Monday Nite and Tuesday

Spent bits of the last two days w/ Jimey Tree. Jimes called me early before my interview, and I collected him from the 22d street stop on the Red Line. Since I had the day off, I decided to make the least of it. We took on stores, raced back to base, read, watched videos about Jesus, then took in an appearance by Gf. She wanted pizza, so we got a 2-1 coupon and got some real nice pizza - Pizza Plus in Hometown. Then, finally, we forced her to watch Amelie. I'd wanted her to watch it to get her more excited about going to Paris - needlessly, I think.

Never finished it. We will finish the last 25m tonite.

Did not go to school on Tuesday. Horrible stomach. Even worse was the spirit. I was excited about the interview, and having done that, I got really depressed. Total. So I woke w/ a rotten stomach and grey spirits. I tried- I took a shower, but no food- uhgg. It was obvious that I shouldn't go in, so I took the day off. I have no "sick days", so I'm gonna miss the buxx. But i would have been worthless.

I was supposed to drop off Tree @ the Pulaski stop on the Orange that morning- but since I was laying in bed, he just hung out the whole day. Invariably, I got better as the day went on. By afternoon there was the need to take on stocks, so we raised steam, snuck out under optimal traffic conditions, and swept north. There, in position, we battered the Black Sea Coast with our fire and departed. Battlesweep south, Jesustalk, nyt, visits to various libraries so we could get materials written by Dyson and West as well as the 1995 version of 'Persuasion', the film.

And then I got hungry. Jimey has no money- like me in, say, 1992, but much much much worse : as always back then, I had Mom and Dad to 'fall back on' (and also now, although my days of 'falling back' on anyone seems to be over- except for that desperate call to Gf to visit after work last nite- I'm still a BABY, but no need to 'fall back' on anyone). So I trated him to Popeyes.

Much later I sprung for Chinese from a place on 115th. We used to go there always, until new owners took over two years ago. First time w/ the new owners, and we got our regular order = sucked!! never went back again until yesterday- and we all loved it. Funny- that batch of regular that we got two years ago- pineapple chicken and beef chop s. (yes, I know)- must have been a bad batch, and we wasted two years not eating @ this place again. Funny.

Adventures w/ Jimey ended 2000h last nite. I drove him to the 95th street El terminal = well, to 87th, actually- and I became even more mournful.

Boy- if there ever was a person better suited for mourning than I.....na, dear ain't.

Persuasion

Watched the Channel 11 (public TV) version of Persuasion. masterpiece theatre has been doing Austins novels this season, and it was persuasion's turn. It just happened to be on, and Gf and I watched it. I'd watched the '95 BBC version, and I just loved it. ONe of my favourite movies, and now book. Gf had never seen it, and I wanted to stop her from watching this one but I didn't.

It wasn't quite as good as '95's - or anywhere near. Proof?? After seeing the '95 version, I totally wanted to get a coat like Wentworth's. There were no clothes pulling @ me from the 2008 version. But it did win me over- and not just 'cause Gf is now gonna read Persuasion- good. There came a scene where i was like......ok, great. Dinna wanna burn the moment fer ya, but eeff-yeev' seennt - then the moment that was brilliant in the '08 version is when.................................

Will now sneak up on GF and flip this better version of Persuasion- which I now have from lib.- and have her watch it sometimes soon. Maybe to-nite.

I originally saw it in a theatre in Berkely Cal. in spring or so of 1997 w/ Vito. I think. But it was in California. I know.

From DJ Neice.1

Fwd: your top 9 show‏
From: Neice.1
Sent: Wed 1/16/08 11:35 AM
To: Nephew.2, Neice.3, and Uncle Freak


Hi, I will be on 9FM (I believe 7 PM) on Jan 31st! Listen for me!!

DJ Neice.1

And another from the Joker

http://www.kittywigs.com/wigindex.html

update on that errible car srash from friday nite.

One in critical condition, one ok but in custody. I knew they were running from the police/

chase them away

have been stuck
upsidedown
contentment with a snap of the fingers?
but fingers require energy to snap
so I'd rather just watch
my fingers
unsnapped
and think about how great
snapped fingers sound
when they are snapped.

Interview on Monday

Went well. We'll see about me fulltiming it up.

Deathnote, Sopranos, Heros, and Lost

Somehow managed.......................to forget deathnote #6 and #7 @ school. Thought about driving to collect thrm, but didn't wanna go and find the school locked up. Idioto!!

However, what of deathnote #5, which I'm just about finished? Well, quite frankly, not as good as its precursors. The first four were centralised around he showdown betwixt Light and L. I have a feeling that they took that confrontation as far as it could go, and now they have totally totally and totally changed the dynamic. That deep excitement of the beginnings has now changed into soomethig else.

It reminds me of what Big John once said about Sopranos. That first season, and even a little later, the show changed from the original story to a more drawn out "What are they doing now?" type deal (Gunners theory- he should explain it in full, as I'm sure i'm doing it less than its just...). And I can't apply this thoery to Death note 's later issues- locked up in school.

Which brings us to Heros and Lost. Again, that noticable loss of whatever in the second season of both telly programs. I love both, and I'm not gonna claim 'holier than thou' status since I came upon both halfway through their first season- but I had taped a lot of the shows ans got healthy doses of heavy repeats, so by the 2/3 sopt of these shows rookie years, they both were driving me NUTS!! Especially Lost, but hero's fucking rules OK as well.

They have been tepidized it seems, but Lost - I think- has broken out of the rut. That first season was one mind blowing episode after another. Each one an incredible unveloping of......I dunno, but I loved it. The pentumilate show that first season had such a shocking and wonderful ending, it could only be topped by the actual ending of the season ending two hour show. And fucking hell it that ending wasn't......................Ok, I'll use mind blowing yet again. So good.

Second season opened up with a great and shocking episode every bit as good as the first season.......but that was it. The whole season, like the '86 Bears, the '99 Fire, or the '06 Sox, was just missing.............. something. Then season three- I just stayed outtta loyality, as it rarely kept muy interest....................until...................well, first this: before the final episode of that thirdt season, the people @ Lost did somethig that was a genius move: they announce that Lost was gonna be finate: three more seasons, and that's it. It was a great move, because it tells us all that it will end and no sharks- hopefully- will be jumping and also assures the writers and actors and all that that they will get to leave and explore other options/roles.

But most importantly= those last two or three minutes of the season #3 ender = oh, they are so smart, so damn smart, and if I think they will carry all the way through and-- well, change the dynamic -- and that's all rite. This is my slite post from the finale. Clever me.

So, Lost is starting again, and hoefully its good. three more years, like 51 more episodes. Hopefully it'll be written up good. It'd be nice. Now, lets hope Heros can buff up again as well.

Horror and other: a recitation of Fridays events that ended in a real horrifying scene.

SCHOOL

Spent a hectic days racing all around the school getting things done. Many disasters, many things rite. In addition to all else, I had to get the classes ready for a substitute for the substitute (me) because I'm finally taking a day off this year- but w/ good reason: an interview !! One of the few times I was in the lib. this week and a school called w/ these happy tidings. I have it Monday. I have been interviewd/turned down before, but that was before I had any experience. And yes, I will calm myself for the interview and not act excited. We'll see.

BASKETBALL!!!

Then: I've mentioned my schools BB team is pretty good, so I have made a point of checking them out. Frdays game was supposed to be a big showdown w/ the other good team in the conference, but when I got there @ the half, it was us up by 25 or so. One could see the other team was good, but as another teacher watching said: "hey- it's a just a game the other team came out flat." I noticed today that #6 Farragut is hosting #2 Marshall on Tuesday......Hmmmmmmmm. I'm going !!!

TIP AND RUN RAIDS

In World War One the German Navy, called the ' High Seas Fleet ', was bottled up by the Royal Navy's ' Grand Fleet ' from ever getting out of the North Sea and into the High Seas by the 'Grand Fleet's being based way north of even Scotland in the anchorage of Scapa Flow. However, the Germans realized that although their enemy's choice of base declined them an easy chance to breakout into the ocean, it also disallows the Grand Fleet from reacting in time to German shelling missions of English coastal towns along the North Sea. The Germans would send their fast capital ships, called battle cruisers, and shell these coastal towns fierce and then split up out of there before any of the English heavies could show up to counter them.

In much the same way, I weighed anchor, sped north, raked the Russian coast rightfully, then tipped south again. One of my favourite signals in wartime history came to mind regarding my performance of this seemingly necessary but also very ravagening task. In one of the battles where the English were finally able to catch up with the Germans (( it happened only two or three or four times, and shells were savegely exchanged only twice - I think- between capital ships - Dogger Bank and Jutland )), the older Invincible needed to keep up with the rest of it's fleet. As the English fleet pushed their speed up knot by knot in the chase and Invincible's stokers kept pace shovelfull of coal after shovel full of coal into the burners (think the engine room scences in "Titanic"), Admiral Beatty hoisted "Well steamed Invincible" flags on the lanyards. I must amit, the greatest signal in wartime history for me is still Jutlands "Fleet action is imminent" : I mean come on, how could anybody top that shit??? Fleet action is imminant??? Fuck, man! And especially if you knew the deep context embodied in this message that was shatteringly exciting when it was recieved. But, on that, we wait till the the Jutland post. Sorry, but to quote Mick and Keith : "Call me Lazy Bones".............. (Of interest...). However, to repeat, the point of all this history is my own little tip and run culled my own accolades of "Well steamed Strasser" signals gone mad.

LANIGANS

Gf came over, we watched a bit of politics on channel 11 and then a tapes of last nite's Betty la Fea program on the telly. Ate. Enjoyed. Then we went to lannies for a few. Very late we left- 11.30 and after we arrived. lots and lots of regulars. The Walkers. Army Medixx. Used to be a Long Hair. J.D. who calls me "Woods". Murphy's and Soaps. And Cyclops and one of his girlfriends. Been a few weeks since the last disaster being out w/ them. Didn't know they were up there, but the results the same. Evuh?

DISASTER

But the real disaster happened when we fixed outta there. We'd parked rite outside the place, and as we were getting into the car on 111th, there was a car crash on Kedzie, a perpindicular street only a half block away. It took awhile for us to get into the car and started and belted and ready to go, but there must have been 5 squads there in those 2-3m. Lanigans is rite across from a fire station, so some guy in those 2-3m ran to it chased by an unmarked car- they thought he was guilty of something, but he was just trying to get the paramedics out there quickly. Cops realised that. We then went by the scence, and I gotta tell you it was a terror. There was two motionless bodies strewn in the street- it was freezing, and these two were in t shirts and...............they had to be dead. there was a mini van on its side, and another car had damage. I have a feeling that cops mita been chasing somebody. I don't know. It was horrible, but............drive safely.

From the Joker

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Interesting

I don't know why (well, i signed up) but I am on a magnetic Fields listserve. Pretty kool, and very active now that they are lping/touring these days. However, on the list serve, there was this interesting story:

Written by P.L. : Not written by HILTS:

while smoking a cig outside of a favorite piano bar in the west
village of manhattan tonight, I happened to be standing next to the
door when Stephin Merritt approached and made to enter.  Now - anyone
in their right sober mind who has read any interview with Mr. Merritt
would know to keep quiet and feign lack of recognition.  But I, being
knackered off of several bouts of whiskey, took it upon myself to geek
out all over the man.  My drunken extensions were received awkwardly
and with a cool disdain.  And moments later when he saw me reenter the
bar and attempt to order another drink, up and left his glass mostly
filled.  I can say with stark certainty that I was probably the only
person there to recognize him, and had I kept my big yap shut he may
very well have sat through the current Sound of Music run and enjoyed
his liquor.  Hindsight...

and then there is the listserves attempts to get something or else on Wiki about the Fields. They wanted a catchy name for it and suggested a toss off line from one of the songs. I suggested "Flying saucers landing" from the perfect line from the perfect song called "Strange Powers" (my first 'favourite' mf song) . The song is about newfound love, and the lines are something like "When we kiss it feels / like a flying saucer landing". Ah, kissing!!

Bolo

What a strange dog this one is. I guess they all are. His favourite is my sister. But he generally spends all of his day w/ mom while we are @ school (she is a teacher as well). So, when Sister.4 and I are leaving for work, he sulks in the upstairs watching us go. No amount of "Bolo !! Bolo!! " will get him to even raise his head to see us go.

It's also interesting to see where he sleeps. The last few months he generally sleeps in my room @ the foot of the bed. It's too small, and he likes to sleep rite on you so when he's on the bed it's not comfortable. However, in the morning, sometimes he climbs into bed and I'm too asleep or tired to notice until I wake.

He also takes forever to wake in the morning. He's on millions of medicines so he used to have very active kidney's - so we got into the abit of getting him to take care of that when we were up. however, he's like a HS kid trying to get him up in the morning.

And then there is the barking. A shadow passes, and homedog races to reach new heights in vocal demonstrations. It's irritating. But what is even worse, it's hard for anyone to leave the house as well- he doesn't like to see his 'family' go (like, when the kids are over) and he nips @ the ankles to keep them here.

So, he does get yelled @ a lot. More on him later in another post. Strange dog.

Death Note's on

Read just a little of DN #5- I'm saving it and 6 &7 for the weekend. I will not see the movie or tv show until this is all over. It was hard, but last nite I decided to finish the bits of m-t-w's NYT that I hadn't= and will save the rest of the DN's for the weekend.

Excuse me+ I'm going to the lib to see if I can';t get #8 held for me= if it's in.

Downtown Blue Island

Was an easy off work work day- spent an hour or so grading, but to-morrow is more or less set, so last nite was kinda easy. Gf and I went to an italin place in downtown Blue Island - no , I forgot my camera and kicked myself 'cause d-town B.I. is one of those charming little city centers I like so much. Yes, it was a 1/2 pricer, and we'd been their before. We like the place. Ate a pasta plate that was excellent. But because I have the stomach of a bird, I ate but a bit and packaged the rest. Gf and I like B.I., scruuby little town that it is, because a number of our early dates were there.

When I woke up in the mooooorrrrrrnin'/ feeling sweat/ pruney skin now. Every few weeks I'm free fallin', and that nite always brings the sweats and chills. Very strange.

I had a dream

Last nite. disturbing and sad. No I won't tell you about it.....or anyone......I know what this was telling me, but how am i supposed to react to it?

Sad Dream.