Book Club

          Iris and I spent the majority of the day just hanging out and reading. I continued my journey through Game of Thrones while she struggled with The Help, which looked excessively boring. I suggested Freakonomics, Fight Club, The Story of Henry Sugar (And Six Others) as well as The Five People You Meet In Heaven, of which she chose the last. After reading the entire thing she complained that it was too depressing, but it surely went faster than The Help had been.

The Boston Hydra

          Jaimie visited today after learning that Iris was in the neighborhood, and we shared the best grilled cheese sandwiches ever (Swiss and tomato!) We caught up on the summer while Jaimie's parents hung out in the village, and met them at Stella's briefly. Afterward, Iris and I went to Logan's, where he and I began a Clix game, but were cut short by my mother's appearance. Even so, we still had a fun day and I'm glad Iris was able to make it out here.
          Quotes of the day:
"Should I sell an organ?" - Iris
"Boston couldn't contain all of his crustaceans any more." - Jaimie

A Whole New World

          Today, I played TF2 for the first time in a few weeks and had a great time. Iris and I went swimming at the creek with Matt, where we froze half to death, then discussed Game of Thrones once safely back at the house and stocked up with snacks. Iris and I had dinner at the Red Onion, which was delicious. We shared a large bowl of steamed mussels in lemon juice and butter (incredible) and a half dozen oysters (nondescript.) Iris had the seafood risotto while I settled on the roasted chicken and a side of fries. For dessert, I had a slice of cheesecake in mint sauce while Iris had the Kahlua/cappuccino ice cream and brownie with candied walnuts. As we stood in the parking lot, Jeff called me back over to the door and slipped me a sunflower. Conclusion: Jeff can be a real bro. My family was sharing dinner with my aunt and uncle at our rival establishment just down the road, New World Home Cooking, so we joined them there for dessert. I really despise that place; they spice nearly everything up, and I dislike spicy food. The ambiance is this busy Southwestern look with loud music and almost casually dressed servers, which grates on my nerves; at the Red Onion, everyone but the manager wears whites, servers wear ties and the look is very sedate and somewhat fancy. Iris had a minor fit after we examined a hideous painting of a pear (?) and someone suggested that it might be an avocado, we shared a very strange-tasting dessert and were glad to get going once everyone had their fill.
          Quotes of the day:
"Don't die, just go away." - Matt
"Cruuuuuuumbs!" - Matt
"Maybe her fat is her lover. She's in a dangerous relationship." - Matt
"Andy, maybe we're overly critical of fat people." - Matt
"That is definitely not an avocado!" - Iris
"I have strong feelings about avocados." - Iris

Ha Ha! Business

          Today, Iris and I relaxed and hung around the house. I spent some time swearing at Bejeweled, and we took a pleasant nap in the afternoon. There was a large thunderstorm, but even so, work tonight was hellishly busy. Slightly busy days are usually preferable to overly quiet ones since the time passes much more quickly, but tonight was at the point where I couldn't finish one task without being asked to do one or two more things. I hate the feeling that I'm falling behind and there's nothing I can do about it. Afterward, Iris and I unwound at Brian's with a few episodes of The Sopranos, including the season 2 finale! Josh also dropped in to hang out for a while, despite expectations that he wouldn't be making it.
          Quotes of the day:
"That's the deal. We allll know how aggressive stoners are." - Josh
...
Me: "Faster than a speeding Asian! Ptchewwww!"
Iris: "That's not very fast."

Finger Chopper II

          I got my computer back from the repair place today, along with a fresh power supply! At work, both Aaron and I cut our fingers something awful. After twice failing to get a band-aids on my cut due to profuse bleeding, I put two of those latex finger-wrap things on and sat down for ten minutes after getting dizzy. The cut is terrible, a big flap of my left pointer finger that's prone to bleeding every so often. After work, though, my mother and I picked up Iris at the bus station in Kingston! While we waited, some very legit people appeared and seemed to be burying something in some mulch near the station. When she arrived, we drove to Wal-Mart to obtain foodstuffs, where some more doubtlessly legit people were hallooing to each other across the aisles. A very sleepy Iris compared rural upstate New York's atmosphere to that of New Hampshire, apparently unaware that New York is the best state by far. Later, I had a strange experience where someone called our home at about 1 in the morning. The other end was eerily silent until I realized I was pocket calling myself.

Storms and Feasts

          After waking up with some more of The Sopranos, Brian and I went to Catskill for some Pizza Hut, the first time I've eaten at one of those places since my childhood. The pizza was just as greasy and delicious as I remembered, and the place was empty outside of us and a couple of employees. At the Red Onion, we braced for a terrible storm (there was even a tornado warning!) but it was less severe than expected. Later, I finished A Storm of Swords, in which a lot of important characters in the series meet their demise. On to A Feast For Crows, then.
          Quote of the day:
"So the guy says to me, are you a barracuda?" - Customer I

Gib Monies

          We finished the last day of work with the crystals today, finishing before noon. I even scored a $300 bonus! With this, the prospect of three double shifts in a row has been averted, since I work at the Red Onion every night through Saturday this week. There, I came upon a stack of bread with the following label: "Do Not Touch This Fucking Bread or else Mick will KILL YOU!!" Later, I discovered that Ryan rented an abomination from the library video collection: The Hunchback of Notre Dame II. Logan called me around midnight just to chat, and I went over to Brian's for episodes nine through twelve of season 2 of The Sopranos. That leaves the season finale, which we plan to watch with Iris during her visit.
          Quote of the day:
"It's not like haute couture, $5000 a shirt. It's $300, $500, whatever." - Customer H

Don't Stop Shooting

          I arrived at work in an extremely ill temper, but finishing Jesse's pipe (the final one!) within an hour made me feel better. On my breaks from working with the glass rings, I read A Storm of Swords and discussed it with Matt until he spoiled a major character's death several chapters ahead. Since we no longer have to blast the music over our grinders, it's at a much more agreeable volume and Billy and I were able to really converse as we worked. He told me stories about my old physics teacher and what rednecks they were back in the day, such as hunting from the cab of a pickup, as well as other tales from his youth. Example: After the present-day mayor vomited on some girl at a New Years' Eve party, his mother made the guy clean it up and then fixed egg sandwiches for people. After work, and in high spirits, I went to Brian's, where we watched episodes five through eight of season 2 of The Sopranos.
          Quote of the day:
"He wasn't shooting out of the back. He was shooting out of the passenger seat!" - Billy

Making Rainbows

         First thing in the morning, I finished Billy's last pipe. We spent a couple of hours wiping everything down and vacuuming up all of that heinously annoying steel dust, then moved a table and covered it in old blankets for the next part of the job. Cleaned up and organized, with a nice stool to sit on, the studio is actually kind of comfortable. The next part of the job is cleaning and sorting the crystal rings that are being mounted on the end of each pipe. They're flat glass discs in each color of the rainbow with a hole in the middle. We rinse them off, spray them with cleaning solution and wipe them down, then put tape over them and use X-Acto knives to clear out the tape where the hole is. The idea is to have tape all around the hole so that the silicone used to hold the rings on the pipe doesn't end up all over the ring. At the end of the day, I was feeling pretty good; this task is a thousand times easier than the sanding, and we'll probably be done in two days. The only bad news is that since Jesse is wanted on another project, I'm finishing his last pipe, which has me enraged.

Sleeping With the Dishes

          After we woke up, Brian and I spent the afternoon watching the first four episodes of the second season of The Sopranos. The time seemed to pass quite slowly, a welcome change in the routine. Work at the Red Onion was quiet, though I did overhear one customer talking about Spaceballs and another discussing Godfather character Luca Brasi, which merited an immediate text to Brian. Iris is coming to stay on Saturday, so I'll have something to look forward during the three consecutive double shifts I have to work this week. I've also started to read the third installment in the Game of Thrones series, A Storm of Swords.

Like a Traffic Cone, She Serves As a Warning To Others

          Tonight, Brian and I watched episodes 11 through 13 of The Sopranos, finishing the first season. On our pre-television food run, we stopped at Quick Chek and ran into four familiar faces. Arielle and Catie's mother were at work, so I stopped to say hello. Catt and Francesca were also in the station, which was a heartwarming encounter. It's great just settling in after hanging out, rather than worrying about driving around in the middle of the night.
          Quotes of the day:
"I felt like popping him right in the mouth. He's a spoiled little brat. His father's a henpecked, emasculated peon." - Father
"That's too much matching, yo. She looks like a giant traffic cone." - Brian
"She always bitches about everybody whenever they come." - Brian

Three Addictions

          I found it fitting that I should finish my work on such a chilly, rainy day. Unfortunately, though I completed my final pipe, I've inherited one of Billy's that keeps coming back from the warehouse. Kevin cooked up some delicious pulled pork sandwiches on a camp stove during the morning, which was a beautiful moment in my day. Daily bad news: I have to pony up $150 for a new charger for my laptop. After a double shift, I went to Brian's, where we watched episodes 7 through 10 of The Sopranos.
          Quote of the day:
Jesse: "Oh, Kevin's in a good mood. I saw everyone coming in here and thought we were in trouble."
Kevin: "I'm always in a good mood, you fuckin' asshole."

All the Overworked Dudes

         Kevin offered me some extra work today, which he said could go for up to a week or so. My fingers are crossed until I find out what it is. At the Red Onion, I overheard a guy wearing thick-rimmed glasses, tan Converses and a pink plaid shirt talking about Mott the Hoople's "All the Young Dudes" and instantly regretted not being his friend. In unfortunate news, Lancelot is under repair. I received errors saying that my charger was of improper voltage, though it's the original that came with the laptop. I don't know if it's a problem with the charger, the charger port on the computer, the battery, or even the motherboard; time will tell. (Naturally, this entry and the next few are being typed up after the return of my computer, but I keep notes every day and always write from a same-day perspective.)

Special Skills

          At work today, I ate a delectable plum - sweet, how I like them - and listened to Eminem's Recovery, which is a stellar album. Though Eminem's "punk-ass white dude" persona is rarely appealing to me, the last two minutes of "You're Never Over" are among my favorites where rap is concerned. I worked through much of my break time to get as close to finishing the pipe work as possible; tomorrow I should be done. Later, Brian and I wasted no time continuing our Sopranos marathon, watching episodes four through six. The show has not disappointed me yet, though I hold a burning hatred for Tony's mother and withdraw into a smoky irritation every time she appears on screen.
          Quote of the day:
Ian: "What should I put for 'Special Skills'?"
Me: "'I'm completely useless in a wide variety of situations.'"

Solving Problems In Waste Management

          After I got out of work, Brian and I had an excellent evening. We visited Kingston and got acquainted with the staff at Head To Toe, the local head shop, then sat down for a quick dinner at Moe's. I had a delicious quesadilla and a Vanilla Coke (the first time since I came home!) and we awkwardly ran into some camp staff. We stopped at the waterfront and sat on a bench for a time, watching the sunset's soft orange light on the water. Once we arrived at the garage, we began a great endeavor: we plan to watch every episode of The Sopranos. After watching the first three installments, I can say that I am unequivocally hooked. I won't mince words; it's the best show I've ever watched. The interplay of gangster activities, family drama and psychiatry is compelling, the actors are all commendable, and the music is often unorthodox, yet always fits. I left Brian's feeling very satisfied and artistically fulfilled.

Deep Thoughts

          Tonight, I went caving with seven friends. First, Shanti picked me up, then we collected Tim and Jeremy, an intensely outgoing but likeable chap from Kingston. We met the other party at Wal-Mart after gathering some materials and food: Rose, Jo Ann, Katie C, and Leif, a middle-aged gentleman who is somehow part of this circle. We then proceeded to a nearby system of enormous caves, the remnants of an old mine. Leif's been going there since his teens, and knows his way around very well. After going about half a mile into the caves, we lit a campfire and told stories. Shanti brought along her laser pointers, which have amazing, rotatable filters on them and look fantastic in locations with so few visual stimuli. After the smoke began to collect we headed to a different part of the cave, pausing to inspect a graffiti'd-up old concrete structure that Leif calls the Art Gallery. When we reached part of the underground lake, where Shanti and Leif had previously placed scores of tea lights and art around the walls, we paused for a snack and a bit of exploration. I acquired two small rocks that lay in a pool of calcium, which bleaches them snow white. By the end of our adventure we were all very exhausted, and I was glad to collapse into bed.
          Quotes of the day:
"He was the Dracula of blues music." - Tim
"I came up with a blues name for myself: Jumpin' Jack Zodiac." - Tim
"He does look a little like Moby, it's true. Wait, maybe it is Moby." - Tim
"I'm not quitting until I do a song with Kreayshawn." - Jeremy
"I love being covered in blood, especially when it tastes like chocolate." - Jeremy
"I wouldn't mind dying. I haven't died in a while." - Jeremy
"I made a song called 'Cuttin' Clits'." - Jeremy
"I like caves. Yo! Imma chill with Batman." - Jeremy
"They should put Snow and Edgar Winter together on a track and see what happens." - me
"Insidious in Pig Latin is pretty much Sin City." - Shanti
"Oh man, this guy's wailing. They should call him Moby Dick, he's wailing so hard." - Jeremy, on a guitarist
"This is a fag wagon, all right." - Jeremy
"They're salamanders with no pigment in their skin and no eyes and they're fucking terrifying." - Tim
"Jesus has nothing to do with 3G." - Tim
"I got so much kindle, I might as well read a book." - Jeremy
"Oh shit, Noah's Ark goin' on over here." - Jeremy
"He just said that 'cause he was swaggin on Sandy." - Jeremy, on Spongebob
"Hail Satan." - Jo Ann
"When I'm dead, I have a final request. I want there to be a rave." - Jeremy
"Whoaaa, carbon dioxide!" - Jeremy
"Fuck the whole world. You want the universe. Right? You go hard." - Jeremy
"We also have to get drunk together. That would also be fun." - Rose
"Fuckfly? That's a sick band name." - Tim
"It's getting warmer. And moister." - Rose
"There's naked people in here. I saved the best for last." - Leif
"Oh man, that must have been the I Shot My Wad Tour. That was in '88!" - Leif
"Deep cave gourmet foods." - Shanti
"We can't talk about Andy. Andy's the Antichrist." - Jeremy
"Get tons of chicks pregnant, then just eat the children." - Tim
"You're the quintessential not-redneck from upstate." - Shanti
...
Jeremy: "This shit's talkin' shit!"
Tim: "He's firing back! He's firing back!"

The Summer of Our Discontent

          I did almost nothing of worth today. Ian and I played some matches in Soul Calibur III, and I spent a few hours playing Bejeweled III, which Matt gifted me with full knowledge of its addictive powers. I've always been of the opinion that I can spend my days off any way I like, so I did my best to shrug off my parents' blistering discontent.

A Super Evening

          After seeing off Alaric and Anthony, I collapsed in Ian's bed and slept all day, basking in the air conditioning. In the evening I went to Logan's, where we played a terribly imbalanced match of HeroClix. Logan absolutely curbstomped my HYDRA/Masters of Evil team with a Dr. Doom/Mystics outfit, though there is something to be said for the fact that he had three Dr. Dooms on his team. In any case, I'll be putting more thought into my team builds next time we play. I also read the Earth-One (DC's Marvel-Ultimate-esque alternate universe) takes on Batman and Superman, and was pleasantly surprised by both. Just to make our hangout overwhelmingly superhero-related, Logan and Sully played Lego Batman, the former complaining about all manner of game mechanics and what he would have done differently.
          Quotes of the day:
"Time Warner Cable strikes again." - Logan
"Bow before Doom(s)!" - Logan

Party Like You're From Upstate

          Bearing delicious cheesecake, Anthony arrived in the morning, while Katharine and Logan skedaddled for work. Alaric, Anthony and I played some heated rounds of Soul Calibur III while Matt remained in an unassailable slumber. Erin was the first new arrival, and quickly demonstrated passable vidojim instincts. We went swimming in the pool again and tried out a terribly violent game suggested by Matt, where the object is to drown people in order to get them on your side. Over time, a number of people arrived: Catie, Fallows, Shanti, Rose, Sam, Brian, Josh, Evan, Murphy, Seth, Kristina, and Peter all made appearances. Some of us canoed on the pond, Shanti built a fire snake out of old newspaper, and things went well. I was especially pleased to catch up with Seth and Kristina, who've been under the radar for some time. After everyone cleared out, my Northeastern friends stuck around for one more night, and we plotted for the upcoming semester. I'm very happy with how my birthday party turned out, and would like to extend my thanks to the friends that were able to make it.
          Quotes of the day:
"Erin's a replicant." - me
"At RIT? Most of them can't get up!" - Peter
"I'm at the point where I don't need other people to tell me how good my mustache looks." - Seth
"Can I keep this oar?" - Shanti

Womb Liberation Day

          Today is my birthday, and I woke up to a plate of blueberry pancakes and a tall glass of milk. After that, I had to deal with a double shift of work before I could have any fun. I made sure to take off both jobs tomorrow, so as to have tonight off and have a three day weekend to enjoy. While listening to music at my day job, it occurred to me that if you replace the word "love" with "nuclear radiation," Counting Crows' unbearably sappy "Accidentally In Love" becomes a grim tale of nuclear holocaust and painful regret. I was only at the Red Onion for about an hour before they realized it was my birthday, at which point they surprised me with a delicious brownie with Kahlua cappucino ice cream and candied walnuts, then sent me packing.
          The festivities commenced with the arrival of Matt, Logan and Katharine. Later, Brian and Josh appeared and we all went swimming in the pool with Ian. Happily, Alaric arrived around midnight after a solo trek all the way from A-Block, and we sat on the roof and looked at the stars. Everyone joined us after a short while, and we had a lively discussion. As boredom and fatigue set in, we migrated downstairs and watched an episode of Adventure Time and the opening minutes of Hannibal, though everyone passed out before the plot could begin in earnest. Brian and Josh had to head out, but promised to return for the real gathering tomorrow.
          Quote of the day:
"Happy birthday, now get your ass outta here." - Jeff

Fire On the Hudson

          Today, I found myself stuck in Kingston until past nine o'clock. Ian, Ryan, my father and I visited my mother at the hospital and brought her ice cream, stopped for ice cream ourselves at a local place, and waited around until my mother was finished with work. Afterward, I cooled off at the garage with Brian and Josh, where we just hung out and talked about anything we thought of, never getting around to putting on a movie or game. For this evening, that felt about right anyway.
          Quotes of the day:
"You know all the arson investigators, right? Good, because we don't want them around." - Chris S
"I just want to add a little salt to that sandwich." - Josh
"I'm internetting my way there now!" - Matt

Ultrasounds and Ultra Pounds

          Work crawled today, though it wasn't necessarily torturous. The knowledge that we'll be finished rather soon has buoyed my spirits. In more unfortunate news, the bitter fight over what will become of HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley has come to a head. Kingston Hospital, my mother's workplace, is closing its doors in favor of nearby Benedictine Hospital, a (now formerly) Catholic institution. This puts my mother's job security in serious question. In more upbeat news, a good deal of the weight that appeared on me at the end of the semester has melted away mysteriously.

Meet the Social Gathering

          Billy didn't make work today, meaning a more pleasant musical experience for me. We're down to six pipes remaining, meaning that we have approximately two weeks of work left. I had to get over to the Red Onion at half past noon for a meeting. I thought it would regard Tina's departure, but instead it turned into a two hour Running a Restaurant 101 type of affair. Later, I had dinner at a local pizza place with my uncle Allen and my mother and brothers. Once free of all of my work and family obligations, I joined Brian, Josh, Summer and Rusty (Summer's boyfriend) at Josh's for a campfire and some relaxation. Though I acquired ping-pong balls, no one cared enough to move or do anything, which was just as well.

Hyena Status

          Today, I cleaned house in preparation for my birthday party on Friday. Since my great-aunt's storage unit is being cleaned out, I inherited a Venus de Milo about a foot tall, which I'm using as an ironically cultured hat stand. My mother and I went though her old scrapbook from her years living in New York. She was a very chic woman, wearing fur coats, attending posh banquets and writing to friends abroad. Many of her old papers are brochures, signs and rally tickets from Eisenhower's presidential campaign, which she was very active in. Later, I went to a birthday bonfire at Sam's, meeting an assortment of people I haven't spent much time with since high school. After a considerable amount of story telling and Cow Gaming, I took my leave for the evening.
          Quotes of the day:
"What'd I do to get vulture status?" - Evan
"I put my game face on." - Brian
"Trish, can you talk candidly?" - Brian, addressing Josh

Skee Ball of Satan

          I hung out with Shanti and Tim today and had a blast. We were driving up to the Hess near the village when a three foot long black snake fell out of the motorcycle in front of us. First we thought it was a belt, then a piece of the bike, and then the guy pulled over in the station and looked at us like he'd just shit a brick. Good times indeed. We then had ice cream at Lakeside Licks, one of those seasonal places that always reopens under a new name, where we chose from 32 flavors of soft serve. I myself had plain old strawberry in a cup, because I've never liked the taste of cones. Tim related a story he called "the summer of coning," during which he always grabbed the ice cream rather than the cone while being served and expressionlessly walked away. Also, the theoretical gods of ice cream were discussed; we concluded that there are probably a few of them, each with a particular domain (fruity flavors, ice cream with unnecessary candy additions, etc.) Lastly, we discovered some fridge horror behind Forever 21: if you work there, they kill you off after you reach 22 (and probably make cheaply manufactured clothing out of your remains.)
          The three of us headed out to Hoe Bowl on the Hill, the less local of our bowling alleys. Fortunately, it happened to be after 8 on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday and we came in time for cosmic bowling, a.k.a. blacklights and general awesomeness. I displayed my wildly inconsistent bowling abilities. At one point I threw two gutters followed by a strike, and things went downhill from there. Shanti made sure to point out the gaggle of questionably attired girls in the next lane over to me and Tim; I, in turn, noted that they were about fourteen and were acting like five year olds. We hung out for a bit in the arcade, where I smashed Shanti at air hockey. There was also an eerie skee ball machine in the back, hiding behind a few games. This machine was on, but everything else around it was not. It also seemed to be broken or rigged so as not to require money, so we played for several minutes and discussed the possible supernatural ramifications of its presence. ("Throw the 1000-pointer and your fortunes will improve; sink a 10 and you eat shit and die!")
          Later, Brian and I hung out and watched some movies. We replayed Blade Runner from Rachael's Voight-Kampff test onward, and then watched Big Fish. For a movie that is so hyped among those with great taste in cinema, I was let down. I rarely found myself interested in the plot. Ewan MacGregor's performance was solid, and Helena Bonham Carter's upset me, but I feel as if they were diamonds in the rough. I would have much liked to see what was true and what was not behind the father's tall tales, an element abandoned beyond a few details in the final scene. In my opinion, the greatest problem with Big Fish is its ending. The overarching conflict between the father and son, essentially the point of the movie, isn't resolved in any satisfying or even complete way. Either I missed an extra half hour of an already long picture, or its conclusion is a markedly unappealing finish to a very decent film. To summarize: Big Fish should have been called Big Disappointment.
          Quotes of the day:
"I want to start an anti-women gay bar called the Fanged Pussy." - Tim
"I know they have a machine with fake mustaches up the yin-yang in that bitch." - Tim
"Those biddies stole my ball!" - me
"The Brooklyn is just PBR mixed with pretentious thoughts. It's served in a melted Modest Mouse CD and garnished with an American Apparel t-shirt." - Tim
"I don't care what it's called as long as it's the most fabulous bar on the Eastern Seaboard and has very minimally priced drinks." - Tim
"...biddy radar..." - Shanti
"I made a mixed drink called the Foxy Grandma." - Tim
"I also invented a drink called the Abusive Grandfather. It's made with Old Granddad's 100 Proof Whiskey and mixed with nothing but broken dreams and stirred with a rusty nail." - Tim
"I like to mix my drinks with lots of abstract thoughts and emotions." - Tim
"He is such a dick! I'm gonna kick the shit out of him next time I see him!" - Brian
...
Shanti: "You guys should write a guide for this stuff."
Tim: "They already did. Clark v. Biddies, 1974."

Not What I Wanted

          I forgot to bring my iPod to work today, but WBPM was unusually 80s-pop-oriented and I enjoyed listening to some new tunes. On no other day would you hear something like "Daniel" or "Don't You Want Me" on that station, so I'm counting my blessings. Naturally, things got real later on, when I stayed over at Matt's. First, I played through the first few levels of Bioshock, an extraordinarily frightening game. My TF2-honed vidya skills saved me more than a few times when splicers attacked unexpectedly. We then finished the night with the first episode of the Game of Thrones television show, which is extremely good. I approve of the adaptation, though I must complain that (1) they're the "Others" and not the "White Walkers," (2) Theon's supposed to be a rather dashing, charming asshole, not just the noun in that sentence, and (3) having Sean Bean play Ned Stark is kind of telling.
          Quote of the day:
"You're a sweet lad, Andy. Someday you're gonna make a girl very happy." - Brittney

The Light That Burns Twice As Brightly Lasts Half As Long

          The radio station at work, WBPM, is really plugging for their Huey Lewis/Joe Cocker concert in August. Today, they played three Huey Lewis songs back to back, twice. I've had about enough of that band after weeks of this station. I also spent some time pondering the nature of rap interludes. Do musicians include rappers in their work because rap sells and are personally indifferent to rap or dislike it? Alternately, do they genuinely feel that rap is a good stylistic choice and that it's the new wave of music? Later in the night, Brian and I hung out and watched Blade Runner, a movie that's normally very good, but becomes a thousand times better under certain conditions. It's a great science fiction story with some intriguing philosophical dilemmas ("If robots replicants think and feel like humans, what are the ethical limitations when dealing with them?") and incredible special effects for its time. The lighting and sets are grandiose, but cleverly and subtly designed. Rutger Hauer is fantastic as the main antagonist, replicant Roy Batty, and Harrison Ford plays Harrison Ford, as usual. Due to its flashy sci-fi slickness, I tend to forget that there are some gory bits (spoilers!) (notably any time a replicant dies, Roy breaking Deckard's fingers, Roy pushing a nail through his own hand, and especially Roy crushing Dr. Tyrell's head.) I was more satisfied with this film tonight than any other time I've seen it.
          Quote of the day:
"Just gas 'em out. You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here." - Father

Our Lady of Blessed Lethargy

          Until yesterday, I failed to realize that I got the 4th of July off from work. The surprise Tuesday off felt just great. After staying up all night at Brian's, I slept off my Monday stupor until 5 in the evening. I enjoyed doing almost literally nothing all day, a sweet change of pace. I didn't even bother to go to the fireworks, though some neighbors set off their own (considerably impressive) display, which terrified Bitsy to no end but provided me with some amusement.

No Returns

          Alanna's going to a wedding in Binghamton, which is aggravating because she's within three hours' time but not close enough to hang out. Slightly related, I strongly dislike Binghamton. The sky is always grey, and so is the city itself; the University of Binghamton is a stark, brick campus on a hill overlooking the city. I also consider it the halfway point between home and Alfred on our five-hour journeys to my grandfather's house, and thus associate it with extreme boredom and often hunger.
          At work this evening, I served a very nice lady who told me that she had lived in the house in the 60s. The Red Onion is a very old house converted into a restaurant, and she held my ear for a few minutes before I had to get back to work. Post-work, Brian and I talked all about Boy Scout camp -- the place where we worked together for three years, with all the annoyingly bad times and all the funny, good times. It's a blessing that Josh wasn't around this evening, because he despises it when Brian and I talk camp.

Dog Days of Summer

          For a Monday, work seemed to fly today. Afterward, I lay down on some blankets under the ping-pong table with Bitsy. I rubbed her belly until I fell asleep myself, and napped there all evening. A quiet day for sure.
          Quote of the day:
"You don't need this girl, because she obviously don't need you." - Father
"You're carrying it with you like a thousand bricks." - Father

Well Earned

          Matt, Logan and I watched the last half hour of The Other Guys, a surprisingly entertaining jokey buddy-cop sort of flick. After burning our feet off watering Matt's plants, I enjoyed my first day off, at home, in three weeks. Later in the night I went over to Brian's, where we watched the first half of Waking Life (he didn't receive it especially well) and played TF2 and watched videos inside the house.