A few leftovers tidbits....

My daughter came up to me last night and decided that she and her sister have come to the conclusion that I've been alone too long and they think I need to get a girlfriend (rest easy (e:women), I'm too bloody old). They're pretty smart and left me with a warm fuzzy (okay I started snifflin' on the walk home). They worry about me on that score (sniff, who knew). Even more comically/touching, they had a few candidates in mind. Just when you are wondering who's radar your showing up on, surprises abound.

My car is fucking with me. It started making a noise that suggests brake pad fell off, with the grinding and the whatnot, but now it's not doing it. So, I'm not sure if it is the clutch, the brake or all in my head.

I gave a ride to one of the women I work with and because of it, wound up being half an hour late. Privately, I'm thinking where the fuck is the husband, the kid with car, but I try to be a person (don't always succeed, but I'm in there trying) so there I was at 7:45 waiting on her. I'm supposed to work at 8 which is when she showed. After she got taken care of, we came in at almost 8:30 which is when the monday staff meeting is supposed to occur.

Threw me off for the whole day. Everybody has to deliver a report on where you are/going for the week and I usually scribble a few notes so my ad-libs are good and scripted, but I winged it because of the lack of time. Felt like I was making it up, ya know.

I think not leaving the office at lunchtime left me in a state. Same carless woman wanted to know if I could cruise her back and not wanting to risk wrath from our boss for cruising in late and leaving early, I hesitated on the answer. My phone rang and she called her kid. I feel like a bit of a heel, but my other colleague said not to sweat it.

Hoping the voices in my head get laryngitis...

It just seems that way. I caught a few eyefuls at Music is Art today. These are canvas works that are getting prepped by the North Street Stage.









It was also great to catch Dragonlady and Zobar. I hope they made the most of Dragonlady's mental health day. I really enjoy the variety of the stuff we saw. I later caught a phenomenal 11 year old drummer on the small stage



Sadly, Allentown is one notch away from selling "sofa sized" paintings. I remember when it had some soul. I go for the people as the art varies. For every unique piece, I saw 12 that should be confined to Linens and Things.

Still a good time. Perfect Sunday, slept in, lazed around, caught up on some of the stuff on my dvr, read the paper, caught a nice variety of tunes and devoured a late lunch of Duff's wings in the VIP area (good to know people). Going to the ex's for cake to finish celebrating our daughter's b-day. I can almost handle the onslaught of the work week.

Weekend has been pleasant. All you soccer fans have gotten me paying attention to the World Cup. I had to work a few hours at Music is Art this afternoon, then spent sometime wandering about. I like it much better than Allentown, which is in a cycle of rehashing itself year after year. My only qualm with MIA is that you hear a band you like and it starts to cook and then they leave. The stages are constantly revolving with the next band drum kit setup. It was interesting to hear/see Lisa Loeb in such a intimate setting. Since I work for a sponsor, I got a VIP bag, which consisted of stuff that I spent the week hustling for on behalf of Music is Art. Life is sometimes very circuiious. It's fun to go and people watch, attendees are of all shapes and sizes and persuasions.

I could have sworn I saw E; Metalpeter from a distance, but didn't get a chance to catch his attention.

I had a nice start to the day. My eight year old is mastering nun-chuks and I couldn't take my eyes off him during his class this morning. Something about entering the Tae Kwon Do work out area sucks the happy go lucky out him and he turns all business with those things. The transformation still grabs my eye.

Took his big sister shopping as she has this nasty growning thing going on. Despite her initial mortification of shopping with her dad (ick, eww), proper jeans were secured. Me, I'm listening to the strange noises coming from my car. I want to say break pad, but I also want to say "Uncle!" It's a bill this paycheck to almost paycheck doesn't need. Already scrapped going anywhere for vacation this year.

I accepted an offer to work on event staff during the Bills games this fall. Little committment with some football tossed in. They are still looking for bodies if you're seeking easy money.

Damn I need to get out more....but I'm too tired...sitting here at the pc, my chair just got too comfy.

Thank you for calling the White House switchboard. Our new voice

activated system will help direct you to the proper office."



"If you are calling to complain about the mishandling of the war in

Iraq, press one."



"If you are calling to complain about the abuse of prisoners and the

White House's endorsement of torture, press two, and then say the name

of the torture site that you wish to complain about (and please note for

the sake of the voice mail system that it is pronounced Abu GRABE, not

Abu grahb)."



"If you are calling to complain about illegal spying on American

citizens and the abuse of FISA laws, press 3, but do know that these

calls will be recorded."



"If you are calling to complain about the disastrous mismanagement of

the hurricane Katrina recovery, please press 4, and your call will be

directed to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. If you wait for

more than 48 hours without anyone picking up the phone, hang-up and send

a letter. We have been assured that all letters will receive a prompt

reply within one year."



"If you are calling regarding the administration's unwillingness to

enforce immigration law, press cinco, por favor, or direct any thanks to

your local chamber of commerce office, which can explain why we like

cheap labor that can't vote and where you may be able to find willing

illegal day laborers in your local area."



"If you are Jack Abramoff or any Saudi prince, please call the private

line * it is always open."



"If you are calling about the Medicare prescription debacle, please

press 6. If you are having a medical emergency, you should proceed

directly to your local emergency room, although please understand that

your health coverage may not pay for the visit and you can no longer get

out from under the bill by declaring bankruptcy."



"If you are calling about the ballooning federal deficit or the recent

hike in the debt ceiling to $3 trillion, pleas e press 7, unless you are

Bill Clinton calling to brag about the surpluses under your

administration, in which case we don't want to hear about it."



"If you are calling to complain about the White House's efforts to block

stem cell research, please press 8, and then say the disease that you

are most concerned about that may ultimately be cured through scientific

research. If you are a scientist calling with new research findings or

important clinical data, please hang up, we don't want to hear from

you."



"If you are calling to express concern about global warming and our

efforts to roll back environmental laws, please press 9, unless you are

a government scientist, in which case you are forbidden to talk without

first clearing it with the oil lobbyist we hired to screen and edit your

research. He can be reached at Exxon 4-2611."



"If you are calling to complain about the President's efforts to

"privatize" social security, please press 1 and then the pound key, and

your call will be redirected to representatives at Merrill Lynch, who

will explain the virtues of putting all your savings in the stock

market."



"If you are calling about the need for more prayer in public schools or

any other faith-based initiatives, please press 10 and Reverend Falwell

will be with you shortly."



"If you are calling to lobby for more Supreme Court Justices who will

block a woman's right to choose, please stay on the line and the

President will be with you immediately."



"If you are calling about all the tax breaks for the wealthy, press *1

if you have ideas for more loopholes and are making more than a million

dollars per year; if you are earning less than a million per year but

have ideas for how you may help the wealthy, press *2; if you are

earning less than a million per year and just want to complain that all

the burden is now falling o n you, please call back in a couple of years.

If you voted for President Bush and are now concerned that over 12% of

the U.S. population now falls below the poverty line while the top 1%

has wildly increased their wealth, please understand that we are not

laughing AT you*"



"Press zero at any time if you would like to hear these options again.

Thank you for calling the White House. It is our pleasure to serve you."

My brother is a source of fascinating adventures. He is autistic, schizophrenic and has a few other ics that have keep life rather interesting. He functions very well and to look at him, you just see a guy. I say this because all of the afflictions have limited his recreational interests.

One of his favorite hang outs is to go the airport and watch planes come and go. There is a spot off Aero Drive where you can also watch the Weather Service launch their balloons each night. Giving my parents a breather, I took him over the other night to hang out for bit. Not a soul heads out there normally. He's hanging by the fence watching the activity, I'm sitting in a beach chair, watching and reading the paper. When my brother brought some binoculars out to watch a cargo jet take off, is when things got interesting.
A police car immediately shows up, marked by with homeland security stickers. I get to my feet and produced ID for both of us. As I'm talking to the first guy, a second car was in route, and apparently two more were at the ready, all positioned to haul off the retarded guy with the binoculars. After explaining all of this and keeping my brother cool, I looked to the first cop who explained he'd call off "the other units." With four cars in pursuit, it kind of made me wonder who was watching the airport.

Strange days indeed, reminds me of when the Lancaster cops arrested my Mom's car out from under me, but that is a journal for another day.

No matter what your age ( and I know I got a few miles on me more than most of you), when you call the rents and start talking with "You're not going to believe this, but..." you can always get that look out of the folks.

My Dad's response: "We're getting too old for this shit."

The Davinci Code - the video game????? What the Fuck???

The book was a lot of pretentious badly written drivel. I associated it as one of those books people bought because other people bought. Now we got a movie. Somewhere, somebody is dreaming up a sequel......

Oy vey, good night peeps

Got the final dinner meeting for awhile -- It might be raining edgefest tickets by the time it's over. If it happens, I'll make proper noise here for the 30 Seconds to Mars fans.

My older sister turns 46 today -- It wasn't until I saw the previews for the new Omen movie that all those years of teasing her as Satan's spawn can really take flight (We are that immature). All the double meanings about D-Day can be shelved for this year.

Happy Birthday, Theresa

The parade was nice. Pride Sunday and all being a nice thing. I go the parade and to support the ex and her endeavors with a children's group of Lesbian and Gay Parents at the Unitarian Church. It is a kick to see my kids on the parade float, in this case the back of a flat bed truck. I took a picture of em by my little guy didn't like the ride this year. His sister informs me he took a tumble and worn a sour expression until he met up with cotton candy in Bidwell Park. That's apparently a great cure all.

I camped out in front of Spot (where else) with two women who've been partners for over 30 years and another friend who busted up rather vigorously out of her last relationship. Good folks all. One of the members of my ex-wife's group walked by and said "Michael, coming to Bidwell to look for boys?" That was her attempt at kidding. I tried to smirk it off. "Maybe I should, since all the women I know are married or gay, to each other," was my weak response. I know she was just fucking around, but it sort of took the sails out of my winds, ya know. I checked in with the chillens who were having a good time at the park with their folks so I took my Sunday paper and retreated to my Delaware Avenue Tower.

It's funny because even though our marriage ended peacefully and with everybody still friends, a peculiar sort of disconnect pops up from time to time. There are people who don't talk to my ex because of the discovery she made about herself and a few who dropped me for well, being there. My friend's lame attempt at humor was a bit of a reminder that there was a club that I'm not really privy too, I know that sound weird. It's has nothing to do with sexual preferences, but more to do with layers of social circles and you can gravitate through some, but not all, least not all the time.

Back at the Spot table, where we inspected all the stuff tossed our way during the parade, one of the partners inquired as to my well-being. I guess I was staring at nothing for a little too long. The other two at the table who were sorting the parade swag. The other "Straight allie" at the table said she hadn't had much use for condoms for sometime. Under normal circumstances, I might have chimed in with a "happy to help" type of comment, but I let it go with a wistful smile.

Probably better off in the long run.

I got a note about my current user sound: It's "The Weight" by The Band with the Staples Singers. It's the version from The Last Waltz, been playing a lot on my mental soundtrack lately.