5.5 movies (Swordfish, Tomb Raider, The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, Shrek, .5 of Gladiators - not the Russell Crowe movie)
4 nights going to bed after 1am
2 trips to "town"
2 avoidances of an obnoxious relatives
1 "bucket shower" due to no hot water at all
3 morning wake ups from a dog
2 times I've cooked dinner
3 people run into from college
1 person run into from high school
6 days to go...
Oh how things change... I'm sitting in what used to be my room but it's recently been converted into an office. I look out the window, expecting to see the familiar sight of the school's playground and the gym. The playground where I learned how to play basketball now lies underneath the concrete foundation of the new gym which towers in the foreground. Things change but that's not always a bad thing.
Well, I made it back home. Disappointed that there's no snow on the ground but there is a cold wind blowing - something that is also rare in Bakersfield. Funny thing - when traveling home I usually think that there should be at least one person on the plane that looks familiar. On the final leg I ended up running into not one, but two people from college and spent the flight catching up on things. Chances are I'll be made fun of - but it gets worse yet because one of them lives 26 miles in a neighboring town and her dad is my parent's insurance agent. And the guy, he traveled through Europe last year with Seth, another friend of mine from college who is in Bakersfield now. It's good to be home.
Great Pistachio Quest of 2001 How far would you go for pistachios? Not that far, eh? What if they were special pistachios? Well, if you are Kathy (and me...I did volunteer for this) your answer would be 80 miles. That's right, the journey started out with the vague knowledge that somewhere between Bakersfield and Fresno there was a billboard advertising PISTACHIOS on the right side of the road. So if you are ever looking for lemon-chili pistachios...
And it continues. So I was going to work today - but since my office is in transit there was really no use for it. Plus I woke up this morning with a head feeling full of helium. No work for me though, so I'm putzing around this morning and happened to have Regis & [Insert Name of of Kathie Lee's replacement here] on. No, I'm not a big morning talk show fan, but that's where the remote landed. Okay, truthfully while flipping by they said that The Calling would be on. I blame it on Mike (WonkaBar) for having me download some songs for him, but I'm a sucker for some of that radio friendly music - Nickelback, Fuel, even a little Lifehouse.
Anyway, after they play an acoustic version of Wherever You Will Go, there's the little chitcat with Regis, who mentions that the song was in Coyote Ugly. Hmmm, don't remember them in there. It wasn't until just now when I was going through the songs on Chalk Farm's last cd Three 2s that it hit me (as they were the band who played with that girl at the very end of the movie). Couldn't be...THAT BAND? That band would be the band that was playing in the background of an earlier bar scene in the movie. I really dug the song - and in watching the credits found out that the band was called Generation Gap and this was all I could find in the way of information on them then. Generation Gap is The Calling. Oh so clear now...to me at least.
It's been a while since I've spent some time with my cds. All 538 of them. Yes, I know - and that's not including the live shows I have. New Year's Resolution #1: get rid of crap cds. But, while working out a mix cd I'm only into the Bs and have made two discoveries.
One - Deb Bartley has a new album out - she's a bit Ani in sound but worth checking out. Back some three years ago or more I saw her up in Great Falls, MT on the suggestion from Gina who'd read about her in the newspaper (evidently she was touring around the country with her guitar and dog - in Montana that is newsworthy).
Two - the Bottle of Justus cd America Cries that I got from Awarestore has liner notes that are signed. Obviously I'd never looked at them. Liner notes used to be something I would pour over, both for the lyrics and to scan for musicians/bands that were thanked (yea...i'm like that). The little bonus, was when I pulled up their website I found they have mp3s of their first album - which includes a song Barbara Jean. Hmmm, I think that one's going on a special CD...
KBCO-FM is now back to streaming online. Oh how I missed you, even if I can no longer listen to you during the daily grind. This is why I got a cable modem. That and fast downloading. That, downloading music fast, and being online all the time.
No where on the 'net could I find the lyrics to Ryan Adams album Gold. You can find his earlier album, Heartbreaker, but not the critically acclaimed, Elton John loved one. So I probably deprived a friend from a good "at work time wasting activity" by transcribing all the lyrics from the liner notes. If you want them, email me.
Jen wants a toaster for Christmas. No problem. Makes my life easier. So here I am, looking at toasters. Doot de doot de doo. Oh, here's Sara's toaster. WTF? $100 for a toaster? Um, yea...I don't think so.
Took an impromptu trip to Santa Monica today to do some Christmas shopping and saw a group of Hari Krishna's busking on the Promenade. Strange day indeed.
I've been told that taking artistic pictures that involve oilfield equipment is very sick. all i can say is i just wanted something to remember the patch by, because in a week my boxes will be packed and headed to 5001. that's right, no more "oilfield at first light" for me. HA HA.
If you scroll down to the post on 11.17.2001 you will see a improvised conversation that I had with Kathy while she was in Lancaster. I failed to point out that "mumblemumblebumble" would be Ian talking in the background. Now, between you and me, I think that he's a Snuffleupagus - he doesn't really exist. No one besides Kathy has met him except for maybe Nick and Celia but you have to figure there's something wrong with those two if they continue to let Kathy stay in the apartment. I'm not even sure if I believe that it isn't some poor schmuck that Kathy paid $2 (she's frugal) to stand behind some boxes for this picture. And if that link's broken by the time you read this - she took it down in fear of being found out. She's one to watch out for. Really.
