After having spent 10 glorious days in Montana (okay, not all of them were so glorious...it was a bit cold at time and there was the whole bee sting incident), coming back to Bakersfield opened my eyes to a few things that makes this place, well, this place. The fact that my rather dark blue/purple truck is now dirt colored from just being parked in the driveway. That's right - given the right angle all you can see is dust which also means I have to run throw a carwash again. There's also the fact that as I was driving to work this morning I could nearly stare directly at the sun. That's right folks, the air quality is so horrendous here at times that it turns the light that was once painful to glance at into a freaky glowing ball. Just lovely.
1. I missed driving the rural highways of Montana where there are times when, if you were to shut off your headlights, the only light shining is from the stars and a few scattered lights on the horizon.
2. You don't need caffeine to stay away while driving at night when you have the adreneline rush of seeing deer/rabbits/fox on the side of the road.
3. Cell phone calls look cheesy at concerts, but damn if it isn't cool to be on the receiving end of one of those while you are in rural Central Montana.
4. A brand new canister of Pringles holds up suprisingly well even if you pack it in your checked luggage and have 3 flights.
Most of the day has been spent resisting the urge to scratch the itch from the bee sting. The good news is the redness and swelling is dissipating. I really can't remember the last time I was stung by a bee, but I don't remember it being this annoying. Tomorrow also brings my return to "working" as I will be driving back to my college stomping grounds and interviewing students for internships and full-time jobs. Not that we have final say on anyone, but we are the first step in the process. We get the ball rolling if you will. Sadly, I'm not looking forward to it all that much. Yea, I get a free trip home out of the day, but I remember how much of a drain it was last year to sit in the little rooms with Mike and interview all day long. And this year we'll be sitting in the same little rooms, but on our own - feriously scribbling notes while trying to listen and ask questions. Hopefully I'll be able to comprehend my scratchings about these kids by the end of the day.
Saturday morning was spent at a friend's wedding reception that took the form of a lovely brunch in the cool Montana air. As the sun emerged, the scones were uncovered and out came the bees. While I have no allergy to the black and yellow fuzzy bugs, no one really wants to get stung. There was a few fearful moments when I heard one buzzing in my ear as it nearly became entangled in my hair and there were the times I thought it would go flying up my nose. Ironic then, that it wasn't at the reception that I would be stung by a bee, but 10 miles from home when I stopped to take a few photos of an old grain elevator.
After snapping a few shots, I stood up from my squatted position and felt a pinch under my arm. At first I wasn't sure what to make of it, wondering if my bra was poking/pinching me. The pain continued and by the time I reached the car where I could toss down my camera on the passenger seat, I stripped off the shirt I was wearing over a tanktop and saw the beast, or at least just a glance of it as it went out the door. It left behind its stinger in my tricep and over the past day I've been resisting the urge to scratch the red swollen area. Here's to hoping the Benadryl I just took is as effective at reducing the irritation as it is at making me sleepy.
In other news, I've already started to forget what day it is. Guess that's a good sign of being on vacation, as long as I remember to drive over to Butte on Tuesday I'll be doing good.
Technically, it's called a boondoggle. Things worked out again this year that I'm able to return to Montana and my alma mater to do recruiting. The difference this year is that I'm officially the Recruiting Team Leader for the school. Basically means that I'm responsible for getting shit done and picking who gets to go back for recruiting events. Wish I could say that I'm looking forward to it, but the truth is we'll be interviewing solo and after two full days it poops you out. Plus, the job market is tight even in our industry and there aren't that many available slots to fill. What makes it worth it is that I am getting back home for the first time since last Christmas and I'll get to visit both my family and some friends.
One thing that will be strange, is that this is the first time I've been "home" after I bought my own "home" in Bakersfield. Anyway, here are some photos of how the place is looking now.
Pretty little hairdo...don't do what it used to...
Been listening a lot to the new Jayhawks' album. Getting my alt.country fix in. I do notice I go in spurts with the genres of music I crave listening to. Heard a Whiskeytown/Ryan Adams song in Starbucks earlier this morning which will probably cause me to bust out one of those albums before falling asleep tonight.
Speaking of sleep, I will be looking forward to a good night's rest since one wasn't had on neither Friday nor Saturday night. Friday evening I finally had a bit of a house warming party. Wasn't exactly sure how many people to expect since the email was sent out sort of last minute. Most of the week I was stressing over cleaning, buying supplies, and decorating (see below post on making frames) although after work Friday was possibly the worst as I was trying to get everything cold, mixed, and dished up. That mood was broken by a cell phone call I got from Viv. She became one of those infamous people that holds up their cell phone at a concert so their friend miles and miles away can listen. So yea, I got to listen to Guster play "Careful", which is one of my favorite songs off of their new album, at the sold out show in Boston. I mellowed out after that. Not much else to say, except a good time was had by all, except for those people who had too good of a time and got in trouble for it later. All I have to say is I wasn't the first person to "christen" my kitchen sink.
Saturday was a different story. We had done much of the clean-up the night before (nothing like trying to wash dishes at 3am when you are somewhat buzzing) so most of the day was spent bumming around. Picked up a couple of books to read while I'm gone to Montana. I'm still working my way through the latest Harry Potter but I don't really want to take that on the plane. I picked up The Orchid Thief which is this month's book club pick, and also Under the Tuscan Sun because I'd rather read the book before I watch the movie. I'll probably take along Dave Eggers book that I got half way through while in Oregon. I didn't pull it out again that weekend after Laura gave me shit saying she thought I would have started reading it during the Oregon football game (I was reading it before the game at this giant "tailgate" party...basically the practice field filled with tables and food vendors). Anyway, all of this has nothing to do with the fact that I ended up staying up until the wee hours of the night watching movies and shows in TLC. So yes, tonight I'm hoping for a good nights rest so I'm not sure why I'm still sitting here typing away. Noche.
During my lunch hour today I attempted to find some frames for a poster and a couple vinyls I picked up in Princeton, NJ. My efforts were in vain since the poster is an odd size - 24" x 24" - and what I could find for LPs were just lame looking. One of the issues is when I bought the poster I had no idea that it was two sided (with photos of the band members on the opposite side) and also signed. I'd thought about trying to find one of those see through frames, but figured that the frame would probably end up costing more than the poster! While talking to a friend this afternoon though I stumbled upon the idea of making my own frames. I'm an engineer, survived shop class (despite the nice scar I have on my left index finger...), and I come from a long line of do-it-yourselfers. A quick yahoo search later I was armed with directions and material list, I was Home Depot bound after work.
I'll spare you the details of construction but here's the finished results. I would have hung them tonight, but being the kind roommate I am, I figured hammering past 10pm really isn't a good thing.
Typically I don't mind a little quality time in airports waiting for my next departure (except for Pheonix, home of America's Worst and the Ass Margarita). There always seems to be an abundance of interesting people to watch and conversations to eavesdrop on. Yesterday was no exception. Evidently there was a dog show in Eugene this past weekend and some of the participants were headed home. Besides the talk about how upset their respective dogs would be having to be kenneled and transported in the cargo section, there was much discussion on how well their "bitches" were doing. I kept thinking of the movie Best in Show which in and of itself would be enough to make me giggle, but one of the women whose bitch is a single point shy of making Nationals, kept going on and on about her bitch, this bitch, that bitch... What pushed me over the edge was the accent...the thich Tennessee accent. Now, I have only met one person in my life who was from Tennessee and I have the audial memory of her screetching out a bad country version of Blondie ("one way or another, i'm gonna find ya/I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha") in that same accent.
Coasted through the holiday weekend without so much as a word. Not that there wasn't activity to talk about, but it was the same old same old. Drove up to Oakland to watch a few bands (eastmountainsouth, Matt Nathanson, Guster, and Ziggy Marley) play the Art and Soul Festival. Hard as I tried I couldn't find anyone else to make the trip with me so I did the drive solo listening to some classic "Montana jukebox" music along the way.
Turned out to be a beautiful day in the bay area and a nice mellow vibe - just sitting and listening to the bands. I've been falling asleep to eastmountainsouth's cd for about 3 weeks now and it was cool to see them perform their alternative folk rock music live. Really impressed by the drummer's percussion skills which included some sort of box he was sitting on...I can't explain...guess you had to be there. They ended their set with a little bit of Eminem's "Lose Yourself" which was unexpected, but fitting.
Matt Nathanson was rocking out only as a white boy with an acoustic guitar accompanied by a cello player can. Even got to hear his cover of "Starfish and Coffee" live in the sing-a-long form. Definitely need to go see him open for Howie Day in LA...
As for Guster...well, it's really hard to top seeing them from the front row of Radio City Music Hall. For the record, this was the 19th time I've seen them in concert. Scoff if you will, but Viv's been to over 100 and Reeb's is coming close to that. I did get to enjoy the reduced set (technical problems) with a friend I first met at a Guster concert in LA back in 1999. Hadas was in high school then and is a free-spirited college student now off to Tahiti for the semester. Rough life.
I caught a bit of Ziggy Marley's soundcheck so with the day getting shorter and the crowd getting crowded, I opted to skip his set and drive back to Bakersfield.
