weapons of massdistraction

Well, I won’t be quitting my day job to become a house painter. The living room is done. It is flawed, but it is done. At least it was a labor of love. And taking Thursday off to finish it was a stroke of genius. I kept myself motivated with music, as I often do. I kicked the morning off with Kasabian. Post-lunch I kept myself going with some Mclusky. The evening was mellower, winding things down with Manitoba (pre-Caribou). All day Friday I was achey and sore, from all that up and down ladder action. I found myself longing for the hot tub at the Y, which triggered some half-forgotten memory of an SNL skit that my brother and I had thought was hilarious in the 80s. Naturally it’s on YouTube. And it’s still pretty funny. Also on YouTube…41 minutes of one of my all-time favorite hardcore bands, Botch, playing at one of my all-time favorite venues, the Fireside Bowl in Chicago. Speaking of bowling alleys and music, I went to Memory Lanes on Friday night to see three bands play. Good times were had.

Today J is in a very fine mood. Or he was, before he went back to bed. The man scored himself a Wii this morning. He got up before 6am to go wait in the cold outside a Super Target. I’ve only seen him get up that early a few other times. And those involved one of us having surgery. But he and his friend managed to get in line before 7am. His friend joked that he was in line ahead of J, so if it came down to the wire, he would be getting his Wii first. The friend was 14th in line (so J was 15th). An hour before the store opened staff came out and announced there were only 14 units available. Lucky for J his friend flipped him for it and J won.

Bonus: There’s a new-ish Neil Gaiman interview up on City Pages. My favorite quote? “…like watching the cast of Tron doing bad Shakespeare.”
Plus: I feel like I’m about to be steamrolled by the holidays, and I’m totally unprepared for it. And every year I’m bummed when I miss The Santaland Diaries at the Bryant Lake Bowl. I have a feeling this year will be no different. Sigh.
And: I nearly didn’t believe it, when a friend told me there was a sequel being made to 28 Days Later…called 28 Weeks Later. I adore Robert Carlyle and all, but it looks pretty bad. In better movie news, His Dark Materials is going to be amazing. Just one more year.
And another thing: I’ve already mentioned bowling alleys several times in this post. I’m taking this as a sign that I really really need to take the little man bowling. And soon.

Frustrations abound this week, and have been exacerbated by a deadly combo of sleep deprivation and hormonal issues.

• Yesterday I was so exhausted at work - I was actually annoyed that my lunch wouldn’t heat itself up and float over to my desk. So last night I went to bed early. Things were going swimmingly until about 4am…when J was paged by work. I finally got back to sleep just minutes before I needed to get up for the day. Sigh.
• I’ve had my Powerbook for about a year. It’s already been sent off for hardware problems once, but now the optical disc drive has died. I can’t even back up my data before I hand it over to be repaired (but Apple will do that for me, for an extra $50). Oh, and the latch is completely broken too.
• That vegan whipped cream I was so excited about? The freaking can is defective. I was able to squirt some soy whip out just the once, but not since.
• A package was delivered to the house today. It wound up on the back deck, soaking wet (it was raining all day). The contents were dry, thankfully, but mmmm, soggy mail. Yay!
• The little man’s teacher announced a last minute field trip. Reeeeeeally last minute. I found out yesterday afternoon, and the trip was this morning. The school had scored free tickets to a performance at Orchestra Hall. I totally would’ve chaperoned if I could have. But it was such short notice and work was really busy so I was kinda sad. But then I found out mimes were involved. So maybe it was for the best.
• I got a later start on the living room painting project than I would have liked. Now it’s half-finished (ok, maybe a little more than half) and the living and dining rooms are in complete disarry and it’s already dark when I get home from work each day and all I want to do is collapse into a pitiful little heap. Hoping to be done by December. Or maybe the new year. With the living room. And with the pitifulness.

Bonus: Not only is Vlog Santa back, he has his very own site now. And there are rumors and rumblings about personalized video greetings being offered soon. Vlog Santa will do anything for a buck (or 25 bucks).
Plus: I’m loving the Wall Dolls by Mia Hansen. Sadly I can’t make it to the Wall Candy event in Vancouver, but this Saturday is the second annual No Coast Craft-O-Rama. This time around in a bigger and better location. Sadly my budget is smaller and suckier this year.
And: A Final Explosion of Street Art…on Spring Street.

Thanksgiving was pleasant enough. A nice visit with my folks early on, followed by the annual vegan potluck in the evening. But I didn’t quite have my fill. There was a distinct lack of mashed potatoes and gravy at said potluck (the only gravy to be had was in the tofu/veggie pot pie). So today J and I whipped some up, along with batter fried seitan. Looks like we did the same thing after Thanksgiving last year. Sadly I didn’t have any cranberry sauce this time around.

Other than that, we’ve been doing a whole lot of nothing. And that’s all right. I’m still in my pajamas, though I’ve done a few loads of laundry. And the little man did play out in the backyard for a bit. I’ve also been picking out paint colors for tomorrow. This weekend I intend to make good on my plan…to finally paint the living room. I’m leaning towards Appletini. Or Pepper Grass. Or maybe even Caterpillar. Now it’s time to get back to the extreme lounging. I could start reading the sequel to the book I just finished. Or get sucked into watching LoTR, on J’s fancy new monitor.

Bonus: My NetNewsWire trial ran out yesterday and I’m debating whether or not to purchase it. I can’t do it today, because it’s Buy Nothing Day. Oh well.

Over the weekend I got very little accomplished…aside from having some seriously good times. And that is exactly what I was needing. Friday night we kicked things off at the YWCA. The little man’s swimming lesson went exceptionally well. I’ve discovered the key. Mom has to kick back, out of sight, in the hot tub. No complaints here. Afterwards we had dinner at Midori’s Floating World Cafe. We’ve become regulars, since I came across their all-vegan menu. Oh, speaking of Friday…while I was chillaxin’ in the hot tub I thought fondly of my happy place, the Blue Lagoon. In Iceland. And only then did I realize what I was missing out on. The Sugarcubes reunion show in Reykjavik. Sigh.

Speaking of shows, Saturday I spent about seven hours at the 7th Street Entry, in split shifts. And I’m so glad I did. Too many highlights to name, but the fourth annual lunch show included a surprise performance by Shellac. Steve Albini was freaking hilarious. The ID show later on was fabulous in different ways. Of course my camera battery died right when my friend’s band, Signal to Trust, took the stage. But that was almost for the best. I was more in the moment that way, rather than separated from it by trying to document it all. Oh, and in between the all ages and ID shows I managed to squeeze in a birthday dinner party with friends, at Fuji Ya.

Lack of sleep had me lazing about Sunday, but I did make it to a showing of For Your Consideration with J and his mom. Followed by dinner out, again, this time at Everest. An all around excellent weekend but sadly we don’t have a Wii. We could have had one. If certain persons were a bit better with the communication. Ahem. So now we wait (in the mean time I’m going to go watch BSG 3.8).

Bonus: How cute are Klops and Klong? Oh, and the Bunny too. I want.
Plus: Tomorrow will see the release of the first Thomas Pynchon novel in nearly a decade. “Now single up all lines!“
And: I’d come across this before, but had forgotten about Overheard in Minneapolis. Also on the local yokel tip…The Minneapoline, street fashion in Minneapolis and St. Paul (via Girl Friday, of course).

When I was making dinner last night the little man sauntered into the kitchen and handed me something. It was a tooth. That’s the seventh one that has fallen out of his head. It seems like he’d only started wiggling that one earlier in the day. I first noticed it at the car dealership. Where I got one very big item crossed off my To Do list. I took possession of my new vroom vroom. It goes zoom zoom. I felt so relieved afterwards that I was finally able to quiet my busy brain, kick back, and catch up on Season 3 of BSG. I am seriously sleep deprived, but it was well worth it. And now to continue the forward momentum…

Bonus: Speaking of BSG, I’m with Eve. I’ve been going to the gym twice a week since last March, but I’m sure not dropping the pounds like Apollo. What is his secret? Maybe I need the old man to chide me.