weapons of massdistraction

Yesterday’s accomplishments included, but were not limited to:

• Inviting a new friend out to meet some of my old ones (but only one of those showed up, due to widespread flu and PMS problems).
• Inexpertly creating my first quilt square, for a good cause.
• Obtaining a ticket to next month’s Low show (thanks to a friend[*], who did the footwork).
• Buying new socks for the little man to replace those that have suddenly gone all swiss cheese on me.
• Momentarily freaking out when I thought Elmo said “glock rhymes with sock” (which it does, but that’s not the point). Looking over at the other computer, the one the little man was in front of, I saw a drawing of a door, so I’m guessing he was really saying “lock” rhymes with sock.
• Replacing buttons on an old favorite coat.
• Rolling the garbage bin to the curb for trash day.
• Falling further into the depths of my flickr fascination.
• Having a fake orgasm. The drink.

That which did not get done:

• Sending my child to school, as my insomnia seems to be contagious. The lad didn’t sleep at all well the night before. He woke several times, and wound up tossing and turning in my bed. Eventually he fell asleep and I didn’t have the heart to wake him up before the school bus arrived. Doh.
• Client work (hangs head in shame).
• Cleaning the filthy kitchen and/or making any meals for the husband.
• Restocking of our Powerpuff Girls bandaid supply (couldn’t find any, but we made do with Spiderman, Spongebob and Hello Kitty bandaids).
• Putting together a mix CD for a pen pal, of sorts. Though I have been compiling a track list, in my head.

[*] There’s more to my friend’s story. He headed over to St. Sabrina’s to purchase our Low tickets, but also intended to pick up another ticket, for the Queensryche show. Alas, these were all sold out already. All over town. In a panic he took action. A $22 show turned into a $160 one when he turned to an, uh, alternate distribution outlet (a scalping site of some sort).
Bonus: I wouldn’t mind being in D.C. tonight, for the Punk Rock Counter-Inaugural Ball. A band with the best scrabble-related name headlines.
Plus: “A new life awaits you in the off-world colonies…”
And: Shipping soon.

It’s all bonus material today.

• Calling all geeks: your participation would be greatly appreciated in the SF Reading Habits Survey, whose results will “provide material for a book called (provisionally), The Inter-Galactic Playground of Children’s Science Fiction to be published by McFarland Press” (via Neil Gaiman).
• The previous should be of special interest to the proprietor of my favorite private library, who has started a book blog…which ought to give me a sneak peek at books I’ll eventually be borrowing.
• This is bizarre. Harrison Ford is in a low-budget half-documentary, half-comedy snowboarding video, credited only as “Jethro the Bus Driver”. It also features one of his sons (I have no idea what convoluted path led me to it today).
• I’m a touch worried about my dear Zophia. Recently she was (understandably) freaked out by the dead mouse in her apartment, so I don’t know how she’s going to deal…with the human cadaver class she started at school today. That totally creeps me out.
• On a happier note, the little man came home from his school today with a permission slip for the next class field trip. We’re going bowling! I’m so stoked. If only it weren’t weeks away. Something to look forward to, I guess.
• I’m sure everyone’s linking to this, but I couldn’t help myself. Dig these slinky photos of Bill Gates from Teen Beat, circa 1984 (via Boing Boing).
• The husband’s been on a Cat Power kick, but he’s not at all fueled by my Arcade Fire.
• On the flickr front, I came across this vegan food porn gallery, just after Dave mentioned he ordered some premium vegan fudge online. Now everything we have on hand seems somehow sub-par. Sigh.

And lastly, after the little man left for school this morning I headed to the salon. For a corrective color and cut (I had to do something after last week’s DIY dye job disaster). And boy howdy, did they ever done fix it good.

Blast, but I’m tired. Didn’t get home last night until nearly 1am (very late for me, these days). Stayed up for some time afterwards too. Not sure when I finally fell asleep (with the husband’s headphones on, listening to my latest addiction…Icelandic “classic” rock radio station SKONROKK). I vaguely recall stumbling across the hall in a daze, but still got up with the little man at 7am. Ouch. So while I’m conscious enough to do so, I’ll quickly recap yesterday. In the afternoon I headed out on a seemingly endless journey to Elk’s Lodge 44, located in a strip mall in an unfamiliar suburb. I found it without trouble, and, fortunately, so did a number of other people. I’m glad I read Tina’s post earlier in the day, about the communication of ideas embedded in fashion. It’s always amused me how people from various subcultures can pick up on the subleties of one another’s fashion choices, especially when they congregate in large groups and can thoroughly scope one another out. Punk and hardcore kids have, in general, labeled themselves anti-consumerist and anti-materialistic, but they are still subject to these unwritten rules, thrift store clothes or not. I especially enjoyed seeing a handful of young’uns with their mohawks and liberty spikes, likely rebelling for the first time in their lives…though against what they might not have quite figured out yet. That’s how it was for me at that age, at any rate. So after scoping out the crowd myself I determined that a) there was hardly anyone I knew in attendance and b) I’m hopelessly out of the loop. Talked to the few folks I did know (old fogies like myself), but only stayed long enough to see my friend’s band play. Anton claims he was too tired and thus his performance was low-energy…but I got a different impression while watching him jump around the stage and the floor, fingerpointing and moshing it up. Would have taken more photos, but I’d neglected to recharge my batteries beforehand. Doh.

I happily headed back home, to have dinner and hang out with my boys. After the little man’s bedtime the husband and I watched Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. The animation was amazing, and I did enjoy it…but I must have annoyed the heck out of the husband. Recently I read the much more detailed books, which caused me to be constantly exclaiming “what? that’s not how it’s supposed to happen! where are the worm-handlers? giant warriors?! they’re supposed to be called god monsters!” and so on and so forth. Sorry, dear. It was past 10:30pm by this point, and Anton called just when I thought I might nod off. The fest was over, and folks were heading to Pizza Luce. He and his bandmates, who I don’t really know, hadn’t yet decided if they were going to stay over night, or drive back down to Chicago after eating. They’d let me know when I got to the restaurant. So I left the house by telling the husband “all right honey, I’m heading out now…and I may or may not return with a bunch of strange men.” Happily I did not. As much as we would have loved for Anton to stay and hang out, his bandmates were either:
a) sick;
b) cranky;
c) drunk; or
d) a combination of the above.
Better luck next time, I guess. And hopefully our little trio will be able to head down to ‘Cago for a visit some time soon anyhow.

The original venue may have burned down, but these kids are hardcore. The Midwest Hardcore Fest II has been relocated…to some sort of Elk’s Lodge out in the burbs. Hopefully the turnout will still be decent. I’m just glad I’ll get to see Anton after all…and thankful that his band plays early on, so I can get back home to my boys before the little man’s bedtime. As an aside, I took the lad out earlier, to a different suburb. We found out about a free indoor playground, the Northwoods Play Area. It’s a nice little place that is, unfortunately, located in the belly of the beast…Rosedale Mall. At least it’s not at the Death Star. The little man needs places to run around in during the winter, after all, so it’s worth it. As it happens we were in the right place at the right time. I noticed a man distributing Dr. Seuss books throughout the play area. They were from the BookCrossing project. Naturally I grabbed a couple. When we got home I pulled up their records and entered our info. The husband is currently reading them to the little man, but I’ll be taking one with me to the fest…for Anton to release into the wilds of Chicago.

Starting a new year feeling empty and burned out absolutely sucks. Not sure how much of it can be blamed on that whole dead of winter thing. Thinking I might want to kick off 2005 in Fiji, just to be on the safe side. Until then I’ll peruse photographs of airline meals. A cursory overview shows the Japanese carriers are on top when it comes to quality and presentation. Perhaps I’ll fly to Fiji after a quick stop in Tokyo. Yeah, that’s the ticket.