Truesday.

The Week, The Weekend, The Real.

So...
Friday (2/22/08) kinda sucked. Firstly, the powers that be who make my writing gig financially viable have decided that they are going to take all the time they have alloted to send out checks. Instead of getting them within two weeks of billing, I will probably get it just on the cusp of exactly two weeks. Very annoying, but it was the final straw for me. I finally decided to go with their Direct Deposit set-up, which I was hemming and hawing about -- mainly because it isn't a 'regular' job situation. It's freelance, and I like seeing the check in my hand. But oh well. Then...

Yes, kids, that is one sharp-ass piece of glass. That I found in my Vegetarian Roll that I bought for dinner. (Although I feel it necessary out of safety's sake to say that it was purchased at Whole Foods here in the loop, I must say that I don't want to disparage the store as it is. They were extremely helpful and understanding.) Yup. What a day. I went to the comic shop, got a few titles, and decided it was time to get some veggie rolls for me and the Dr. to enjoy over Friday night TV -- which for us is centered around E!'s The Soup. Home I go with for boxes of lovely veggie/sushi enjoyment (and dog food -- the dog eats the good shit here) and while Amanda is getting washed up, I just go ahead and dig in. Roll section #2, chew, chew, CRUNCH! Urgh. So I go over to the trash, spit it out, wash out my mouth, and go back to eating. I figured it was a rock, or uncooked something or other. No biggie. Then section of the roll #5 (I'm guessing)... Chew, chew, CRUNCH. URRGHHH! So, this time, I decide that a closer inspection is due. And the picture above is what I pulled out. Great. Rinse out again, pack up all the food (Amanda hadn't eaten any of hers) and back to the store. They were surprisingly concerned -- which was great -- and refunded us our money AND gave us a gift card so we could get food for the night. Which Amanda would prepare, and it was friggin' amazing. Carrot/Broccoli/Tofu Noodle stir fry. My god, she's just so good with flavor. I can cook sustenance type things, filling meals, but she has a skill with mixing flavor and taste that just eludes me.

So...That sucked. For the last couple of days I've been watching all my...uh...you know...for any sign that I missed any glass. No such luck so far. Thank god.
And then Saturday. Sheesh. Went to the local Randall's (downtown) to take in some change to cash in to avoid putting more money on the cards and halfway through the process, the machine jams. No biggie, right? Call the manager! Wrong. The MOD doesn't have a key. So we have to wait until today (very early this morning) to call and get our print outs and put the rest of the change in.
I think god is telling me to keep my shopping trips limited to the Fiesta down the street.

Running was good, however. I've sorta upped my standard run. I noticed that I could just keep going and going the longer I ran, so I've upped to a 60 minute standard. Three of those a week, M-W-Sa, with Friday being a 30 minute recovery run. Sorta. Still gotta get 'slow' on that one. So I ended up running a grand total of 23.74 miles. Jeez. Wow. The funny part is that during yesterday's run, at about mile 6.2, I just felt like I could go another lap around Rice (making it three) and... I finally felt that a marathon is, well, doable. A very realistic goal, really. Honestly, I didn't really feel like I hit my stride on the run until I was over 6 miles. It just felt good at that point. I didn't really want to stop. Does that make me a weirdo?

Probably.

Now, let's get all deep.

No! Wait. I want to take a moment and bitch a moment about Ralph Nader entering the election today.

Okay, I am just as aware as any left-leaning that the current system is controlled by the corporate world, that money rules all, blah blah blah...

But I am also aware that we have two courses to take here if the system is to change. First is total unabashed revolution. Scrap the system. Start over. I would love to be in a world where the intelligent fringe could be in a position of power, but there are too many stupid people out there to trust in Libertarianism (the very pure kind) and there are just too many people, period, to have some one like Nader be effective. Which brings us to the second point, if we are to make changes, they have to be gradual. I would rather have a Obama or an Edwards in office than a third party crackpot (Yes, I said it. I think Nader -- outside of his reputation and such -- isn't the guy you'd really want in office, and he's just getting old. I think he's more driven by his ego than anything) or loon from the far right being kicked around Washington for four years.

So, to all you who think that Nader is the only answer: Third parties in this country have not risen to the top by running for the executive. Start at the local level. Get Greenies or Libs or whatever on your city, county and township ballots. Then work to state. Then national. Then take majority. Then... You get the idea. You want a government that can't get anything done? Or an executive who has NO power? Put a third party guy/gal in there now.

Remember: ALL politics is local.

Ok, depth.

For those of you who are around my age...
Remember REAL? Remember how back in the early 1990s, it was all gonna get 'real?' MTV put a bunch of strangers in a house... and they got 'real?' Or how about music? Suddenly bands like Rush and Kiss were putting out albums that were 'real!' (I am speaking of Counterparts and Revenge, respectively) So, what happened? When I look back, shows like Friends and such were there to push aside the Huxtable formula of televisual entertainment, and we were all gonna act and be...well, REAL. But the truth was, it didn't get real, it just got a nicer sheen. The fashions changed, and we weren't gonna be fooled by poodle metal bands with big hair anymore. Or acid washed jeans. No way, man. Warrant had to cut their hair, and guys started wearing flannel shirts with work boots and faded jeans. Funny. Everyone tends to look on the eighties as a 'polished' decade, but the nineties (outside of the fantastically drug ridden bands that did get some attention -- drug riddled idiots, sure, but it was more real than what we were being fed -- thank you Gin Blossoms) were way too shiny. Perhaps I'm finally getting jaded about the decade I once worshipped. Truth be told, I'm not fooled anymore. The years there have a special place in my heart, but in my mind, I know better. It was a wonderful, foolish haze to be a part of, but I think we had a lot of work to do -- which, for the most part, got looked over in the end. So that's that. I'm off.

Friday Morning Observations

- I am 34, and in cultural terms, I am a relic. This obviously needs more explaining, but I'll have to sculpt that one very carefully, and I have work to do.

- If you don't own the deluxe edition of Rick James' Street Songs, I suggest -- no, I insist -- you go out and get a copy. I know that I have spent a great deal of time and energy listening to extreme European metal as of late, but starting your day with the live disc that comes in the re-release of Street Songs (recorded in California in July of 1981) is doing a favor to yourself and your soul. It makes the sun shine just that much brighter, brutha. And in my opinion it may be the best goddamn show ever performed by anyone. The horns, the riffs, the bass, the Rick, and the songs with Teena Marie are fucking amazing. Start your day with THAT.

- There is something quite beautiful in the garbage truck blasting "You Are The Sunshine In My Life" by Stevie Wonder as the dudes take the trash. Poignant.

- Sheffield Wednesday is going to get relegated. I can feel it.

- The record stores in Houston suck. All of the metal I want to get as of late (usually found in the new reviews or best of 2007 lists in the prominent metal magazines I read) isn't in stock. Crap!

- I have been reading a lot of comics lately. Getting caught up on nearly 20 years of development in the Marvel Universe ain't gonna be easy. Why, though? Why do I care suddenly about Avengers Disassembled, or House of M, or Marvel Civil War? Is it, as my wife so bluntly put it, that I'm a 12 year old? Or am I just jaded with the book world (working in a big box bookstore will do that to you) that it's all I've got? Whatever it may be, I'm enjoying it and I don't really care that much. To happiness!

- I used to try so damn hard. I used to wear the uniform and listen and say and take and drink and smoke the right things just to fit in with a certain element of the social fabric. And while I regret nothing, and I miss so many of those involved a lot, I wish I could have been more honest with myself and with them. They were very good friends to me and they deserved more from me as a person. Granted, this was when I was 16-25, so it's pretty hard to expect me to act with any sort of tact or class.

That's it. I got biographies to write.

I lack art.

So, just to get it out and done for the day, I did 3 miles today. About a nine minute/mile pace. A tad too fast if you ask my knee. Yup, that goddamn familiar twinge is back. Ice, Advil, the Stick, and stretching and it showed up again. Not in a debilitating way, but just enough to make sure I do a very easy 15 minute run tomorrow. I have also decided that I need to look into New Balance shoes. My Asics have been good to me, but I'm curious to try other avenues.

As for the rest of it, it was an interesting Sunday. I finally decided what to do with the enormous pile of pro cycling magazines I've been carting around for seven years. I am recycling them. Goodbye. I'm convinced I keep buying them just because I have so many back issues. I'm bitter with the sport, and I have better places for my money to go (like nowhere). But more telling were two outdoor moments. We took the good dog Wednesday to the dog park today, and for the first time in years I sat down on grass on a lovely spring (I don't care, this is spring weather, never mind that it's January.) day, and just... sat in the grass. I remember doing that on so many occasions in my early twenties, and for some reason it just doesn't happen as much as it should anymore. The second moment was when I was walking back to the car after my run. If you walk heading east through the parking lot that borders Greenbriar at Rice, there is a line of non-palm standard for this area trees, and above that a few tall palm trees. The image of the lone palm sticking up over the line of moderately leafy trees and the birth throes of the sunset as background made me realize exactly where I live. Yes, I know I've been here almost 4(!) years, but it's never felt like any place. Ann Arbor had an identity, Big Rapids was just damn small, and Detroit is Detroit. But what is Texas? Or Houston for that matter? Houston feels like a mish-mash of things that wish not to be in the same room, and Texas feels like a country of its own. A country that doesn't want to know what for outside its own (very far apart) borders. And here I am. Lost in a state too big for its britches, in a city too big for community (at least in my opinion) and totally lost in my life. And by that I mean purpose. Direction. What are you supposed to aspire to when you never really thought about your aspirations? What in the hell am I supposed to be doing?

Right now, I suppose I should focus on the task at hand. That being getting my bios done, and making a small smidgen of scratch so that I can pay my bills.

To end this rather abruptly, I guess.
Buenas Noches.