sick jam vs. tight groove

if you were a member of the phish newsgroup circa 2003-2004, that would totally be hilarious. i brought up the concept of sick jam vs. tight groove while in pittsburgh, and they didn’t get the reference. i found that odd considering the fact that both adams had been on the board frequently for years. alas, i explained it and ro said she would prefer sick jam. i said no way, brah, tight groove all the way! this conversation led to us shouting out lot references as we were exiting the pittsburgh zoo– who’s got my heady nuggets? molly? where’s my molly? one for three, two for five! what the fuck, it’s just a buck!

i’ve been sick recently. really feeling crappy since wednesday, and i think thursday was the worst of it. my bones and joints ached and i wanted to spend the entire day wrapped up in my down comforter in front of the tv sleeping, or sewing, or reading, just doing nothing that required any physicality whatsoever.

i decided, though, that i also wanted to go grocery shopping. i hadn’t done that in probably five or more weeks, and i really scraped the bottom of the what’s-left-in-the-house-i’ll-eat-no-matter-what barrel about two weeks ago. that made for some interesting and inventive meals, i’ll tell you.

i got some wonderful deals at the store. the grocery store i usually go to is wonderful because it’s so cheap. seriously, i don’t know how they do it, but i love it. ooh, and i just found out that they carry prestuffed hot peppers. all i had to do was throw those bad boys in the oven and enjoy. what a find! i didn’t wear a bra to the grocery store, and i don’t say this as a provocative statement, but just to illustrate how awful i felt at the time. i almost never go out in public without a bra. it’s really not fun for anyone involved. but at that moment, i couldn’t muster up the strength to wear anything that would be flush against my skin. i had on a baggy t-shirt under a baggy hoodie and baggy black flowy pants.

when i came home and had finished unloading all my stuff, i made myself some chai tea, made a sandwich, got on the couch, under my comforter and was about to take a sleeping pill when my phone rang. it was amy from masterminds. (masterminds is an educational after school program for high school students, kind of like college bowl, just the kids are younger. i read questions for them as a second job.) i was like, awww… me and amy are going to be buddies, she’s calling me, maybe to hang out or something. i answered. boy was i wrong. i was super late for a meet.

we’re supposed to get the schools by 2:30 or 2:45 to get accustomed to the setup of the school, where the cafeteria is (which usually acts as a holding room for all the teams not playing at the time), where the reading rooms are, etc. you could maybe push it to getting there by 3:00 or 3:05. yeah, amy called me asking me where i was at 3:30. oh shit!

i dumped my tea in a travel mug and threw on some clothes. the meet was in lancaster, and i am in buffalo. according to google maps, it should take 24 minutes to get there. but that’s under ideal circumstances, with no traffic and every light being green as you approach it. in real time, it should take about 35 minutes. i made it in 18.

my body was still all achy, i was congested, looked like shit, felt like shit. i felt like such an asshole, too. i’ve never once in my life with any job forgotten i had to work. i got there and everything was fine. amy was nice about it, and the kids were super sweet. it’s really a craps shoot as to whether you’re going to be reading for sweet little angels or friggin satan incarnate, but this bunch was super cute.

i can’t believe i forgot about it.  i’ve never done that before.  i feel so dumb.  oh well, it’s all said and done now.  i guess i just need to find a way to remind myself about everything i have upcoming in the week.  maybe a white board to hang in my room.  hmm… i need to organize my thoughts and my schedule.

speaking of, if i could be let loose in office max, or some other such office supply store, with an unlimited budget, i think i would be the happiest person in america.  why do i delight so in files and folders and day planners and dry erase boards and paper and staplers?  maybe because i know my life is not as organized as it could be and my loving office supplies is like projecting what i wish i could be like, what i aspire to.

i’ll think on that.

marmaduke

one of my favorite blogs ever is listed in my blogroll to the left:  marmaduke explained, written by a hilarious man named joe mathlete.  read it.  all of it.  thank me later.  i would like to share a good one with you now:

Marmaduke destroyed his owner-family’s mailbox (and probably a number of other things) during his afternoon walk with his owner-man. Owner-Man makes light of the mailbox situation to his wife, yet another example of how the bulk of their communication is a numb, disconnected and empty series of weak jokes and ironic understatements deployed in order to distance themselves from the horror and futility of spending their lives as the prisoner-slaves of their powerful, self-serving ogre of a dog.

happy birthday, lulu

saturday night, i worked until 11 and then met ashley, allison, and lulu out for lulu’s birthday. the fact that i honestly know someone in my life named lulu makes me so happy. i can’t even begin to explain it. we went to this bar that’s around the corner from my work. one of the reasons i love my current job is that it’s in the city, in an awesome neighborhood, allentown. i used to work in amherst, a suburb of buffalo. in amherst, it was hard to recommend people to cool restaurants and bars because everything out there was all chains– applebees, fridays, carrabba’s, olive garden. there were very few unique places. but in allentown, there are no chains within walking distance, but tons of interesting and varied restaurants with awesome food and settings.

anyway, this bar, i love it, and i’ve become friends with the bartenders and the regulars. they actually have a nickname for me that i don’t despise: “heartbreaker.” one of the cooks at this place decided recently to confess his undying love for me. i’d never actually spoken to him before. he pulled me aside and told me that he would be so lucky as to spend five minutes alone with me and that he could tell i was really smart and a woman on the rise. when i think about it, those are some really kind words. but in all actuality, i couldn’t get past the creepy factor. he followed ashley into the women’s bathroom to gush to her about me and told her that he thought that i was “the one.” again, i’d never previously spoken to him.

i told him that i was flattered and honored and i greatly appreciated all of the nice things he said about me, but that i wasn’t interested. apparently, after this, he was at the other end of the place talking about committing suicide. that obviously has nothing to do with me, but it’s still like… i don’t know how to react to that. is it supposed to make me feel guilty? am i then supposed to hear that and want to be with him?

another time, a kid walked into the bar off the street that had applied at my job just a day earlier. i took his application from him and remembered him because his name was harold and he really didn’t look like a harold. i saw him at the bar, actually, the same night i had that confrontation with the cook, and asked him if he was harold. he said yes and we started talking. again, not at all interested, but for some reason, he followed me around like a lost puppy that night. he had eyes that were deep sunken into his head and he looked like he hadn’t eaten in days and had been shooting up for hours. bill, one of the bar regulars, jokingly referred to him as david bowie. when i was done being overly polite by continuing to talk to him out of pseudo-guilt due to the fact that he came there alone, i walked away to hang out with ash. bill said david bowie kept looking around for me and staring at me. weird. and thus, in one night, i earned my name, “heartbreaker.”

so this is my bar, a cute neighborhood place where everybody literally does know my name. it’s a fun group of people. lulu’s birthday was awesome, one of the most fun nights i’ve had in a while. every night, this man with a big bucket of roses and bouquets makes his rounds to all the bars on allen st. trying to sell flowers to people drunk enough to buy them. i bought lulu two roses last night and she was so happy! i had to work at 7 am so i couldn’t stay out too late, but still, what a fun night. it was just such a good mix of people, all in good moods, all there for a good person. i just really love fun, drama free nights.