Errands

On the way home from a great day at work (sunny, high 70's, 3 units signed off) I made three stops:

1. Barnes & Noble - for a new journal.
2. Ocean State Job Lot - for some super-cheap canvases, paint brushes and acrylics.
3. Michale's for three big tubes of acrylics ($3.99 each, except for the cadmium red, which was $0.79!).

Sweet.

Hurricane Irene

• Just a lot of rain, and a bit of wind filled today's grey day due to Hurricane Irene (downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it reached Massachusetts).
• TV was Friday's latest "Thundercats" and a lot of Bianca de la Garza talking about the weather.
• I also read the amazingly perfect for kids of all ages "Marineman" comic book series. I need to get the trade paperback for a few of the kids.
• Mac & Cheese and ground beef for a late lunch.
• ...And I just bought one ticket to see Ivy at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton for Tuesday September 13th!

Repair

I arrived at work today and discovered a major crack in my windshield.

After calling my insurance agency, and then Giant Glass, I had a brand new windshield installed in my car by 2 pm, while I was at work. And it didn't cost me a penny. SWEET!

One Eight Hundred Fifty-Four Giant!

Saturday Night Part 2

We rode over to Joshua Tree in Erik's car and were able to get two seats in the middle of the near end of the bar. I spent the night drinking a beer that was new to me, Lagunitas IPA, which was pretty decent. It's rare for me to come across a bad IPA. We hung out and caught up on stuff (Erik was in a bad mood but didn't really explain why), and I was pretty oblivious to anything going on except how beautiful my favorite bartender's eyes were (as always). After awhile Brian & Erik somehow wound up talking to two attractive & cool local girls, Kara and Tracy. Brian & Kara were instantly 'dumbstruck' into one another, and Tracy & I were getting along swimmingly (talking a lot and flirting without any awkwardness), as Erik talked a bit and mostly seemed to observe. What happened next I still haven't been able to piece together 100%...

One minute I was talking and laughing along with my friends and the ladies, and the next I had some hot little blonde in my lap, kissing me hard and long, completely out of control. Where the heck had she come from? After a bit of that extremely enjoyable, rather perplexing, and somewhat embarrassing activity, the bouncer asked us to take it outside, so I carried her out, and she kept going at me, while I did my best to comprehend my good fortune, as well as tried to stay upright by leaning against a lamp post. The crowd was cheering us on, and I was trying to explain that it wasn't like me to cause such a scene, but the girl smelled SO good, and she was such a kick-ass kisser that I just enjoyed it for a few minutes, occasionally coming up for air to tell her how beautiful she was (what a face!) and ask her "Where did you come from?". I never got an answer. But apparently everyone except Erik got tons of pictures! Sheesh.

(finish later)

Saturday Night Part 1

I just got home from a night out in Boston.

A quick ride on the Red Line, and I sat down next to Jay at the bar at TOAD around 5:45 and snagged a Smuttynose IPA, and after we shot the breeze for a bit Gavin & Lili walked in. We all had one beer together and then headed next door to Christopher's for dinner (we got a table for six), and just as we had ordered beers (I decided to try the Ommegang Rare Vos Amber, which was quite good) & appetizers, Brian & Erik sauntered in. I had a chicken quesadilla and some fried calamari from the group plates (the group got 3 appetizers and shared them), and then my main course was an English Burger (cheddar and bacon) and fries. We all ate and gabbed, and it turns out that Gavin & Lili are indeed engaged, and they bought a 2-family house together (they have tenants too). And Brian has confirmed that Erik's sister Lindsay does indeed exist! We have known Erik for over a decade and none of us has ever met her, or even seen her except in photos. Once dinner was over and our bill was settled we headed back to TOAD to see Abbie Barrett and her band The Last Date perform.

The music is a lot different live & plugged in than it is either on the cd or just Abbie solo acoustic. A lot of the songs were cool jam sessions, and she even had me enjoying the Neil Young (who I cannot stand) covers. I was disappointed that they didn't play "Dying Day", or any other of my favorites from the album (what are the odds?), but it was a good show. I was very surprised that Jay, Gavin & Lili all headed home even before her set ended! So the main part of the evening was over, but the night certainly was not...

I suggested we head over to Joshua Tree, which has become 'our' (Brian's Erik's & my) bar in Davis Square over the last few years. It was the right choice.

Hey Look - Another V42 Day

I didn't have any punch list walk-throughs scheduled for today down in RI so I sat around the house (my cell gets 5 bars here) and decided to make the day count for something, without spending any money.

In between television shows, online games and work responses (people calling me back to schedule their walk-throughs) I did the following:

• Painted in acrylics (add photo later).
• Practiced my guitar for several hours (I began to dust off my skills earlier this week, and this is the 4th day of practice in a row, though to be fair yesterday's was not very long).
• Worked out for the first time in ages. Walking all over Ski Valley yesterday spurred me on to getting back into a routine, especially since autumn is coming and Mountain Quest 2011 should kick off any day now.

So all in all, it was a fantastic day off, and a worthy entry into the V42 Hall of Fame.

An Ignore the World Day

Every once in awhile I enjoy an "Ignore the World" day. I don't interact with any live humans, with the exceptions of: important incoming phone calls; social media updates; and/or the person at the counter of the convenience store (or a delivery guy). Then I proceed to do (or more importantly sometime, not do) whatever I choose.

Here are today's accomplishments:

• I had coffee (Caribou "Obsidian") and frosted shredded wheat for breakfast after I rolled out of bed at the cat's insistence at 9:30.
• I watched an old movie from 1958 called "War of the Colossal Beast", and then the latest episode of the re-imagined "Thundercats".
• I turned on my computer and took my guitar out of its dusty case, and then I called Ma to talk to her about Grammy's quick recovery from yet another heart incident (*phew!*). Then it was online to play games and surf, while Mutemath's first album thumped throughout my bedroom/office.
• Lunch was a big ham steak and half of a large cucumber. I spent some time creating mazes for (and then playing them on) World's Biggest Pac-Man, and looking at all the beautiful women on Model Mayhem.
• At approximately 3:30 I began to resharpen my guitar skills (meager as they are) for the next couple of hours, stopping only to make more coffee, and to play the occasional maze in between chord progressions and song recollections.
• Wow, I practiced until 6 pm! It was a lot of fun, too. I aim to keep it up better than I have in the recent (last 6 months) past. 
• Supper was a ½ pound of ground beef mixed into angel hair pasta & Ragu. I listened to an old trance cd (Trance Global Nation 5) and Thievery Corporation's The Mirror Conspiracy. The one thing that I wanted to do today that I did not do was work out. Oh well... It was a great day (it's 11:30 pm now).

Every Day Is Unique

I got up at 8:30 when Sarah called, and I spent the day watching three of her four awesome kids (my nephew Hayden and his younger twin sisters Helena and Georgia).

We sat around doing various things (PS3, computer, reading, etc...) and then went to the my comic shop to look around (them), overhaul a subscription service (me) and buy some comics (all of us except Hayden). Then it was off to surprise my brother and his wife & kids with ice cream and sugar cones. Alas, after the drive over the river and through the woods, we arrived to find them not at home (a true rarity). So we drove back home and made ice cream cones for ourselves. The afternoon passed lazily. Georgia went upstairs to read and she fell asleep in her bed for several hours. Helena played various games on the computer after reading her comic (Disney tales) on the porch for awhile. I read most of my comics on the porch couch, and when Hayden fell asleep next to me I went inside to read my book for awhile (and wound up nodding off a few times myself). After that Hayden & I played Call of Duty: Black Ops for awhile until their parents got home.

On the way home I food shopped, and then gave Sabrino a 'bonus can' (half a can of cat food) after I unloaded my car. I did a sink full of dishes, and then opened a Magic Hat #9, threw cds by Herbie Nichols and Thievery Corporation into my stereo, and here I sit...

New Tech

...And here is the phone I got to replace it. Upgrades include a camera (I've never had a camera phone), and better web browsing. Plus, it's not red! It'll take some time to adjust to the new color and ring tone, but I think it'll turn out to be $130 well-spent, especially since my last Samsung phone was so reliable.

Old Tech

My Samsung t209 cell phone, which has served me admirably for over half a decade has finally rung for its final time... I'll be upgrading later today.

New Old Gig

I have a new gig in Rhode Island for the month of August. It's a new task at the site of my springtime gig, and it is laden with bonuses. I'll be able to live like a human again, above subsistence level. Good coffee, needed items and a few new books await!

Industriousness

I spent the day tearing down my bedroom/office and cleaning it top to bottom. Dust-free and rearranged, it now has a lighter, airier feel to it. And my 5-disc changer/stereo is back in a useful spot, rather than collecting cobwebs in the living room.

Contraction Part 2

In a similar vein to my last post, I have been mulling over the idea of limiting my monthly comic pulls to a much smaller number of titles. I have found that I tend to buy some books based on a loyalty to the character and/or wanting to see a 'little' book succeed, rather than take into account how much repeat enjoyment I may get from the book over the long haul. I think it would be best for my long term financial success (without sacrificing my lifelong hobby completely) if I were to keep my comics budget below the forty dollar mark going forward. So along these lines I have decided a few things:

• Once the Nick Fury - led Secret Warriors ends, I am washing my hands of Marvel Comics for the foreseeable future. The X-teams have been a mess for the last five years, and the Avengers titles have been as well. Unless Iceman gets some serious positive exposure in an X-book and/or the Avengers get back to basics (sans-Wolverine, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, et al), this once-proud company has seen the last of my dollars.

• I can't go all 'spazzboy' on the DC relaunch. I would like to get twelve of the new titles, but I think I am going to make myself keep it to eight: Legion of Super-Heroes, Legion Lost, Aquaman, The Savage Hawkman, DC Universe Presents, All-Star Western, Mister Terrific and Nightwing.

• Vertigo: I am going to continue with House of Mystery and The Unwritten, but alas, the 'going nowhere fast' iZombie is getting the axe.

Contraction

I've been collecting comics since I was ten years old. From time to time I sell off a small pile of them to either pay a bill, or trade some of them in for newer comics. I think now is a great time to "weed out the unfit", so to speak, and make their footprint in my living space a great deal smaller. I have around twenty longboxes (which hold several hundred comics each) and ten (or so) half-boxes, and a lot of them are full of issues I'll probably never read again.

I am compiling several lists: "Keepers", "Kids" (to be distributed between my ten nieces & nephews), and "Revenue" (the ones I no longer wish to keep, and will attempt to make some money off of them by selling them).

KEEPERS (in no particular order):

• Legion of Super-Heroes (original team and 'retroboot')
• Nightwing
• JLA
• JSA
• Starman (Jack Knight)
• Avengers
• West Coast Avengers
• New Mutants
• Conan
• Astro City
• What If?/Elseworlds (and other 'alternate universe' titles)
• Savage Dragon
• Green Lantern
• Hawkman
• Aquaman

I will amend this list from time to time, and share which titles wound up going to the kids.