July 2007

Hardship

This Wednesday through Sunday I will be camping in Guerneville for Lazy Bear Weekend. This is the same bearish event I attended last year. This year I'm roughing it with Michael and Mike to explore all the crazy fun this resort-like vacation has to offer. While it's not camping of the homeland variety it will involve a distinct lack of hair dryers or the regular spa treatments. This will be the longest trip the three of us have taken together. Fortunately we're bringing the traveling condo so if we get on each other's nerves we can each retreat to our own separate wings of the tent for a little peace and quiet. Meanwhile we'll try to find someway to get by with the meager king size inflatable mattress with feather comforter, table & chairs, vanity station and gourmet camping food. This gay camping thing is hard work.

Elimination

My root canal went well. Less than a hour, the pain wasn't too bad and I was able to watch The Incredibles while I was being tortured. Sadly the other crud I've been fighting all week hasn't gone nearly as well. I see my doctor again today and will insist that he give me a stomach/intestine/energy transplant immediately, cuz the current stomach/intestine/energy group is so getting voted off the island.

Drill Me

So today is the day of my much anticipated root canal. If the procedure is indeed as easy as everyone is trying to coerce me into believing, I should have a nice relaxing afternoon once it's all done. If not... I'm going to hunt down these con artists who call themselves friends and fill their toothpaste tubes with battery acid.

Sesame Street It Ain't

Tonight's plans are brought to you by the letter D and by the number 3. Dinner, drinks and dancing by Michael, Mike and Damon. We're going to hunt out some new dinner spot then hit our "secret" lesbian bar before joining the hairy masses (double entree fully intended) on the dance floor at Bearracuda. Come and join us!

Anchor's Away

It's things like this that make me miss my family and all the crazy things we did growing up. My brother John and two of his girls dare to do the impossible.

This kind of craziness isn't something you're born with, it's earned through years of hard work, boredom and hitting your head repeatedly on hard, blunt objects. John, for this kind of craziness, I salute you. Who said cardboard had limited uses?

So Polite It Hurts

So there's this guy at work who likes to say hello to the same person like 200 million times a day. He'll pass by my cubicle and say, "hello Damon" in his syrupy southern drawl. He'll pass by an hour or two later and say it again like it's the first time he'd seen me that day. Then he'll pass me in the hall and say it again when we see each other in the copy room. Maybe he's been gloriously liberated of his short term memory or maybe he just misses me terribly in those long minutes we are apart. But it's not just me. I've heard he does it to others as well. And it's not like were bosom buddies or anything. I avoid conversations with him at all costs.

Yesterday he was in the kitchen with another co-worker. When I entered he gave me his standardized greeting of the hour. I went about re-stocking the fridge with sodas and organizing some of the shelves while I waited for my lunch to heat. I guess I delayed long enough for this guy's short term memory to be reset because before we'd both left the kitchen once again I heard "hello Damon." I wanted to slap him. Instead I've just taken to ignoring him. Maybe he'll soon realize his southern hospitality is lost on me and stop being so damned polite.

It's a Girl!

Have you seen the movie Alien? You know, with the pregnant puss pocket of alien goodness bursting from underneath someone's skin? Well, I got that going on in my mouth. There's this little alien growing inside my gums creating quite a sore, swollen pocket of fun. I'm going to see a second dentist about it this afternoon to verify that I need the much hoped for root canal. Of course if they do that does that mean I wouldn't get to feel my alien love child burst from my mouth in a dramatic explosion of blood and flesh? Cuz, missing that would just be sad.

To Finance or Not to Finance?

My supervisor/friend who got me into this accounting position has starting giving me lots of tips for how I can have a long and successful career in the world of finance. That's really cool and exciting and shit. The only snag is: do I *want* a long and successful career in finance? This shift from grunt newspaper graphic designer or occasional piano teacher/music director has been a very welcome boost to my personal finances and has allowed me to enjoy life in the big city, but is it something I want to invest into for the long term? Hm. It definitely lacks in the glamor department not to mention the artistic fulfillment department. If I can stave off the boredom (and accountant social stigma) continuing in accounting would indeed be a smart decision for my personal finances. The company I'm at has programs to assist with schooling/training, but maybe I should get some sense of how long I expect to be in this field before I jump into pursuing another degree or getting my decoder ring from Accounting Geeks Anonymous. Anyone have a lucky 8 ball or pocket psychic to help me decide?

My Evil Brother Doesn't Want Me to Sleep

I'm grumpy from a fitful night of sleep. Things that kept me from blissful and much needed sleep: the excessive heat, the cat banging on the screen door to be let out, the dying cell phone battery crying for help and the dream of my older brother hijacking an online Christmas card my mom made for me so he could log his own version of my online dating profile. Thanks a lot John. Because of you I didn't get any sleep.

Flaming

Friday night I went to the Fire Art Festival and was in pyro heaven. Flames bursting, roaring, twisting and exploding at every turn.

The giant flaming serpent had buttons along it's body so all us pyro-wanna-bes could make various segments of the body roar with flame. In fact, they had interactive fire play throughout the entire festival. There were zen sand gardens simmering with fire which danced and played under your rake and bongos which triggered bursts of flame as you played. They even had a large screen version of Dance Dance Revolution where you wear a fire suit and flames are shot into your protected face every time you make a mistake. If there were willing to set me completely on fire, I would have done it, but the flame throwers didn't even seem to be working all that well so I moved on to more interesting things.

They had a Beverly Hillbillies type contraptions in which flames shot through pipes to play various musical sounds. They also have flames roaring up the center of a block of ice shaping a glass (or metal?) pot that was suspended inside. That's just cool shit.

The rather abstract photo above is a link to a rather abstract video of Michael and I raking the firey sand in a tiny zen garden.

Take a Whiff

My supervisor/friend is self-admittedly in serious need of an attitude adjustment (he's also in serious need of getting laid, but that's another post). His attitude adjustment epiphany has obviously not found itself into any modicum of behavioral change because he's currently keeping a tally of how many times someone comes into his office to ask a question. At the end of the day he declares with righteous indignation the number of interruptions he's had to suffer in the course of the day. Besides being offended at being considered a nuisance for doing my job, wading through all the negative energy he's pumping out ain't helping my mood in the least. Add to that his continually stopping by my cubicle to bitch to me about all his other coworkers and I'd say I'm swimming in a sea of bad karma. It may not be my bad karma, but you can't sit that close to rancid stench and not pick up a little stink yourself.

Rebuilding Trust

I didn't mean to do it. It's not like I set out to hurt you. I was trying to give you the sustenance you wanted and the taste your craved. How was I to know that pizza was laced with ick and would induce chunky convulsions of utmost horror? Can you ever forgive me? And can you get over it quickly? I was kinda hoping we could have some of the ice cream that's in the work freezer...

Hippie Love

"Free thinking is good as long as there is indoor plumbing."

Oso

Thursday night's at The Eagle Tavern are live music sets by various bands both local and traveling. The quality of music is very hit and miss, but it's usually groups who've not yet made a name for themselves which I love.

This past Thursday I got to see the band Oso and thoroughly enjoyed their folky, rock-esque instrumentals. Even with those broad impressions of their music, their style is hard to pin-down. Each song seems to cover an almost A.D.D. mix of influences, tempos and features. What I loved about them was how incredibly tight the musicians were. They all worked together flawlessly and the music was precisely executed. Their mix of electric guitar, fiddle, electric bass and drums was rich and fascinating. And the light speed fingers of all the musicians - particularly the fiddler and guitarist - added great textures to the songs rather than cluttering anything. While the folk influence in their music might normally turn me off, skilled musicians and tight arrangements made their eclectic style capture my attention. Yay for an 'accidental' good time Thursday night and for the odd beeswax coated, hand-made Oso cd I now own.

Ali and I

Last night I saw Alison Kraus in concert. While that style of music isn't my favorite, the concert was really good. She's a brilliant vocalist and I love her sense of humor. The entire band was very skilled and put on a great show. On top of that I loved the outdoor greek ampitheatre. Sitting under the stars watching the concert was beautifully romantic.

In stark contrast to this concert, I'm going to see The Deftones on Monday night. Probably not nearly so 'beautifully romantic,' but some head banging sounds a-okay to me.