December 2003 Archives

Well...I think I have finally weathered the worst of the storm. After three full days of writhing around in sweaty pajamas -- three days that saw my temperature stay well over 100 degrees -- spiking at 103.6 - I think I have finally managed to quell the beast enough to manage a drive home tomorrow - New Year's Eve.

I am definitely not 100%. And I have to be at work at 8am New Year's, for Brunch. That isn't gonna be fun. I'm thinking about getting one of those surgical masks - because I'm pretty sure I'm still contagious -- and you don't want what I got. Trust me - although according to this map, you've probably already got it - or you're the one to blame for my getting it.

Other than the fact that both my see-store and I were bed-ridden the majority of the holidays - I would have to say it was very nice to get away. I'm still really weak - so I'm probably gonna cut this entry short. I have a coupla stories I'm gonna wanna share -- never did get around to micki gettin to tell her highway adventures - but those can wait until I have the time and energy...Right now I am feeling very gaunt, frail and shaky...

so -- I'm gonna go lay down again.
until next time.

I was gonna head home today. I was gonna drive the 700+ miles to mi casa, unload all my stuff, then head right over to the Kwanzaa party. I was gonna entertain and partake in saucy beverages. I was gonna be super happy.

Instead - I'm sick. And I'm not going anywhere. Thanks See-store!

Okay. Phew. My ass hurts. And not for any of the usual reasons that you, my lovely readers - would care to imagine. My ass, and lower back - are somewhat shot after sitting in the car yesterday for 12 hours. But I'm here, Farmington Hills, Michigan, planted firmly in front of a DSL computer with two windows on either side revealing the on again off again snowfall that started on at 12:30 this afternoon. Unfortunately - yesterday it was rather warm here - upwards of 40 degrees for the majority of the day - so the grass is still blanketing the earth.

This past weekend was an actual weekend for me. Not a virtual weekend. I guess I can thank monsieur for that one. The roommate actually gradumutated after like, 17 years? Is that right? I tried to convince him the 6 year plan was the way to go but he insisted.

It was funny, listening to him at his mother's pre-party party talking to someone about his plans following graduation. He said he wasn't gonna miss it at all. There begins our polarity. I miss it every waking moment. And plan to plant my sore ass back in one of those intellectual growrooms as soon as I am sure I'm ready to commit. Ha. Commit. He said that he planned on getting a job. And the polarity continues. Ah, well. Best of luck to him.

Sometimes I get a tingle - and then I get really scared that everybody will notice I'm tingling - so I have to move around really fast. Does that ever happen to you?

There are a coupla reasons I am seething this morning afternoon. The one I will mention is that I got my laptop back yesterday -- they replaced the audioboard - but it's still not working. The speakers aren't working -- and when you plug in headphones - you have to push your finger down on one side of the laptop so that - conceivably - you are squeezing out sound in little portions...

Since I have a warranty for 3 years - there is no way I'm taking this puppy back until after the new year...You know -- when the lines are all long and all...great. I just don't understand how they couldn't notice there wasn't any sound coming out of the speakers...Morons.

The job's holiday party was last night.
My head hurts.
My lips slipped a coupla times and landed on hers.
Then my hands started doing things.
I am feeling...
Feeling.

It never shoulda happened.

she has a boyfriend.
she is young.
she lacks smarties.
everyone else says no.
it means nothing.

maybe not.

even though she has a boyfriend.
even though she is young.
even though she lacks smarties.
even though everyone else says no.
even though it means nothing.

maybe.

granted it was something of a broken signal at the start. but that didn't stop them. there was little there but fuzz and static. that dreaded static. exactly what they had hoped to avoid.

"but it just stopped."

"how?"

"well, genius, if I knew that then I wouldn't be talking about it because I'd have the answer and there'd be some signs of life."

She was gone now. Ancient history. Lost in the mad scribbles of dusty journals. But each day there was still something there. A stranger's nuance, a familiar rhythm to the wind - it all brought his mind back to her.

"That's wordy."

"What?"

"Wordy." The hum of the overhead was deafening. everyone had turned in anticipation of his response. He had none.

"Fetid seemed the perfect fit," he thought. "Who the hell is this guy?"
His anger wasn't misplaced. The question was well posed. How did that man with his wandering eye manage his way into a university job? It was like a scene out of storytelling. Only he wasn't gonna be blotted out by a gigantic red square.

"She just stopped talking. It was -- I don't know." He flicked the ash into the winter wind and watched as a white truck passed by. The Mathis truck. The one they'd always joked about having bodies in the fridge compartment because it never moved from out front of the neighbor's house.

"I'm sure there were plenty of things I did. But I can't be sure of which one it was that caused this wall to suddenly jump between us. I mean how do you stop talking to someone like that?" He cricked his neck and there was an audible snap. "It's even starting to happen with people I thought were friends...just friends."

He thought his feet looked funny. The light of the moon and play of the lights were casting odd shadows about him - no doubt accentuated by the medicine. Shuffling one in front of the other just to keep warm he exhaled and watched the breath in front of him during the ensuing silence.

"Bullshit."

"Indeed."

Well --

It took a while -- but I just got one of those spammer comments you hear so much about. A link to some penis enlargement site. ZAP. Gone. They've been waiting until my computer is unavailable to attack. My defenses are down.

Speaking of penii - I don't believe jennicam will remain in the dark for long. Must be a slow newsday.

Heh. Today at work -- (time to lean, time to clean) -- one of our regular customers remarked that she had gone to our website and was startled by what she discovered there. Upon pressing further, she relayed to another manager in hushed tones that it had to do with devil worshipping. I learned this when the other manager mentioned it in passing to the owner -- and they both looked at me - like I had hacked the site in my angst and revealed my undying passion for the dark lord.

"Don't look at me - I didn't do it," I said defensively. "You know -- you do have the wrong web address on the menu. It says stcharles and leaves off the deli...Maybe somebody else has the legits for that site...Sho nuff...Pretty funny stuff...

P.S. Still no word on when my baby be coming back.

Monsieur's keyboard has a lotta dust. Not that he doesn't use it -- but up on the top edge it has some of those quick buttons to push - if you say - want to get on the internet or check your mail and you're really lazy...He obviously doesn't use those buttons...Cause there is a lotta dust there...

Called to check on my baby and while I was waiting for someone to pick up and answer my questions I noticed that the service order receipt that I have has an estimated completion date for the 15th. That's a whole week away. and that's at best --- if they have to order parts (which they will since the soundcard is busted) it'll be longer...Best Buy should have a realtime service report on the internet. I wanna be able to look and see a little clock next to my service order and notes made by whoever is poking and prodding at my baby. They shipped her off to Suwanee. -- I feel a song coming on. You know - a little blues ditty about my computer...

I made chili.
It doesn't have enough burger in it.
It's got plenty of beans though. - Which means tonight I will be able to proudly say plenty of times: "I farted, and it smells." If only I could cue dramatic music each time I said that. Mind you - there is a noticeable pause in that statement. The comma could possibly be a period - as the "and it smells" is more of an afterthought.

Gore endorsed Dean...I'm a bit worried that Clinton is gonna endorse Clark...but today was a big step in my nominee getting into the hizouse.

I think I'll play Nofriendo until my eyes bleed...

I'm just a lil upset...Girls that declare outright that they don't wanna date a saxophone playa do that to me. Make me upset that is. I mean - that is so bogus. whateva.

I hate this browser. I want my opera back. Stupid soundcard.

Well -- the weekend for the rest of the working world is almost here -- and I still don't have my computer back. I'm still sitting in front of one of these oversized screens for the visually impaired with their gargantuan sized letters -- and it's still bleak outside...

Tried to brighten up my enviro with a little holiday lighting...One strand in front of the house looks really cheapo ghetto - so I am trying to refrain from running out to Big-Lot's to buy some more...Actually - it's rather easy to refrain - as lately I just don't want to leave the house.

I was "given" the night off of work last night...The night before I'd been overworked -- we had a sketch $190 order come in and I did a lotta takeout biz -- and what with the ingenious cutbacks I had double the amount of the ordinary to deal with...So when I got a call early the next morning asking if I was gonna come in and do the extra work they had piled on me since I didn't get to it last night -- I kinda flipped. But righteously so...

Now I have to go back...Fo real doh. Have to have a talk with the big man too...greaaaatttt...

There are a lotta things to be checked out that should be in the siz-urfed box -- but I just haven't had the time to check them all out...I know there's a lotta talk about some movie called The Day After TommorrowTomorrow -- but I can't get this computer to watch it...

Frustrations are mounting to a fevered pitch...

Need to start shopping.
Car needs brake job.
Cohesiveness is gone.

Oh Lawd! This is much more difficult than I thought it would be...Last night it was pretty easy to be without my laptop because I had band night to sustain me...But upon waking this morning I was struggling to find distractions to fill the void. I decided a healthy breakfast was in order if I was going to maintain some composure and not breakdown in tears at some point in the day...So I went to the grocery store and picked up some supplies -- headed over to that corporate coffee place and picked up a really really big Mocha -- and now that I'm all jacked up on caffeine I have nothing to expel my energy on...

I'd thought that maybe the maple bacon, spinach, onion, mushroom, tomato and cheese omelette I cooked up would sop up some of that liquid speed -- but there I was - a full hour later -- still jacked up with nothing to rid myself of the nagging sensation that I should somehow be productive...

I glanced out the front window -- staring out into my vast front yard -- now resembling something of ancient Indian burial grounds -- what with all the piles of leaves encircled by green grass...

They reach up to the sky, broken by the outstretched branches of swaying trees -- into a sky that resembles sunrise -- though we were already well into our 10th hour of the day -- a golden horizon blanketed by dismal gray...

(It's really difficult to keep my chain of thought going while the library patron behind me keeps sighing and rustling his winter jacket...I long for the privacy of yesterday.)

Anyhow -- driving home yesterday - sorting through the different accounts of the great military success in killing off 54 Iraqi's yesterday - I thought of something else the leaves resembled - (and here I am stealing bandwith for the day as I can't really save this image to the library hard drive) - multiple spiral towers of Samarra. I suppose I could be productive and continue my efforts at lawn work -- but I'm getting that strange sensation of wanting to do nothing strenuous before I make my return to the job following my virtual weekend...So I think instead I will plant my keister in front of the NoFriendo until it is time to depart for the dismal abysmal (Don't wanna be repetitive now do we?).

Congrats to Coleman. Who quit the place Monday. May others shine in his leading example...

I really miss my aggregator...damn screaming kids.

The soundcard is giving me some problems so I'm taking my baby into the shop...May not be around for a coupla days...

Well -- turkey day has come and gone and now all of you people with real jobs and higher education responsibilities have been forced to rise out of your beds and return to your daily grind. I, on the other hand, have been blessed with a beautiful virtual Saturday - which may actually draw me outside to continue the construction of the monolith in the front yard...Actually, the trees are still clutching to several lifeless leaves - so I may put off the backbreaking blister wreaking chore for another week...

For now I have already taken care of some menial tasks -- laundry is spinning - grocery shopping has been performed...assorted other tasks too daunting to be performed while slaving away behind the line as you gobbled and frolicked with your time off...I found out last night that Rachel and Stevie-boy were in town for the holidays -- present at the manna's party the other night - which I couldn't attend because I had to be up at the buttcrack of dawn on your weekend. Oh well...There's always that next holiday.

For my part - the day off I had - the actual TurkeyFest itself - led me to my auntie and uncle's house in Alpharetta -- where I was beaten twice by my cousin in Playstation NCAA football...Food was good...Exhausting. Later that evening I attended the farkle fest at the Hogan home...The Stubb sisters were there...Beautiful as always...

I also managed to attend something called the 941 Consortium on Saturday night...Hosted by a coworker -- it boils down to something of an art party featuring local performers...Small, intimate -- about a crowd of 30 gathered for a free feast, imbibed beverages and enjoyed the performances of a singer/songwriter from Chicago, a 5 minute movie, and a skit derived from Hurly Burly...It was impressive enough that I talked it over with the boys and we're gonna go ahead and put something together for the next event...It'll be the first "gig" in quite some time...

As for the rest of the day - I think I'm gonna sit back and work on mixing down a couple of songs -- amongst which will be Snake in the Grass - from back in the High School Glory Days of the Johnny Gloves...That's done mainly for the benefit of my homies out West...Word to DAAAAAAANNN, Bruisee and Brother Love!

That should be up later...I'm out for now... -- Andy the exterminator just showed up and I'm sure he's got some entertaining tails tales to share...

P.S. It's World AIDS Day -- Educate your mind