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Was the meeting productive? No only no, but... well, you get the idea. I managed (with the help of someone near the area to pick them up) to pre-purchase the last table of tickets for the Guy Forsyth show tonight. It's standing room only now. I am getting anxious for my time off next week. I am trying to fill my afterwork evenings with activities to pass the days more quickly. I am so desperately in need of time off work. I am completely burned out. I was comp'd some Astros tickets for Thursday's game. I never watch sports on television... but I will go to live events, so that should be fun. I'm going to an erotic poetry reading downtown tomorrow night, so that's one more calendar tick toward my sweet and listless, lazy days of next week. I have to check and see if Isabelle is back from France, so I can go back to Alliance Francaise. Especially since I've decided that if anything ever happens to my job here, I am moving to Paris. One of the days next week, I'm going to hit the trails at Warda and maybe also Huntsville State Park with Sam and Lou. I also would love to go visit my mother and grandmother, but I'm not sure when I can make the trip. My prime driective in vacation mode is rest, rest, rest, and more rest. If I could sleep from Friday afteroon (the 9th) until Monday morning (the 19th)... I would. B-U-R-N-E-D O-U-T.

Ah yes... nothing like a meeting with monkeys to interrupt a few moments of peaceful lunchtime surfing. I barely have enough time to print my card for bingo. Please let this be productive... please let this be productive... please let this be productive...

I am such a geek. This is very cool.

excellent.

Maybe Melly could have had these dudes build her PC instead of ordering a Dell.

I ran across this site today about the comparative study of world creation mythology. I thought it was a pretty interesting way to deliver random peace pipe knowledge to kids.

I replaced both tubes and switched out the tires last night and it made all the difference. The new tires are not offroad tread... they are street slick in the center and knobby on the edges. It make a HUGE difference on the street and they are perfect for the enduro shit that I deal with on the way to work. Unlike my being a total gear slut on Friday, I managed to make almost the entire trip this morning above 20th gear. The heat is a real killer. I packed my Airborne bottle (thank you Sam) with ice before leaving the house and it was completely melted a couple miles into the ride. Phuck. It appears I may have some tenants for my VB house. Yay! I am blaming the new tires for the better commute, but it probably has to do with a sound sleep. Night before last was terrible... I nightmared about this woman that looked exactly like Aunt Jemima chasing me through some bayou/swamp area with a gun that shot Sporks at high velocity. I don't know why she was trying to kill me with a Spork, but it fucking freaked me out. There were a lot of snakes and alligators in the swamp... and leeches. I got lost and kept seeing the same stuff over and over... she knew the whole place like the back of her hand. She was a mean shot with the Spork rifle too. Bitch. I didn't sleep well at all. I am really looking forward to Guy tonight. I've never been to this venue, but Greg says that the only way to get a seat is to buy tickets in advance. I'm picking mine up this afternoon. Is it time to go home? I'm ready.

I love bean dip.

Two flats are better than one. Not really. Sam came by and picked me up for lunch so we could swing by the house to repair the back tire flat I had Friday. In the process of changing the tires out with street tread, Sam pinched the front tube and now I have two flats. Excellent. I purchased a couple of standard Blackburn tubes after lunch and hopefully can find time to talc and replace them tonight. Guy Forsyth is coming to Houston tomorrow night for an 8:30 show at The Mucky Duck. I was going to see the Harlem Slim house gig at The Big Easy, but I can't miss Guy. I am dizzy today. I don't know what's going on, but I am disoriented and dizzy on and off... it's quite annoying. It must be the Ebola virus. Coffee kills Ebola, doesn't it? I'm going to find out.

mirrors + tiny digital camera + easily amused male = fun fun fun

"Most of the stuff I say is true because I saw it in a dream & I don't have the presence of mind to make up lies when I'm asleep." - Brian Andreas
I want to float away on a feather and wake up to butterfly kisses and the smell of fresh baked bread and brewing coffee. Where is that place? Where is the land of morning sex and lazy days with romantic nights and crashing waves?

I wish everyone would shut the fuck up about this tax free weekend. Get over it.

I had a miserable time Friday night. I offered to be designated driver for a friend. We ended up going to a club that I loathe. I lobbied against it, but was overruled by the majority (there were about 4 guys and 7 girls in our group and I was the only opposition). We didn't stay long because of some Jerry Springer domestic issue between a couple in the group. I just asked to be dropped off at home. I had dropped plans to go to a surprise birthday party for a friend of a friend Friday to drive for Stephen and his out of town friends. I should have gone to the birthday party. Friday night was wasted and those hours I'll never get back. I just went to bed early... disgusted. I had computer trouble on Saturday morning. I think my computer may be becoming a hypochondriac. I was walking through the living room yesterday morning and saw this huge, football player-esque black man jumping over my fence. He was the meter reader for the electric company. Apparently, on the days of the month designated as reading days, these folks can use any reasonable means to get to the meter and it isn't trespassing. I don't think I agree this should be ok. I wouldn't want to be the meter reader guy jumping into some redneck's yard with a penchant for shooting things. I took Eclair swimming yesterday. She loves the water. I'll put up a few pictures of her at the end of this post. I had planned on seeing Shakespeare's A Midsummer Nights Dream at the Miller Outdoor Theater Saturday afternoon, but it started raining, so I staying in and watched Amelie (Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain). I really liked this movie. I am a sucker for stuff like that anyway, but my favorite part was when she gets the message from the Glass Man that she shouldn't let this pass her by... she looks out the window and sees that he's gone... frantically, she turns to run after him only to find him standing at the door to her flat. He begins to speak, but she stops him... pulls him slowly inside and closes the door... then kisses him... that was it... my favorite scene. I was channel surfing after the movie and stopped on some dog competition where these Labrador retrievers were running down a pier and jumping out into the water. The competition was like the long jump, but for dogs. It was quite entertaining. I went to Audra’s last night with Chris and Katie, Gil, Irfan, Dave, Bonnie, and Mimi. We played Cranium. This is an excellent game. I had brought two bottles of wine, but apparently I was the only wine enthusiast present, so I ended up enjoying them both without assistance. After everyone left but Gil, Irfan, and me, we played Mahjong until Angela showed up and we all just talked until the wee hours of the morning. I think I got home at 5 a.m. It was a great evening with friends... which more than made up for my crappy Friday. Why is it that almost every time I look at a clock without premeditation, all the numbers are the same?

ps. I always use two fabric softening sheets with every dryer load.

fuck.

It feels to be home. The weekend is here... finally. I get SO many solicitation calls at home it's ridiculous. I don't have an answering machine or voicemail on my home number because of all the sales calls I get... so, naturally I'm a little leery of people calling with "special promotions". I just got this call about a special deal to Vegas. I've always wanted to go to Vegas. I'm not a big gambler, but I have a feeling Sin City and I would get along just fine despite the fact. Here's the part that made me really suspicious: you have to have a wife or girlfriend going with you (ie. couples only), you have to take a "tour" of the hotel while you're there (it was Hilton and affiliates btw), you have to have a combined household income of greater than $70K/year, and you have to promise to have wild sex in crazy places all over town (ok, I made that one up). Why do you have to be a couple to go? This immediately rules me out. Bastards. Why do you have to tour their hotel? I mean, you're freakin' staying there anyway right? Why do you have to have a combine household income of $70,000.00 per year or more? The promotion was Vegas for $98 bucks... I figure you can probably work at McDonald's as a fry boy and save up enough to cover 3 nights in Vegas for $98.00. What's with the salary requirement? Oh well, I brushed the lady off on the phone. She was polite and I am not rude to phone solicitors unless they are rude to me first. I really, really don't like them though... hehe. Vegas sure would be nice. The last girl I dated was from Vegas. She told me that e could go and she'd show me around... however, just like all the women in my life, it was a lie. ;-) It's the weekend!! Woo-hoo!