh...fuck you I want to watch the fucking US Open!!
Ok... time to finish my toffee-almond bar and sip my Earl Grey tea.
Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh.....
Dave
PS> Hey look... the Apple store has a password-free wireless network... I can post after all!!
PPS> Unless of course, Blogger is down. Grrrr.
arrival...
Well... this place is pretty much what I expected. Lots of wood, and an air of what I suppose some people might perceive as elegance. It’s like the kind of place Niles and Frasier Crane might spend a weekend. Does nothing for me. But the TV room has (weak) wireless access, so I’m happy.
It’s also the kind of place where people have weddings and receptions. There’s one here today. That drives me crazy... cuz I have to stare at these woman in these dresses all day... fuck. And I always wind up with the same fantasy spinning around in my head... single bridesmaid... no date... having a drink outside all alone... ”Hi... how was the wedding...?”...
You can finish the rest for yourself.
Anyway... It’s 11:30... lunch isn’t until 12:30...at 12:00 I’ll watch a little tennis, then lunch, then... who the fuck knows? I’m not really sure why we’re here!
D.
So my college is having this “faculty retreat” this weekend in Upstate NY. I left a little early so I could take my time driving up... do some exploring... make a few stops. I’m writing now in a Barnes and Noble in West Nyack at 9:00 in the morning.
I’m in heaven.
I have seen the Promised Land, and it is in West Nyack, NY. They have this mall here... fucking hell... it’s amazing... things I’ve NEVER seen connected to a mall before... Target and Home Depot... Best Buy, CompUSA, Circuit City... Barnes and Noble... even an Apple Computer retail store... plus all the regular mally stuff, PLUS things like Outback steakhouse. As soon as I get home, I’m checking out the real estate listings for this area.
Anyway... as hard as it is not to feel guilty about leaving the wife for 36 hours with the kids... the utter silence in this bookstore at this hour of the morning is making it a LOT easier to sweep that guilt off into a corner!
So, I may be writing a lot this weekend... probably not posting until Monday. Doubt if I’ll have a net connection at this resort they’re putting us up in. It’s one of those places oozing with “Victorian Charm” or whatever the fuck... no TV’s in the rooms, because that would distract from your peaceful escape from the day-to-day. Uh-huh...fuck you I want to watch the fucking US Open!!
Ok... time to finish my toffee-almond bar and sip my Earl Grey tea.
Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh.....
Dave
PS> Hey look... the Apple store has a password-free wireless network... I can post after all!!
PPS> Unless of course, Blogger is down. Grrrr.
arrival...
Well... this place is pretty much what I expected. Lots of wood, and an air of what I suppose some people might perceive as elegance. It’s like the kind of place Niles and Frasier Crane might spend a weekend. Does nothing for me. But the TV room has (weak) wireless access, so I’m happy.
It’s also the kind of place where people have weddings and receptions. There’s one here today. That drives me crazy... cuz I have to stare at these woman in these dresses all day... fuck. And I always wind up with the same fantasy spinning around in my head... single bridesmaid... no date... having a drink outside all alone... ”Hi... how was the wedding...?”...
You can finish the rest for yourself.
Anyway... It’s 11:30... lunch isn’t until 12:30...at 12:00 I’ll watch a little tennis, then lunch, then... who the fuck knows? I’m not really sure why we’re here!
D.
Thursday, September 4
an unlikely connection...
The train just stopped and I looked up at my laptop’s AirPort wireless signal monitor and there were two little signal bars. I quickly switched over to Internet Explorer and I’ll be damned if I didn’t succeed in pulling down the Yahoo homepage from the web before the train started moving again! Looks like somebody living next to the Forest Hills train station has a wireless network with no password. Next time I’ll try to be READY for it, and I’ll be able to check my email!
D.
The train just stopped and I looked up at my laptop’s AirPort wireless signal monitor and there were two little signal bars. I quickly switched over to Internet Explorer and I’ll be damned if I didn’t succeed in pulling down the Yahoo homepage from the web before the train started moving again! Looks like somebody living next to the Forest Hills train station has a wireless network with no password. Next time I’ll try to be READY for it, and I’ll be able to check my email!
D.
“... Catch it!!”
I’m listening to Lyle Lovett on the train... his first album. He’s one of those artists who I always think I would probably like, but I never got the chance to really dig into. I had his “Pontiac” album for a while... there is some great stuff on there... “If I Had a Boat”... “L.A. County”... and “Walk Through the Bottomland” (with Emmylou Harris on backup vocals... God, does her voice give me goosebumps) but that was the only album I ever really owned. Well a couple of weeks ago I was at the library and just grabbed five of his CD’s and checked them out and burned them... all the way back to his first one from 1986.
And the thing about discovering a band that’s been around for a while and then going BACK to their old stuff... it’s hard to listen to old stuff for the first time, because it has a tendency to sound dated. You don’t notice that it sounds dated if you BOUGHT it in 1986, and have been listening to it since 1986, but if you pick it up NOW in 2003, it’s gonna sound dated. But not this Lovett album... because the thing he does... the old-school country meets boogie-woogie meets big band... it manages to sound completely timeless**. It’s very interesting, and pretty impressive. I have a lot of respect for him as an artist. And he really does have an amazing voice. But I will admit... he’s pretty fucking goofy.
In other news... I’m trying to decide what to do this morning when the train pulls in... walk or subway. It’s kinda rainy, but not rain-ING, if you know what I mean... one of those misty, starty-stoppy days. And I don’t really have anything I want to look for at B&N. I think maybe my time would be better spent taking the subway to work then maybe walking around to various University libraries to take care of business. I do want to walk to some degree today, though. As promised, I got back down to a solid 195 pounds - an important weight since it represents the cutoff-point of “don’t have to suck in to button 36” pants”... it’s a comfort issue, not a vanity issue. Ok, well... it’s a *bit* of a vanity issue in the sense that I absolutely fucking REFUSE to buy 38” pants. Anyway... trying to keep the exercise level up and the junk food level down. Maybe some day I’ll see the inside of those 34” jeans I still haven’t thrown away, speaking of 1986!
That’s about it for today... almost three pages this morning... whoo-hoo!
Dave
I’m listening to Lyle Lovett on the train... his first album. He’s one of those artists who I always think I would probably like, but I never got the chance to really dig into. I had his “Pontiac” album for a while... there is some great stuff on there... “If I Had a Boat”... “L.A. County”... and “Walk Through the Bottomland” (with Emmylou Harris on backup vocals... God, does her voice give me goosebumps) but that was the only album I ever really owned. Well a couple of weeks ago I was at the library and just grabbed five of his CD’s and checked them out and burned them... all the way back to his first one from 1986.
And the thing about discovering a band that’s been around for a while and then going BACK to their old stuff... it’s hard to listen to old stuff for the first time, because it has a tendency to sound dated. You don’t notice that it sounds dated if you BOUGHT it in 1986, and have been listening to it since 1986, but if you pick it up NOW in 2003, it’s gonna sound dated. But not this Lovett album... because the thing he does... the old-school country meets boogie-woogie meets big band... it manages to sound completely timeless**. It’s very interesting, and pretty impressive. I have a lot of respect for him as an artist. And he really does have an amazing voice. But I will admit... he’s pretty fucking goofy.
In other news... I’m trying to decide what to do this morning when the train pulls in... walk or subway. It’s kinda rainy, but not rain-ING, if you know what I mean... one of those misty, starty-stoppy days. And I don’t really have anything I want to look for at B&N. I think maybe my time would be better spent taking the subway to work then maybe walking around to various University libraries to take care of business. I do want to walk to some degree today, though. As promised, I got back down to a solid 195 pounds - an important weight since it represents the cutoff-point of “don’t have to suck in to button 36” pants”... it’s a comfort issue, not a vanity issue. Ok, well... it’s a *bit* of a vanity issue in the sense that I absolutely fucking REFUSE to buy 38” pants. Anyway... trying to keep the exercise level up and the junk food level down. Maybe some day I’ll see the inside of those 34” jeans I still haven’t thrown away, speaking of 1986!
That’s about it for today... almost three pages this morning... whoo-hoo!
Dave
** Ok... except for this one song, “You Can’t Resist It” which is the only song on the album with electric guitar power chords and riffs... and there is just something about the sound of that guitar that just screams... “St. Elmo’s Fire!” I don’t blame Lovett for that... I smell a Producer. I can’t stand it when I can hear a producer’s hands all over a song. One time back in the 80’s during the whole “Glasnost” era, there was this Russian folk-singer who released an album in the US, and the single sounded kinda promising, so I bought his album. (What can I say... I was caught up in the Glasnost...Glasnost Fever...!!) And the record was produced by Dave Stewart, and despite the funny Russian accent, it sounded like it could have been a very good acoustic folky album, if it weren’t for the fact that every song was just covered in what can only be described as “Eurythmics Vomit”. For fuck’s sake Stewart... he’s a fucking Russian folk singer... put your synthesizers AWAY!!
Tuesday, September 2
first day recap...
Always good to set a nice example for your students the first day of class by showing up 15 minutes late. Fucking trains.
Astronomy class went well... not *quite* as crowded as the class list would suggest, which is good... they all seem pretty excited about the course. I think I recovered from the lateness well, helped by one of my spiffy PowerPoints. As for the afternoon class... eh... it’s hard to make reading Aristotle into anything exciting. It’ll probably scare a few students away. Good riddance. I looked good, though... very Professory. Blue jeans, black shirt, dark blazer. Wearing a blazer just makes me feel... bigger somehow.
So... that’s about it. I cleaned my office some... pretty slow day. Tomorrow I’ll come in and really get something DONE. Copy some readings, print out some stuff, work on a lab or two. I really want to get AHEAD of my classes, although that almost never happens. We’ll see.
Oy... I just got REALLY tired all of a sudden... had to close my eyes. This whole “going to work” thing is gonna take a few weeks to get used to.
D.
Always good to set a nice example for your students the first day of class by showing up 15 minutes late. Fucking trains.
Astronomy class went well... not *quite* as crowded as the class list would suggest, which is good... they all seem pretty excited about the course. I think I recovered from the lateness well, helped by one of my spiffy PowerPoints. As for the afternoon class... eh... it’s hard to make reading Aristotle into anything exciting. It’ll probably scare a few students away. Good riddance. I looked good, though... very Professory. Blue jeans, black shirt, dark blazer. Wearing a blazer just makes me feel... bigger somehow.
So... that’s about it. I cleaned my office some... pretty slow day. Tomorrow I’ll come in and really get something DONE. Copy some readings, print out some stuff, work on a lab or two. I really want to get AHEAD of my classes, although that almost never happens. We’ll see.
Oy... I just got REALLY tired all of a sudden... had to close my eyes. This whole “going to work” thing is gonna take a few weeks to get used to.
D.
back to school...
I dunno... I’m finding it kinda hard to get excited about teaching this morning. New class, new syllabus, new students... phphbpbpbtt! I think I may be burned out, teaching-wise. I’ve been watching the academic job ads. There is an opening as the Science Director of this non-profit company that produces educational multimedia... DVDs and stuff... for astronomy and physics... kind of a “virtual science course”... it seems like a really great company, and my qualifications for it are superb. Only problem? The company is headquartered in Mobile, Alabama. Eeeech...
Better tune up my banjo!
As for now, I’m on the train again, after “...scattered 15-20 minute delays due to an earlier track condition...” as the platform announcer informed us. Notice how they are very clear to point out that there is nothing wrong with the track NOW... It was an earlier condition. Uh-huh... right.
It was a pretty tiring weekend. Everybody still has a cold... the baby got it worst, though. I’m still feeling a little icky in the head... and yet that didn’t stop us from shopping for 7 hours yesterday. And the day before that we went to the annual Pow Wow at the local Reservation. The baby slept through most of it, but on the drive home he insisted on SCREAMING the whole way. I think he subliminally absorbed some of the music and was trying to emulate the vocal style...
ENOUGH!!
When we told our daughter where we were going, she said... ”A COW WOW???”. I need to sit and channel the spirit of Gary Larsen and draw that up as a cartoon.
*** * *** * ***
We have FLEAS in our house... can you believe that?? Two cats that never go outside, and yet... fleas! It really sucks. I’m blaming the weekend in the cabin in Virginia... there was a cat there and a dog there that would sometimes go into the guest cabins... I think the cabin was infested and we brought some home with us. Anyway, we went out and got some of those back-of-the-neck flea drops for the cats, so they’re both walking along looking all punked-out and Billy Idol. We’ll see if it works.
The other thing is... everything is breaking in our house. The dryer has a crack in it that keeps grabbing buttons and turning the laundry into a big twisty sculpture. Our TV/VCR combo in the bedroom ate a tape from Blockbuster and now it won’t play tapes anymore. The oven only works at temperatures over 500 and under 375... Set it anywhere in the 400s and it only heats up to 350. (It took me like an hour and a half to cook a fucking Freschetta pizza the other day.) And the latest is that my wife toasted her computer last night trying to put some RAM in backwards. Gee... I sure an glad I’m doing all this extra fucking work so that we have all this extra fucking money to buy thousands of dollars worth of SHIT WE ALREADY OWN.
And now I found out that, not only was my train 10 minutes late, but that it’s NOT going all the way to Manhattan today and that we have to CHANGE TRAINS in Queens. The whole fucking reason I TAKE this early train is so that I DON’T have to change trains. WHY can’t we go into Penn Station?? I thought it was an “EARLIER” track condition?!
This is not the way to start off the semester...
PS—I’ve used the word “condition” THREE times in this post and EVERY TIME I’ve typed it “condidtion”... it’s just one of those mornings.
D.
I dunno... I’m finding it kinda hard to get excited about teaching this morning. New class, new syllabus, new students... phphbpbpbtt! I think I may be burned out, teaching-wise. I’ve been watching the academic job ads. There is an opening as the Science Director of this non-profit company that produces educational multimedia... DVDs and stuff... for astronomy and physics... kind of a “virtual science course”... it seems like a really great company, and my qualifications for it are superb. Only problem? The company is headquartered in Mobile, Alabama. Eeeech...
Better tune up my banjo!
As for now, I’m on the train again, after “...scattered 15-20 minute delays due to an earlier track condition...” as the platform announcer informed us. Notice how they are very clear to point out that there is nothing wrong with the track NOW... It was an earlier condition. Uh-huh... right.
It was a pretty tiring weekend. Everybody still has a cold... the baby got it worst, though. I’m still feeling a little icky in the head... and yet that didn’t stop us from shopping for 7 hours yesterday. And the day before that we went to the annual Pow Wow at the local Reservation. The baby slept through most of it, but on the drive home he insisted on SCREAMING the whole way. I think he subliminally absorbed some of the music and was trying to emulate the vocal style...
And now it is time for our Grand Processional...
“AaaYooEeeAaaaEeeAaaWaaaaYooAaaEeeYaaa....”
And now, would everyone please rise for our tribal Flag Song...
“AaaYooEeeAaaaEeeAaaWaaaaYooAaaEeeYaaa....”
And now please welcome our first performers – Mystic Spirit...
“AaaYooEeeAaaaEeeAaaWaaaaYooAaaEeeYaaa....”
ENOUGH!!
When we told our daughter where we were going, she said... ”A COW WOW???”. I need to sit and channel the spirit of Gary Larsen and draw that up as a cartoon.
We have FLEAS in our house... can you believe that?? Two cats that never go outside, and yet... fleas! It really sucks. I’m blaming the weekend in the cabin in Virginia... there was a cat there and a dog there that would sometimes go into the guest cabins... I think the cabin was infested and we brought some home with us. Anyway, we went out and got some of those back-of-the-neck flea drops for the cats, so they’re both walking along looking all punked-out and Billy Idol. We’ll see if it works.
The other thing is... everything is breaking in our house. The dryer has a crack in it that keeps grabbing buttons and turning the laundry into a big twisty sculpture. Our TV/VCR combo in the bedroom ate a tape from Blockbuster and now it won’t play tapes anymore. The oven only works at temperatures over 500 and under 375... Set it anywhere in the 400s and it only heats up to 350. (It took me like an hour and a half to cook a fucking Freschetta pizza the other day.) And the latest is that my wife toasted her computer last night trying to put some RAM in backwards. Gee... I sure an glad I’m doing all this extra fucking work so that we have all this extra fucking money to buy thousands of dollars worth of SHIT WE ALREADY OWN.
And now I found out that, not only was my train 10 minutes late, but that it’s NOT going all the way to Manhattan today and that we have to CHANGE TRAINS in Queens. The whole fucking reason I TAKE this early train is so that I DON’T have to change trains. WHY can’t we go into Penn Station?? I thought it was an “EARLIER” track condition?!
This is not the way to start off the semester...
PS—I’ve used the word “condition” THREE times in this post and EVERY TIME I’ve typed it “condidtion”... it’s just one of those mornings.
D.
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