And I Warn You Now, The Velocity I'm Gathering Will Knock You Down

It looks as if I'm running out of photos to use for the blog. I'm such a wuss about the cold, that I don't get out like I was doing when it was warm and nice out.

Today after work was crazy busy. I thought about trying to run, but I didn't have a lot of time before supper club, so I wimped out. Instead I finally finished The Book Thief. I started and stopped reading that book for over a year. I'm not sure why, I liked it, it was just that I'd set it down and something would come up and then I'd forget I was reading it, and then I'd get back to it, and something else would come up...Anyway, now it has officially been read, and I may just go back to another novel, I've been the same thing with - White Teeth, by Zadie Smith. I also have George Saunder's CivilWarLand in Bad Decline to read. I guess I'll just have to see what kind of mood I'm in tomorrow.

We went to The Hilltop for cheese fries for Supper Club tonight. They were greasy, good and cheap. Just how I like 'em.

I got home in time to help Coadster get ready for her trip to Ames, Iowa tomorrow. She leaves school in the afternoon and will stay in a hotel with the other All-State kids until their concert on Saturday night. We all went to see her last year, but this year, her dad is the only one going. It's just not fair to make Stinky hang around for 12 hours on Saturday again.

It will be just me and Stinky for the next few days. It's weird to think that in a year and a half, it will be just me and Stinky wandering around our apartment all the time. I can't imagine it.

Both of these photos were taken on Halloween. I couldn't tell if this woman was wearing a costume or some kind of decorative hair ornamentation.

Tomorrow night should be another busy one. I'm going to try to run, make dinner and then take Stinky to basketball practice. While she's there, I'll meet some friends to watch the Steelers at The Vine until Stinky's done with practice. Then I'll stop by and do a cameo at the bowling alley for my friend John's birthday. I can't stay long, but I at least want to flip him a bunch of shit and make fun of him, so he knows I'm still his friend. It is his birthday after all.

If Only You Believe In Miracles, Baby. So Would I

Well, lookee there. It's a photo of my shadow.

So, I've been thinking lately that I want to go back to actually writing in this here blog. Originally, I started the blog as a way to write everyday. I think I envisioned that I'd be all introspective and give myself the freedom to try all different kinds of writing styles and narrative voices and stuff, and I used to do that a lot more.

Lately, it seems like my blog entries have been sounding more like, "Blah, blah, blah. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. Hey, look at me. I'm a douchebag!" Yeah, I know. They say to write about what you know, so I guess I've been doing that, but I feel like I should be branching out and doing different kinds of writing too.

I was thinking I'd try to do a little less obsessive documenting of my current world, and try to go back and write about some past experiences. This California trip has really got me all nostalgic about the first time I lived there, so I might work on some posts about that. Hell, I may even write a post or two in second or third person. I haven't done that in forever. So, don't be startled if the form changes on some of my posts. It could sound more like, "Blah, blah, blah. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. Hey, Look at what a douchebag I used to be!" Oh, and I don't want you to get all crazy and start expecting anything, but I may even proofread a post or two, just to shake things up.

I'm Wide Awake on Memories

So, tonight was a night for great and terrible stories. First I met the supper club people at Shakespeare's and one of the guys there was training to be an over-the-road trucker. He was telling us about this old trucker who was his trainer and the stories were not pretty at all, but so amusing. The worst part was that the old school trucker guy never wanted to stop and kept a garbage can with baggies full of his urine and feces in it and traveled around like that. Yeah, I promise I won't go into any more detail, but just know there were a whole lot of people saying, "Ew" over and over again during the telling.

Then I grabbed the Coadster and we headed to Van Allen Hall for the John Irving reading. Like many people my age, I fell in love with his work after reading The World According to Garp in high school. It was so dirty and quirky and there was so much mention of Iowa, that I wanted to live in that twisted world as long as I could. Then in 1985 when I lived in the redwoods and we had to drive all the way to Eureka to buy art supplies, music and books, I was starving for anything decent to read. My brother sent me the hard copy of The Cider House Rules for my birthday that Summer and I spent an entire weekend, lying on my favorite rock on the Eel River reading that book and pissing off my favorite river otter who really didn't want me hanging out on his turf. So, I was so excited to not only hear him read, but share it with the Coadster. She loved the movie Simon Birch when she was a kid, and was really interested in his work.

The hall was packed. So packed, in fact, that Lan Samantha Chang had to get up and tell us that we were officially a fire code violation and all had to move to a bigger lecture hall in the business building. It was kind of funny to watch so many people elbowing and running over to the new venue to get a decent seat. Once we were there Samantha Chang said that it was great to see 500 people all walking down the street for something other than a Hawkeye football game.

Irving was an excellent reader. He chose a chapter from his soon to be released novel that took place in Iowa City in 1967. Coadster has always loved reading about the 1960's, so she was really intrigued. Then toward the end of the chapter, he described the block on Iowa Avenue right where we lived until Coadster was seven. She knew every place he described. It was fun to see her get so excited about a reading. The best part came when Coadster said, "This was really awesome. We should go to some more readings together." Oh yeah, I done bred myself a little nerd girl child, just like me.

It Cuts My Security

Here is a picture of a big jalapeno. Mmmm, spicy.

So, you know how I have a tendency to live in my own little world, and how on my planet everything is beautiful and things can really work out for the best? And if, say, I had a problem with the exhaust system on my car, in my head, it would end up being something minor that would only cost a teensy bit of money?...Wait. Let me say this again, a little more efficiently - so, you know how I often tend to be delusional? Well, this time my little fantasy world turned out to be real.

I took my car into a muffler place this morning and walked to work. When I got there, my boss was working with the police department to document all of the bomb threat spam we were getting in our e-mails. The drag about all of these bomb threats, is that we're all so blase' about them now. I wouldn't be at all surprised if we all got blown to bits, as we blindly stepped over the abandoned backpack in the middle of the room. The only good thing about the threatening e-mails, was that they gave me an opportunity to use my English degree for the first time since I graduated in 1990. The very young, very handsome cop who investigated, was reading the subject heading of one and wondered allowed, "So, who's George Orwell? The name sounds familiar..." I was able to give him all the background he needed, and more. He stopped me in the hall on his way out to tell me how impressed he was. The sad thing is, I didn't really need an English degree for that. Don't most people know who George Orwell is?

...So, weren't we supposed to be talking about my car here? Oh yeah, the car guy called me during all the virtual drama to give me an estimate. He first started talking to me about the problem, and I honestly didn't care. My eyes were glazing over, so I interrupted him to ask what the damage was in terms of dollars. "It'll run you $42.28," he said.

"For real? Wow. Okay. I love you," I said, still in shock.

"Well, I am a lovable guy," he informed me, and who was I to argue? I've never had a car problem that was fixed so cheaply before.

I spent the first hour of work waiting for bombs to drop. Thank god, they were all duds this time. Of course, tomorrow is another day...