Saturday, October 05, 2002

So not much happened today.
I went to the gym and got my rum, but really that's it.
I got my rent from TBWWBR, making him at last the actual roommate.
I also got my rum.
Yeah, that's the extent of the day.
I did talk to Laura for about 10 minutes, but then she disappeared.

Jay

Friday, October 04, 2002

"But swooning into a delicate yet fuckable (sorry, that should read "ravishable" or something) heap on the floor? I think not."
-- From someone complaining about swooning in Romance novels.
Dude, this happens to me fequently.
No-one ever takes advantage, but *swoon* I do.
Oh yes, kids. Today was the day. I was on the radio.
Doing it was cool -- I was nervous about the actual cueing and crossfading bits, but that was largely alright. I played different stuff... Carter Family, Snow Patrol, Built to Spill, Flaming Lips (by request... more later), Herbie Hancock, Sara Vaughn, and some other new release stuff (Les Hommes, I remember and Japan Versus Casino -- both brand new to me). I mean, I spazzed a bit and was dumb some, but no worse than anybody else their first time trying anything.
It was the same at the new job. The first few nights are always a pain, as you don't know where anything is or how to do anything in the right style. The best you can hope to do is stay out of the way as much as possible (you won't do it completely) while shadowing your trainer like a puppy. I didn't piss anybody off and the only mistake I made was my trainer's fault ("Go give them a desser menu" "But they haven't had their entree...") It'll be good soon. I'll finally have to get around to learning about wine. And man, it's expensive -- $30 a bottle... My trainer made like $100 last night.
Oh yeah.

At this point I must say: Christina, Indie Girl Prime, is my Goddess. Oh yes. Oh yes indeed. She told me months ago to ditch Elmo's and get a formal dining job. Months, I tell you. It's a quarter less work in half the time at twice the pay. She was soo right.
And at this point, I can think of several other reasons why, if I had only listened to her, I'd be happier today. I will write down her every word from this day forward even forever more.
I will build her an altar, made of cute shoes, band t-shirts, red wine, Marlboro Lights and Guided By Voices albums. I shall honor her by watching Ed and The Gilmore Girls. I will wash her car.
Indeedy.

Amusing Flaming Lips story: A dude called in today as I trained, asking for the first cut on their new album. Yoshimi... had just been taken off the (new) playlist and was locked in the office. In 20 seconds I had to pick a track from an old album and cue it up. I got all paranoid and almost forgot to turn it on and as it was playing realized it could be obscene. My trainer and I stood listening. Its subtilte was 'labia.'
Turns out, 'labia' by themselves are not obscene, so we had topay attention that nothing transpired with them that could be construed as obscene. And nothing, thankfully, did. I think.
Yet again I am traumatized by the female anatomy.

But, but, but: the highlight of my day, something I've wanted to do for years, and my promise to y'all:
I PLAYED BELLE AND SEBASTIAN ON THE RADIO.
Oh yeah boys!! I was so happy at the time! For the record, and for no reason I could understand, I played "There's Too Much Love" off of FISHYCLAP. *smiles all all bashful like so you can see his dimples*
After the past few weeks, it was so great to do something like that. I think I'll always remember that.
Next week, I'm thinking I'll sneak in "Lazy Line Painter Jane" (they don't have it there, so I'll bring in mine), Sergio Mendes and Brazil 66 (on vinyl) and some Johnny Cash.
Seriously guys, I love this sooo much. And it's late at night when I'm alive.
Things are looking up for the Boy.

The roommate thing seems to be working out to. He dislikes Dave Matthews (this is a good start) and recognizes Belle and Sebastian and Dr Who (this is even better). He seems to be very smart and funny.
I ain't gonna get anywhere, so I think I'm going to try to set him and Christina up.
Yeah, it's time to turnabout the set up deal.

Thing going well today, I decided to watch one of my favourite Doctor Whos...
Dr Who of the Day: Image of the Fendahl. It's great. It's one of the one that works because everyone is so committed to the insanity. There's some great visuals... the skull glowing over Thea Ransome's face (creepy) the dark woods. Great dialogue... to cows, the Doctor "Do you ladies no anything about a time scanner?" Ted Moss: "'Ave you 'scaped from somewheres?" the Doctor: "Oh many times..."
And yes, jelly babies were offered.
The direction is fab... it's moody and scary and real, like an H P Lovecraft novel meets a Hammer Movie.

Word of the Day: eldritch. It's definitely a Lovecraft word, like Cyclopean. It means dark and creepy. Sinister in the not-good way. Spookily, the dictionary says it's Scottish, but can't give any derivation other than "it could be related to elf..."
Lovecraft seems about. I've thought diseperately of several of his stories lately, he's a source of The Taking of Planet Five, he's an influence on Image of the Fendahl, and Matt (TBWWBR) picked up one of his anthologies I have -- out of all my books -- and started to read it.
Synchronicity, anyone?

Still finishing up Pickwick Papers.

Laura Llew rocks today because: Hmmm. I've spent so much time detailing why I rock that this is kinda hard. Let's say... Rants and Raves. In the absence of real-time Llewunacy (dontcha like that better'n Llewage?), I read some of them yonder from petullant. It was a quick fix, though I now blame her for Cupid's abandonment of me.
[Remember, god(s) see(s) everything at once since they exist out of time, so he saw her abusing him and us getting hitched at the same instant]
Don't blame me for the philosophy/metaphysics. That's apparently how god works. Saint Augustine said so. Though he couldn't account for the Fall of Man thereby.

Catch you later, Gentle Reader...

Thursday, October 03, 2002

Hmmm... I've not gone long here. Hospitality = brevity right now.
So then, in breif... (ever notice how in Shakespeare that all equals a big speech? no, really, it does...)
I started my new job at a posh new French restaurant tonight.
To be short, I now work in an old repeat of 'Allo, 'Allo. (Cept instead of the Gerry we got a Russian, but still, it feels the same).
I do my on-training tomorrow, from noon to two. Listen in at www.wxdu.org. There's even a web cam, so if you catch this in time you can see me as I foul up... Belle and Sebastian will be played, I promise. It's all I promise, though.
My cash flow has dried up again... Donations, anyone? *clinks can*

TBWWBR (see below for full name) is indeed arrived and is crashing even now 'pon the Mysteriously Comfy Couch. So, sshh!
That goes for me and all...

'Night Emo Glasses Boy

Wednesday, October 02, 2002

Yeah, so you lot should be sooo shocked to see an am post.
I finally went to sleep at 5 or 5.30. Right at 10, The Boy Who Would Be Roommate called and said he'd be right over with his money.
I've been here long enough to check all my email, check several blogs and visit my friendtest (here).
It's been an hour dammit.
I'm pissed.*
I'm going back to sleep for a few hours. God help that boy if he wakes me up again.



*I am always, always cranky when I am woken up in the morning. Even more so when done needlessly.
Yeah, so, I just read some dude's blog where he told the story of almost mistaking another guy for his boyfriend and almost groping him. And several other people chimed in with similar stories.
I thought about copping the story and putting it here.
Ha, ha.
There are of course several problems. A) I would never grope anyone, at least in public B) I'd never be that slow and C) the biggest one here: I'd never have a boyfriend.
You may not guess it, but I have this utterly Victorian puritannical streak. Maybe it's just the dozens of generations of English blood in my veins, but I can be a real freak about etiquette and form. There are times when I find The Age of Innocence racy.
(By changing the subject, do I seem not seething with jeaulousy? I do this all the time in conversation. For all my faults, I do know my weaknesses.)

I went in for DJ training today. I did... okay. I need practice with the technical stuff, but the spoken stuff is okay. Thursday is on air training day, should you want to listen to me (I don't get to speak, though). You can listen in at www.wxdu.org.
I actually made it to Duke's campus without getting lost. I even got there early enough to nose around campus for a bit. It was very reminiscient of Carolina, really. It was definitely designed with us in mind, though on a larger scale. Guess it'd have to be to compensate, really...
I even get a Duke Card (cost = $4) which I find exciting for some reason.
I'm so gonna play Belle and Sebastian.

I start the sketch job tomorrow...

The Boy Who Would Be Roommate of course didn't show. I'm panicing as we speak. Sod. So sod it.

The moon was gorgeous tonight.
Made me feel quite alone.

Sorry... gotta go seethe and stew.
I always start out with so much to say, but then get all blue...

Tuesday, October 01, 2002

Hey! Go visit my test at Ten Things I Hate About Jay!

Another hint: I am not like a model, but I have drooled after one.
Hmm... I just found a blog named after a Belle and Sebastian song (it's called 'The Memory Girl' and is from a line in 'Sleep the Clock Around.') Oddly, this girl is not a Sinister person -- like I'm the banner Sinisterite -- nor does she appear to know any. No links to them, nor to anyone else who does...
Like I can talk, I've only got Laura's link. And it's down at the bottom where nobody sees. I need more links, and I need to move them up to yonder on the left.
What I really want is that comment thingy. I need to look into that.

I had a sort of busy day. I finally got in touch with The Boy Who Would Be Roommate and he swears he'll be here tomorrow. He tried to get me to take a two-party check, but that ain't happening, no sir. I'm becoming increasingly cynical and I expect I'll be linking this post with one in the future saying "vie, vie, victus." My blinding hope is he'll be easier to track when he lives here. But, as Mister Marlowe says, "Needs must when the devil drives."*
I also got a second interview at the grocery store. Whee.
I also got a job. A full-time job. Apparently. I say 'apparently' because the whole thing seems sketchier than Leonardo's notebooks.** Ask me my schedule... Dunno. Ask me how much I get paid... Dunno. It's a new French place called "Provence" that is sorta posh. A French couple (I assume they're a couple) runs it. I came into to fill out an application and when I turned it in the lady asked me if I could work tomorrow. I was so surprised I said yes. I have dj training tomorrow that I've already had to reschedule once. I tried to call, but couldn't find the number so I went back and explained. Madme Anne blinked a time or two and then told me to show up Wednesday. Sketch, sketch, sketch!
(It is a new place, very new apparently, but still... I've been up that painful trail.) But every place is new once. The owner is also apparently an award-winning chef so I can nose around him and learn some more. The staff also is young -- a bit younger than me -- so that's good. People who work in restaurants, if you're not one, gang together frequently, especially if they're close in age. It's a sort of a trench reaction: waiting is very much an "us or them" scenario that leads to bodning.

Yep. In one day, I get a roommate and a job and I'm already preparing for it to go wrong. Jeez.

I got to go The Gap (ha ha! I said The Gap instead of the corporately correct Gap! See my evil! Fear me!) this evening to get black pants for said new job. They were $40!! Jesus God!
It's the first time I've been to The Gap in months. (The last thing I bought was a white tank top, and before that I did get a keen sports jackety thing.) I used to work there till I couldn't take it anymore and quit. (On Christmas Eve, which makes sense if you've worked retail -- I just couldn't take Returns Week one more time...) It was creepy and weird. I felt like I was under attack from the Great Machine. I scampered out as quickly as possible with my ludicrously expensive work khakis. I only went to The Gap cause I have a Gap Credit Card (I know, I know, I'm going to hell...) and no damn money.
The only temptation in the entire mall was to go to Abercrombie and Fitch and get their catalogue, the A&F Quarterly. Mmmm. I didn't give in. I also went to the Barnes and Noble. I do not buy books in huge chains, so I can go to them and browse without worry. Still no new Dr Who books. I want The Crying of Lot 49 and The Perks of Being a Wallflower, though.
I'm not complaining... I have two keen new books I'm just about to start.

I also made shortbread cookies today. I've never made them before. They're tasty and literally -- never had it literally happen before -- melt in your mouth. Oh yeah, baby, I can cook.

I also played dress up today for a while, sort of saying good bye to my summer stuff: I put on my Seersucker suit, complete with linen shirt, blue silk tie and and straw panama. Yeah. I can't wait for a) a wedding in south Louisiana in summer, b) being elected Senator or acheiving the rank of Colonel or c) turning 65. These are the only ways to successfully wear Seersucker. There was an old dude at Elmo's who always wore it on Sundays in the Summer, and he was a white pimp.
I also tried on my skins: the Suede pants and the leather pants. Soo close to time to wear them. The suede ones are soooooo cool. I love suede. And I look good in it.
And they both show off my cute little bum.
Oh yes. It's true. It's all the cardio.
I shake it now for you.

I finished The Taking of Planet 5 today. I don't know why it makes me feel so productive to finish a book, but it does.
Dr Who of the Day: "Nothing can stop the catharsis of spurious morality!!!!" This quote explains everything, really. I watched the first part of The Ultimate Enemy today. I mentioned this earlier. The writer died in the middle of writing it and never made a full draft or plotting on the rest, so they had to get a new writer for the second part. The show's script editor also quit after a fight with the producer. And the actor who played the Doctor quit in the middle. The result is a marvellously confusing mess that can only be called a clusterfuck.
It does, however, have Geoffrey Hughes as one of the guest stars. Indeedy, it's Onslow from Keeping Up Appearances as a Dickensian clerk.
This leads to...
Word of the Day: catharsis. When you sympathize with a character and suffer with him as you watch and then react to his justified fate, that's catharsis. Hunh? Umm... It's getting rid of bad thoughts through drama. Like when you feel good that most of the cast of Hamlet snuffs it at the end. If you get rid of your vengeance at the theatre, you're less likely to hack somebody to bits in the street.
At least that's the theory.
Llew rocks today because: She's a frontier woman. Presumably. She enjoys camping, for some reason. I prefer rustication to camping. Old country granges and such, and meals al fresco. You know, when the Victorians took their entire dining room suite outside. That's how to live outside. Canvas belongs as a table cloth, not as a wall.
Odd really, after all my colonial/frontier knowledge that I should mock it. I can make fore with flint and steel, you know.

I think I'm perking up.

* Act IV, Dr Faustus.
** Yeah, I know. It's nerdy as hell. But I still want a copy of them. They're available from Dover (House of Swell Stuff) Publishing.

Monday, September 30, 2002

Oh yes: Go visit my friend test,
Ten Things I Hate About Jay.

A hint: Dave Matthews sucks. I really dislike him and his music, though far be it from me to say his popularity is unearned.
I've wasted quite a bit of time this weekend watching movies. Two of my very favourites were on, The Lion in Winter and Paper Moon. I also watched The Matrix. I don't think a lot of that film, but then again the old ultraviolence was never my scene. No Indiepunk Riotqueer I. Like I even had to say that...
Have you seen The Lion in Winter? It's fab. It won the 1968 Oscar for Best Screenplay. Practically every line is worth memorizing. And it's historical. It starred Peter O'Toole, Katharine Hepburn, Anthony Hopkin and Tomithy Dalton. The film version is gorgeous with location shots, and the production generally is sumptuous. I directed a production once. I had a girl as Henry II and Richard the Couer de Lion. And Phillip of France, for that matter. It was good, but not great.

I've also managed to watch about three episodes of Globe Trekker, a travel show on PBS. They went to China and Uzbekistan. I still want to be anywhere else right now. Even somewhere outof the way and exotic with poor plumbing, like, say, Uzbekistan. They went to Samarkand, Tashkent and Buqara. I was quite smug to say I knew all of them: Samarkand was on the Silk Road (actually, I expect all three were) and was a major trade center. And capital of something, though I couldn't say what. Ping Cho was going there in Marco Polo. Buqara was a religious center destroyed by Genghis Khan. Tashkent was destroyed by and Earthquake in the 60s a rebuilt a Soviet showpiece.
They seem all go to build up these Asian towns. I should like to meet somebody from there abouts.
I did meet somebody from Bulgaria last week, the woman who interviewed me for my grocery store job. Her name was a sort of unpronouncable smash of Baltic consonants.
I think it's fascinating to hear people speak a language you don't know.
I also want a Khirgiz nomad hat. (I might also try a sheep's eye...)

I'm still reading The Taking of Planet Five, and I expect I'll finish it tonight. This means I didn't watch any Dr Who.
Word of the day... for yesterday, it was Bannock, an old word for pancake.
for today, clerihew, a kind of quatrain, humorous, biographical poem:
Harry Houdini Sir Christopher Wren
never escape a bikini said 'I'm going to dine with some men."
He was afraid that the gizmo If anyone calls,
would spoil his machismo. say I'm designing St Paul's.


Reason Llew rocks: World travellers always rock. Yep, the girl's gone again.

Sunday, September 29, 2002

Hey! I've finally found an excuse to watch Real World marathons on MTV (and believe me, I've been looking for any justification to the pointless hours wasted doing that).
As of right now, I'm just keeping an eye out for the MTV news reporter, Gideon Yago. *growls*
Have you seen this guy? He's very firmly in the category I must call BWG. That's Boys With Glasses. (See emo glasses boy below, Duncan Sheik, Neil the Recordshop Boy and a certain ramdom person.)
And he's a smart-ass. He can't keep a straight face on his news show, The Wrap.

The weekends make me so bored and lonely, since I can't actively look for work. I sit around all day by myself. I realized a little while ago I hadn't actually spoken to anyone since Thursday.

I remembered today that I hadn't had pancakes in forever. I had some mix, so I made it up and as they were cooking, I remembered I can't make pancakes well. They weren't awful, but they weren't great. I can make crepes really well, but the thicker American ones I mess up: I make the batter too thin and put too much in the pan cause I think I'm making crepes. They come out very brown, almost burnt on one side. I didn't have any syrup, so I used honey, and it was quite good.

I read a few chapters of the Dr. Who book, The Taking of Planet Five.

I listened to the song Slow Graffiti today. I mean, really listened to it. It's there at the end of the Modern Rock Song EP and I've heard it before, but I suppose I never really took it in till today.
I organizes my vinyl today, in chronological order... I've got some nice stuff, original Simon and Garfunkle and Mamas and Poppas. Paul Simon, Jim Croce, the Eagles. I've also got some vintage Sergio Mendes and Brazil 66. Also, for that matter, a Smurfs album. That was my favorite 20 years ago,
I think the idea here between cooking and cleaning and organizing is the Robinson Crusoe effect. If I keep myself involved with little pointless tasks, I'll not notice as I go crazy.
This could also explain the lengthy daily blogs...

I can't remember the last time I cried. (Besides the odd tear at a sappy movie like Life As A House, which I think was the last.) But I get the feeling now that if I started, it might take a while. Much to mourn, no cause to rejoice...
Despair was -- still is, I reckon, for the papists -- a mortal sin. They get their own part of the Inferno (along with the wrathful). It signified a lack of trust in god and his judgement and ability ("What, you don't think god knows what he's doing?!")
Like I really need to start a checklist of places in the Inferno I deserve...

And I really don't have anything else to say...