Musical Kick in the Pants
Posted on | August 21, 2010 | No Comments
So I had what I refer to as a musical kick in the pants today. Its when an old band that you used to love comes flying back in your life for now reason. Or for a specific reason.
Today Sarah and I were sitting around and doing our thing (she editting photos, me nerding on the computer – nerding is now a recongnized verb in our apartment) and she asks me to put on some Pixies because she wasn’t familiar with them. So I throw on Death to the Pixies and proceed to find myself singing and humming along with every song. It is ridiculouls how I know the lyrics to so many songs. Nice useless information. I love it.
So yeah, I describe as a musical kick to the pants. Bringing me back to my musical roots. God I love the Pixies, where have you been in the last year.
St. Patrick’s in August
Posted on | August 20, 2010 | No Comments
I had this weird dream that I was celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. It occured in two locations.
The dream started with me in a crowded bar. The bar had wooden boothes, was multi-level and crowded. The only person at the time with me was Matt. I went to go look for people, and Matt went to do shots with the table next to us. They weren’t normal shots though. They were some sort of alcoholic cheese shots (doesn’t sound good now, but looked good in my dream). Anyways they lined up for shots for Matt and he started chewing his way threw the shots.
I went looking for other people outside on this trail, and joined this group of people looking at a frog. The frog was largely immobile but got around by sticking to larger animals with its tongue. I followed the group to a pond under a bridge where an instructor told us all about the frog. Then the instructor led us inside of a school where he handed us each road flares. He gave me a lit flare and told me to go in the closet so I could see what it looked like in the dark. The closet had two doors, and despite me opening a window started filling up with smoke. People on the the otherside of the second door started asking if I was smoking in there.
I got annoyed, left and went back to the bar. There I found Pat and Jen Lafleur (a girl I went to high school with). Both were heading to the bathroom, and I headed to the bar. I asked for a Guinness, and Pat came up behind me. I remember having to pay for my drink before she poured it (it was two bucks for a Guinness, good deal). I told Pat to order while the bartender (a woman) was there. Pat didn’t want Guinness, he wanted some drink that started with an A, Alkazam or something of the sort. He paid for his drink and she got him his glass and started to walk away. I caught her and reminded her I hadn’t had my Guinness yet. She laughed and pulled out this gallon pitcher and filled it half way. I started saying “Holy shit Pat, all this for $2.” To celebrate we did shots (regular shots, Jameson I believe). We then headed back to our area (where the dream started).
On the walk back I passed Alan Hutchinson, and remember thinking he looked good and was doing well, but didn’t talk to him. I don’t even think he recognized me. When we got back Dan was lined up to do cheese shots. We all laughed as he was doing his shots (at this point our group consisted of Matt, Pat, Dan, Jen Lafleur, Derek and myself). Weird that Jen was in with a group of my college friends.
And then I woke. The strangest part of this dream is that I swear I was half awake for the whole thing. It was after I had woken up at 2 am, and was laying in bed with my eyes closed, but heard the AC, heard the ferret scrambling in her cage, heard everything going on in the bedroom the whole time of the dream. It was definitely strange, but I also think that’s what allowed me to remember most of the dream.
Watches
Posted on | August 18, 2010 | No Comments
It always amuses me how one little thing you see can make you recall your dreams. This morning I went to grab my wristwatch (I’ve been alternating between my wristwatch and my pocket watch lately) and my dream came rushing back to me, or at least part of my dream.
The part I remember is looking down at my wrist and seeing that my watch was on upside down (or backwards). The 12 was facing my body instead of away from my body. I took it off, oriented it the right way, and put it back on, only to find it on backwards again. No matter how many times I took it off to fix it, the watch was always backwards.
That’s it. That’s all I remember. But like I said, very cool that one thing brings a dream back into focus.
Cleveland Police, WTF
Posted on | August 18, 2010 | No Comments
Yesterday during my rush hour trip home two Cleveland Police cars got on the highway in front of me at the West 6th street ramp. They were about 6 cars in front of me. They immediately pulled parallel to each other, one in each of the lanes, and then put on their flashers and slowed to 40 miles an hour.
Everyone slammed on there brakes as there was no warning, and traffic immediately started backing up behind them (and well behind me). I had hoped, maybe, they were doing this because there was an accident up ahead I didn’t know about. That made sense in my mind. What didn’t make sense is when they got to the Whiskey Island exit, turned off their flashers and pulled off the highway and slowly drove towards the Edgewater park parking lot.
If there was an emergency or accident why were they going well below the speed limit. At any given moment they were 10 mph or more below the speed limit. And why did they shut off their lights as soon as they pulled off the highway and proceed even slower to the parking lot. And if there wasn’t an emergency that means they were just being dicks and wanted to fuck with rush hour traffic. I wasn’t close enough to read the numbers on their cars, but I was close enough to be extremely pissed at their meaningless actions.
Dear person,
Posted on | August 17, 2010 | 3 Comments
Dear person putting flyers under my windshield wiper,
Last Friday you put a flyer under my windshield wiper, it was more of a postcard than a flyer, but you put it there none-the-less. I didn’t drive my car all weekend. I am assuming it was Friday you put it there, but it could have been Saturday I suppose. No later than Saturday morning, I know this because Saturday afternoon it poured. Torrential downpour. A river from the sky. It was awesome.
What is not so awesome is waking up Monday morning and finding a soaked flyer (postcard) stuck to my windshield because it had dried to my windshield. After a day and half of scraping at it, and trying to peel it all off, I am left with a matte outline of white paper on my windshield. I’m sure it will eventually come off. I hope.
Regardless, you suck.
Not your friend at all,
AJ
The Nook
Posted on | August 17, 2010 | No Comments
Back when I taught at ACE computer camp I discovered my first nook. A little shelf on the second floor that actually hung out over the first floor. It was carved into the wall so it was sturdy enough to sit on (literally it was part of the wall). I sat up there sometimes and read over hanging the first floor. I called it a nook. In my memories I sat there way more often than I actually did. But that’s what memories are for, exagerating the good times.
Since Sarah started moving her things in a few weeks ago we’ve slowly been turning it from “my apartmet” to “our apartment.” This includes rearranging the whole apartment. Closets hae been cleaned and reorganized to create more space. Furniture in the bedroom has been moved around to make it more homely for Sarah; and finally last night Sarah created her own nook in the living room.
She had gotten this idea Sunday to get her own desk for the living room. It so excited her that Monday after work she ran out to buy a desk. After four long hours of cleaning and moving around furniture Sarah’s desk is in a corner, making her own nook for her to feel completely at home in. It’s a good thing.
Family Calls
Posted on | August 16, 2010 | No Comments
Over the last week I’ve missed a number of calls from my sisters. It’s one of those timing things. Phone calls come while I am driving, or don’t have my phone on me, or don’t notice it was ringing, or just in general am busy when they call.
Sometimes I call right back, sometimes they leave messages, but often it’s nothing specific, and sometimes I decide to wait till I’m free to call them back. And often, I just forget til it crosses my mind to call them later.
Every once in I hear something threw a family member that
makes me regret not talking to them more often. Like this weekend. I haven’t talked to Mim in a few weeks and then find out something big has happened in her life that makes me wish I had been there to talk to her, or at least heard it from her instead of my parents.
From this point on I will be more vigilant about returning calls. At least to family. 
Woot
Posted on | August 16, 2010 | No Comments
It was a long weekend. But a good one. In fact the last two weeks have been pretty great. After a horridly agonizing ending to July, it’s good that August starts out positive.
My parents were out to visit this weekend. The butt of jokes is that all my siblings live in more appealing places to visit than me, hence my parents never visited me. It wasn’t true, they just never visited often. With a sister in Boston, one in Miami, one practically next door to my parents, and a brother stationed…. Well I don’t know where he is stationed, haven’t spoken to him in a long time. Cleveland (as with Buffalo before it) doesn’t stack as up as anyone’s top place to visit.
But we had a good weekend. Like just about anyplace you lived a while, you find the go-to spots for visitors. With my parents we hit up the West Side Market, The Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame, Edgewater Park for grilling and lounging, the Natural History Museum, and the newly renovated Capitol Theatre for a movie (Eat, Pray, Love… I owed Sarah since we saw The Expendables on Friday night… which was awesome). And they are eating breakfast at The Diner on Clifton this morning. So it was a full, fun weekend.
We didn’t even hit everything Sarah and I threw out as a potential activities list. There was the Museum of Art, the Botanical Gardens, eating at / touring the Great Lakes Brewery, the ridiculously awesome Cleveland Metroparks, the Coffee Pot diner, baseball games, frisbee golf, cruises on the lake, and more. There’s way more to do in Cleveland than one thinks.
However when my college friends visit it seems to revolve around going out, playing frisbee and eating.
Goodbye JULY
Posted on | July 31, 2010 | No Comments
Last couple hours of July. Good-fucking-Bye.
Longest week of my life. July certainly went through a lot to try and not end.
So glad to see it go though.
Til Next Year July.
Eat it.
~AJ
Still Tired
Posted on | July 27, 2010 | No Comments
It’s was a long weekend. For a couple reasons. Mostly because I was recovering from driving back from Delaware late Wednesday night, and I didn’t get the recovery rest I needed.
But I’m working on that, catching up on rest that is. I don’t think I’m succeeding but I’m working on it. I’ve had a slight amount of free time in the eveningsg, but I’ve had things on mind that haven’t made sleep exceptionally possible. I did, however, clean the hallway closet and bedroom closet last night. Although thinking about it now I have a couple other changes I want to make to the organization of the hallway closet.
Kitchen needs to swept and mopped. Dishes have to be done. Maybe a last load of laundry (a few sheets and bath mats is all that is dirty in the apartment… I did four loads of laundry last night). Living room and bedroom need to be vacuumed. Bathroom mopped. Probably organizing the kitchen cupboards, cleaning out the medicine/cleaning supplies closet, de-shedding the cats, giving the ferret a bath, organizing the dresser and clothes closet, going through junk / memory boxes and starting to take bottles (beer, wine, condiment, etc to the recycling bins around the corner).
If you can’t tell I’m trying to keep myself busy and moving. It’ll keep my body and mind occupied for the time being. And having a clean apartment at the end of it won’t hurt either.