~Tuesday~ It was nice to wake up to electricity this morning. I had my alarm set for 10:00, but I woke up at 8:30 and in a rare occurrence I was unable to fall back asleep.
I got up and got started on things that needed to be done before my house guest arrived, the main things being cleaning bathrooms and vacuuming my downstairs and the hall stairs leading up to my bedrooms. I also did two loads of laundry and put all my holiday things back in their huge bin, since all of it was strewn about my guest bedroom, and then got that monstrosity back in the closet.
I got a direct message on Twitter from Kevin saying that he’d be arriving at around 2:30, so I did a quick grocery store run and drive-by the post office mailboxes depositing two cards.
Back at home, I browned a pound of hot pork sausage and added half of it to some cream cheese and Rotel diced tomatoes and green chilies for a dip, saving the other half to add to spaghetti sauce for tomorrow night’s dinner. I bought some killer soft rolls that should be good with dinner, too.
Kevin arrived as estimated, and we spent the afternoon with our laptop backs facing each other on the kitchen table, both lost in the Interwebs, with an occasional alert beeping of various activity taking place on mine and his, BlackBerry and iPhone, respectively. Gadgets.
In updating my address book with cards sent and cards received (for details on this very complex, scientific process, see this January 4, 2006 entry), the amount of loss in the lives of my friends and loved ones this year was palpable:
- Three of my mom’s siblings: Norman, Rene, and Annette
- My ex-brother-in law, Vince
- My ex-wife’s uncle, Nick, who like her brother Vince, was just an absolute gem of a person
- The long-time companion, Joe, of my friend Karen, who was also just a phenomenal human being
- The husband of 30 years, Mike, of my high school friend Laura
- Mr. Chason, the father of my friend Joe
Kevin went out to dinner tonight with a friend, and while he was gone, I ran two errands and then went to the gym. My first errand was to run by the library to turn in my copy of The Help, which I couldn’t renew online and am back in the queue for. I checked the queue and noted that in two days, I’ve moved from #42 to #35.
After dropping it in the outdoor wall bin, I drove over to Quail Ridge Books & Music, where I used my $20 gift card to purchase a $15 (before tax) paperback copy. Have things really gone up that much or is that a little outrageous for a paperback book?
From there, I went to the gym, where after 300 ab crunches, I did 40 minutes of cardio on the elliptical machine. I don’t think I’ve pointed this guy out before, but I’ve seen him at the gym ever since I’ve been going, which is well over a year now, and I’ve only ever seen him wearing two different t-shirts. I mean ever. In all that time.
A good close-up look of the one he had on today revealed a date of an event on it that was in 1996. That close-up look also revealed a slight fraying around the collar. Perhaps he’s just trying to make it into 2011 for a nice round 15-year run with it.
The other t-shirt he wears when he’s not wearing that one is one with the red—what looks like the—AIDS ribbon, but is actually for some cause other than AIDS. I remember this, because it seems like a trademark violation to me.
Okay, this person I’m talking about is me. Yes, I have four of each of those t-shirts, all eight of which I got free. The “Learning to Fly” one was from an educational event we helped put on while I was working at the IBM Career Center, and the MADD one was from a service event I did while I was a member of the student chapter of the Society for Technical Communication. I just rotate through these eight shirts when I go to the gym. And yes, I am going to retire the 1996 ones in 2011. At least I’ll stop wearing them to the gym.
There are three gay genes I didn’t get: 1) fashion (couldn’t care less, obviously), 2) gardening (hate the care commitment, both in terms of watering houseplants and the back-breaking bending involved with outdoor planting and care), and 3) decorating (my master bedroom looks like a dorm room).
Here’s one of the nearly 15-year-old shirts:
And here’s a close-up of the frayed collar:
And here’s one of the other t-shirts that I have four of, with the potential trademark violation on it:
Under the category of, “What the damnhellshitfuck???” about 10 minutes after I got home from the gym, I received this e-mail:
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Martin, John YOUR BOOK IS ALMOST READY FOR YOU! It has arrived at your pickup location. HOWEVER, PLEASE WAIT 1-2 HOURS TO ALLOW THE BOOK TO BE PROCESSED AND READY FOR YOU TO CHECK OUT AT THE LIBRARY LISTED BELOW. This hold will expire when the library closes on the date indicated below. The help / Kathryn Stockett. Wake County Public Libraries |
Okay. Didn’t I check the queue before I left? Didn’t it say I was #35 in the queue? Didn’t I just turn in my copy? Didn’t I just buy a copy, because I didn’t want to have to wait for 35 copies to be turned in? WTF???
This is the same thing that happened when I first requested this book. I was #41 on the list and either the next day or the day after I was notified that my copy was ready. Somebody’s algorithm is messed up. You know I’ll be checking into this customer service snafu!
Kevin and I arrived at Flex at about 10:30, where it was “Beer Pong Tournament Night.” We could think of little nastier than those ping pong balls missing the cups, rolling all over that nasty, nasty cement Flex floor, eventually landing in a cup of beer that someone then drank.
We took a picture of our drinks, and I e-mailed it to Joe letting him know we were thinking about him.
At about 11:20, we headed over to Legends for the 11:30 “Post Xmas Drag Show,” which was just okay. I’m not a huge fan of the drag queen who was emceeing the show, and there really weren’t any of the “regulars” in the show, which they cleverly marketed as “bringing us new talent” tonight.
When we got home, we ate the hell out of some of that Sausage-Cream Cheese-Rotel dip, shoveling it in and down with Fritos scoops. Glad I went to the gym today.