Oh My Aching Head

Posted on December 12, 2003 by Frog

Don’t you hate it when you wake up with a headache? Why are those headaches worse than other headaches? My head feels like it is going to split open and an alien is going to pop out and start doing a dance down the desk.

We saw Daybreak last night at Ashland Coffee and Tea and they were good. Only 20 or 30 people showed up to hear them play. We paid a $5 cover so I felt really bad for them–so bad that I ponied up the $15 for one of their cds. I figured if they drove from Nashville and didn’t even make hotel money they needed the extra $15. The dobro player was really good and I’d be surprised if he doesn’t have some sort of future in music. As for the rest of the band, I’m not so sure. They are good but I didn’t think they were “super awesome”–a word combo they kept using. Maybe they were having an off night or maybe they were disappointed that only a handful of people showed up.

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Livin’ Large

Posted on December 11, 2003 by Frog

Today I spent some time with my friend who is getting over surgery. We could leave her house today (we didn’t last week–she felt too icky) and had lunch at Ledo’s Pizza. I had the baked Ziti and she got the lasagna. We joked about calling Ziti zit-i and how her MIL says it zit-i instead of zeetee. My friend finally told her MIL that a zit is something on your face.

Then we went to Hallmark and one thing we noticed was there aren’t enough sexy Christmas cards out there–at least not at that particular store. If I wanted a boring card to give to the better-half, I’d just pluck one out of the regular box and hand it over. I resorted to a Fresh Ink card (that has nothing to do with Christmas) and then my friend finally found where they kept the “cool” mainstream Christmas love cards and we found two that didn’t suck. She bought one and I bought the other.

While at the card store we were tortured by hack Christmas music. There are some songs and some singers that should never cross paths. I think we heard every single one of those songs. Ack.

And, since I’m not sick of telling you about our trip to Hallmark, here’s one more tidbit. There are just some people that you want to throttle and there’s nothing wrong in admitting that. There was a group of unrelated women–by unrelated I mean they didn’t come into the store together but found common ground by annoying us–who could not stop knocking over the Christmas bells. I think each of them managed to do it and then they talked about it while they did it again and again and again. Honestly, excuse your klutzy self and move away from the Christmas bells.

And now for something completely different: Tonight we’re meeting folks at Ashland Coffee and Tea to hear this band.

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Please Hire An Editor

Posted on December 10, 2003 by Frog


What does my chimney flue have to do with a health crisis?

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Here’s an Idea

Posted on December 10, 2003 by Frog

Here’s a splendid idea. Bring your kids to work and let them run up and down the hallways so that all the businesses on the floor can listen to them shriek. I find it actually raises productivity. You are doing those businesses a favor.

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Check out my hooks

Posted on December 10, 2003 by Frog

I was teasing the better-half this weekend that half of what he says is lifted from rap songs of the 1980s. He has an amazing memory for old school rap and it frequently comes up in conversation. I’ve picked up on some of that and yesterday when I was rounding up Leon from the out of doors so that I could go to work, I told him to “check out my hooks, while my dj revolves it”. This miraculously got the cat to come in the house. Of course, it could have been the fact that I was gesturing towards the door and walking towards him.

I’ve heard that people who live together too long have a conversational short-hand and ours is firmly embedded in old school rap with some New Wave lyrics thrown into the mix.

With all that said you can imagine my delight on Monday morning when I turned on my cell phone and heard a message telling me to “Holla Back, baby”. Wrong number or no, I was thrilled.

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Earthquake

Posted on December 9, 2003 by Frog

Central Va. experienced an earthquake this afternoon. That’s not something that happens all that often. I remember one as a kid. I didn’t actually feel this one as I was in my car and I guess I was going fast enough that it had no effect.

Here’s another one of those stories that helps keep the Richmond joke in action (the Richmond joke is that we can’t help but talk about the past). On one of the local news channels they reported talking to a resident who told the station that her mother was waxing poetic about an earthquake that happened during the 1940s or 50s. So, an earthquake occured 50 or 60 years ago and we’re still talking about it on the NEWS.

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Virgin Radio

Posted on December 9, 2003 by Frog

I’m listening to “Liquid”-the station on Virgin Radio. Explain to me how Revolution by the Beatles fits into that category? Is it really pop, electronica and new rock? Pop, perhaps, and yes, but isn’t that fudging things? Shouldn’t the Beatles be on Virgin Radio Classic Tracks? And, if that is logical, then why is that station currently playing Oasis?

Now the Beastie Boys are playing…the Beatles and the Beastie Boys side-by-side. It does an eclectic ear good.

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All I Want For Christmas

Posted on December 9, 2003 by Frog

I’ve decided you either love this time of year or you would rather that it fast forward to January. I’m in the January camp. I can’t answer the question “What do you want for Christmas”. I can’t because I don’t want anything. Really. Send me a card. That’s it. Honestly, I’m not holding back. I really don’t want anything. Ok, maybe I want a couple of things and they are:

    For peace and happiness–trite as that may sound, that’s what I really want.
  • Peace: in the old fashioned sense and in the “shut up and leave the bickering and nagging at home” sense
  • Happiness: yours and mine–go forth and find something that makes you happy

The last thing I want is to remember to watch the Charlie Brown Christmas Special on Saturday.

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A Year Ago

Posted on December 9, 2003 by Frog

A year ago today I had a partial thyroidectomy because the right lobe of my thyroid was not responsive to treatment and it was getting so large that my breathing was becoming affected. I’m sure I could have gone another few years before the whole breathing thing got out of control, but my doctor and I discussed and I decided to go ahead and have that lobe removed. It was one of those things that I was going to have to do sooner or later.

I’m amazed and impressed with how well the surgery went aside from the puking (I don’t get along with general anesthesia). I never took any pain medication and after a week I took off the bandages and got on with my life. I had a follow up with the surgeon only because my endocrinologist thought I was retaining too much fluid in the neck area. That all subsided with time and by summer the area was much less tender. Now, I don’t even notice it. The scar has steadily faded and I can no longer make jokes about being in a knife fight.

I will always have to take synthetic thyroid medication but I was going to have to take that with or without the surgery. What I can do now that I couldn’t do before is move my head and neck in any way I want and not feel the need to cough or catch my breath. Clothing resting on my neck doesn’t bother me either. Maybe I’ll finally go back to wearing turtlenecks.

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Recommended Reading

Posted on December 8, 2003 by Frog

I finally finished reading One Man’s Bible by Gao Xingjian. It took me much longer to read than I anticipated. I read his Soul Mountain about a year or two ago and was amazed by the beauty of the writing. One Man’s Bible has that same beautiful writing but the subject matter was more difficult for me. I know practically nothing about China’s history and this book is about Gao’s fictionalized account of living through the Cultural Revolution.

I remember telling the better-half while reading Soul Mountain that I would recommend Soul Mountain but I wasn’t sure if I knew anyone who would stay with the book. Both books use a narrative device that is different from the usual first person or third person point of view. Somehow the writer manages to use all at once and it takes a lot of concentration to read. Which is not to say that I don’t know anyone who has the concentration powers that I do–which is laughable–I have none, but what I mean by that is you have to want to read the novel and not because of the story but because of the writing. I’m sure this makes no sense.

I have read other translated authors and I sometimes find those books hard to read because I feel like the translation is wonky (the cadence of the words is jumbly). I don’t have that feeling with Gao Xingjian’s work. The translator, Mabel Lee, does a wonderful job and she helps retain the artistry of the writing. It is like looking at artwork at the Freer Gallery and being struck by the grace of the art even though many of the pieces in that collection are seemingly simple. The writing in the book is like that: simple words and basic human-condition subjects but every sentence is lifted somewhere higher.

Next on tap, although I rue that it is now fashionable, is to read Ariel by Sylvia Plath and Wintering by Kate Moses. I’ve never read anything by Plath–I’m not sure how I got out of high school or college without having read her. Ariel is the collection of poems she wrote just before her death and Wintering is the fictionalized account of the last months of her life.

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