A random post about nothing

I’ve been walking around in that “end of the summer” haze that, despite being out of school for about 10 years now, I’m still unable to escape as August comes to close. It’s odd that we work our way into some routines so easily and yet cannot shake other routines. It’s not as if I did anything crazy or amazingly spectacular this summer (aside from marrying the woman of my dreams, but that transcends time), but I feel a bit melancholy about September. It’s my 10 year anniversary at my current job tomorrow. I never thought that would happen, but apparently it has. Crazy. I turn 32 (?) in 16 days as well. So there’s that.

Change

I haven’t written a sobby, Emma/Divorce related missive in a while, mainly because things have been quite good, and there’s nothing to really be sad about. However, today I realized that Emma now lives about an hour away, instead of 5 minutes, and I felt a little sad. I’d been preparing myself for it, because I knew it was going to happen at some point, and then as much as 3 months ago, I found out that they were moving out of the apartment. Now that it’s final, and she’s elsewhere, it feels odd, and I feel a little empty. It was always nice knowing that Emma was around somewhere, down the street at Target, over eating dinner at the local restaurant, but now she’ll be completely out of my sphere. True, we’ll still see her on the weekends, but the week night dinners will not be so easy…probably not even possible with school starting and all the new added traffic. She’s still going to pre-school at the same place, but I’m not sure how that will work. Maybe that will be my ticket to see more of her. This seems to be dredging up feelings from around the time of the separation, but I can’t really figure out what it is. It might be the distance. I was far away from almost everyone that I loved for a time there: I was in the house, Emma with her Mom, KB in the middle of the country, my family in MD. I suspect things with Emma will get a bit more distant when she starts going to school down there. I’m hoping that her mother is able to move somewhere closer to our apartment than their interim spot. I’d like Emma to be able to spend some time with her baby sister when she arrives. I realize that the great, wonderful things that are happening in my life should outshine this small problem, but for some reason it punched me in the gut this morning, and I’m still trying to get up.

71derful

I was riding home on Thursday, reading my latest trashy novel (Carrion Comfort – Dan Simmons) and was just finishing up a rather nasty/harrowing passage. I glanced over and noticed one of the two teenage boys that had been a bit rowdy at Harvard, staring straight ahead. He looked green, to be honest with you. I looked forward, and then looked back when I heard the sound of wet, slapping the floor of the bus. I turned just in time to see him blowing chunks all over the floor of the bus. I felt bad for the guy who was sitting across from him, as he was wearing flip-flops. The back end of the bus was quickly vacated. Oddly enough, the kid didn’t get off the bus. I would have gotten off as quickly as I could. I got off soon after and watched the vomit filled 71 bus travel off into the distance.

Has Project Runway “jumped the shark”?

I’m concerned. What was once the most brilliant, well executed reality show on TV has suddenly taken a turn for the worst. In a mere two episodes, we’ve seen a great designer voted out and a crappy designer saved for an atrocity of a “dress.” Then, this week, we see the same designer WIN the competition for yet another questionable dress. I’m happy that the show has become so popular, but why is it that producers feel they have to ruin the show in order to give it a wider appeal? The producers of the show have always argued that they do not keep certain “characters” on the show for the sake of entertainment, but that’s turning out to be bullshit. For me, the show wasn’t always about drama, but more about the skill of the contestants. These were actual designers that actually had talent and weren’t just screwing around and having “realationships” (I have Big Brother for that). There are some talented designers on the show this year, but Vincent? Come on. Thankfully, we still have Tim Gunn’s podcasts to save the show, but who knows how long it will be before the producers start muscling in on those as well. Sad, sad day.

Catching Up/Red Sox/Music

I’ve been in no mood to type over the past week, so I was unable to articulate all of the wonderful things that have been going on.

Emma has been hanging out more, but soon that may change. Kirsten and Annie are moving out of the apartment at the end of the month. Emma’s going to be far away now, which sucks. Hopefully they’ll end up finding some place to live closer than the South Shore. So, we’ll see what happens.

I was going to put up the new ceiling in the girl’s room on Saturday, but I wussed out at the last moment and bailed. Maybe I’ll do it this weekend. I need to get the materials first, plan, and then do the job. I was trying to do that all in one day.

How about that 5 game sweep this weekend? I’ve been saying the season’s over, but I’m not completely sure yet. Who knows, there are still games to play and we still have a 4 game series in the Bronx next month. Anything can happen.

I’ve been listening to: The Roots – Game Theory (kinda weak), The National – Alligator (Great), The Clientele – The Violet Hour (Like a soft pillow), Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (Greater with every listen), Mastodon – Blood Mountain (METAL).

Things I Shake My Head At: Jerky customers

We made a pilgrimage to IKEA this weekend to take advantage of the tax-free holiday and buy this couch we’ve been eyeing for the past 2 years. Because it was going to have to be special ordered from Canada, we opted not to stand in the insane line for delivery and come back during week to set it up. We came back last night (Monday) and proceeded to the delivery desk. We waited in line and after about 5 minutes, we went up to the desk. Turns out I’d forgotten the receipt, however, they were nice enough to take us over to customer service and look up the transaction information for us. They were very helpful. Meanwhile, when we were waiting at the desk, talking to the gentleman in Delivery, this manic looking older man in a bright orange shirt came speeding up behind us and stood about 4-5 inches from me and KB. I kept glaring back, as did KB, and the guy didn’t get the message. After about a minute of awkwardness, he decided to get into the other line and bulldozed his way up to the desk to literally attack the woman working the other desk. He went from 50 to 100 in about 10 seconds.

Where do all these right wing wackos live?

I thought Massachusetts was supposed to be a liberal state. Why are the boston.com “discussion boards” constantly littered with Dittohead, LGF, Wackjob nonsense? I guess they’re just more vocal. Here are some fun samples from today’s discussion concerning the the terror threat in London:

“Maybe people will finally start to wake up and realize these radical islamists want to KILL you, your spouse, your children, and your family and they won’t stop untilt they do. They are EVIL, pure and simple. They have declared a holy war on you and want you dead.”

“Let the conspiracy and poll followers speak out! Go ahead you whackos!

Yah, John Kerry or Al Gore in the White House would have really done a better job.

Hindsight is a real b*tch isn’t it?

I’m so waiting for people to start saying this is all Bush’s fault.

Right, there was no terrorism before 9/11.

Thank God for some sane people in Britain who thwarted this…”

“I’m all for kicking some terrorist a$$$$$ we have played paddyfingers with them and look at what we have on our hands now..and on 9/11 we had our butts handed to us..we are heartbroken and afraid forever now..”

“LOL – ACLU and MoveOn are COMICAL Organizations. They have no clue what’s going on in the world.”

“OMG…….Please tell me they are not taking the deodorant away from the French. (just kidding)”

And on and on. Finally some reasonable people chime in (ie – people like me, of course), but it’s as if all these right wing freaks are just waiting around for one of these ripe discussion groups to appear and then shower them with their “thoughts” and “ideas.”

Maybe they’re from out of state?

Crank up the propaganda machine!

I’m not saying that the busting up of the terror plot in the UK isn’t legit, but I’m not going to start freaking out just yet. I get memories of certain days in October and November of 2001 when I’d be riding the train into Boston, terrified that something was going to explode and kill us all. 5 years later the fear is gone, and I realize that most of what we hear in the way of terror plot warnings are stories cooked up by the White House. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but the most recent “bust” (the group in FL who thought about blowing up the Sears Tower) was so ridiculous and obviously intended to instill a renewed fear into the population, that I just had to laugh. This morning, I’ve already run into about 5 people who are shocked and horrified. I’m going to give it some time and see how it pans out. The White House (via Homeland Security) has already begun the fear mongering by contradicting the London police report that the suspects were “homegrown” and saying that the plot is “suggestive” of al Qaeda. It’s probably suggestive of Hezbollah, Hamas, the Symbionese Liberation Front, etc. etc. as well. But let’s just get “al Qaeda” out into the airwaves again, so we don’t forget about them. We’ve forgotten about the war in Iraq, thanks to that other conflict in the Middle East. Happily, for the Bush Administration, this moves the “war on terror” closer to home, and away from Iraq.

UPDATE: As we all now know, this does appear to be a legitimate plot and the UK made a great catch here. This could have been devastating. This doesn’t change the theme of my post however. This is going to be milked for all it’s worth by the Bush machine.

Top ten drummers

I can’t sleep, so I thought I list my top ten favorite drummers. Updated, with a glaring error, rectified.
1. John Bonham, of course.

2. Keith Moon. I think he was in the Who. Insanity.

3. Jimmy Chamberlin (Smashing Pumpkins, Zwan). You may scoff, but the guy is a machine.

4. Stewart Copeland (The Police). If only for the ride in “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.”

5. Brendan Canty (Fugazi, Rites of Spring). Rawest of the raw.

6. Brann Dailor (Mastodon, Today Is the Day). A recent entry into my top ten. This guy has to be heard to be believed. You can see him in action here.

7. Zach Barocas (Jawbox, The Up On In). Simple, clean, and technical.

8. Robert Ellis (PJ Harvey). Not so much the later stuff, but just for “Rid of Me” alone. Classic, powerful work.

9. Damon Che (Don Caballero). He’s lower on the list simply because I can’t get past DC’s music. He’s terribly, terribly sick on the skins.

10. Rob Hirst (Midnight Oil, Ghostwriters). A very solid rock drummer and a great songwriter to boot.

Honorable mention: Jason Finn (PofTUSA, Love Battery), Peter Moffett (Government Issue, Wool, Burning Airlines), Steve Calhoon (Skeleton Key, Enon), Dave Grohl (Scream, Nirvana, Foo Fighters), John Stanier (Helmet).

Liveblogging a couple breaking up outside in front of our house

Unfortunately, they seem to be breaking up in another language. The woman is crying a lot. I think they actually just pulled off our main thoroughfare and parked in front of our house and are now having it out.

Let’s hope they don’t have make-up sex out there as well.