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12-27-02 // 11.07 am staring at my wrist hoping that the timing is right NP: Bright Eyes - "Lifted" I refuse to write out the entire, ridiculous title of this album. Expect a review on Recordings once I've sufficiently digested the whole LP. So yes. Right now I'm at my desk at work. I had to drag myself out of bed after a less-than-perfect night's sleep, shower, stumble around to get dressed, and shave, considering that I hadn't done so in about three days, and I was looking pretty bad. Anyway, I'm at work. On my drive over, it started to snow. Yes, more snow. I mean, it's not much, it's nothing as insane and hazardous as on Tuesday, but... I still have that cold. Though thankfully, I'm now in stage three. You know the stages... Stage one is the unbearable sore throat and pressure behind the ears. Stage two is the exit of the sore throat and the arrival of congestion and sinus pressure that makes you drowsy and makes it feel like your head is about ready to explode. Stage three is a lessening (but not complete disappearance) of the congestion, and the addition of lots of sneezing, watery eyes, and a runny nose. There's also lots of fatigue in the last stage. Anyway, so that's where I'm at right now. I'd have loved to call in sick today, and in all honesty I'm sure I could have. But I don't like to make it a habit of using tons of sick days. The less you use them, the less resistance you encounter when you suddenly do need to use one (for reasons of being sick, or otherwise). Today, random phrases keep popping into my head. I would love to write them all down into some sort of free-form piece of prose. But then, it would likely interest nobody but me, so I suppose I'll just let 'em stay in my head. The bottom eyelid of my left eye keeps doing this twitching thing. It's been doing this off and on since about Monday. I'm not sure what the deal is -- and like I said, it's not constant -- but it's rather annoying. And it's not like it's a nervous tic or anything, I'm pretty stress free at the moment. Didn't get to hang out with Ryan S yesterday. A car ran his off a country road on Christmas day, and it sat there in the snow and ice until yesterday morning. So he, his girlfriend, and her dad spent yesterday trying to pry it loose from the ice and drag it out of the ditch without breaking anything off (exhaust pipe, etc). In any case, he had to cancel. Which I totally understand, it's cool. But it still stinks. We basically only get to meet up like once a month, so it's no good when we don't even get that. I dunno, sometimes I miss my friends a lot. I'll get to see Steve for a while at our New Year's Eve party, but Ryan H won't be able to make it. Neither will Jared. Blah to distance. In the absence of doing something with Ryan, Erin and I ventured out for a while to spend some of our Christmas money/gift cards. I got a new pair of pants, a shirt, and some socks at Target. Erin bought a charm bracelet and some charms that she's had her eye on for months. Went on a mini-spree at Borders, with Erin buying lots of on-sale Harry Potter stuff, and me buying five new CDs. I almost bought seven, but put two back as we made our way to the checkout. In any case, new stuff to listen to rocks my world. Oh, and I had 20 bucks credit at B. Dalton (after returning a Tom Clancy [ewww! but it's the thought that counts, and the thought was very nice] novel that Erin's grandma got me), with which I bought that Live From New York history of Saturday Night Live book I've wanted for ages. It's a great read, so far. 90% of the show's history is told using only interviews with cast members, writers, producers, guest hosts, etc. The rest of the space is filled in with notes from the author. The overall effect is excellent, basically letting the story tell itself. Despite all our shopping, I was unable to find Paul Feig's Kick Me: Adventures in Adolescence. Guess I'll have to go online for that one. Same for Marillion:Separated Out. It was a great Christmas for books, actually. Erin got me a book of new "Deep Thoughts" by Jack Handey, as well as the new Onion AV Club book, The Tenacity of the Cockroach. It's a collection of their interviews with so-called "strugglers, has-beens, hermits, and successful malcontents", and it's brilliant. I mean, a book featuring (typically excellently done) interviews with Mr. Show, Weird Al Yankovic, Henry Rollins, and George Carlin? Yes. Oh, and from my mom & dad I also received Yesterday's Tomorrows: Past Visions of the American Future. It's a great mix of cool, retro-futurist illustrations and blueprints, as well as plenty of ads from old magazines and great analyses of all of it. You see, this is my relationship with the written word. I love non-fiction. I mean, fiction has its place, too. A well-written novel is right up my alley. But I've always sort of eschewed "classics", as well as the sorts of things you're supposed to read to be "well-read". I mean, don't get me wrong -- I'm a richer person for having read all of those books in high school and college. Some of them -- 1984, Native Son, Cannery Row, The Call of the Wild-- have become stern favorites. There have even been new discoveries from outside the academic world -- Will Self's Great Apes, Sarum and London by Edward Rutherfurd, just about anything by Irvine Welsh and Nick Hornby, and of course, Douglas Adams. But 9 times out of 10, ask me what I'm reading, and it'll be stuff like I described in the preceding paragraphs. Erin's at home right now, sleeping off the same cold I'm starting to get over. I'm not sure if she caught it directly from me, or if we both caught it from her sick cousins earlier in the week -- but either way, it's been a bad week for health. I can't wait to get the hell out of here and get back to her. I'm looking forward to a quiet, restful weekend. I know this week was a holiday, but sometimes Christmas feels like a lot of work, you know?
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