nah pop, no style

Actual CNN.com screen cap, ca. right now:

Hi, I’m back.

Took last week off work to do nothing; was successful in meeting my goal.

Today it rained for the first time in weeks.

Last night Federer whooped Andy Murray in the US Open final; much as I like Rafa, it was nice to see someone else win something for a change. Also last night I made mac n cheese. The real kind, not the Kraft kind. Cool weather must be approaching.

Today I re-acquired the Karate album Some Boots, from 2002, which I  still hold is pretty wonderful. Maybe it also brings me back to late 2002/early 2003. And maybe that’s an okay thing. Maybe I’m different now from how I was then, but still have some of the same interests and comforts.

Oh yes, and I got a new Steelers t-shirt. And they won big this week. Coincidence? I think not. Stoked on the season.

• It’s hay fever season, which means it’s Zyrtec-D season, which means it’s “go to Rite Aid and get your Zyrtec-D at the pharmacy counter and try to swipe your driver’s license and find that it’s still too old and doesn’t swipe so then the clerk has to enter your information and make you sign the ‘this person might be making meth in his basement so keep an eye out’ sheet and then you think ’sure is a good thing my parents’ address is still on my license so they’ll be busting into THEIR basement instead of mine’” season. I just got a two-week supply, so hopefully I can wise up and make my appointment and get my new license between now and the next time I need to get some. Sarah, the ever-defeated pharmacy cashier at the Smithfield Rite Aid hopes so, and she told me so. I can’t blame her.
• Saturday was Run Around the Square; it was the first one of these I’ve done, and it was a good time, though not necessarily a good measure of one’s best 5K time (the start line was so clogged up, it took a good 10 seconds before I was even able to start running). I did 27:19, which is good but not as good as the race I did earlier this year. (It is, however, better than I thought I did; for some reason when I crossed I thought it was 28:19, but the results online say otherwise.) Also, fellow spy Eric repped at this event, his first race, and didn’t stop to walk at any point, which rules. True Spies track club!
• I might do the Steelers 5K on Monday morning. I have another day or so to decide. Maybe might as well?
• Been playing that guitar, and suffering from a toothache which will be better soon, and thinking about future plans. That’s about it.

The other day outside the public library, I saw a woman apparently changing the diaper of a child who looked to be much too old to have a diaper changed at all, much less in the middle of a patch of grass outside in the city with lots of people walking by. The kid wasn’t, like, 7 or 8, but he was definitely at least 3, maybe 4, I’d say. I didn’t get a REAL close look, obviously. However, I did laugh. Poor child.

Coming up? This wknd: tonight, the Pammer and I go to see the Synge Cycle stuff that Pittsburgh Irish & Classical is doing. “Riders to the Sea” and something else that I don’t know anything about. Two short-ish plays. Should be alright. I’ll be missing the first Steelers pre-season game but it’ll be boring.

Tomorrow is OLYMPICS and also the Burndowns/Brain Handle/Weird Paul show. Later on is Screaming Females on Tuesday Monday, and Oneida on Wednesday. Etc. etc.

My weekend, you say? Well. Uhhh, I didn’t do much of anything Friday night. Then I cleaned out my kitchen cupboards and organized things and put the bulk stuff that was in flimsy bags into tupperware containers and labeled them. Ran a little, went show-hopping at the BBT (Weird Paul!) and Howler’s. Sunday, visited the parents to swap out some scrappy stuff from my garden (sod, dried dead weeds) for some finished compost.

The garden — I’m finally getting way into it, but unfortunately since I was slow to start this year, there’s not that much I can do at this point.  It’s  odd because usually I’m way stoked early in the season, and I’m burning out around now. Maybe next year I’ll get it right.

I’m planning to put in a few fall crops soon; I’ll update you on that. Otherwise, I’ve been harvesting a bit. Not a yield of Torley St. proportions, but a hot banana pepper here, a handful of grape tomatoes there, some zucchinis. I ate my entire summer bean harvest as a side dish the other night.

Musicwise: as noted, two weeks of Andy-penned music features coming. Burndowns Wednesday, Nicole Reynolds next week. Sometimes I write a 250-word piece and run out of things to say; these two were both 800ish and I ran out of room to write things. Also on the upcoming, the MANS show this Friday was cancelled, but Screaming Females play Roboto next Monday (the 11th).

Otherwise, getting pumped on the Olympics in all their cheesy, commercialized glory. OH AND STEELERS SEASON WHICH IS ABOUT TO START. I watched Sunday night football last night because I stumbled upon it, not realizing it would be on, and I was pretty pumped. Okay that’s all bye.

Almost time to embark upon the long weekend, which I do not really have mapped out. Don’t worry, I’ll make something happen. One thing that will definitely occur will be my attending the Torley Manor party on Saturday. Also I think Sunday I will make my parents some food.

If you haven’t yet, devote a good 15 or 20 minutes to watching Fred Durst, who now looks like he’s about 70, on Tom Green.  It’s an interesting interview, and yields such gems as:

“This is KORN, with a ‘K!’ And a backwards ‘R!’”

and

“I don’t recommend that anyone drink anything though. Except, like, Yoo-Hoos, and Sun– Sunny Delight, Sunny D . . . and, like, milk and stuff.”

Not to mention the part where he shows off his tattoo, then completely forgets and shows it off again thirty seconds later.

Last night I watched MOST of America’s Got Talent. And while I’m a fan, I have to admit to you that it’s starting to wear on me already this season. Three episodes, three of the exact same narrative arc — four or five abysmal acts, an angry crowd, THE JUDGES ARE FRUSTRATED, then comes some great, inspirational act to save the day in (insert name of city here). We’re not THAT stupid, guys. I don’t know if it’s just the way the show is edited, or the way the contestants are arranged during the actual auditions, or a combination, but it’s really contrived.

There have been a few enjoyable acts, and a minimum of hilarity from the Hoff, but on the whole, I’m not that sold on it this year, and I might not keep investing my Tuesday nights in it. My time is precious, people.

Also the part where Hasselhoff hit his buzzer while that guy had a sword halfway down his esophagus last night was terrifying. Holy hell. Get it together, Hoff.

In order to clear my conscience and hopefully lift the curse that is currently upon me, I present to you a list of things I’ve messed up and/or things that have gone wrong for me in the past week or two:

• First there was my big chef’s knife that disappeared on me. How that could possibly happen I just don’t know. How do you lose a huge, sharp knife?
• Then there was a piece of mail that was important, that I needed to send out, that I lost. I probably threw it away. I lost my American Journalists stamps around this time as well.
• Last week I got bleach on a favored pair of pants. The way in which I did this is, I think, too embarrassing to explain in the online. Suffice it to say it involved bleach I had used several days prior.
• As I was getting bleach on my pants, I was also grabbing a handful of poison ivy (fortunately, I’m apparently not sensitive to it).
• Two nights ago, I left my car window partly open. It rained all day yesterday. This is on top of the fact that I have another hole in my frame that lets water in near the wheel well. Not that that one’s my fault.
• Last night I meant to take laundry to the folks’ house while I was visiting, so that I could have clean clothes, and I left it sitting in my apartment instead.
• There are probably other things, but those are the main ones.

Also lately, strangely, I’ve had lots of dreaming, and some deja vu experiences, and at least one dream that I took as being somewhat prescient. Perhaps if my next-level, extrasensory mind is working overtime, my regular mind is prone to messing more stuff up?

Last night I watched MY FAVORITE SUMMER TV SHOW, America’s Got Talent, and wrote some remarks on it then left them on my computer at home. Perhaps I’ll edit them and update you at some later point. I’ll give you this much: I was not very entertained by The Hoff this time around. He better get back to being totally bonkers or this is gonna be a boring season.

Also, two hours for each episode seems a bit much — is that how last season started out too? Oh well. I’ve got nothing better to do, right?

Friday is a planned trip to Laurel Caverns for some spelunking. I hope to test my mild claustrophobia. I think I’ll be fine. And if not, it’ll be funny. In a scary sort of way. I’ll report back on that.

I have a new review (of the new Aydin album) in today’s paper, check it out, I’ll post it on here when it goes online tomorrow. I’m kind of tired of writing about music. Oh well. It’s my job.

It’s been a week and a half since I last updated you on my mundane life. Where do I even start? Does it matter?

Things of late:

• Dreams about fish in a fish bowl, and about playing baseball in gym class, and one somehow involving my nephews.
• Speaking of baseball — took my dad to the Pirates game yesterday and of course they lost. But at least I got a sunburn!
• America’s Got Talent is back! First episode was worthwhile — I had begun to fear that Hasselhoff would be a little more under control this year since he went through rehab, but he’s still a total nut.  Tomorrow night is epi 2 if you’re interested.
• I think tonight maybe I’ll make BBQ tofu sandwiches. I’ve been on a BBQ-things kick lately. And I have some tofu to spend.
• I don’t even remember what all happened the weekend prior to this, since it’s been a long time. I’m sure I did fun things. Then last week I had a lot of work and hangout to do, none of which makes for a really exciting narrative, so I’ll spare you the details.
• Read Italo Calvino’s Cosmicomics; it was okay but nothing significantly special in my mind. Some of the stories were really enjoyable, and others dragged. Then again, I’m not a very good reader.
• On that note, I’m ripping into Critical Art Ensemble’s Electronic Civil Disobedience next. It’s more my speed, I think, in that I’m more in the mood to read stuff like that than to read something relaxing right now.