Tony’s Journal

Wednesday:

Hung out with milady. It is so nice to have her back, if only for a week this time. We went and bought our 10 Gator Bowl tickets, at least we gave out money for them. We pick them up in about 3 weeks. We then went to Target and bought scads of stuff. Cynthia bought us a new blender, and I do believe this one can chip firewood and turn rocks into sand. We also went to World Market and I was able to get some stuff, mostly food, including some Turkish Delight. Not only does this go well with the fact that Narnia has been reopened for business in our house, but also led to a great story later in the evening concerning a Turkish friend of Justin’s.

Cynthia and I went to the Bo for lunch as well, and I went again for dinner with Jim & Justin. Justin and I spent some time watching music videos. Jim finally showed up and we watched Snatch. Christophe came (from work) and went (to Greensboro).

Thursday:

I made the sweet potato casserole and It turned out well. I had a good time at Cynthia’s. Way too much food was present. Dayo brought Eric. We watched football. Damn the Cowboys.

Today:

I get the whole day to do not a damned thing. I am watching some movie where Alec Baldwin has a stoner kid who gets sent off to prep school. This movie seems to be about a lot of weed. And Norm from Cheers is in it and he turned out to be gay and they all got mad at him. Something tells me there is a famous line in this movie that Baldwin says, but I can’t think of it.

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Gator Bowl! We are going to the Gator Bowl! Woo hoo!

Thanks be to FSU for being trampled by us, and thanks be to UVa for pummeling UMd this weekend. This opened a glorious door to the Gator Bowl.

Woohoo woohoo!

January 1
Jacksonville, FL
NC STATE vs (WVU or Pitt or Notre Dame).

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Hi. Today is my birthday!

NCSU beat FSU. A fine present. Time to go to sleep for a while. Whe I wake up, I want my birthday festivities to be not unremarkable.

Chances of that? Undetermined.

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I am listening to a timely, seasonal, depressing song. Gordon Lightfoot is like a boring, Canadian, living version of John Denver.

You know, other months have cheerful songs. Christmas carols, Star Spangled Banner, Irish drinking songs. Here’s what I get. The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
when the skies of November turn gloomy.
With a load of iron ore 26,000 tons more
than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty. . .

Actually, I like this song, it doesn’t bother me. But it’s not too uplifting.

Due to the catastrophic failure of all my football teams this weekend, we shall skip the football news, except to note that I won the picks for the second week in a row. You didn’t know the Chargers would beat the 49ers? I did. (sticks tongue out)

Best cure for football sadness is to eat and buy things. I went with Billy and Chris to Denny’s, thence to Best Buy where I picked up two CDs:

• Andres Segovia – The Essential Segovia
  Most of the 23 tracks were recorded in the 20s and 30s. I had no idea that music had even been invented back then, but apparently it had been. Anyway, if anyone can be called a badass playing classical music on an acoustic guitar, it was Andres Segovia. Classical music generally seems to sound good when played on a guitar. It is close enough to a harpsichord to be recognizable and not sound strange, but it is, of course, different in an interesting way. The recordings are crackly due to the equipment they had at the time, but listenable nonetheless.

• Queen – Greatest Hits
  Get on your bikes and ride! Heh. This is the one-disc version; there is also a “Greatest Hits Vol I & II” and a 3-disc “Platinum Collection.” It doesn’t have ALL the hits, but I am happy with what I got. I had been looking at Queen CDs lately, ever since downloading the “Under Pressure” video a couple of months ago. That particular song isn’t on this disc, but other good ones are. Plus, it was on sale for only $9.99.

Then we went home and picked up Mandy, as she had been left far behi-ind at 29 Dixie. Then to Chez Target. I got a bunch of things. Many of them were Xmas presents for Cynthia. I will not name those items, but I will name some things I got for m’self:

• Count of Monte Cristo DVD
  Not a “great movie,” but a movie that everyone likes to watch. There are enough cool scenes and cool lines in it to make everyone enjoy it. I think we need to watch this with Justin over Xmas break.
• The Untouchables DVD
  Kevin Costner as Elliot Ness, Robert DeNiro as Al Capone, and Sean Connery as Malone. A fine movie. I haven’t seen it in about 3 years, but I will see it again sometime soon.

Also got some jerky (work fuel) and mints and some hooks for organization of cables on my desk. They used to be spaghetti-like atop my desk, now they are more like coiled spaghetti below my desk. At least they’re out of the way.

Twas cold this morning.
Hey! Ho! Let’s Snow! Hey! Ho! Let’s Snow!
Actually I heard it was snowing in the mountains, but we’re not there.

I wrote a marathon email this morning, and I have lots to do this week, but it’s okay, it’s mostly fun stuff.

Back to work.

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So tonight I had another one of those 8:15-5:15, no lunch break days, worked my ass off, found out that “full-timers” (i.e. “not me”) get two weeks’ paid vacation this year, and then came home and wondered again if there is any point, any reason, and/or any motivation for me to work so hard.

And yes, I am thankful to have a job.

I was exhausted and I lay down on my bed, then fell asleep for two hours. I’m going to take a shower, go to bed, then try again tomorrow and see if things go better.

You know you had a bad day when you listen to the Cure and it cheers you up.

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Basketball tonight or truffelry? I dunno. Last time we went, one of our players was lost for the season. We’ll see.

Got all kinds of work done today. In fact, so much that I didn’t even go to lunch until 1:15. Not very late, but later than normal. Mitch’s again for lunch! Aaron surprised me with his decision. I love that place.

Billy purchased a futon last night. So now we have one of those in The Conservatory. I don’t know what other electronics we would be putting in there, if any. Another light would be good. They are electric, right? Though not necessarily electronic.

Time to get some Canadian DVDs! Sometimes they are cheaper in Canadia than they are here when you account for their puny wanna-be “dollar.” Xmas is coming up, and so are the presents I have to buy. I don’t know what to get. Who wants what? I’m buyin’ if you got nice curves fo’ yo’ icebergs.

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Went out for dinner with Bridget last night. Got to ride in her new. . . ride. Leather seats = nice. We were even blasting NPR up out the factory stereo on the way to Sweet Tomatoes. Dined on salad and muffins &c. Conversation revolved partly around my plan to exterminate all people under 20 when I come to power. Also discussed was the matter of whether we were supposed to tip the guy who kept stealing our old plates. Decided not to, due to the high price of the buffet-style meal. Hope he’s cool with that. Then we went to Cup-A-Joe and mocked the folly of Libertarians for a while.

Today: Pouring down rain. It is nice, man. I slept with the window open last night, and it was nice sleeping with the sound of rain out there. But then the recycling truck came. I don’t know how they get those damned things to be so loud, but they do. Got up, got dressed, checked the weather: good chance of rain. Grabbed the umbrella and some Chex Morning Mix and out I went. Hmm. Barely drizzling. Put the umbrella up? Nah. Began listening to America on my mp3 player. Went by the coffee place to get myself some caffeine, and some gent was in there a-twangin on a sitar. I kid you not. It was – and I could use a ’60s burnout to back me up here – “far out” in addition to moderately “groovy.”

By then it was pouring, and by the time I got near work, I had to cross the mighty Hillsborough River. I tried to ford it. I lost 3 oxen, a wagon tongue, and 70 pounds of food.

Mitch’s for lunch. The chili was really spicy today for some reason. Aaron had a hellacious frankensausage: Polish Sausage, with mustard and chili. It looked not right, but he ate it and claimed it was good. I doubt his sincerity.

I want to go home and make some truffles tonight. I was all psyched up for it. Got white chocolate and dark chocolate and macadamia nuts but. . . I forgot to get butter last night. We’ll see what happens.

Time to go home soon. This time I’ll caulk the wagon.

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Cynthia will only be gone for 2 weeks in December now! Hooray! It was zero, then three, now two.

Bridget is back and her mom gave her the elite Volvo! I can’t believe it – that is a fine automobile. It will be great for driving in her L.L. Bean turtleneck, listening to NPR, after breakfasting on some Grape-Nuts whilst reading the New Yorker.

Is there supposed to be a cell phone in this song? No? Guess it’s Christophe’s cell phone.

Papa Cherry lives in Burlington now. An hour away, but close enough to come drink and spend the night I hope.

Where are the journal entries from my people? Y’all too good to journal now?

I have been meaning to go by the gym to renew my membership all week. Last week I tried, but the student worker lackey girl told me I couldn’t have one. She was wrong. Dead wrong. I called her supervisor and asked. So anyway, it is not a big deal, but I have to go back there again.

That’s the way it goes, I guess.

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This song is not as good as I remember it. Maybe because I was 10 or 11 when it came out. I liked Kriss Kross too. I can’t believe ABC ripped off their style from Bell Biv Devoe. Actually, I can, because ABC was just some kids. They probably all work at check-cashing places now.

Skins won yesterday! They beat a very bad team, but it still counts. 4-4 on the year! Last year at this time we were 3-5.

Time for another work week. Aaron and Kathy are out. I am going to research web pages now.

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I wish there was an analogous opposite to the refrigerator. Cause at times like this, when I am cold, I would love to walk downstairs and get myself some nice, hot fried chicken out of the heaterupperator.

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