I was looking for showtimes for Garden State. And to my surprise it is not showing here. Before you start saying "see I told you Charlotte sucks", it’s only showing in LA and NY. So I guess I’ll have to wait a little while before I can see it. Until then, I have these links to tease myself.
As I am pulling into the lot behind my apartment my phone rings and it’s James. He requested that I meet him at him car to inspect hie tires or tires. I was not sure. I park and hop out of my car with my tire gauge in one hand and a huge flashlight in the other. You know like the ones cops carry so then can beat you down. Aaah, if I had a dollar for every beating I took from a cop, but that’s a whole other story.
We exchange the usual greetings and then got to buisness (bo-ees-ness). I did not find and thing wrong and neither did James. I told him that I would be up by 7am so if it’s flat in the morning come and get me. I knew we could change that tire quicker than Jr’s pit crew.
Lying in bed waiting for my alarm to go off, I thought that I heard a knock. I got up to check, but saw no one. By the time I had finished my morning (anything but) routine, James was gone. So I guess he is either at work, at a service station, or soon I’ll get a call to come and identify the chard remains of one James "THE PEOPLE’S LIBRARIAN" Kelly.
If it's one of the first two possibilities James, want to go drinkin Thursday?
Tuesday, July 27, 2004 The Penguin is my own Dead Sea.
Did you know that the Dead Sea has been a place of healing for centuries? It has something to do with the altitude and climate.
-It’s 400 meters below sea level
-Has year-round sunny skies
-Dry, low polluted air
-Less then 50 mm mean annual rainfall
-Summer average temperatures: 32°C - 39°C Winter average temperatures: 20°C - 23°C
-Weakened UV radiation, particularly the UVB (erythrogenic rays)
-High oxygen content due to the high barometric pressure
While I have not figured out how to fix what’s wrong with my voice, I have found a short-term solution. No it’s not the Dead Sea, I haven’t tried that yet. You see over time (days, sometimes weeks) My voice will degrade, till I am in an almost constant state of clearing (well trying to clear) my throat. My land of healing is the Penguin.
-It’s loud, so I have to use my gravelly "bar voice"
-Dry, smoky air
-Yuengling beer on tap
-And the staff knows my voice is messed up so I don’t have to explain anything
The next morning I wake with a "normal" voice, which can last for several days. This is my burden, my curse.
This morning I woke up about 15 minutes before my alarm was supposed to go off. I lay in bed looking for a reason to go running. There are the obvious reasons (health, maybe see cute girls running) which are usually enough to get me up. But I had a great weekend of hanging out with my brother and a mix of friends, and I had eaten a lot of stuff this weekend. While that fact should give me motivation to run, it really just made me want to call in sick to work. But I got out of bed and laced up my shoe because of what one friend said.
Scene from I, Robot: A guard puts a hand on Will Smith’s shoulder.
Will: What hospital are you going to? I’ll meet you and your friend there and sign your casts.
The guard takes his hand of Will’s shoulder.
In the Theater:
James: I totally see Mark saying that.
I don’t know when this rep started or why it continues to exist, but I admit that I like it. It’s not because I’m the toughest or strongest of my friends, because I’m not either of those. So my guess is it’s because I am… daring is not the word for it, but it’s the first word that comes to mind; see also bold, see also reckless, see also stupid, see also something to prove. The fact is that I had better keep working out cause one night I might try to live up to my rep. But I doubt it.
Monday, July 19, 2004 Learning experience in the kitchen
Last night I planned to cook spaghetti, and make a peach cobbler. I started the sauce and boiling water for the pasta. While I waited for the water to boil, I pealed and sliced peaches. I only have a one small round casserole dish, but it was the perfect size for the amount of peaches I had. I used brown sugar with each layer of sliced peaches and also in the batter.
The water came to a boil, so I added the pasta. The spaghetti came out great. What I learned was that one bag of angel hair pasta goes a long way for one person, and two bags is an insane amount of pasta. Anyone want some pasta?
Before I sat down to eat the spaghetti and watch American Wedding, I placed my cobbler into the oven. When I had finish eating, I checked on the cobbler, not knowing how long it would need to cook. The top had not started to turn golden, so I left it alone while I tried to figure out what to do with all the pasta. And finish American Wedding.
I pulled out the cobbler sometime later, and it looked perfect. I stuck a folk in it just to take a look. This time I learned that you don’t have to make much batter for a small casserole dish. I had about an inch thick, 4-inch diameter, brown sugar flavored biscuit, on top oven my unbaked cobbler. I had used too much batter. I removed the cooked layer and then put the cobbler back in the oven. The end product is not pretty, but it tastes good. Anyone want a big-ass-biscuit?
This is my one hundred and 69th post.
Thursday, July 08, 2004 Little Pink’o Houses for You and Me
I started the 4th of July at a house party, with live music. That afternoon, there had been a skill-share. One guy showed everyone how to change the oil in a car, a friend’s girlfriend taught knitting. Some did bike repair/maintenance, and so on. I missed all of this, but not because of lack of interest. It’s just that I was recovering from the night before.
A group of people were hanging out on the front porch, eating away at a watermelon when James and I arrived. We talked to Chairman-Mike and then he introduced us to the host and a few other people. I went back to my car and got out a case of beer. As I approached the porch again, I then started to address people at random (“Hey dude”) and offer a beer. Everyone was shock that someone would offer free beer. The first guy hesitated and then the second guy asked if I was sure. Then everyone else dug in. I felt that I was really giving in to the hippie spirit of the party.
The bands started to play. The second band announced that they were going to defeat capitalism. And the crowd cheered. I laughed, and just thought about how I want to be the machine they rage against. Soon after the defeating began, James and I made our rounds to a few other 4th of July events, then later that night I returned to the house of Mao, to see Robins band play. The beer I had left was gone, as I expected. But what surprised me was that nobody was very giving with his or her beer (except Chairman Mike, big ups). That seemed to go against the whole “Socialism is the best system” tripe, that everyone was so fond of. Maybe, just maybe, Capitalism kicked their ass.
