Ready for the weekend...

I am about to head home from a grueling hour at the office. I checked in last night around 2:20 after the RRB show. I know I say it everytime I see them, but I LOVE them.

The night started off at Tom's Daiquiri Place for a few drinks before heading down the street to Wild West. Geoff and Randy both stopped in for a drink, too. We decided to head to WW just before 11. After deciding not to fight the crowd, we headed upstairs to the balcony overlooking the stage. I've only watched two shows from this vantage point. It takes some getting used to, but it beats having beer spilled on you or being pushed around. Randy was in a good mood, and the crowd was eating up everything he said. I'm still amazed at how much the crowd grows from one trip to the next. School is still out and they packed the place.

Talking with Randy afterwards, he reminded me why I like them so much. They are grateful for everything. He did tell me that his "spoiled ass" was taking the bus on the acoustic run he has coming up with Wade, and that he's kinda freaked out about the shows. He's concerned about playing an acoustic set, since it's been awhile. I told him to just open up at the Granada with "I love beer" and he'd win the crowd over, he thought that was hilarious. I can't wait to see the show when he and Wade are back in town, Wednesday night. I have secured my place at the Blue Light thanks to the fantastic duo of David and Brandon. No advance ticket sales, so I can't imagine the mess that awaits everyone when they get there...

Off to DFW this weekend...emphasis on the FW. I think I'm ditching EYB and finding my way to the WE. I may be a little late getting there, but I don't think I'll be able to bear missing Mike McClure.

sleep-deprived

This week has been a whirlwind. I have not been to bed before 2:30 this week, and it shows. I know tonight will likely be another marathon, since it's Chris' last night in town. I have to catch a few minutes sleep before we go out (and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia).

I am not drinking anything besides one daiquiri at the blue light...not enough peer pressure in the universe to change that. I'm more than happy to chauffeur Chris, Manuel and whoever else ends up going out tonight. I just got notice from the DA that I have cases that were set for this afternoon bumped to tomorrow morning at 8:30. Fun!

We had a surprise going away dinner for Chris last night. I feel really bad about this, but I slept through the first hour, hahaha. I could not stay awake. How awful is that? I rallied and drank more than I should have. The last straw was when I took a vanilla vodka shot (not recommended). However, I didn't stoop to doing a shot of mustard like others in attendance.

I'm looking forward to next week and leaving to Ft. Worth/Dallas...and sleeping in this weekend.

L-A-Z-Y weekend

The weekend started off with the birth of Ella Brittain. She was due a few days earlier in the week, but I hear Jamie was a trooper and both she and Ellie B are doing fine. I'm already planning my next trip up to see them.

I ended up going to a fantastic Reckless Kelly show in Amarillo. Again, I'll never figure that town out. There was absolutely NO crowd. The people that were there, were sitting and talking with each other. I found myself with Caitlin and a few of her friends. These girls wear me out. They are very sweet and funny, but they insist on dancing the entire RK set, at center stage. I don't know what the deal was with the A/C, but it could not have been functioning properly. I really think one of the girls was about to pass out during Sixgun. The drive made Saturday morning rough.

I had a birthday party to go to Saturday evening. It was fun, I got to see the sister of one of my best friends from high school. He and his partner just recently moved into a house in Rawlins Square, and seem to be doing really well. We only see each other 2 or 3 times a year now, but talk all the time. He is smart and funny, but a total hypochondriac. We used to tease him all the time in high school about it...

Also at the party, my cousin, Alice, told us she was starting a part-time job in the CVS photolab. This is funny for a few reasons. First, she has a full-time job in the financial department of an office in Lubbock. Second, she applied solely for the reason that the girl working in the lab was rude to her. She noticed that there was a sign posted that the lab was hiring and applied as a joke. They called her 2 days later wanting to know when she could start. Third, she has her own photography studio on the second story of her house. She is excited, though, about the prospect of wearing a lab coat to work. HAHAHA

It's Chris' last weekend in town and I somehow got wrangled into going to Wild West last night. It was alright... I did find out Randy will be in town next week, from one of the guys working there. So, silver lining...

No $5 daiquiris...

The plan was to hit the Blue Light tonight for Chris Knight's cd release party and grab some $5 jumbo daiquiris (cherry, yum). That went out the window when I woke up from my 'nap' at 9:45. I'm sure the show is just under way...and I'll hear from David how great it was.

This morning, I had to drive out to Yoakum County to enter an order. I am usually pretty good at finding my way someplace. I rarely get turned around or freaked out because I have no earthly idea where I am. This morning I had a slight freak out episode. I didn't want to be late, so I left home an hour and twenty minutes before the hearing. The drive is about 55 minutes. This way, I'd have time to go over the details with the DA, talk and discuss the order and concessions with my client and not have to rush through everything. Yeah, I got there at 9:25 a.m. No idea, maybe I entered the twilight zone on the way.

Then, on the way back to the office, I somehow took a completely different route home (and made much better time). I was wiped out by noon.

So now, I sit here in my room drinking some concoction Chris made. It has merlot, amaretto and I guess sour mix. I'm not a fan of the merlot, but it'll do.

Here's one of my favorites from Toad the Wet Sprocket , I Will Not Take These Things for Granted:

One part of me just wants to tell you everything
one part just needs the quiet
and if I'm lonely here, I'm lonely here
and on the telephone
you offer reassurance

I will not take these things for granted

How can I hold the part of me that only you can carry
it needs a strength I haven't found
but if it's frightening, I'll bear the cold
and on the telephone
you offer warm asylum

I'm listening
flowers in the garden
laughter in the hall
children in the park
I will not take these things for granted
anymore

To crawl inside the wire and feel something near me
to feel this accepting
that it is lonely here, but not alone
and on the telephone
you offer visions dancing

I'm listening
music in the bedroom
laughter in the hall
dive into the ocean
singing by the fire
running through the forest
and standing in the wind
in rolling canyons

I will not take these things for granted

Slight change

And just six minutes later, I'm laughing my ass off at Chappelle's Show: The Lost Episodes.

My favorite part, so far: I'm broke, bitch! hahaha

I don't understand...

While flipping through the channels tonight between reruns of Veronica Mars and Gilmore Girls, I got caught up in Wideangle on PBS. This episode was called 18 with a Bullet, referencing the 18 gang. It was an exposé of sorts of gang life in Central America (principally El Salvador).

One of the guys featured was in the midst of a downward spiral due to his involvement with the gang and crack use. It was horrible to watch the story unfold. He lost his family, his 'friends' and his home. It's a bizarre thing to watch the members of the gang chastise one of their own for throwing his life away smoking crack, when all I could think was, wake up and look at what you're all doing to yourselves.

They referred to the prison as 'school' or some sort of rite of passage. That kills me, I see people like this all the time at work or in the courtroom at docket call. At 19 or 20, some of them are content to stay on the same path that led them to the courtroom.

What a pointless existence to live with an 'us or them' mentality. One of them questioned what his fate would be upon his death, heaven or hell. He thought he'd wind up in hell, but it didn't phase him because the 'war' would rage on.

Looking for Lloyd?

I ran across a post on Kwaya Na Kisser that made me laugh. Sometime last year (or was it the year before last?), I read Chuck Klosterman's Sex, Drugs & Cocoa Puffs. It's basically a cultural studies book that covers everything from MTV's Real World to movies from the eighties, and beyond.

Klosterman theorizes that every girl of a certain age is waiting around for Lloyd Dobler from Say Anything (or hoping that Cusack himself is Lloyd Dobler...the rest is just acting). I guess in a way, it's true. This was the post from KNK regarding Peter Gabriel's In Your Eyes:

Three words: Lloyd Dobler, boom-box, the rest is history. If you have not seen Say Anything, please, dear God...don't rent it. Buy it! You will not regret it. Then you will understand why this song, still, to this day sends John Cusack' fan's hearts a-fluttering. *sigh* Aren't we all still holding out for our own Lloyd Dobler? I did have a guy try to play this for me one time, but I barely knew him and it ended up being really creepy instead of romantic. So guys, I know you think you're special if you do this for the girl you love...but leave this song to Lloyd Dobler. Women everywhere will thank you.