With two D’s, for a double dose of my pimping

I’ve been lazy. I know, I know. Derby’s been fun, and so have the afterparties. I’m definitely becoming part of the league and not just with people attached to the league. The past two bouts, I’ve not had to buy my beers thanks to one of the fans. And better yet, his girlfriend is going to volunteer to be a non-skating official. After putting together the bout paperwork together, I could definitely use some more people that I can train from the ground up and not have to un-train bad habits.

I did go see Wicked with Farrah last week. I knew the basic story of it, and I knew like one song from it, but other than that, I was going into the thing pretty ignorant. I have to say I came home impressed. I had a blast and so did Farrah. We’re looking to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat next month. I probably should have gotten pics to prove it, because she looked freaking amazing. Sure, it’s a theater date, but it’s not really a date, per se. I’d just as soon not be a douche and not go out on a date date until she’s formally dumped the BF, despite her saying that she’s needed to dump him for several months now (and I don’t disagree based on details I’m privy to). I’m predicting she’ll dump him the last week in August. I’d considered starting a pool among her friends, but I feel they’d interfere instead of letting things take their unnaturally long course.

So, in the meantime, I’ve actually shed any pride I may have had (hey, I still had a little) and gotten an OK Cupid profile. Yeah, I know. Internet dating. That said, I’m thinking I have a better experience than women typically have in that I’m not dealing with a bunch of jackasses sending requests for n00ds or hook-ups. Good news for me, I imagine all those assholes in my gender really make me shine when I send someone a message. Actually, there’s not a lot of imagining there. I’ve been told that flat out. Apparently it’s also a pretty good place for meeting polyamorous people in Dallas, as that’s what I get matched with a lot of the time. Hell, I’m going out with a couple people tomorrow night to go see a midnight showing of Serenity, so I can’t be doing that badly.

Oh, so my mother recently requested friendship on Facebook. I waffled for a couple days, then I called her and asked her if she were completely sure she wanted to do that. I warned her that there might be some things on there eventually that she just didn’t want to know about me. But, she said that I was an adult and there wasn’t anything she could do about it, so I went and approved her. I just hope she feels that way when she finds out about that entire polyamorous thing. I’ve got my arguments in order already for when that happens, so I’m not really concerned on that front. That said, I’m not going to push it. I’m not going to go out of my way to hide it from them, but I’m also not going to go trumpeting it in front of them every chance I get.

No, I’ve got instincts of my own

Given the comments on my last post, apparently I’ve changed for the better, seemingly thanks to derby. I wasn’t trolling for comments or encouragement, honest. Well, at least regarding that part. I am still wicked curious over what the hell it is with vendors assuming that I’m the significant other of my female friends whenever I’m at Renaissance Faires.

I still don’t see myself as a particularly shiny, happy person. In the back of the mind, I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop and have everything come crashing down around me, and so much harder than usual because it’ll be a lot farther to fall. That sounds pretty damn cynical to me. Admitted, it is still only in the back of my mind and it’s not preventing me from doing stuff I’d like to do. But nonetheless, the thought still occasionally surfaces.

One of my co-workers today said that based on my personality, he’d have thought me a stoner. Really? His rationale is that other than the times where I rant and rave about work, 95% of the time I’m just cool and I don’t let things bother me that much and that I just take things as they come. I’ll admit that when I look myself, I’m using a circus mirror, so my view of myself tends to be distorted and not to be trusted, but that comes off as a bit silly. Sure, I’m pro-legalization and I think that pot is less harmful than alcohol, but I’ve never touched the stuff. Eh, this is coming from a guy obsessed with joking about Dutch Rudders and buggery, so I’ll take it with a grain a salt.

While I don’t have class this weekend, I’m still looking at a busy weekend. I’ve got a vet appointment for Mango (Jesus, my fingers almost typed Jet there. Jet being my old cat.), a haircut appointment, and apartment hunting. Tony’s suggested that I buy a house, but given that I don’t want to send more than a third of my monthly pay to a mortgage payment AND don’t want a 30 year mortgage, I just don’t see it as feasible with the amount of money I make. Single income households are rapidly becoming nothing more than a myth.

Fun stuff this week? Later today, I hope to take Farrah roller skating, or roller falling, as she’s referring to it, so that she can learn to skate and pass a pre-assessment and become part of Assassination City. Thursday night will be Rifftrax night for a MST-ifying look at Twilight and New Moon. You bet your ass there will be a lot of drinking to make those movies tolerable, even with Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett making fun of them with us.

Friday’s a toughie. There’s too much stuff to do. At the Pocket Sandwich Theater, there’s the Lollie Bombs doing a burlesque show. But, on the same night, in Austin, the Red Elvises are playing, and they’re like a Russian surf rock of Cowboy Mouth in relation to just how much ass they kick. I really would like to go to that, but I don’t know if it’s really worth it to drive four and a half hours there, stay for the show, then drive four and a half hours back. If I could get someone else to road trip with me and share the driving responsibilities, then maybe. Difficulty: there’s no way any of my derby girls will do something like that the night before a bout. Hmm, seeing that they now have a date for a Dallas show in November, I think I’ll go to the burlesque show. I do hope Oleg’s still touring with the band in November.

Ahh, bouts. This Saturday, you should come out and cheer on Assassination City as they take on Memphis, or better yet, cheer on your favorite team in the Cougars (30+) vs. Kittens (<30) mash up bout. The bouts have sold out the last couple times, so get your tickets early from acderby.com.

Finally, I’ve been made aware of a couple ways to get cultured. You know, like yogurt. This season’s got Don Giovanni playing at the Ft. Worth opera in late May/early June, and Madame Butterfly is playing at the Dallas Opera around the same time. I’ve never gone, and after seeing the prices for orchestra level seats, I can see why. Holy crap. That said, it would be something that I’ve never done before, and something worth doing at least once in my life.

Just words and a tune

Here I sit in Cafe Brazil, letting my meal digest before I leave and head for bed.

Shock of shocks, I actually got overtime last night! I could do with that more often, provided it’s covering for a night shift opening. Overtime for the day shift bites because they always call you minutes before you’re supposed to be there, so I’ve typically just stayed up all night when the call comes in.

Do you wanna hear something strange? I was referred to as a sunny and happy person recently. Of all the adjectives that could be used to describe me, I think those may have been the last two I’d have considered. Well, maybe not the last two, but they’re definitely way the hell down there on the list. Eh, maybe in comparison to someone else, maybe. Depending on who that someone else is. For me, I’d use adjectives like cynical and curmudgeonly, and empathetic and considerate if you really pressed me to come up with positive adjectives.

Oh, and apparently the opposite side of the week is actually interested in derby! My shift and the day shift couldn’t care less, but that’s more because they never freaking do anything on their days off. That said, I know full well that supposèd interest isn’t actually very likely to bear fruit and net ticket sales. Call me Thomas, but I’ll have to see ticket receipts before I believe any co-worker will show up to a bout.

One of my favorite local bands, The Crazy Ivans, has been going through some member changes. First, the drummer leaves, and now Kristen, the lead singer, has left. It’s a damn shame too. She could really wail. I think Justin, their rhythm guitarist, is really the glue to the band, though, and as long as he’s there, the band will survive. *knock on wood* Of course, I could be wrong, but it’s just the impression that I get. Don’t take my word on how much ass they kick. Go give them a listen and then buy their albums on CD Baby.

Down with the sickness

Forgive the lack of posting recently. I have been simultaneously busy as hell and as sick as a dog. I honestly don’t get this sickness thing; I’m used to having a pretty iron constitution. Maybe I should blame the cat for lowering my immune system.

To be fair, he’s probably only part of it. I’ve been burning the candle at both ends and in the middle as well for good measure. I just haven’t given my body sufficient time to recuperate.

Last week I went and saw Todd Snider at the Granada Theater. Great show. It was like three or more different concerts in one. The Trishas are out of Austin and were kind of folksy, kinda gospel. Great American Taxi was like Americana meets Rockabilly. And then Todd Snider is like folk and southern rock. It made for a smorgasbord of genres.

Let’s see, last weekend was my first time doing stats for roller derby. I was a mess during the bout (it’s pretty daunting the first time you look at the Excel file). I need to do it a few more times in different positions before I’m comfortable with it. I’ll have my chance in two weeks for the Governor’s Cup in Austin.

This week, though? It’s been flat out madness. I’ve had something to do every night this week, and to top it off, I had extra training at work Thursday and Friday. I was pretty messed up Thursday, but I’m getting better. Wednesday I went out for Thai with Guillermo and his significant other, and afterwards joined the rest of Assassination City at Tradewinds Social Club, where they showed a bunch of derby footage, new and old. It was fun to just hang out and shoot the shit, and the ridiculously cheap drinks were great too.

Thursday, Sam and I went to see Paul and Storm and Jonathan Coulton. It was a bonus that she’d never seen them in concert, so she had no idea what to expect with Paul and Storm. Seriously, the more I see them in concert, the funnier they get.

Tonight, I went to the 2nd annual Dallas Burlesque Festival at the historic Texas Theatre. Let me just say, thumbs up for Slurpees. I had an idea on what to expect but I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did. We also had Whoa Silla tha Killa and Calypso Crash officially representing Ass City. What can I say? They looked amazing.

Tangent alert. You know what makes burlesque fucking awesome and strip clubs kind of skeevy and creepy? For one, the content. While both involve boobies, there’s a lot more going on at a burlesque show than swinging on a pole. There’s singing, coordinated dancing, dramatic readings, and more. Second? The music. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about the butt rock, Def Leppard and all. But it’s kind of worn thin when you can see a strip club in a movie and can pretty much tell that’s what it is simply by the music playing inside. Burlesque has much better music. Are you gonna hear Etta James at Nighten Ale’s ? I don’t think so. Thirdly, the crowd. I’d say at least half of the people in the audience at the Dallas Burlesque Festival were female. When are you going to see those kind of demographics along Northwest Highway (or whatever street has all the strip clubs in your town)? End tangent

Something has come up recently from several different people. It’s being said that I am a man about town. While I don’t think that it is being implied that I am a, “man devoted to the pursuit of pleasure, a hedonist, a playboy”, am I really getting out so much that I’m being thought of as someone who is often out doing something? It seems so strange to me, I’ve always been a homebody, sometimes even bordering on shut-in. I should thank Crystal, because if not for her, I’d have never discovered roller derby, and if not for that, I’d never have discovered Ass City. So, maybe roller derby didn’t save my soul, but like a green mushroom, I’m pretty sure it gave me a life.

A little glass vial? A little glass vial!

I’ve been keeping up with a few things over the holidays. I hung out with Guillermo and his roommate over Christmas and played WoW for a significant portion of that time, and then went to a New Year’s Eve party where everyone completely forgot about midnight (my favorite kind of NYE party; the other kind are just too depressing).

Regarding World of Warcraft, I’m finally in a guild. It’s a small guild, but everyone in the guild knows someone else in the guild in the real world, so it’s mostly a  local North Texas guild. I can get behind that. I also now have a character at level 80 (max level). It’s kind of funny just how much stuff Blizzard has for the end game. I have no actual data to confirm, but I think there’s as much stuff to do from levels 70-80 as there is for the first 70 levels. And once you have a level 80 character, holy crap does it become a butt-ton easier to get other characters up to that level.

To recap, the GoGirl gift went over great for the Christmas party, so my fears were unwarranted. A tenuous plan has been made to watch the Rifftrax of Twilight and then New Moon at a dollar theater so we can all make fun of it. However, color me skeptical. I’m not very trusting of set in stone plans, let alone tenuous ones. That said, I’ve learned a few things about that. Sure, I’m being a selfish prick, but no longer am I going to allow someone else’s flaking out affect my having a good time. Since I give any plans a 75% chance of having one or more people flake out on them, I’ve chosen to take the approach that I’m going regardless. If people decide to show up, that’s great, and if they don’t, it’s their loss.

Example: a couple hours ago I just came back from a shadowcast of REPO: The Genetic Opera called Amber Does Dallas. I knew several people getting extremely excited about it when I mentioned it, I sent out periodic reminders to the derby fora, and yet when I got there, I didn’t see anyone I recognized. That doesn’t mean they weren’t there, but if they were there, it’d have been nice to meet up with them beforehand or afterward. As for the show itself, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s like seeing a movie with your hundred closest friends, yelling out at the cast and at the characters on screen. This is good if everyone’s already familiar with the movie, not so much if the movie’s new. If you’re a fan of the movie, I’d highly recommend going to see it at the next midnight showing, Friday night, February 12th, at the Lakewood Theater on Abrams.

There are a few other things I think people should be aware of going on in Dallas in the near future. Tonight (2/9) is the Dead Rock Star Party at the Barley House. It’s Assassination City’s pre-bout party. It’s going to be great, and it’ll be even better if you dress up as a dead rock star.

Toward the end of this month on Saturday the 30th, 7:00 PM, there’s the actual bout at Dad’s Broadway Skateland, 3022 Moon Dr. in Mesquite. Come out once as a spectator and we hope you’ll leave as a fan.

Non-derby stuff? Well, there’s Jonathan Coulton and Paul & Storm on February 4th at the Granada, Henry Rollins at the Lakewood on 2/24, and the Amour Burlesque Show at the Lakewood on 2/27. Flogging Molly’s playing the House of Blues on 2/9, and the Dropkick Murphys are playing there on 3/1. Like I said, lots of stuff to do, and this doesn’t even count the local music at Trees on Thursday nights.

Oh! I’ve put in to be transferred to a different water plant than the one in Carrollton. I’ve put in to be transferred to Sunnyvale. Even though it’s in the middle of nowhere, it’s still a lot closer to everything I do on my days off than where I currently work and live. Too bad I’ve got to endure city bureaucracy. If I’m very very very lucky, I’ll be transferred before my 6 month lease runs out in May. I’d be able to celebrate with a scone and a large house blend.

Oh, final thoughts. Midnight movies at the Inwood on Fridays and Saturdays. Check it out, they’ve got some good ones coming, namely Black Dynamite next weekend and The Evil Dead at the end of February. That’s not even considering other awesome flicks like Vertigo and The Jerk.

I made you a movie review, but I eated it.

Well, maybe not. I did, however, have every intention to watch a movie and review it tonight. However, my laptop’s DVD player decided to be less than helpful. Oddly enough, I could still import CDs so I’m getting some use out of it.

Indeed, this laptop is starting to exhibit signs of wear and tear after nearly 2 years of use and abuse. The battery is completely kaput and now the DVD drive won’t play DVD movies.

Enough. I have a recap. Less Than Jake was a kickass show, as usual. Concerts are so much better when it’s obvious that the performers are having a good time. Of the two opening bands, the first one, The Swellers, was better in my opinion. For one, it actually seemed like they belonged at a Less Than Jake show, given that they’re a punk band. Unfortunately, New York hip hop act Cage was sandwiched between two acts that were completely dissimilar to his own, so I don’t think he really had much of a chance to connect with the crowd. The only time I’ve seen a punk crowd really get into a hip hop act was with Jurassic 5 at the Warped Tour.

The night after LTJ, I went to see some local acts at Trees. I’m generally not a fan of radio any more, especially ClearChannel stations, but I have to give credit to KDGE for having a show for local music on Sunday nights and for sponsoring concerts like this. Last Thursday, they had The Hope Trust, This Old House, and The Crazy Ivans. I wish I’d taken notes on The Hope Trust and This Old House because my impressions of them got wiped when I had my ass blown off by The Crazy Ivans. I’d previously met half of The Crazy Ivans at the Dethklok/Mastodon show and holy crap did they not disappoint. I can’t wait to see them again on February 6th at Reno’s Chop Shop for their CD release party.

The Assassination City 2010 calendar has been released, and it is even better than I imagined it! I know that there are a lot of people that are digging on the Give It Away, Hot For Teacher, and Thriller shoots, and they are freaking incredible, but the more I leaf through the calendar the more the Freeze Frame shoot grows on me. Admitted, the video for this J Geils Band song isn’t nearly as iconic as some of the other months such as Smells Like Teen Spirit, Addicted To Love, or Whip It, but I really like it all the same.

The party itself went over pretty well too. We sold 10% of our calendars in a single night, so that’s cool. If you want to buy one, get in touch with me and I’ll get one to you come Hell or high water. Interestingly enough, at the release party I was interviewed by someone for her blog. Sadly, the picture she got of me was bloody horrible as I wasn’t expecting to have to take my fez off for any reason, but still. I kinda feel bad. Getting three relatively simple questions out of me was like pulling teeth because I’m rubbish at coming up with stuff on the fly. If you want to read it, head on over to Little B in the Big D.

I had a busy week because this post ain’t over yet. I also went to Stacy and Tony’s Christmas party and had a blast there too. You know it’s going to be a good night when someone actually gets your Jeffster! t-shirt. I got to meet a lot of really cool new people and actually got invited to another Christmas party this weekend as a result. I don’t want to sound full of myself, but I had to make a good impression to get invited to a Christmas party hosted by someone I’d never met until that night, right? Sadly, I’m taking a risk with the white elephant gift exchange. I found something that I thought was pretty great for a gag gift. It’s got the potential to be either hilarious or kinda icky. We shall see.

Dallas, got a soft machine, Houston, too close to New Orleans

You’ll have to forgive me for being lazy and not updating anything other than my weekly old ass movie reviews in such a long time. It’s not that I’ve been busy, I’ve just been lazy. Since it’s been so ling, I think I’ll just catch up on what’s happened since Thanksgiving or so.

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving I got to see three local bands at Trees: The Primary, Criminal Shift, and Giggle Party. I was also there as an unofficial envoy for Ass City to see if any of these bands would be good as entertainment for a bout. I really enjoyed The Primary, but their music seemed a bit too slow and melancholy for roller derby. Giggle Party is boisterous and fun, but there’s no way I’d let them anywhere near a track. They label themselves as party punk, and they really mean it. They had cupcakes for the audience, lots of balloons and confetti. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the schtick, but things like that could pose a danger for the skaters in the second half of a bout. Criminal Shift, on the other hand? I think they’d do well at a bout. They have some slow ballad-y tunes, but they also have some driving rock songs that would mesh real well with much of our audience.

Thanksgiving was a good time. I invited Tenille over as I cooked a ham, made homemade mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, and doctored up a can of collard greens with some bacon grease, red pepper and onion. We watched Hot Fuzz and May, a horror movie about a seemingly shy and awkward but crazy young woman who thinks her Creepy Doll talks to her. Overall, it was a good time to relax and chill.

More recently, I found out that the Dallas Deception, Dallas’ men’s roller derby league, practices not more than 15 minutes from my house, so now I’ve no excuse. I went and bought me some skates and pads and all the trimmings since the next step up from stats monkey is ref. And refs have to know how to skate.

There’s a lot of derby stuff on the table. Last week was Queen of the Hive, a two day tournament with skaters coming in mostly from Texas, but some skaters from as far away as Tacoma and Baltimore. I watched it all day Saturday, but I was too damn tired to go back on Sunday. Instead, I slept like 13 hours that day. Oy. This Friday, there’s Ass City’s calendar release party at Lee Harvey’s. Everyone in and around Dallas should come. It’s going to be crazy awesome. Last year’s theme was movie scenes, so some of the months featured movies like From Dusk Till Dawn, Reservoir Dogs, and Dr. Strangelove. This year, the theme is based around iconic music videos. Among some of the videos I know will be on the calendar are Smells Like Teen Spirit and Addicted to Love. I know Motley Crüe is in there somewhere, but you’ll have to come and buy a calendar to see the rest.

Concert-wise, this year is turning out to be better than the last. This month I have Less Than Jake and some more local Dallas bands. Next month has Todd Snider, and early February has the return of JoCo and Paul & Storm to Dallas. I need to drag someone to that show. Their shows are just entirely too fun to not share. Also, while I’m not really into her, Ani DiFranco will be playing Dallas sometime in May.

I’m being kept busy, and for me, that’s a good thing for a change.

The name of the band is

What on Earth is happening to me? Two weekends in a row and I’ve actually been busy? Poor Mango. Despite my best efforts to play with him a little bit each day, I feel that he’s becoming a widow to something that under normal circumstances might actually resemble a social life.

This was my four day weekend and I actually spent a lot of it out of the house.

On Wednesday, I went to go get my tickets for Cowboy Mouth. I got 4 comped tickets out of it. Apparently the girl at the ticket booth wanted me out of the way so the hot guy in front of me could continue to hit on her. For the rest of the day and the next until just before the show I was trying to get rid of the extras, to no avail. By 5:00 Thursday evening, I was pretty much convinced that I wasn’t going. I honestly was feeling like the kid who needed his parents to tie a slab of meat around his neck to get the pets to play with him. Then, I saw that a friend of mine, Stacy, got comped tickets as well, and she too was completely fruitless in getting rid of her tickets as well. So much for the “wanting to get me out of the way” theory.

In any event, it was a Cowboy Mouth show. Of course it was freaking stellar. I lost my voice after the first two songs and was pretty much just croaking after that. For those of you who don’t know, Cowboy Mouth is a rock band from New Orleans that is pretty much constantly on tour, like 200 days out of the year. Their drummer, Fred LeBlanc, is also their lead singer, and his kit is right up front and center. Fred does not allow any emotion from the crowd other than raw unadulterated exuberance. The man knows how to work a room and Thursday night was no exception. I’ve been to shows where it’s obvious that the band really doesn’t want to be there. Every time I’ve seen Cowboy Mouth, it’s exactly the opposite. It’s so obvious that they’re all having a blast that you can’t help but enjoy yourself. They’re a 4 piece Tenacious D that rocks 8 times as hard.

Thursday night I was wearing shorts. Friday I was in flannel pajama pants. I needed the day to recoup, and with the weather being what it was, I decided to make chili instead of the cottage pie I was considering. I don’t know why, but I always fail to put enough meat in my chili and always go overboard on the vegetables. It’s still good though. I went to bed early (for me) so that I could be on a day shift for the Werewolf game Saturday.

Game was okay, and I got home around 5:00 wondering what I was going to do. Every time we had game in the afternoon before, it was because of my schedule, namely because I had to be at work that evening. I was completely unused to getting home from an afternoon game and I didn’t know what to do with myself. Lo and behold, I get a text from someone I’ve not seen or heard from in well over a year asking me if I wanted to hang out at Trinity Hall. Being that it’s Trinity Hall, and how even a fake Irish pub is still pretty cool, I took her up on the offer.

It was good catching up, and the cider was flowing, but who should I run into there but Sloane Gunman of Assassination City. Small world, eh? Apparently there were a few of skaters over at the Lakewood Bar and Grill and I was invited to come. I’m not going to lie, I really wanted to go. I don’t  think it has anything to do with my dropping one set of friends for another, newer set of friends; I just think it’s an age thing. I’m more comfortable and get along better with people who are closer to my own age or older than me. But, I didn’t go as I see Ass City ladies on a fairly regular basis. Instead, Sam and I cut out of there and went to see Zombieland.

Woody Harrellson was great, and there were parts that were absolutely riotous, but ultimately, I felt it fell flat. Maybe it was becuase I was subconsciously comparing hi, to Shaun of the Dead, but I just really really did not like the lead character. Throughout most of the movie, I was hoping he’d get eaten and it’d just be Woody Harrellson kicking zombie ass for 90 minutes.

A couple more things.

Wednesday, December 9th at the Granada Theater, Less Than Jake. Be there. Go go Florida ska.

Off topic: I can now discern Mango’s, “I’m not feeling so good and am about to throw up” meows. While being able to discern those meows is a good thing, his throwing up is not. Fortunately, I’ve been able to wrangle him onto some area with linoleum instead of having him urp on the carpet.

With fronds like these, who needs anenomes?

Well, isn’t that wondermous! I actually DID get written up for breaking a rule that wasn’t even a rule until my boss got pissed off and made it a rule! Retroactive punitive measurements FTL!

Long version: We had two days of furlough, meaning we don’t come into work, and we don’t get paid. Unfortunately, those were 8 hour days, and we work 12 hour shifts. So, we could either take four hours of vacation and not come in at all, or work for four hours. I decided to work four hours. I came in for an hour, then left to catch a movie, then came back and finished my time. Apparently I was supposed to read my boss’s mind and know that that would piss him off to the point that he’d write me up for a rule he’d yet to create.

Arguing with him revealed even more of the hypocrisy. His argument started that it was “common sense” to know that he meant that those four hours were supposed to be contiguous. I then asked if it would have been okay if I’d come in from midnight to 4AM (which I pretty much did, I was actually at work for nearly 5 hours in total). He then revised his argument to say that no, that wouldn’t be okay because my supervisor didn’t know about it and that I knew he meant I was supposed to come in the first four hours or the last 4 hours of the day. At that point, I asked “If my supervisor mistakenly thought I was going to come in the last four hours and I came in the first four hours instead, would I still be here standing in front of you getting written up?” He wouldn’t give me an answer for that, so that pretty much confirms my suspicions that he’s writing me up simply because he’s butthurt.

I about jumped out of my skin and throttled him when he offered up the classic, “You can choose to enjoy your time here, or you can choose to be pissed off” while conveniently leaving out the fact that management has been little by little raising the temperature of the water and hoping we frogs don’t notice that we’re being boiled slowly. God I hate that choice argument. It’s nothing more than a modern version of scumbag Clayton William’s so-called joke: “If rape is inevitable, then relax and enjoy it.” Mind you, I’m not saying my job is in any way similar to rape. Don’t try to tell me I am. What I am saying is that while the premises of the argument are different in the two different scenarios by an order of magnitude, the logical arguments in the two scenarios are identical. One could just as easily tell a depressed woman to eschew anti-depressants and choose to enjoy clinical depression or tell someone that no, no, it’s not that you hate eating fertilized and mostly developed duck eggs , you choose to not like balut and you can just as easily choose to like it.

To assuage my annoyance, I decided to spend a bit of money. I picked up a Me First and the Gimme Gimmes CD that I didn’t have and the most recent Owl City for research on whether I should get tickets for him and Brooke Waggoner in October. Yeah, I totally should. Funny how I came to buying an Owl City CD. I heard of Brooke Waggoner only because one of her songs, Daylover, is in the iPhone game Tap Tap Revenge and I really really liked it. So I hear of the headliner through an iPhone app that happens to have the opening act in it. Talk about convoluted.

Ahh, and before I leave, check out this video from local Dallas band Giggle Party:

Giggle Party’s “Jason Bought A Hatchet” from Jason Reichl on Vimeo.

And be sure to check out the short web series Anarchy For Breakfast. The videos are typically less than 3 minutes, and there are only 6 of them, so it’s not a lot of time lost.

Something creepy this way comes

Yesterday was productive.

I got my inspection done on my car, picked up my comics, and got my tickets for Mastodon and Dethklok (Holy crap nearly $40—That’s like $10 more than it was to see them last year).

Snags? I wasn’ t able to pick up tickets to Brooke Waggoner. It turns out she’s only opening for someone, and I didn’t know for whom at the time. Apparently she’s opening for Owl City, a one man synthpop/electronica band. Does anyone know anything about him? All I know is that the cover of his most recent CD has a pic of the Burj al Arab hotel in Dubai, something halfway around the world that I’ve actually seen with my own two eyes (It was built but not yet open when I was there in late 1998). Synthpop piques my interest as I love me some Freezepop.

Second snag? After all this, I treated myself to Café Brazil. The food was fine, but I got the distinct impression that I was not wanted there. Upon entering, I was immediately asked if I was getting something to go by the girl who would be my server. It was only after I asked for a menu that I was allowed to sit down. This alone I could have shrugged off, but not when combined with what followed. As I was waiting for my bill, one of the male servers nonchalantly leans on the bar near me. Again, by itself, not so bad. After I paid my bill and went to leave, nonchalant guy picks that exact moment to go up to the front of the restaurant, making me seem as if he’s following me out to make sure I don’t try something with my server or the college-age girl she was talking to (who I had to pass to get to the door). WTF? Eating alone and minding one’s own fucking business doesn’t make a person some kind of sexual predator. Seriously, am I so creepy that going someplace to eat a salad in peace triggers some kind of Pervert Alert in people? I think I’ll go back there sometime next week (preferably in the morning as I know those servers a bit better) to say how unwelcome I was made to feel and also to ask up front if I’m really that creepy. It doesn’t help that this article has made me hyper paranoid about these sorts of things.

Brighter side? Derby is this weekend, and it’s the ACRD Championships. There’s the barbecue/tailgate party beforehand and then the afterparty, well, after. I don’t own a grill, but I do wish to contribute to the merriment and whatnot. Which would be better to bring, plenty of hot dogs, bratwurst, and traditional grilling noms in exchange for allowing me to use someone’s fire to cook OR make some Carolina style pulled pork and share with everybody? I also have strawberries and rhubarb in the refrigerator, so a homemade pie is also looking pretty likely as well. Why yes, this certainly does look like I’m trying to bribe people into being social with me using food. Don’t you judge me, I’m a damn good cook and I need the social encouragement after that crap I talked about above.

Regardless of which route I go, if you’ve got nothing going on, I highly recommend you come out to see it. Tailgate is at 5:00, doors open at 7:00. $15 for tickets at the door, kids under 10 years old get in free, BYOB (no glass), 3022 Moon Dr, Mesquite, just off of I-30 and Gus Thomasson Rd. You don’t want me to keep talking about this, do you? I’m gonna drag at least one of you Dallas-area people to a bout one of these days if it kills me.