They say that two out of three ain’t bad. Therefore, one out of three must be. Even worse, I’ve come to the conclusion that I am very lonely (okay, I already knew this) and have completely forgotten how to have fun.
Today is the end of April — a month which has been far from fun for me.
A quick question. Do you remember the number of days in a month based on your knuckles and spaces, or a saying you learned as a child?
Yesterday’s Daily Challenge
Work on a jigsaw or crossword puzzle, word find, or Sudoku for at least 5 minutes.
Puzzles are the mental equivalent of physical gymnastics! They provide a workout for your brain that may help lower the risk of memory loss and dementia. Activities that stimulate the brain – like puzzles, for example – also help strengthen brain cells and the connections between them. This in turn can boost your brainpower.
Seriously, sometimes I think these people are watching me…
Yes
On Friday night I had a difficult time finding parking for the Trampled By Turtles show at Variety Playhouse. The show was very crowded. After the opening act I moved away from a part of the crowd who couldn’t keep their mouths closed while the opening act played. Seriously people, maybe it’s just because I am almost always alone, but some of us actually go to concerts to listen to the music. Convinced things would be better up in the pit I moved to the front and conveniently landed right next to a young lady to whom I was attracted. However she never gave me even a single glance as she moved up to talk to the married guy that was standing in front of me; not that either she nor he needed my defense, but he did appear to be part of a group with whom she was connected. After two Trampled By Turtles songs standing among more people who couldn’t keep from talking, and getting elbowed in the back of the head, I decided to move again.
At this point I was convinced that I hated people and no longer belong in Society.
I stood in the back of the crowd for awhile, feeling slightly better about things when all of a sudden I felt a man’s hand on my back.
A side note: Since the surgery I’ve become far more conscious about people touching my back. While things are much better with my back and I no longer have embarrassing humps, I’m still not completely healed and have a fear of people getting freaked out by any wetness which is accumulating on my back.
This man’s touch was constant and when I turned my head with a “What the fuck?” look on my face he stared into my face and said “JOSH!” to which I said “Nope, not Josh.” He apologized and didn’t touch me again.
I wound up watching most of the concert from the back of the theatre before giving up and heading home.
ITP Flickr Pic
I spent some time in Atlanta’s John Howell Park on Saturday. While walking back to my car I noticed these address markers, which I can only assume mark the places which used to be residences prior to the park’s creation.
No
I was fairly worn out by the time concert time arrived on Saturday night. I had tried to relax all day by sitting in a coffee shop, and sitting doing a crossword puzzle in a small park, and by having a beer at Taco Mac in the Highlands before getting a haircut, but none of that seemed to help my attitude.
After the difficulty of finding parking on Friday night I couldn’t imagine how bad things were going to be on Saturday night after a long day of traffic associated with the Inman Park Festival. The fresh memory of Friday night’s crowd combined with the fact that I saw Gomez last month (with Hey Rosetta! opening) in Asheville seemed to lessen the pain of skipping this show. Furthering my decision to skip Saturday’s show was the knowledge that I’d have to wake early Sunday morning to go into the office.
No
With a belly full of pumpkin pancakes from The Original Pancake House I drove up to the office and worked from about 10:00am-4:00pm yesterday. I decided to leave at 4:00pm because I had a car load of dirty laundry in the Jackmobile which needed my attention and I didn’t want to have to push things time-wise before the Dick Dale show.
I declare that the “Terrorists” have won, except the Atlanta terrorists of which I speak are not the ones that immediately spring to mind when that term is bandied about. In the past few days I’ve read of three armed robberies in areas in and around East Atlanta. Each have had a similar MO — young males of a certain race have preyed upon up single guys at gunpoint. In two of the cases the guy was carjacked and in the third there might have been a carjacking involved if the guy had a car. In two of the cases the crime was committed at night and one was committed at 4:00pm on Saturday afternoon.
Fucking thugs have already convinced me never again to walk up to the East Atlanta Village to go to the bars and shows. Now I drive the four-to-five blocks to the village and because I couldn’t find parking last night I wound up missing the Dick Dale show at The EARL. Fuckers.
Not Again For A While
This weekend’s misses have convinced me to drop out (mostly referring to the concert scene) for a while. I’m tired of Atlanta. I’m tired of Atlanta’s rude crowds. I’m tired of the crime. I’m tired of feeling like an outsider. I’m tired of feeling like an old man playing a young person’s game. I’m tired. I’m tired. I’m tired.
I need a goddamn vacation or to move somewhere far, far away.
Maybe things will be different on Thursday night when I head over to Decatur’s The Marlay house for my friend Maigh’s Tweetup Reunion.
Maybe
I’m still not convinced that my long hours at work are behind me. Things didn’t go very smoothly yesterday and I still have some critical issues which need to be tackled this week. I know that I shan’t be working late hours on Thursday and I am going to try and make sure that yesterday was the last weekend-day that I work in a long, long, time.
Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – drained
Current Music – listening to some podcasts
Website Of The Day – A couple of weeks ago This American Life featured some radio drama performed by The Truth. I’ve subscribed to The Truth’s podcast and am enjoying listening to it — hey, there’s a little bit of fun people haven’t ruined!
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – nothing
Morning Weigh-In – I didn’t weigh in last week
Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~11.9 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Pushups – 0
Situps – 0
Stairs – 0 flights
Days Of Bed-Making – 0
Vegetarian Days – 5
Carnivorous Days – 24
Pancakes Eaten – 6
Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0
Books I’ve Read/Heard In 2012
- Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me — Mindy Kahling
- Flotsametrics and the Floating World: How One Man’s Obsession with Runaway Sneakers and Rubber Ducks Revolutionized Ocean Science — Curtis Ebbesmeyer
- God, No! — Penn Jillette
April Goals
– Lose at least three pounds (net weight loss)
– Completely recover from my sebaceous cyst surgery
– Exercise for thirty minutes no fewer than twenty days
– Not to get sick for the entire month (may be a moot point as of today)
– Eat vegetarian no fewer than ten days
– Not get fired from my job, nor quit my job
– Follow up with doctors, lawyer, women in whom I have interest
– Go out on a least one date with a woman in whom I have interest
– Watch all of the classes in the 2011 Winter semester of Stanford’s CS193P (iOS Development) course
2012 Goals [will be a little less fluid than last year]
– Get my weight under 200 pounds, or at least whittle myself back down to where wearing a 36″ pant size is comfortable
– Completely read ten books, audio books permissible
– Run Sharpened Stone as a real business
– Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
– Attend at least one professional photography workshop
– Ride in no fewer than five 50 mile or 50K bike rides
– Run in no fewer than one one 10K
– Submit at least one application under the name “Sharpened Stone” to Apple’s iOS store
– Restore the ITP Estate to a condition where it can be put up for sale at any time
– Buy a new iPhone (iPhone 5?), a new iPad (iPad 3?), and MacBook Air [look, not all goals have to be altruistic]
The Unmeasurable
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– Become a proficient and profitable programmer in Objective-C
– Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem
– Eat smaller portions
– Start, and continue, to make my own bread using my bread machine as well as using the technique outlined in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking
– Read and discard magazines during the month in which they arrive (even digitally)
– See more live concerts than I did in 2011
– Eat more pancakes
– Drive/Fly somewhere for a real vacation
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
Well, that’s a bit misfortune. I arrived in the office to find that the bread I brought in with me yesterday, which was purchased last Wednesday night, and looked perfectly fine when I left the office yesterday afternoon, had become spotted with mold overnight. I suppose I could have eaten some — that’s pre-penicilin, right? 🙂
If Debbie and I had known you were in the office yesterday, we’d have called you for a late lunch/early dinner. We had attempted to make it to Roswell for a visitation for a friends father who passed away, but were foiled by screwball traffic through downtown. We finally called it lost cause and sought out a meal in the Perimeter Mall area. Some upscale Italian joint,, Boca something.
We had a great time at the Rolex 3 Day Event in Lexington. Like me and bike racing, Debbie appreciates it on a whole different level than I do, but I had a lot of fun being “Farley’s dad” with thousands petting him and taking pictures. And there were some horses, besides the Farls.
Look for upcoming news about the JEFDSDR Summer Slacker Series!!
Off to the actual funeral now.
-FP
Well, I wasn’t trying to be at work yesterday…
Glad to hear you had a good time on your journey. Any difficulties with the hotel and Farley’s size?
Hmm, I also forgot to mention that I nearly saw a young dog get an early entrance into Doggie Heaven this morning. On my commute on Highland near Boulevard a young hound, unleashed, darted across Highland when one of its owners crossed to its side of the street. The dog all-but ran into the front/side of a BMW ahead of me. I stopped immediately (and actually closed my eyes). Luckily the dog wasn’t swift enough to find the front of the car. The dog then darted back to the sidewalk like a squirrel, but then dashed in front of the Jackmobile. Luckily for all involved I hadn’t moved since the dog’s initial attempt to cross the road.
Erg! Not many things make me more mad than dogs off leash (especially in a busy area). I saw no less than 3 different dogs off leash, Sunday morning at Grant Park.
Glad you had fun in KY, Steve. I spend Saturday in Athens. Sarah T. and I got there in plenty of time for the 5k run and the bike ride. The weather was twichy! It got pretty hot during the 5k, then it got really windy and overcast (I thought it was going to storm) just as the ride started. I was already making plans to bail if it started to rain. It didn’t, it got HOT, I mean HOT, Sarah’s computer had us in the 90s for the last half of the ride. In case anyone missed my FB post…I got ‘a little’ sun also. But I did it, I can now check 100k bike ride off my to do list.
After our respective runs, we manged a quick trip to the Grant Park Farmer’s Market Sunday but by the time we got there everything was pretty much gone. Then hit Matador for lunch and ended the day with a walk up to Morelli’s for some ice cream.
I got an email about bike Maintenance Night at Mango’s on Wednesday, anyone going? After some of those roads Saturday, my bike could use a little love.
Hmmm, hadn’t heard about Bike Night (normally this information is passed to me by the incredibly-busy-at-the-moment ITP-Reader Barb). I just might head over this week.
Given today’s topic(s) I just made an ironic purchase as one of my many birthday gifts (fear not, it’s not until late July, you still have time to shop). I just purchased two tickets for the Neko Case show at the Atlanta Botanical Garden on Friday, July 20th. It was stupidly optimistic of me to buy two tickets, but what the hell. Shit, I’m not even sure that I’ll be in Atlanta at that time — I might be vacationing elsewhere — which is why I ponied up the extra $1.50 to have the tickets mailed to me. After all taxes and fees, my two $36.50/ticket tickets wound up costing me $86.16(!) — what a fucking racket!
yes- Bike maintenance night is Wed. – I told John that Allan was available that night, so I guess he decided it was happening, but I haven’t even looked at the email. And – we are supposed to bering something that has to do with bearings & Santa Cruz bikes, but I have no idea what that tool is 🙂
Come on over- always a good time, even if your bike doesn’t need to be fixed.
I’m so annoyed here at work, I’m swamped & everyone else seems to have all the time in the world to goof off around me, so if I get extra snarky, don’t be surprised.
Didn’t get a mtn bike ride in Sat. morn with Drew & Michelle, Allan came home after a long, sleepless 48 hr shift very grouchy. I told him he needed a nap, and I ended up falling back asleep again too, waking up at noon & Allan at 1pm. Went to an excellent pool party up in Cumming Saturday afternoon, my friends heated the pool, it was AWESOME to be able to hang out on an April day, like it was the middle of summer.
Did go to Blankets for a mtn bike ride Sunday, it had been a while, I’ve lost most of my bike handling skills. Tsali this weekend is going to be interesting.
If anyone is bored & wants to come camp, we will be at Tumbling Waters from Friday until Monday. 3 nights of camping, I can’t wait to get away from this real world. (Paulie – you could probably use a night or two away) You don’t even have to bike (but you should, I”ll be slower than you), I’m guessing Kat & Eva won’t actually ride.
There is a good possibility that I’ll be there Wednesday night. The only bike maintenance I may require is knocking inches of dust off mine.
There is probably no possibility of me heading to Tsali this weekend. It’s not that I wouldn’t want to, but rather this will definitely be the final weekend before our big trade show and feel I might need to remain contactable. Besides, I’m going to see if I can latch onto ITP-Reader Betsy’s star and attend a block party on May Avenue — it’ll be their Cinco de Mayo block party and Betsy is a friend of one of the people involved.
There has also been discussion about the celebration of ITP-Reader Terri’s birthday this weekend. I’m trying to get into the loop on that too.
See, I don’t necessarily want to become a total recluse…
On another note: I am TAR-Compliant if anyone wants to discuss Fast Forwards, crybabies, The Final Four, head shavings, or what not. 🙂
And one more (TAR) thing….
This Sunday is the two-hour finale of TAR. If anyone wants to gather for a viewing party I’d be up for that (either hosting or attending).
Believe it or not, Farley kind of flew under the radar at the hotel. Our room was next to the stairs, so we just slipped in and out of the side door. It was fun to have him with us, but I don’t think we’ll ever take him again. We couldn’t walk more than 10 feet at a time without being stopped for pets and photo ops so it was a bit difficult to actually watch the horse show.
I’m not paricularly fond of any of the remaining TAR final four and if the whiney green team wins I’m breaking up with the show for good. I suspect it will be between Dave the Dick and his wife and the Border Patrol Blowhards. whoopee.
Very sorry to see the KY boys leave. I wasn’t a fan at first, but their hominess and innocence grew on me after a while.
I don’t have a favorite in who’s left, maybe they could all be eliminated (sort of an variation on the hunger games.)
I’ve decided I like Dave the Dick & the wife that likes to argue back, I really think that is how Allan & I would be if we were on the race. We’d be bickering & shit like that all the time.
I also sort of like the Border Patrol guys.
I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY wish Rachel would have shaved her head…….. I’m with Debbie, fi they win, I”m going to seriously consider not watching again.
Yeah, the KYers sort of grew on me too. Perhaps they knew along that they’d never win they were the only ones who seemed to be taking any joy from the competition — and one of them got a free haircut out of the deal. 😉
And lest we forget that back in the day when I sort of liked the Border Patrollers they gave the KYers half of the money they won on one of the legs.
I am intrigued to find out which team screws up royally next week. CBS makes it sound as if whatever team blunders costs themselves $1M but I have a feeling that is all some clever editing to make us tune in next week.
Rachel’s paying $500 for hair extensions is another reason I’ll never fit in with Society. Perhaps the same could be said about me shelling out money to have my cysts removed…
B-day loop-
Friday night- Midway
Saturday Noon- Midway (for FA Cup Final–it’s footy!)
Sunday- Stinko de Mayo
Monday- Haring Moonlite in East Lake/ Oakhurst/ Kirkwood
Tuesday- Actual Birthday…trivia at the Midway
Lots o’ options. Come have a drink or three…