What I learned today:

It is difficult to teach small business owners to budget the cost of their time spent at work when pricing jobs.

and

Some people, depending on the product, do not care at all about the price but would rather have their egos massaged by the product or service of their choice.

Too Much Smoke

Dec 14, 2003 12:21 AM

Tonight I was driven out of my place by smoke in my condo. I'm back inside now because I HAVE NO OTHER PLACE TO GO AT THIS HOUR! Every night this week I've had to endure different cooking fumes and smells from James catering business that he runs out of this building (are we even zoned for that here?). Tonight was by far the worst. James obviously does not care and Sally doesn't care either. Sally has even said I'm the only one to complain about this last time I tried to talk to her about it months ago. My place is freezing inside because I've had to open all the windows and the screen door to try to air my condo out. How can I be the only one affected by this????

Once again, for the second night in a row, my condo smells like a kitchen. The neighbor downstairs has a freelance catering business he's running out of his tiny kitchen and my place is already filled with steam redolent of onions and peppers and other various carribean spices.

I fucking hate this place.

Thanks

Thanksgiving was better than I expected. From my mother's description, I expected showing up to a dreary, mauldin lunch that would include moi, my grandmother (who's not always here and now these days and who my mother takes an odd delight in arguing with), my father (who despite of his mesothelioma seems to be doing better than anyone) and my mother (who's been throwing herself a pity party in true manic exhilaration).


As it turned out, Dad had asked my brother to come in the afternoon before going to dinner with his wife's family. By the time they left, my uncle, who no one was planning on seeing, phoned and brought his family to the house. So there were plenty of morale-raising buffers around for me.


When their family left, I said goodbye soon afterwards and took advantage of the invitation from Joy and Cam to come to their Thanksgiving dinner for friends and family. I thought I would be arriving late, but I got to their house just as the men were lowering the turkey into the deep-fryer. So the day ended on a good note.

Last Night

I went to the Stomp & Stammer anniversary party at the Echo Lounge. Great bands and it was wonderful to see old friends I'd been out of touch with both on and off stage. The headliner was the original lineup of The Nightporters. It was interesting to see how the years had been to everyone. The entire set was being recorded and filmed for DVD release later.

Today

I met my sister-in-law this to morning to look at the house next door to Chaz and Sandy that I'm so desirous of. Most of the little bungalo is in decent shape and has great potential. The Kitchen will have to be completely re-built from the sagging floor up. As we were leaving the realtor came up to check on the house, since it had been broken into Thanksgiving night. While it's ridiculously overpriced, he swore he had very little to do with what the owner insisted on asking for and said we should please please make an offer of whatever we'd be willing to pay for it. Now I just have to phone the mortgage agent, figure out how much the renovations/repairs will cost and convince my father it would be a good idea to allow the condo to be sold and the money rolled into a healthy down-payment on the house. I know I may not be able to work out home ownership, but it's something I must try to do. I'd never forgive myself for not trying for that house.

The passing of Charlie's mother

Although it happened Sunday, the funeral for Charlie's mother is on Thursday with the wake being tomorrow.
Charlie said he doesn't expect everyone to show up - it will be a big group of family from all over the place.
The graveside services will be a private family-only event. He also said prior to her death, his mother chose every option available for her funeral so this will be a very long ceremony indeed. He joked that this was her final way of getting back at the family.

Relatives are coming from out of state and everyone is choosing hotels to stay in rather than inconvenience the family.
He said there's so much food, his father won't have to cook for a year.
I think I will still send flowers to the cemetary (whenever I get the name - he didn't remember where she's being laid to rest) or the church.

Subject:  Just so's you know...

   Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2003 13:01:59 -0500

   From:  "Charlie"




Jean L****, my mom, passed away on Sunday morning.




Charlie

So, according to web-holidays.com, this is Shichi-go-san, Japan National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day. I'd better get started.

Worked way too late today.
I had a lot of plans for food makin and pumpking carving for the weekend parties.

Mom and Dad are back home tonight. This just in:

Dear Friends -

It is 8:30 p.m. Thursday evening and J and I have just walked in the door from the airport.  Thank all of you for your prayers for they were surely answered when we were sent to MD Anderson Cancer Center!  It is truely another world in itself. We don't have the final word on his treatment as they are still accessing all of his tests that were done in the past and were redone there. But it is sorta definite that he will be in a clinical trial conducted by MDAnderson. We will know more probably next week.
 

He is really tired tonite but he really did pick up on that wheel chair thing at all these airports! He says that is the only way to travel. Of course I am going to have to get roller skates to keep up with the guy pushing the wheel chair. This is just to let you know that we are home and I will fill everyone in with more details, but it looks like he may be a part time Texan again!  We love all of you.

Happy Halloween

Once again this Halloween, I joined some friends I used to work with on building floats for the Little Five Points Halloween Parade. This year’s parade was last Saturday and we won The Cup this year! With the theme “Lost At Sea” we had two floats: the SS Excess pirate ship and cannibal island with the Witchdoctor’s Rib Shack. On the ground we had land sharks on motorcycles and sea serpents of different kinds circling our floats. And the weather was perfect — the rain held off until the next day and it was gloriously sunny and warm all day.

Sunday night I sat at home watching a bizarre animated film called Mad Monster Party with voices from Phyllis Diller and Boris Karloff, among others.

Now I have one more Halloween Party to look forward to this Friday and a Day of the Dead Murder Mystery party for the float krew on Saturday.

Wheeeeeeeee!

From: Chantelle
Subject: Weeeeee are the Champions, weeee are the Champions . . .
Date: Oct 27, 2003 4:18 PM

Hail to the great Grateful Gluttons!!

Ahhh, what delightful chaos, what sweet insanity this has been. I love you freaks.
Pirate and Cannibal hats off to Greg and Joel's brilliant building skills and the boatload of time they gave; the S.S. Excess is rumored to be permanently docking on top of the Yacht!!! The Grateful Gluttons add to the skyline of L5P!!! Woooo Hoooooo!
Horray for the Witchdoctor's wacked-out waitresses!! Did you touch the tongue? Naaasty.
Goooooo circling sharks! And the Little Sea Monster Who Could!!
And the dancing Sea Demons! Rock on Cannibal Island Band!! How about our cool-as-hell trophy!? Did you know the rat has an opal eyeball?
I could go on and on, but let me just say that Hunter Thompson was talking about you “When,” he mumbled, “the going gets weird, the weird go pro.”
It is so fun playing with you. Let’s do it again!

The End is near.
Dearly beloveds, our Day of the Dead Party is this Saturday after dark at Chez A.
Come in costume or mourning or Glutton T. Kindly bring beverages.
We'll raise the dead one more time.

Love,
Chantelle

It's been a week of rock and roll dreaming. Of dead rockers.

Monday night I dreamed of Johnny Thunders. We were talking about his favorite subject, himself, and hanging out in a house with late 70's or 80's decor. Real decor of the time - icky olive green carpet and curtains and sky blue walls.

Last night I dreamed of being in Athens, Georgia with a group of people that included Brian Jones. Seems that Jones was my best male friend in the group and I was hanging out with him. There was another dark haired man who was a complete creep that kept approaching me. My former best male friend Barry was in the dream but dressed more goth style than he ever would have been with dyed black hair. Barry was handing old records to me and saying how he liked to drink grapefruit juice now. I told him how much I missed him.

Will any more ghosts visit me in my dreaming this week?

Dad's going to Texas

This came from my mother today:

Oct 18, 2003 9:32 AM

Dear friends - We have received word that we are to report to the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston next Sunday Oct. 26. As far as we know we will be there for a week. Everything is still not confirmed but we are working to get everything done and confirmed. Pray for the doctors there and for his treatments. We will report to the center on Monday morning. Our Oncologist in Atlanta is Dr. Seay (pronounced See) our Thorasic Oncologist in Houston is Dr. Oh. J says he hopes he isn't going to have to go through the entire alphabet to get treated!

    We love all of you,

    L and J

What I learned today about Mesothelioma:


Houston's M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is one of only a handful of hospitals equipped to treat mesothelioma.


Most patients that get the disease, 75 percent are blue collar people that were exposed to asbestos during the course of those sorts of jobs earlier in life. About 4,000 Americans get mesothelioma each year and it can take decades to show up. It's also difficult to diagnose, because symptoms mimic pneumonia and other conditions.


Insurance companies say that there's no good treatment for this disease, and they basically don't want treatment to be given. So they put patients through lengthy review procedures and try to delay treating the patient.


There is a drug, Alimta, now undergoing clinical trials that's shown some promise. But even with the best treatment, most mesothelioma patients die within a year.

So far, it's been a pretty good birthday. Today I share a common birthdate with the husband of one of my employers. We had a lovely chocolate and strawberry cake that was almost too pretty to eat. Now I'm at my desk sipping Starbucks coffee.

More Questions, Some Hope


This is the latest on my family and my father's health.


Dear friends - J and I have just returned from the Cancer Center. We don't have a lot to tell other than they are sending us to the Cancer Institute in Houston, Texas where the most work is being done on Mesothelioma. All of his tests will be done again there with more CT scans and a positive diagnosis made and the most agressive method of treatment. We may have to go back there for treatments or they may be done in Atlanta, but they say it is treatable and that gives me some hope. It appears to be only l lung affected as far as they can see so this is good also.

We should be leaving for Houston sometime in the next 2 weeks. They will be contacting us tonight or tomorrow as to when they want us there. I feel some relief tonight just knowing there may be some way to treat this. The doctor said he had one patient that was diagnosed a year and a half ago and he is doing fine right now. I will try to keep you more informed as we know more.

L and J

Started Saturday by working half a day. We'll be closed Monday for Yom Kippur, so it seemed the least I could do was show up for a little while and help clear a few jobs out.

Then went to visit my parents for a few hours after that.

This morning I'm trying to coordinate what's left of my weekend. Too late already to make it to yoga at the gym. This afternoon the nice boy said he'd help me move my Birthday Rug from my parents house into my place before he goes off to eat with his own parents. Later tonight I'm supposed to be catching a film with Monster, who'll be in town from Alabama.

I'm starting to think of Alabama as the job mecca. So many of my friends and neighbors have found work there when there's still none in Atlanta. Some are commuting 3 to 4 hours daily to work out of state while still hoping to find a job close to home, friends, and family. Others have already re-located to the neighboring state. The general consensus is there is nothing of any interest whatsoever there other than making a living. Everyone still comes here as often as possible for art, socializing, music, good food & coffee, and cultural events. But making a living is important. Maybe some of these transplants will stir things up and make better things happen there. Or at least something worth writing home about.

No new information on my father's condition. He has an appointment with a pulmonary specialist on Tuesday and another appointment with a cancer specialist next week.


This week has cool autumn nights and chilly mornings that require socks and slippers.

Mesothelioma


This is what my father's diagnosis is: mesothelioma. It's a type of lung cancer caused very specifically from exposure to asbestos. This was from exposure during a job he had over 40 years ago - cutting ceiling tiles. Maybe it's been sitting, encapsulated, in his lungs for years. I've no idea what his prognosis is - whether they've caught it early or late, what the treatment options for him are or if there are any at this stage in his life. Of course, everyone in my family, including my brother, has known since Wednesday. I'm not surprised.


And this is all I know for now... until more information is rationed out to me.

Shorter day at work today. Everyone got out before 7p.m. and I went to the hospital to visit my father. Finally met Sonny tonight. He was visiting when I arrived. As soon as he left, my brother and sister in law came up. Said they say Sonny on the way in. Dad seems to be better tonight. Definitely in better spirits. Still has tubes and wires all over. Mom showed me a potted, blooming gardenia bush that someone had sent to the room. They don't expect him to come home until Monday or Tuesday. As far as I know, there is still no news on what's going on with his lungs. Now it's my mother's turn to start getting tired and irritable. Oh well. Generally, things look better today.

Frustrating week


My father went into the hospital on Wednesday for exploratory surgery. I found out he was scheduled for it on Sunday. Seems very extreme since I've been told they haven't found anything on x-rays or blood tests that was unusual but they still haven't figured out why he stays congested and why his lungs keep filling with fluid. So his doctor scheduled him for surgery this week.

I am still in the dark about what's going on and no one, including my mother, will say anything. But they've brought my brother into this. No one brings my brother into any family crisis, as his life is too busy for that. Great. Not a good sign at all for him to be there.


My brother doesn't talk to me either. Not about anything.


Anyway, Dad was supposed to go in Wednesday morning, maybe stay over night and be home the next day. Instead he has been in ICU for two days. My mother has been there by his side all day, going home at night to sleep. My brother has been there both days, as has my sister-in-law and my uncle and his wife, according to my mother.


Tonight, they were going to move him into a private room but there was no answer on the phone there. My mother phoned from home and said she'd turned off the phone in the room so he could sleep.


I ended up working tonight until just after 9 p.m. By the time I got home tonight, my mind was fried. I remembered Chaz's show at the Star Bar tonight around 11 ish p.m. and decided it was probably too late to attempt to make it out. I'm sorry I missed it - would have been a welcome change. My camera and I had been looking forward to it.


Also, I had a message that Aud's grandfather had passed away yesterday.
She and husband will be very busy this week with all that that involves.

Cross your fingers

Wednesday morning my father goes in to the hospital for even more tests to find out just what's going on in his lungs. My mother will be there with him all day. They can't seem to figure out why his otherwise healthy body is behaving as if he has pneumonia. I hope they can identify what's going on this time.


Meanwhile, I still have my own sorry, persistent cough which is nothing more than just annoying both to myself and co-workers. I keep thinking there's something environmental going on with so many people here have breathing problems.

Chaz Lounge Birthday Celebration


Chaz is playing at his old Stomping grounds this Thursday. This performance is part of the "Night With Duwayne" series that features some of the best singing and songwriting talents in the Southeast and occasionally performers like Chaz. Go figure.

Other performers on this Thursday's bill include Rick Richards (The Georgia
Satellites), Ben Friedman (Cigar Store Indians), and of course, Duwayne.

This show also kicks off the official Chaz Lounge Birthday Celebration. Should be fun

Life

I got a cell phone call from Mrs. Lounge a bit before 9pm. She and Mr. Lounge were on the way to his parents house as she spoke. I wonder why they are going there so late in the day and fear the worst. I am without any right words to say. This is real life in its purest form. I don't know details. Only that things are not good tonight. I could only encourage them to hang in there and past that, for a loss of anything better, I chatted about my daily life and little pleasant things like new restaurants that need future investigation. Like everything else is always waiting for you in mostly the same place you left it when you get home again. Maybe the perspective is different in varying degrees depending on how long you've been gone but it's there waiting for your return.

Thursday was a crazy day both at home and at work that started with me not being able to find my bag. After even trying to phone my cell to try to locate it, I started retracing all my steps from yesterday after getting home and running errands. Sure enough, it was locked in my trunk where I'd put my booty from Home Depot. The rest of the day was no less hectic or less chaotic - not just my part of it but everyone else's as well.

Friday was a good but more sane but fantastically busy. Not that I mind busy - it's far preferable to empty handed quiet days that fill me with insecurity.

Saturday ended up being quite good. I phoned the CamJoy unit and was invited to join in on a going away lunch for the couple moving to New Zealand next week. This being the day after a bar crawl last night, everyone but myself was taking advantage of the Bloody Mary bar. After eats and drinks the group split up and most of the women went to see Whale Rider while most of the men went to see Once Upon A Time in Mexico. Usually, since I can never time these things well, I'm either the first to leave or the last one to go. Saturday was the later. I came back and hung out at the house for a while until joining Tommy and Chantel at The Shire for her vegetable soup and chat about the upcoming Halloween parade.

I spent most of the day running errands, spending plastic, and waiting for the nice boy to get off work around 6-ish. Got the call at 6pm to say he was looking at working until at least 9pm or later tonight. Oh well- I can't say I'm surprised. The only real surprise was him wanting to make plans tonight to begin with since he's been mostly buried under and unavaible and I did just see him two weeks ago at Drive-Invasion.

Sticker-Shock at the mall.

$100 for underwear and I still need a new bra.

Monster was much more gentle-looking than I expected. A quiet, well-groomed, nocturnal creature.

Yesterday was car-maintenance day. Got an oil change (finally) and two new tires and a good hosing down. The Camry is much happier now.

Since September is Health Month, I have told myself to that I must make it to the gym today.

Going to meet monster tonight. I am intrigued.



You are The Cabin Boy

You, me lad, are an activist! You will not only change the world, you will make a dyed-in-the-wool Pirate dream of you in a sheep costume. You are the embodiment of the love that dare not hoist its sail! Ahoy thar! You could make a two-patch Pirate turn his head - but then he would lose sleep over it and what good would that do anyone? An innovator, you are WAY ahead of your time - and everyone else's. You are sensitive and artsy-fartsy. You say things like, "artsy-fartsy" but there is always a slight giggle in your voice when you say it - like Paul Lynde on Hollywood Squares delivering a staggering punch line. Speaking of "punching" the only "punching" you would do is punching up that outfit with some accessories - say, a little bandana and some glass beads. You're not the Pirate we want in a fight, but we want you there for the crying game that follows! You go, girl.

What's Yer Inner Pirate?
brought to you by The Official Talk Like A Pirate Web Site. Arrrrr!

Aaarr. Be readin' this.

September 19 is International Talk Like A Pirate Day.

It's been a fun weekend.

Saturday morning I met Harris and Kim ever so briefly at DragonCon before they went off to breakfast at Thumbs Up. I stayed at Dragoncon an hour or more walking around looking at the conventioners and booths before I had to eat and dose myself with caffeine. The artwork didn't impress me this year as much as in year's past but the other products were incredible. Lots of fun games, costumes and other accoutrements. The people there are always the very best part and they were fabulous, as usual.

Sunday was spent at Drive-Invasion with The Women and men. Chaz had the cami-top and astroturf on the pickup. Grrrcth & Kurt brought the grill and lawn chairs and tiki torch. The nice boy and I brought lots of ice (you can never have too much while baking in the parking lot all day) and snacky bits in his GTO. We watched and listened to performances by Gravy Bowl and The Woggles and Clouseaux. The Woggles now have Jeff from Hillbilly Frankenstein on guitar. Clouseaux has Alice, another former Hillbilly Frankenstein member. It was a groovy evening.

Kim started nodding off during Rock & Roll highschool and husband put her in the car to snooze, which was fine until fireworks shell fell through the sunroof (no harm done, but the shells were warm and stinky- enough to wake her up). Perhaps they should try harder to shoot over the woods? The rockets were shot off intentionally at certain points in the cartoon and movie - the largest display being at the end when the school is blown up.

My new hair color is really groovy. Not an overall color change like I expected, but a single process done in streaks and chunks in a brilliant deep candy red only a shade, if that much, lighter than my brown. Looks great.

Vanity
Getting my hair done tonight by The Artiste. Getting a new color, hightlights now that every bit of previous experimentation has grown out. Maybe I don't need to be spending so much, but it's usually a good morale boost to have a new 'do. If I wasn't going to get in before the pool party last week, I wanted to have the 2003 hair update in time for DragonCon and Drive Invasion this weekend.

Health
The post-viral cough is still here. I'm on my third day of prescription drugs to try to knock that last remnant of the cold I had out.

Romance
And I got to spend time with the Nice Boy last night. He drove into my part of town and we ate at Ru San's.

Bites

Pretty good for a Monday. Quiet at work. New girl being trained to work up front and handle the writing of orders, etc.

Yesterday I got a call from Nick on my cell phone while I was out to invite me over for fresh peach pastry he was making. Nick is trying his hand at baking now and had actually made puff pastry - from scratch.

We were preparing to take the dogs out walking when a fight broke out between the mongrel and the pit bull. Nick managed to get a pretty bad bite in his left hand - thankfully a puncture wound rather than a tear. Too many bitches vying for daddy's attention.

Insomnia

So, I'm wide awake. I have been since around nearly 4:00 a.m. I've given up the fight now and I'm just going to stay active until my body and mind are good and ready to shut down. It's sunday, the day of rest. The day I don't have stay up and will be able to nap whenever I feel like it or turn in early if I need to.

Should be a quiet, easy day. My plans are to do laundry and maybe, just maybe, go to the mall. I hear some neighbors just getting in downstairs from a big night of partying. Are they arguing or just drunk and talking loudly? I can't tell.

It's a day of rest ahead of me. Looking forward to it.

Dreaming
I had that same kind of frustrating dream again. The one where I'm at work and given a job that I can't complete because I don't have the instructions or description of the final piece.

Pool Party
Today was a fun gathering of the women and their guys at my parents' pool. The nice boy even made an appearance in his jag. My parents enjoyed having company at the house and had a great time telling family stories, both real and imagined. As usual, a lot of the events changed in the retelling or disappeared altogether or were replaced by entirely new events. It's always interesting to hear what the current version is. Sometimes things change in my favor.

Dive
The highlight of the day seemed to be when one person managed to embarrass his wife by taking of his swimsuit in front of my parents and jumping in the pool. His wife was mortified (not easy to do - she's pretty impervious to most things) and my mother (thankfully) was giggling. My father dubbed him "Little Egypt" for the stripper. We tried to assure him it wasn't a statement about his, ummm, manhood.

I learned a new term today:

Man-crush - A non-sexual infatuation one male might have for another.

Why does my tap water smell like burning hair this week?

Tweaking again. Hopefully the comments link will work better now.


Or maybe it won't work at all...

Scary Peter Kuper poster.

Last weekend was good for music.

Friday night I went with E to East Atlanta and spend the night jumping between the EARL and the Echo Lounge. Was glad to catch Hope For A Golden Summer and Twittering Machine at the EARL. Also saw Hubcap City (from belgium) and Blue Valentine at the Echo Lounge. Alex tells me that Hope For A Golden Summer will perform at the Echo on August 14. I highly recommend them to anyone who likes very arty very southern lovely music.


Twittering machine is great lounge music with proficient musicianship and a singer who seems to do so effortlessly.


Blue Valentine is a Tom Waits cover band with a sultry female singer who bears the same gravely voice as the beloved songwriter.

Saturday night I went with the nice boy to Atlantis Music Confence. Hung out at Vinyl and made a few photos of the APC recording artists in the line up. I was glad I'd brought a few lenses to choose from even though it's a very small room. The setting was far too intimate for me to feel comfortable using anything other than a telephoto so I didn't have to be noticed. A wide angle was necessary for the crowd and candid shots. A 50mm alone would have done me no good at all.

Did I mention there's now a Weremonkey CafePress shop?

Yesterday was a pretty good day. Had brunch at Agnes & Muriel's Then went to the Botanical Gardens and strolled around the treehouses on exhibit and through the Fuqua Conservatory.

Came home, took a long long nap. Got up and took the large stuff I had to the Laundry Lounge to run through the big upright machines that can handle more than average things like rugs and bedspreads. Spent longer than I intended, like I usually do.

Ended up missing out on all the events that I had actually planned or had up in the air for Saturday night. Resigned myself to staying home, nursing the cold I seem to be developing, and got an impromtu invitation from the nice boy to go to a show in Buckhead for a band he'd worked with previously. The outing was actually brief enough to be fun.

Getting Hard To Breath Around Here

Today it occurs to me that nearly everyone around me, myself included, seem to be trying to fight off some respiratory ailment. My father is horribly sick and has been bedridden for days now with multiple problems including respiratory difficulty, fevers/night sweats, and possibly kidney problems. Mom, who's one to get bronchitis or sinus infections, is actually fine. My brother also has respiratory and kidney problems. Neither my father or brother have gotten around to seeing a doctor yet, of course. The night sweats have convinced my father to phone his physician tomorrow and try to get in to see him. We'll see. My co-worker's husband had some sort of horrible congestion in his chest now. Her elderly mother was diagnosed with bronchitis last week. Geezz!
As for me, I'm just snotty.

Edward Scissorhands:
Charming, innocent, and beautiful. Unfortunately,

he has blades for fingers. But hey, you can

get around that, you're all set.





Which Johnny Depp character is your ideal mate?

brought to you by
Quizilla

According to M, I am too uptight and old fashioned. (i.e. prudish) All because I have this thing about NOT being romantically involved with married men. This apparently goes along with being too uptight to be lovable. And apparently being involved with men other than himself is just a waste of time because no one's going to marry me anyway, so why not wait to serve him whenever he can visit.

Whiney little bastard.

He did call back later today and almost apologized.

We're busy moving this week at the office and the move up the street a few blocks seems indicative of how so many things in my life feel right now. Things seem to lack definition these days. I'm tired/bored and have this odd feeling of expectation right now. Like anticipating an planned event that's still going to be a total surprise.

In other news, Murray is coming down from New Jersey next week for a few days visit. I expect to spend at least one evening having dinner with him and my parents. Maybe another night going with him to a guys night out (as an honorary guy for the evening) to catch up with some of the old hooligans we knew.

Next week is also my neice's 13th birthday, so it's an opportunity to go shopping for girlie gifts in L5P or the VA Highlands that she or her mother might not normally see at THE MALL. I'm thinking of fun accessories for her room or wardrobe.

It was a nice morning today. Had brunch with Cam and Joy at Roman Lily cafe on Highland Avenue. First time I'd ever been there. Joy had the tequila-gravy and biscuit with herb grits. I had the sweet potatoe pancakes. While my pancakes were very good, it would have been better if they had paired it with a teriyaki or sour sauce of some sort rather than the maple syrup that came with them. I need to go back again now for dinner some time.

Independence Day Weekend. No special plans. The nice boy is unavailable and those with children or spouses are occupied. Yesterday I visited family and saw fireworks over the city as I drove back home. This morning I had leftover salmon for breakfast. It's a warm, steamy day outside.

I have two new huge leaks in the roof over my place. One has left a hole in the ceiling in front of my bathroom doorway. Another threatens to come down in a much broader area ath the corner of my living room over my couch. My advice to everyone who wants to buy their own home: Never Never buy a condominium. Own your own individual building if any at all that you have the right to maintain yourself if need be. I totally give up on this place.

Sleep deficit week.

Woke up last night at 1:30 a.m. with my bedroom once again filled with smoke and the smell of cooking meat from the neighbor downstairs. Openened all the windows and the screen door, turned down the thermostat so as not to waste as much energy and slept on my moldy old couch with at the quilt over my head. Too late at night to run to my parents house to sleep and my good neighbor with the welcome living room is out of town this week. If it happens again tonight I probably will start staying in Smyrna during the week.

Sunday was also a nearly sleepless night because of my own poor judgement in eating a very large seafood dinner before going to bed. No more salmon before bedtime. Maybe salmon at brunch, followed by a long walk, next time.

Woke up with a scratchy throat this morning. My eyes itch. Driving to work, the sky had a strange kinda west coast haze between me and the rest of the city.

I turned on the radio. There's a Code Red smog alert today in Atlanta.

Quite appropriately, a friend sent this letter to us. I thought it was good and am sharing it here:

Bad things are about to happen to our Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests. The U.S. Forest Service's 15 year plan is a rotten betrayal of the Georgia Forest Watch's recommendations - which they previously agreed with. Read about it here:
http://www.gafw.org/spring%202002/spring_2003.htm It's sad and wrong. Less wilderness designations, more ATV trails, more approved logging, zero watershed protections. And no forum for public comment except to write to a committee in Utah by July 3rd. Take a minute and bitch them out. Here's my letter:

Dear Chattahoochee-Oconee Content Analysis Team,

So why the big point to limit public comment? Hmmmm? Up to no good?

I work on the 54th floor of the Suntrust Plaza building in Atlanta every day. On a good day, I can see the North Georgia mountains. On a bad day, I can watch the band of yellow-brown goo spread from the north west and completely encircle the city. It's the old coal burning power plants that the EPA protects. I think to myself; "at least there's the Chattahoochee Oconee National Forest up there, 750,000 acres of trees has to help ".
Unfortunately, the U.S. Forest Service has become infested with timber industry folks. The Forest Service's 15 year plan for the last of Georgia's wild lands has got to be changed. Four million people really need the oxygen. All summer our local health officials advise us, especially children, not to exercise outside. Our kids can't ride bikes in the summer but we need more ATV trails and less wilderness? We shouldn't buy gas until the sun goes down, but more land has been approved for commercial logging. Last summer Atlanta hit water usage numbers projected for 2020 and watershed we drink from has no special protection.

How is our country so hard up for cash that we need to hock our trees, wildlife, water and air? I notice the National Forests Content Analysis Team is sitting in Utah. Utah has 9 million acres of National Forest and less than 3 million people in the state. Nice. Decisions about Georgia's natural resources should be made by people who have to breathe here.

Last night after working late and missing aerobics class, I ended up going out to eat with the boy next door and his pal.
We had an outdoor table at Apre Diem, where the men both eat beef and I filled up on fresh bread and mussels. Delicious. I made them help me finish off the plate, telling them it was a good source of zinc in an Auntie Jules voice. We chatted about brilliant ideas, political and economic theories, and I watched and listened to the two of them watching the waitresses. Apre Diem does have one of the most attractive staffs in Atlanta. Funny watching males gush over cute girls and talk about the girls they're dating and long for. And we think women only think and worry about these things...

Tonight is Screen on the Green with Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. Two of Hollywood's greatest bitches battling onscreen (and off if the legend is true).

I shouldn't have eaten so much so late at night. I need at least one good night of sleep this week.

Went to see 2001 Space Oddesy at Screen on the Green this week. Halfway throught the film, a large part of the park crowd left. Apparently they couldn't take the lack of narrative and dialogue and I suppose most people don't know what a visually impressive film it was for its time.

You are 49% geek

You are a geek liaison, which means you go both ways. You can hang out with normal people or you can hang out with geeks which means you often have geeks as friends and/or have a job where you have to mediate between geeks and normal people. This is an important role and one of which you should be proud. In fact, you can make a good deal of money as a translator. Normal: Tell our geek we need him to work this weekend. You [to Geek]: We need more than that, Scotty. You'll have to stay until you can squeeze more outta them engines! Geek [to You]: I'm givin' her all she's got, Captain, but we need more dilithium crystals! You [to Normal]: He wants to know if he gets overtime.

Take the Polygeek Quiz at Thudfactor.com

His eye will be alright. Didn't slow him down at all. When he got back from the emergency room, he immediately started working on the same part again that he was rebuilding when the accident happened. I don't know if I should question his common sense or admire his tenacity.

Got together with Randy, Sandy, and Jae for sushi at Harada. my sushi was great and Sandy ordered the Spring bento that was huge and looked equally wonderful. We ended up feverishly chatting about everything until midnight, when the call on nature and husbands finally provided a break. It as a really really fun night with my favorite people.

This is officially chill at home night. Tomorrow - out with a friend for a show.

Lots of public events are in the near future - Screen on the Green and free ASO performances at Piedmont Park, Concerts at the Botanical Gardens, etc. Should be a good summer.

ughhh...

Just finished a series of brief phone conversations with the nice boy, who has somehow superglued his eye tonight. Seems like he'll be fine just from flushing the eye and letting tears do the rest, but there's a flek of something still on his eye and I worry that he'll have a scratched cornea. I'll hear in the morning how the rest of the night goes for him.

The drugs are working.

I'm beginning to feel much better now. Thank heavens for modern medicine.

Looking forward to the gathering at Jae & Bill's house to hang out with Randy tomorrow. It'll be good to see my favorite devil's advocate and professional malcontent. I've missed our combined power to clear a room since he's been living on the left coast.

cystitis

Late night visit to a pharmacy my doctor knew was open 24 hours.

Vowing to sleep most of the weekend and spend as much time out of my body as possible.

I am too tired to really go out tonight and too bored to immediately sleep.

I feel too cheap to buy food but, again, too tired too cook. And I crave avocado tonight. I need guac. Or california rolls. And maybe one glass of wine to help me on my way to slumbers. Or a massage, but I know I'm not getting that tonight. *sigh*

Rain thunder lightning.

Yes. I'll be turning the computer off as soon as I post this.

I gotta get ready to pick up Sandy at the airport tonight. Her car is still in the shop and husband Charlie's truck isn't starting.

The weather forecast says rain in store for Atlanta for the entire week. I fear I won't be able to view the total lunar eclipse tomorrow night. I had creatively envisioned how nice it would be to spend the evening on a rooftop somewhere looking up at the slowly disappearing moon in the sky.

Unexpected pleasant events: Last night the folks at work invited me to join them for dinner at Fronteria. Ended up being a fun evening. This morning my boss came in bringing me coffee and Krispy Kreme donuts.

Why can't they make Listerine breath strips with vasopressin?

My teeth ache today. All of them. Why?

It's been a weekend of disturbing dreams. Dreams of losing my home. Dreams of losing all my friends. Dreams of not having a job and not being able to find one. Lot's of impending doom in my unconscious thoughts. Probably because I still haven't found a real job yet and I know my savings will eventually be depleted and then I have no backup. Maybe more dreaming in general because of the warm nights now upon us.

Yesterday after work I went to the gym with comrads and worked out. Came home with my arms all rubbery and useless, showered, slept.

Today it's dark as night and stormy.

It's been a very good, fun, long weekend. I'm functioning in a rich sleep deficit now that will reveal it's degree more as the week progresses I'm sure. Thursday I went with RavenGirl to the Burning Man talk by Larry Harvey at the Rich Auditorium. That was followed by a late night dinner with the nice boy.

Friday evening into the wee hours was spent with the Grateful Glutton crew at the Ripe Atlanta event at City View Sculpture. We all went in costume, bearing gifts for the event. The event's turnout I'm sure was cut down dramatically by an impressively intense storm just minutes after things started that lasted an hour-ish. We watched lawn furniture being blown across the neighborhood from the front porch while we waited for the wind, rain and lightening to quiet down enough to make it out. The rest of the night was perfect - no more rain at all and comfortably warm, especially for those in cozy, layed costumes. The sculptures were incredible and beautiful. Movement. Fire. Participation. Performance.

Saturday was the Artery iron pour in Emory Village. Tommy and Chantell made it out and to the pour and carved sand molds. Envie performed in the courtyard. There was a bigscreen presentation on the gamelon that was quite well done. That entire evening for me went on till today.

Then today started with brunch with the nice boy in Decatur, riding around in his jeepster that he's now trying to sell, on a glorious warm sunny day. That was immediately followed by all-day laundry, darning a snipped shirt from Friday night and a visit with the family.

Now I am tired and I must sleep.

It's been a low key and vaguely blue day. Wouldn't you know - we had a small earth quake in Atlanta last night, or so I'm told, and I slept through it. Living in the city, it would be hard to tell the difference between a tremor from shifting plates or just another large truck passing or underground construction going on. But that was the small excitement this morning - the only topic of conversation for the day. The rest of the day was tedium and frustration and boredom. Not that I had anything to really complain about but nothing to smile about either.

Looking forward to the weekend's art events and music. Wishing I saw more of the nice boy. Wishing I had a shed to make an enjoyable mess in. Or maybe just someone to punch me in the arm or shake me up a bit.

It was a pretty good weekend.

Friday, got to spend time with the nice boy.

Saturday ran errands to Smyrna and back. In the evening met Mike and Patty at Shakespeare Tavern to see Murder in the Cathedral, part of the Sacred and Profane series. It was great to catch up with them on what they're up to. I don't see them nearly as much as I would like to.

Sunday, hung out with Kim and Harris at the park. I laid back on a picnic blanket in the shade of a tree while most of the group that was with us played kickball in the field. Quite a dog show, as usual, in the park as well. Later I went to Eats with Kim and Harris before they returned home to prepare for their morning flight out.

Looks as if I'm not going to be successful in arranging a women's night gathering at Tortillas before they close forever. Too many stories in that group about dead rats and other untidy conditions there. But to me, Tortillas is an Atlanta institution. They've been my favorite buritto joint for years. Just a basic tortilla wrapped around beans that aren't over-seasoned or under-cooked.

The good news:

Palm Pilot Salvation - The boy next door has a spanking new palm pilot that he's never used. I can't believe he doesn't want it but he's selling it to me for a fraction of the cost. Yeah!

The bad news:

Cable was finally switched off so now there's no more television for moi since normal reception sucks here and most network programs are boring and redundant. Anyone want to buy a used TV?

Otherwise:

It's been a pretty good holiday. I had a three-day weekend for Easter/Pesach and have managed to catch up on a few things at home and steal a little time with the nice boy.
I didn't win the bonnet competition, but I had a great meal and good company all day today.

Which OS are You?

Last night, the neighbor downstairs cooked and my place was once again filled with steam and fumes that should have been sent outside. I opened all the windows and turned off the heat to avoid wasting energy.

My Palm Pilot died today

Oh, the buttons and pad have been a bit stubborn as it got older, but today when I got home I tried to turn it on to back it up on my computer and nothing happened. I tried new batteries and still nothing. It's my favorite electronic toy, aside from my coffee maker of course. And my coffee maker is brand new. The Palm was a first generation.

You are a Crotch Monkey. You are a very naughty,

vile thing. You are very tiny and cause a
distracting and unsanitary itch. You seem to

favor musicians with attitudes, at least from
what we've seen, because they are always

grabbing themselves, like Justin here.





What's YOUR Inner Monkey?

brought to you by Quizilla

No restaurant crawl this week. Everyone is either too broke, depressed or busy working now.
I'm going Krogering for dinner. Thinking of checking out the new Whole Foods tonight as well if there's time.

Today I finally got a haircut. It's been months. Robert was understanding gave not only a good cut but a serious positive reinforcement talk as he cut my hairs. I left feeling much better than I did before the grooming ritual.

And now I am very tired and must sleep.

Downstairs neighbor is cooking again today. bleeehhh.

Fortunately, it's warm enough to sleep with all my windows open now. Yay Spring!

The food party on Sunday great fun. I went with the nice boy and Nick and brought the cookie "pizza" and cheese "burgers". Many interesting dishes: meatloaf "cake" with mashed potato icing, tapioca pudding "sushi" with fruit slice fish. The best were the Thai dumplings as powdered doughnuts - brought in a Krispy Kreme box. There was also a lovely bright red beet sundae with fluffy mashed potato and a cherry tomato on top.

Monday morning I think the neighbors tried to kill me again. I had an incredibly difficult time waking up despite the strong smell of smoke in my place. It was too cold Sunday night to leave the windows open all night. That kind feeling when my body absolutely refused to get up despite me struggling to open my eyes for what seemed like an eternity. Walking outside to leave for work (late, of course) there a propane tank sitting outside the cat lady next door's place. Why - I have no idea. I did put new batteries in my cheap CO2 detector that afternoon.

It's a busy weekend. Seems like there are too few things to do in too few hours. But I'm having fun even if I am somewhat overwhelmed.

Friday night I didn't make it out of the office in time to make it to the Artery performance. When I probably should have been sleeping I was hanging out with the musicians.

Saturday I managed to do most things on my list - 90% of what I had scheduled for myself.

Murray phoned and said he'd like to visit Atlanta in two weeks. I had to remind/inform him that Passover is two weeks from now and - perhaps - his family would like to have him around for that week. Funny that I have to remind him of these things. I'm starting to wonder about what medication he's on.

Today I'm having to give up one meeting to finish my other commitments for the weekend. Among other things, I'm going to a creative potluck with the theme "Food Disguised As Food". I'll be interested to see what others (who cook on a regular basis) come up with as a solution to that assignment.

Maybe we're paying old debts.


It occurs to me that, if we really are "freeing the Iraqi people" that is a point long overdue. It would be something we actually owe a certain part of the population there since the first gulf war when George Bush Sr. simultaneously encouraged the people to rebel and overthrow Saddam Hussien while giving his back certain weapons and the right to use them locally. That was a terrible abandonment by the U.S.


Then, of course, we didn't do a thing to make that right for years. Not until it was somehow in an economic interest perhaps.

Hurry Down Doomsday - The Bugs Are Taking Over

Yesterday morning, mosquitos swarmed in the parking lot of my building and aphids are covering my violas. I sprayed the aphids with soap and -- as for the mosquitos, I will try to avoid outdoor activities as much as possible this summer. Citronella candles are pretty and the smell is nostalgic to me, so I might invest in some soon.

Tired this morning. Running late. And yet, I still take a moment to write in this blog. Good things are lining up for the next two weekends and I hope I can arrange things in a way that lets me take it all in. Atlanta has a serious case of Spring fever at the moment. It's a good thing. I'm feeling fertile again for the first time in a long long while.

Crazy downstairs boy overturned some of my potted plants, leaving clumps of dirt on the steps and parking lot. Guess I won't be setting anything out downstairs or around the atrium this year.

Some kind of fight going on in crazy boy downstairs place. Donna has no fear of standing outside to see what's going on. Turns out it was the two brothers fighting. One had come over to the other not to frighten their mother. *sigh* If it had been anyone other than the two brothers fighting I would have phoned 911.

Gleefully sat and watched Elvis Costello hosting The Late Show last night. He was witty and thoroughly amusing. I taped the entire show sans commercials if anyone wants to see it later.

This week's restaurant crawl brought us to Korean Gardens. Because we lacked a large number of people this week, we both chose hot pots rather than the delights of the barbeque table with it's built in little grill. They brought us enough rice anddmarinated goodies before the meal to nearly fill us up before our volcanically hot bowls cooled enough to eat. There were plenty of leftovers for breakfast the next day.

I saw an odd thing tonight walking home: a small snake squirming on the driveway to my door. A real live moving snake in March. This is still officially winter and here's this cold-blooded animal I saw outside just 15 minutes ago.

Celebrating the dark underbelly again.

Finding renewed intrigue and interest within the male of the species.

Opening the door for despair? I don't know. I have hope. Must be fertile again.

Listening to Hanging on a Curtain by Morphine.

So horribly bored tonight. Waiting to check out My Big Fat Greek Life premiere on TV.

Yesterday ws great. Spent most of it with Sandy and chateau de Harrison. Eating, chatting, caffiene-charging - not necessarily in that order. Ended the day covering myself with animals at Sandy & Chaz place. Young children and furry animals dig me.

Tomorrow the doctor looks at the arm again and Thursday I get to find out if I have a legitimate complaint or if I'm just a bit of a hypochodriac. I just want to know what's up.

Went to see Keith and the Satellites at the EARL. The evening ended up being like a highschool reunion. Chaz said he never saw so many people he thought were dead. The show as wonderfully fun. Many many hugs and kisses from old rockers I know and haven't seen in years. Little Sister got really tipsy in her black dress, twirling about on an unsteady axis. LL was there but looking kinda beat - I'm sure she had a long wifey weekend - hardly recognized her at first. Then again I see her rarely and her hair changes every time.

It was so incredibly smokey in the place I spent all of the next day recovering, my eyes and throat still burning even though I showered as soon as I got in. Now I remember why I don't go to bars much.

Today I'll be getting together with girlfriends and getting moral adjustments. Should be a very good day.

Went to the doctor today and once again showed him the arm, which seems to have gotten worse recently. This time he took notice, asked me how long I've notice the changes, and brought in his older partner to look at it as well. Then they both scratched their heads and admitted something odd was happening but they didn't have a clue what it could be.

Last night my place smelled like cooked meat again. I knocked on the downstairs neighbor's door and begged him to open a window and the kitchen door when he cooked to keep the steam and smoke from building up inside the window. I don't see how he can stand it. The inside of his kitchen is as pungent as smelling salts. He's feeling persecuted by me now, according to Donna. So I came back with roses for the dinner he was preparing as a small offering of goodwill. He still didn't vent his kitchen. I still phoned his landlord to try to ask her to fix his vents.

For the Buford Highway restaurant crawl last we night we backtracked a bit. Because the two who will not eat raw fish were absent, we went to Toyo Taya buffet. Left with a belly full of fish and a bit a sake. Yum.

It's been a day of recovery and falling woefully behind schedule on everything I've done. Still, it hasn't been a bad day. In fact, it's been pretty good. I spent the morning with Aziz and Lisa having coffee & leftovers, cleaning up after the party last night. I was up quite late and then woke up, as usual, with the sun around 9 a.m.

Did a massive laundry run to clean large things - my bathrugs, my comforter and blankets, in an effort to deodorize things. Something smells burnt now. Is it my bedroom or did I sit too close to one of the several dozen tealights burning last night? With all the horrible cooking smells seeping into my bedroom from the apartment downstairs, it's hard to determine the source of anything now. I want a sweet smelling home again.

Tried to take a nap late in the day after the Laundry Lounge, but wasn't too successfull. Laid in a semi-coma doze for a couple of hours and then got up to get ready and go to Eyedrum to see Clark and Nathan's performance. Afterwards, ended up going to a wonderful warehouse art show just down the street. Mostly student work but a big show in a large space. Big crowd of beautiful creative people and their work. Several video installations, painting, sculpture, photography and live music. Felt very fortunate to have stumbled upon it by virtue of running into friends at Eyedrum who stay informed.

To day was spend mostly plotting and scheming with a small pack of pedestrian wolves. Should be fun this weekend - and the plans laid should create a busy week for me.
:)

It's wet and cold tonight. Not so much icey temperatures as that damp sorta chill that seeps into the bones nearly to the marrow. Nothing seems to be warming.

Maybe I need a cozy fire and a warm man. Maybe I need more blood in my veins.

Find exactly the wrong thing to say at the wrong moment and it will come out of my mouth. And there is no way to rip the words back out of the air once they've escaped.

*sigh*

Why is it that everytime I go to the dentist, I develop a cold a week afterwards?

I'm sniffly. I had a filling replaced last week.

Last night was the Buford Highway restaurant crawl. The four of us went to Penang Malasian restaurant. Lovely food. Very good, friendly service.

I am poor this week. The cash reserves have been spent until the next paycheck between dinner last night and a few groceries tonight.

I did make it to EyeDrum this weekend and was glad for it. Interesting art show of sound-producing objects and performances by "Sound Doesn't Travel Through Nothing" and Hubcap City.


Superbowl Sunday was spent doing laundry where I didn't have to wait for machines. But I would have liked to see No Doubt at the halftime show.


Yesterday at work was absolutely wild with activity. Mondays are usually pretty busy anyway but this Monday was extraordinary. At first I had expected it to be a slow superbowl-recovery day with clients. However, I think the superbowl-recovery time outs for our clients at work gave them time to converge on us. We handle more work from the general public than from business, so those who chose to take the day or the morning off were calling on us.

I really wanted to go to the See Monkey Sea Mask and Puppet Show at EyeDrum but it's just too cold and I am too much of a wimp to to out.
Urghh....! It's too bone-chilling out there for a southerner like me.

Me: Doesn't your wife miss you when you work late so often?


Boss: No. When she throws something she usually hits me.

Here's a fun site full of animation:

homestarrunner

My Smelly Life

About the strong smells and smoke coming into my place through the bedroom wall -


I've talked to my downstairs neighbor. He's a very nice man. He was in fact cooking on the night in question. He is a cook. He is a carribean cook. He does some catering and was laid off from his job this week. That last fact makes me very fearful that my place will soon be completely uninhabitable for me because he'll have to cater more to fill in the gaps in income. So I fear he'll be cooking more late nights at home with pungent ingredients. He said he would phone his landlord about the possible venting problem. I phoned her myself the next day and she last said she was going to talk to him about fixing or checking the cause of the problem.


For many years here I've not had a problem with invasive smells from the adjoining units (other than the occasional pot smoke from the wild boys) and now it's common.

How True

From Low Red Moon:

Also, I have to do the very final proofing on

TFoC (who am I fooling; no proofreading is ever final)...

Sometimes it is so embarrassing to live in Georgia.

I'm wondering if my place is the only unit the building that smelled like cooking meat all night. That's the smell that filled my condo and kept me awake all night. I'm wondering if other units were affected and if the smell was coming from inside or outside the building. I got no sleep last night. It started out with a smokey, bacon smell and later became very strong like onions. My eyes and throat are burning a bit this morning, which probably means there was just enough in the air to cause irritation but not enough to set off my smoke alarm.

I still have a headache today. Worse at night, just like yesterday. Last night, I took ExcedrinPM to get some sleep and relief but the morning was very hard to deal with. So tonight I'll have to skip that medication. I wonder if aspirin will keep me awake?

Boss man says, in reference to how one bad client ruins it for everyone:
"We all get painted with the same brush."

My bedroom smells like bacon tonight. Thinking my downstairs neighbor must be cooking, I go outside my place and discover he's not at home. The light in the unit next to his is on, but nothing seems to be going on inside. Outside the building, it smells of hickory smoke. I see not the source.

Have you ever been kept awake at night by a smell? Lights can be blocked out. Earplugs and ambient sound help cut down on noise. But how do you eliminate smells?

Went out to eat with the Buford Hwy restaurant crawlers. Looking forward to next week's adventure.

Went to the dentist today. My teeth are v-e-r-y smooth now. My lips are very chapped.
Dr. Goldstein says I have beautiful ... umm... jaws. Well, actually, he mentioned a part of my jaws I can't remember the name of now. A missed opportunity to increase my vocabulary.

My head hurts for some reason. A little throb that came into bloom just after my wraparound x-rays. Maybe I'm a bit dehydated. Not drinking enough water this week.

Quote from my honorable employer:

"There are days... and there are days. And this is one of them."


Everyone at the office cracks me up on a daily basis.

It's been much warmer today, which is a good thing for moi indeed. It's a misery for me in the morning to leave a nice warm bed and take a shower that never feels hot enough when the air around you is so cool.

When anything breaks down or simply needs maintenance, why are people so upset like it's something that shouldn't have happened or that they never expected to have to do? If you have stuff you have to take care of it. You have to update it. And why is that all bad? By constantly changing and adjusting the things in life, we get to create a little bit or our own universe. We get to leave our mark and influence on things. Part of the joy of a house or car should be the puttering on it, shouldn't it?

9:05 pm and all is quiet in the building. Maybe my gloomy-doomy worries are premature.

Everything in my schedule is a bit out of sorts today.
It's been a week of Mondays.

My new year's resolution:

1. to find a better job
2. to start yoga classes

Looks like crazy guy is back in the building as of last night. Noticed the lights were on in the still-unfinished condo downstairs and there was music going through the building last night. Assumed it was just New Years merry making last night but I saw him standing out in the parking lot staring into space this morning. Came home about 10 pm tonight from a friend's house and noticed the music is still going.

Yep. Crazy guy is back in the building, permanently I assume. That probably means my neighbors next door and downstairs will be trying to unload their units at any price soon, like the people in those units before them. But it also means my place and every other one in the building is virtually impossible to sell at anything close to a reasonable price. Who would invest in a place where you have to share a building with someone so out of control?

That is unless someone is able to make a complaint that will actually have him put away again. And that probably won't happen unless someone is injured rather than threatened next time.