On February…

Another month is in the history books. I must say, for as hopeful as I was for the page to turn from December 2009 to January 2010 I was equally disappointed with the way January 2010 kicked me in the nuts, not once, but on multiple occasions.

Finally, A Chance To Give You A Real Heads Up
On Saturday I had the opportunity to see a sneak-peek at the first play of the season to be held at Horizon Theatre. About fifty or so people attended a behind-the-scenes question-and-answer session as well as a mini-performance of one of the play’s scenes. Also in attendance were hashers “Wisecracker” and “Dr. Crotch Rot”, the former of which has apparently helped out with set production at Horizon in the past.

I know that I’ve mentioned this before, but why am I, a man of forty-four, one of the youngest people attending plays? This makes no sense to me.

The opening play will be “Shooting Star,” the chance encounter at an airport during a snow storm of two former lovers who’ve not seen each other in over twenty-five years. I loved the scene which was performed for us and I’m really looking forward to seeing the entire performance later this month (February 12th to be exact).

One Day Of Missed Opportunities, One Day of Capitalized Opportunities
At the sneak-peek there was free food for those in attendance. I passed on this as I had plans to meet Maigh and her man at the bar formerly known as “The Grange,” which is now called The Marlay. During the play I also received a text message from ITP-Reader Betsy looking for someone with whom to have dinner, but I passed since I had previous plans. When Maigh informed me that she was leaving The Marlay because her man was ill, I attempted to revise my plans to meet Betsy. Unfortunately, she also fell ill, so I spent the night at home eating dinner alone.

On Sunday I met up with Betsy and ITP-Reader Tony for a wonderful lunch at Mi Barrio near Cabbagetown. With the day being cold and the Black Sheep Hash starting in Cartersville I decided to do laundry instead of running the hash in preparation for my busy week. My decision to skip the hash this week also allowed my to meet up for dinner at ITP-Reader Dean’s house along with ITP-Readers Bob and Laura (and their son, who I’m sure will start reading this space once he can read).

ITP Flickr Pic
Your humble writer…

I accidentally shot this using my MacBook at work the other day. Who knew that I’d actually use it in the blog? (note to self: take the camera out its motherfucking bag every once in a while!)

On Writing
I’ve just finished listening to Stephen King read his book “On Writing.” I thorough enjoyed the eight-hour listen, especially since it is read by King. The book chronicled much of King’s early life, moved in to his writing habits, and then gives a first-person account of his getting nearly killed by a van in Maine, while half-way done with writing “On Writing,” and the efforts it took to recover from this.

While now over tens years since its completion the book holds up and is a great way to spend a day for anyone who engages in creative arts — writing, painting, photographing, etc.

I’m Going To The Super Bowl _Party
I’m continuing my “Get Back In Touch With My Past” campaign by attending a Super Bowl Party being thrown by my friends Tom and Danielle who I’ve not seen in about ten years. This is the group of friends that are probably best described as “pre-hashing” and “pre-East Atlanta.”

When I moved to Atlanta in 1995 one of the things I tried to do was to meet women by playing co-ed sports. Through “Atlanta Sports & Social Club” and “Atlanta Club Sport” I met a great bunch of people. To their credit nearly all of them met their current spouses through club sports and if you’ve been paying any attention to this blog, you know I did not.

In fact, it was Tom’s engagement to Danielle which led me to East Atlanta. For about a eighteen months I rented a room from Tom, and lived in his house with another one of his college roommates Eric. This was my post-Domnique period when I thought having some buddies around would be a good thing. Little did I know that Tom and Eric would both become involved in relationships and I’d rarely see them, thus having the house mostly to myself. When Tom and Danielle got engaged the house went up for sale and I was forced to seek a new residence, which is the current house with which I do battle daily. My move was the only one in town, as all of the other friends in this crowd scattered to Marietta, Dunwoody, and Woodstock. That physical distance, along with the distance created being the only single (and now currently only non-parent) and my discovery of hashing led to the ten-year separation.

It’s going to a little weird for me to return to this group after such a long time. I’ve had occasion in the past, but the timing never worked out.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – frustrated
Current Music – listening to last weekend’s “Sound Opinions” podcast, though I can see myself skipping most of this episode
Website Of The Day – If you just watched the Grammys and need to know the lyrics to some song you’d never heard of before then check out Lyrics Mode.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – 201 pounds (damn, that sucks)
Pages Of 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die Read – 48

Monthly
Foot Mileage – 0 miles, Wheel Mileage – 0 miles
Pushups – 0, Situps – 0
Consecutive Days Of Bed-Making (Longest Streak) – 1 (1)
Vegetarian Days – 0, Carnivorous Days – 0
Marta Rides – 0

February Goals
– Not get fired from my job

2010 Goals
– Reduce my weight to 185 pounds (starting weight was 198 pounds)
– Completely read the book 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die
РEarn at least $150 through photography sales in order to cover the cost for the renewal of the Jalape̱o Beach SmugMug account I opened the other day.
– Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
– Attend at least one professional photography workshop
– Enter no fewer than three photographic competitions / gallery showings
– Get the Black Sheep stats out of Excel and online
– Ride in no fewer than two 50 mile or 50K bike rides

The Unmeasurable
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– Become a proficient programmer in PHP and CSS
– Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]