Monday September 17, 2001 (later)

How to lose you car at the Mall of America

1. Pay no attention to where you came in, it was right by the big American flag.

2. After picking up a wedding present reward yourself with a margarita, a big margarita, skip the food.

3. Eat lots of cheap Chinese food, but make sure to sample it before purchasing.

4. Get a bad haircut. When they try to sell you thickening hair shampoo, jokingly turn it down. "That's okay, I get by on my charm," seems to work. Talk about the economy, tip well.

5. Go out any door and look for your car. When you don't see it, panic. Assume it has been stolen. Then go back in and walk around some more. Then go back out, then back in, out, then talk to an information center.

6. Get to a parking ramp, walk down, give up and find you car.

7. Writ about it on your web site.

Monday September 17, 2001

The State of the Union

A woman glances quickly at an online article entitled "How To Catch a Man: Your Looks are the Bait, but YOU are the Hook," drinks her coffee and notices how wrinkled her ringless hands are getting.

A young man, new in the working world, feels proud of his new blue shirt and Dockers and thst he is on the way to the top. Just then he notices the newspaper headline. It states something about a war and the fact that the Corporate World is crumbling. "Working Your Way to the Top No longer Works," says the small headline as he heads down the hallway to make photocopies of something which he knows nothing about.

Somewhere in Tennessee a first-grader sits in class and wonders for only a second why "The Pledge" is said with a tremble in the teacher's voice, then looks down at her shiny black shoes and pink dress and smiles.

Friday September 14, 2001

The trouble in the world has struck me a little harder than I thought it would. I've still been playing guitar and walking often, but I've stayed in town most of the time. It is really great to see all of the Flags that people are putting up. One person, a guy about my age, was putting up a flag in his window and saw me walking down the street. I smiled at him and he gave me a thumbs up. Together, we will make it through this.

Thursday September 6, 2001

This Friday I will be going to a dinner party, and cocktail party. I thought I should brush up on my etiquette. This site has such clever/humorous lines such as, "Determine what your goals are. Whether you are social or business networking, keep in mind your goal(s) in attending this party." and "Don't get drunk." If only I'd had this information years ago...

Tuesday September 4, 2001

I've spent part of the day looking at a few other personal sites, and I've realised one thing. I've got to do some more work on the look I've got going on here. I like the simplicity, but I've got to ditch that giffed out photo of myself. I'm going to go back to the drawings thing and I'm going to move the contact info to the front page. Also, I'm considering using Blogger again. But Mom, this will have to wait until later, I've got band practice!

Monday, September 3, 2001 (Labor Day)

As of late, I've been having extremely odd craving for food of all sorts. Last night on the way home from a friends house I almost bought a whole cooked chicken. I've seen them in stores hundreds of times, but have never been able to bring myself to buy one. But last night, I came real close. I had the mesquite basted bird in my hands and was trying to not look like I was going to pass out from hunger, when I realized how strange I must have looked. Man with beard, looking like he is about to fall over, with a chicken in his hands. I put the chicken back and got a nicely wrapped Pot-Roast meal. Don't count your chickens, I'll live to eat another day.

Again, I played at the coffeeshop Open Mic Night. There's a little joke that I like to say, "I'm glad you could make it tonight, both of you." It's much funnier when there aren't only two people in the room. Everybody must have been away for Labor Day, the weekend where Americans don't work, but instead work on getting away. I'll live to play another day.

On a side note, I'm really stressed out right now. I've got plenty of things going on these days, the band, my solo work, my work-work, and then there's the whole apartment bills, ISP issues, and then the whole idea that I'm single and starting to lose faith. This could bring itself to long paragraphs that wouldn't really lead anywhere, so instead, I go to bed. I'll live to rhyme another day.

The last time that I had this feeling, you know, the one of impending doom, was when I went back to my old college. Then I went out and got drunk with the people I used to know, then went home with a girl to her cheap apartment outside of town and then made out for a time that was short, uneventful, and boring. Then things got bad.

I spent the rest of the night half sleeping, half having nightmares about the three corporate web sites I had to do in a month, and the fact that I had never really made any web sites before. To top it off I was five miles out of town, out of money, tired as hell, the hangover was creeping up quickly and I was on a couch that was way to small for me and the house smelled of cats. The girl had no license, so she couldn't drive me to town and just as I was flipping through the phone book to find a cab, she decided that she would indeed drive me back to town, license or not.

A short ride, some small talk, and a trip to the gas station later, I bought a Gatorade, drove out of town, and never went back. I'll live to drive another day.

Thursday, August 30, 2001

Tomorrow is the last day of August, and I was just starting to get into the swing of summertime. This summer the weather was really bad, I felt I was just waiting for the time to pass. First it was too cold, then, it was ferociously hot. In the meantime, my computer DSL went down, and I grew a beard. Throw in a couple of nights out, a few movies, and there you have it; What I Did on my Summer Vacation. Except the fact that I worked all summer and didn't really get a vacation. However, things are looking up for the fall.

I'll be going to a wedding, in the Black Mining Hills of South Dakota, I recorded an album of folk songs, and I'm now in a band. Now if only my beard would stop itching...

Sunday, August 12, 2001

As you can see, some things have changed. As you cannot see, many things have changed. I've begun exercising, and surprisingly I've been able to do quite well. I hike or walk seven or more miles a day, most days. I allow myself to skip two days out of the week. This has basically started not just to improve upon my health, but to get me ready for long hiking trips, which I plan to take.

Coincidentally, I had no Internet access for a while, and it really stressed me out. Just walking near my computer, conjured up feelings of frustration and anger. It was about this time that I decided that I should probably do something else for a while. For many years before now, I didn't even have a computer. I played music often, rode my bike, and hung out with friends. I was fairly content but I had to enter the working world. Like a dog who learns to hunt, I learned to make my way in the world and the skills that seemed the most in demand and coolest were those using the words Design, Web, Computers, and HTML. I assumed that my recent Internet outage was fate, and I thought about doing some other things for a while. Hiking came in first, music a close second, and personal relationships a distant third, but gaining. At least that's the way things went this weekend.

I may be a Stereotype, but I prefer the term Icon.

Barn Aid, I could not have asked for a better event to try out my new persona. Greg Brown, one of my favorite musicians, was performing along with several others, whom I had never heard of. This was fine; the quality was as good or better than I expected. I went alone, for it is better to go alone than with an unworthy companion. I think Confucius said that, whoever did, they are dead on.

I had spent the day hiking about ten or so miles, some near Eau Claire at a forest, the rest near Menomonie, on the a river trail. Like I mentioned earlier, I'm not to bad at this hiking thing. Finally the time between the being to early or showing up too late had passed and I was on my way to the festival.

It was as if the entire town knew how special the show was going to be. There was a sheriff at the entrance, and instead of acting like a jerk, he was helpful and asked me if I was there for the event, then gave me directions. I was about fifteen feet from the stage with only a few small children in front of me. I was on my second beer when Greg took the stage.

The sun was heading down and there was an orange glow and excitement in the air. None of the "Thanks for coming," banter was said, he started to play, and man was it smooth. The first selection was a tune of about not being rich in money, but being rich in daughters. I'm not usually the sentimental type, but for a short while I felt my sarcasm leave and felt truly sad and at the same time glorious concerning the fact that I had none. Above other, one line remains lodged in my brain forever, "...If I get a raise, maybe two thousand a year, or even one thousand a year, I'm gonna look into having some more daughters..." The words were sang slowly and in a relaxed way where the effect put forth seemed to be only a small concern, due to the huge reward after the line was said. The speak
worked hard at producing Greg's baritone voice, but the many happy people clapping and cheering at the end of each song rewarded them.

After the first couple songs were sung, some stranger walked up and sat next to me. A little while later, we talked and one of them bought me a beer. There's probably a metaphor in here somewhere, but there was definitely some great music.

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