You Should Know These Words...

For tonight - take a little refresher course over the old Scottish song, Auld Lang Syne. Done't worry...No one knows more than the first verse or so, lol...

Check the sidebar for new MOTM...From RENT 'Happy New Year'.

AULD LANG SYNE

Words adapated from a traditional song
by Rabbie Burns (1759-96)

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?

CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll take a cup of kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!

And surely ye'll be your pint-stowp,
And surely I'll be mine,
And we'll take a cup o kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!

We twa hae run about the braes,
And pou'd the gowans fine,
But we've wander'd monie a weary fit,
Sin auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl'd in the burn
Frae morning sun till dine,
But seas between us braid hae roar'd
Sin auld lang syne.

And there's a hand my trusty fiere,
And gie's a hand o thine,
And we'll tak a right guid-willie waught,
For auld lang syne

Meanings

auld lang syne - times gone by
be - pay for
braes - hills
braid - broad
burn - stream
dine - dinner time
fiere - friend
fit - foot
gowans - daisies
guid-willie waught - goodwill drink
monie - many
morning sun - noon
paidl't - paddled
pint-stowp - pint tankard
pou'd - pulled
twa - two

I Don't Know How

I guess I am not ready to talk about this...

I am just throwing this song out into the cosmos and know that it means something to me.

Milla Jovovich - Gentleman Who Fell

Reaching over
Life to life
Feeling sugared skin
My poor baby
Kissed him so
To
ashamed to lift his chin

A voice is speaking
He’s the prophet
Blinded by the light
A heart is breaking
I can hear it
Dropped when gone beyond my sight

Hey there, mr. talk too much
What’s in store for us now?

I don’t know how to speak to you
I don’t know how to trust you
I don’t kow how to live for you
I don’t know how to love you
The gentleman who fell before the court

I feel your closeness
Like a shotgun
A chill within my soul
I touch your finger
Know your darkness
Your passion takes its’ toll

Can’t see that this talk is cheap
Let the suffering go

Repeat first chorus
Repeat first b section
Repeat chorus

Whoopdee Shit

WE DID IT!

I started a counter on this page back in March...the 27th, to be precise...and today we hit our 20,000th visit. :)

Not bad for 9 months of 'work' if you ask me.

The lucky winner (of nothing, btw) is:

Domain Name - verizon.net (Network)
IP Address - 71.108.5.# (Verizon Internet Services)
ISP Verizon Internet Services
Location
Continent : North America
Country : United States
State : California
City : Los Alamitos
Lat/Long : 33.6403, -117.7694
Distance : 1,773 miles

In other news...

Christmas went off without a hitch...without much of anything, actually, lol. My grandmother, step-father, sister, and her boyfriend were all together at the house for an hour or so yesterday to exchange gifts. I got 4 books (that I won't read), a giftcard, and some cash. I bought a crystal globe and a shirt for my stepfather...my sister got a wallet, a pink ribbon keychain, and a sweater. My grandmother made out the best of anyone...I got her a diamond necklace, a crystal vase, and a windchime.

This is my opinion on buying gifts: I hate feeling obligated to buy someone something. On the other hand, though, I LOVE finding things that I think people will like. Perfect example...I hadn't planned on buying anything for Holly's boyf Jeff, but while I was walking through a store last weekend, I found a wall plaque outlining the rules of Texas Hold'em. It was perfect for his poker room...So I wanted to get it for him. On the other hand - buying something for my sister (whom I hardly know) seems so contrived. This, I think, is one of the reasons I detest xmas so much.

After everyone left I layed down for a nap and woke up around 6:00. We were planning to go to Holly's to exchange friend gifts (and have a few drinks). We first headed to Blockbuster to rent a movie ('Devil's Rejects' and 'Happy Endings'). When we got back to Jeff's house, he gave me my present (partly for xmas and partly for letting his dog out the night before)...a huge bottle of Grey Goose. YAY...see, xmas gifts should be meaningful. ;) When Lynn showed up we did the rest of the gifts. I got Lynn a pair of red pumps that she wanted, a pair of earrings, and a set of dessert plates. Holly got just a shirt that she had her eye on because I had already helped her buy the BCBG boots that she wanted. I got 'The Rules of Attraction' DVD and a super cute shirt from Lynn and 'Z' by Zegna (my favorite cologne) from Holly.

I got home around 1:30a and had to be at work at 5:45a. Sounds gross, right? Oh, it gets worse. I got exactly 15 minutes of sleep - from 4:30-4:45a. Yeah - I faced the day after xmas on a quarter hour of sleep. (and no, David, no one died, lol) When I got home at 2:30 I dropped right into bed and took a nap until about 5:00. Now, of course, I can't get to sleep...My sleep schedule is so fucked up. :(

Also: Tonight is the first night of Kwanzaa and the second night of Hannukah...Happy Holidays (still) to everyone.

Meppy Chrismukkah

Holiday appropriate MOTM in the sidebar...

mmmm...Smells Like Solstice

I've got some more seasonal Music of the Moment for us. Dar Williams - The Christians and the Pagans. This song reminds me of being in college during winter break when there was a group of us that were either not welcome or not financially able to make it home for the holidays. This group was invariably about 85% gay/lesbian and it was always a kind of understood truce between the groups. It always seems that the gay men and lesbians were working for different causes and there was kind of a line in the sand that you didn't cross between them. I, of course, had lesbian friends - but in our 'political lives' that was ignored. We always played this song (usually a few times) while we were making dinner for our 'Stray Dog Christmas'. Each year someone would volunteer their house or apartment for the festivities and everyone was welcome...seriously everyone, lol. Every year there would be people drug along just because someone noticed their neighbor was alone in their apartment for the break, or someone ran into an acquaintance from class that wasn't going home. There weren't usually gifts, but we would really splurge on the food and drink. Anyway, I might continue about this later, but I have to go to work now...3:15p-12:15a...yeah AM...as in a quarter past MIDNIGHT! It wouldn't be so bad, but I have to be back exactly 8 hours later on tomorrow morning. I think I am going to die - and on Solstice - wouldn't that be sad?

Seriously - Best Ever

It's rare that a good blonde joke comes along...VERY rare. But this one had me falling off my chair...I was literally ROFL...and I never ROFL.

Thanks, Chip-Chat Matt.

DAMN! I am So Over Myself...

Your 2005 Song Is

Hung Up by Madonna "Every little thing that you say or do I'm hung up I'm hung up on you" You'll be rockin' in the New Year in your croch-o-tard!

What Hit Song of 2005 Are You?

I thought I would share one of my favorite holiday recipes with you guys. I previously gave you my recipe for Hot Hot Chocolate, but today is all about popovers. Popovers can be one of the easiest recipes to make, but they look pretty impressive when you make them. You serve them immediately out of the oven and they are great with butter, jam, or even chocolate. I happen to have a popover pan (like in the picture) but I know you can make them in a large muffin tin or individual custard cups. Here is what you need:

• 1 1/2 tablespoons melted, unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt (or sea salt/gray salt...just not that 'table salt' crap)
• 3 extra-large eggs at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups milk at room temperature
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees

Spray the pan with a non-stick spray. This recipe makes 12 popovers in a popover pan...try to bake them all together - I find the batter does not do as well after sitting. Put your pans in the oven for 2 minutes to preheat. (I am not sure exactly why you do this - I know that if you put the pans in cold they do not 'puff' as high and if you let the pans heat too long, the outside can burn.) Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, salt, eggs, milk, and melted butter until smooth. Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature for the best outcome. The batter will be very thin - it will look too thin - don't worry. Make sure not to fill the pans more than 1/2 full and bake for exactly 30 minutes. (If you are using individual custard cups, I've heard it works best to use a water bath to bake them.) Don't open the oven while they are baking..and enjoy them directly out of the oven.

It's also time for some new MOTM...Just in time for the holiday season, one of my favorite holiday songs...and a remix that i heard a couple years ago in Chicago at Roscoe's...Happy Chrismahannakwanzaakah to all...

Complimentary Spamments?

I have gotten two posts lately with (what I think are) spam comments. I've gotten these before, I think we all have...they usually say something about loving your site and hey you should check out www.buymything.com. But on these two posts there are comments that don't link back to anything and the webpages they use as links are defunct. I guess it doesn't hurt anything, but it seems kinda like a waste of time to me, right?

This has been my three day weekend - last days off before xmas - and I have been taking advantage of every lazy second of it. I went out with Holly and Crystal on Friday night after the store closed and then we closed the bar...time for hot-tubbing! lol We headed back to Jeff's and Holly and I got the tub uncovered and started while Jeff made some (holy crap-strong) drinks for us. I hadn't had that much to drink - only three drinks at the bar, i think...(not counting the one that slipped out of my hand, spilled on my lap, and broke on the floor.) I think my rapid-onset drunkenness came about from a combination of the cold air, hot water, and STRONG drink...just a theory, lol...

I crashed on their couch in the family room that night and woke up around 10:00 Saturday morning while Holly was getting ready for work. Crystal came down a little later and we were chillin' on the sofa when Jeff came in with a plate full of leftover Chinese food. I hadn't even had a notion of nausea until that very moment...veeeerrrrrryyyy slowly I walked upstairs to the bathroom and threw up (I hope quietly). I was fine after that, but I was still super tired when I got home and I slept until early afternoon. After I woke up and showered, I realized that I still hadn't bought anything for anyone for xmas. (Hey, I don't want to celebrate it, but that doesn't mean people should feel slighted come Sunday.) So, I headed out and got stuff for my grandmother, sister, Lynn, Holly, and Brittnie. Considering I spent almost $200 on those 5 people, everyone else will have to wait till next weekend. (Plus, there will be bigger sales next weekend.)

A couple of people have commented that it would suck to work commission and be off on the busiest day of the year (traditionally the Saturday afternoon before xmas). Au contraire, mes amis...In shoes our busiest day of the year is the day after xmas. Everyone returns what they never wanted in the first place and buys themselves pretty shoes for the new year. Our sales plan for Monday is twice that of any day leading up to xmas...So I am happy to have these mediocre days off to gear up for the next 2 weeks. When I go back to work tomorrow, the 25th will be my only day off until the 30th...I work the 5 days before xmas and the 4 days after - this could add up to about $1,000 in the next two weeks for Matty. Let us hope! :)

I would like to say I will be blogging in my off moments from work, but I can't guarantee anything. I said a few weeks ago that it would make my year to hit the 20,000 visitor mark by the end of the year. Considering how little I have written lately, it would be no one's fault but my own if I don't make it. My average has dropped from nearly 100 visitors per day to about 40...oops. As I write this, I am at 19,679...so I only need about 300 more. It's an arbitrary mark, but it would make my day to hit 20,000 since the end of March.

So - As my half-serious plea for visitors I give you the (Almost) Daily Bit of Holiday Hotness...I like to call it the (A)DBHH...it flows of the tongue better, lol. Here is a group of pics from one of the Real World/Road Rules challenges...I don't think you will see any of these on television ;) It's Eric Neis and Laterrian playing something that I can't think of a better name for than Enema Wars with the jets in the pool... Click for bigger pictures...

Get Yourself Together

New MOTM...because I meant to change it over the weekend and completely forgot about it. Our new song is 'Out of the Races and Onto the Tracks' by The Rapture. I first heard this song in Rules of Attraction. ROA happens to be one of my absolute favorite movies and I watch it whenever I get the chance. It is an adaptation of Bret Easton-Ellis' book. One of the main characters is Sean Bateman - younger brother of Patrick Bateman from his American Psycho book. The best reason, in my opinion, to watch the movie is Ian Somerhalder, though. You get to see him dancing in his underwear, a jerk-off fantasy, and other random hotness that makes it all worthwhile. The movie itself has been described as disturbing by some - but I think it's a fun movie...

Well, no posts since Thursday and then 4 in the past few hours...I guess I can still do this. ;)

What time is it?

I want this for Christmas...along with someone to help me out with the Fuck O'Clocks...

How about him? Damn, I love that butt, lol...

He looks happy. :)

I checked technorati today and saw a new link to TragicDemise. Hop on over to HomoMojo and check them out...it's fun.

Last Christmas @ Field's

This year is the last year to celebrate Christmas at Marshall Field's on State St. in Chicago. Above you see the iconic clock on one corner of the building where generations of people have met for lunch with the words "Meet you under the Field's clock." No more.

Several architectural groups are lobbying to have the Marshall Field and Company building designated a historic landmark to prevent any cosmetic changes to the building. What this would mean for shoppers is that although it will say Macy's on the bag, it will always be Field's on State.

This picture shows one of the atriums in the building that houses the escalators. In the foreground you can see the 14' fountain that the store is a great gathering spot in the store. Behind the fountain is the bank of escalators onto which is projected an art piece of falling snow.

Another famous attraction at Field's on State is the Christmas tree in the Walnut Room restuarant on the 7th floor. Each year the tree is put up and, at 45 feet tall, dominates the space.

This is looking down onto the cosmetics floor from the second floor. Two atriums are decorated with these enormous holiday ornaments and garlands. Macy's/Federated has vowed to continue many of the Field's Christmas traditions, but it will never again be a Merry Christmas at Marshall Field and Company. To view the amazing display windows that this year celebrate the story of Cinderella click here.

"The unspoken word is capital. We can invest it or we can squander it." - Twain

So, I just realized I haven't written anything since last Thursday. It's not that I forgot about the blog, exactly...Just had nothing to say, I guess.

We had quite the snowstorm last week and it affected business on Thursday and Friday, but everything picked back up Saturday. This was my weekend to work through, so it feels like I have been at work since Friday. It's all a blur, really. I know I didn't do anything on Friday night because I had to work early on Saturday, but we did go out Saturday night. Karl was playing a solo set at a restaurant downtown, the Cajun Connection. Kynn and Robyn went there for dinner while, true to our nature, Holly and I showed up for drinks, lol. We had a couple beers while he finished his set and then headed next door to the semi-attached bar Crawdaddy's. (The fire breathing bartenders are a major attraction.) We had a couple more beers and then convinced Lynn to come with us to the Knickerbocker.

When we got there it was still pretty slow so we snagged the Capone booth in the back of the bar. (So named because when Al Capone visited the area in his mob heyday he would sit in that area of the bar. It is the only place in the long, narrow bar that you can sit, with trusted associates on either side, and see the door.) We set about drinking the day away and Jeff ordered us a round of Red-Headed Sluts. Here's a little backstory - Lynn had a very brief and unsatisfying tryst with one of the doormen on his waterbed... Her shot arrived in a glass of water - a red-headed slut on a waterbed. ;) Luckily she saw the humor and we all had a good laugh about it. Patrick the hottie Irishman was sitting with us with a friend of his from Mexico. Somehow the conversation turned (as it usually does) to sex. Patrick's Mexican friend was saying that in his country it is not normal to see two women kiss in public - in fact, he had never seen it. Well, that was all the encouragement that Holly and Dani needed. They cleared the table in between them and gave Mr. Mexico one hell of a show, lol. He bought them drinks in appreciation.

People trickled to and from the table all night and eventually Lynn, Robyn, and Dani all left. Holly and Patrick got into a fight (argument) about the national language of Ireland. Patrick asserted that it was Irish, while Holly thought it was English. Now, We were all slightly inebriated, so the argument was not that sensical. For example: Patrick: "I'm from Ireland. Believe me, the language is Irish." Holly: "Well, that's great, but I took a history class and it's English." Holly kept looking to me for support, but come on...the guy is IRISH, lol. I did a little research today, though, and as far as I can tell, Irish is spoken...but by less than 90,000 people in the country. I'm not sure that counts as official, lol.

Robyn showed back up at the bar after having gone over to Karl's for a while. We sat and had another drink and then moved up to the bar. That's when we realized how drunk Jeff was. He was barely standing and finally ended up asleep at the bar. That's when Dani showed back up after having gone to Harry's for more drinks. She had, unfortunately, lost her keys. This is how the next 5 minutes of conversation went:

• *I lost my keys.
• Call Harry's.
  
• See if they have my keys.
• Is that Jeff on the bar?
• I don't know where my keys are.
• Who's that on the bar?
• Call Harry's.
• I can't get in my house.
• Is that Jeff?
• Who is that?
• Do you have my keys?
• I poured a drink in my bag.
  
• That's why everything's wet.
• Who is that?
• I lost my keys.
• Repeat from *

I was sharing a cab with Holly and Jeff and it showed up right about this time. We left Dani in Barb's capable hands and I hope she made it home. It only took us about 10 minutes to get Jeff to the cab-van and make it home. Sunday was a LONG day and Monday was worse, lol...

I guess that catches up the weekend - tres excitement, n'est-ce pas?

I'm Dreaming of a White Holiday

So, Prezzie Bush is getting heat from conservatives for the holiday card sent from the White House this year. This years card expresses a general wish of well-being and happiness through the holiday season. This is similar to all holiday cards from the White house in recent years. Conservatives are blasting him for not including 'Merry Christmas' in the card. The last time the White House card included that phrase was in 1992 from Bush1. [A Chicago Tribune poll indicates that 57% of readers do NOT think that the White House holiday card should say Merry Christmas.] I, for one, think it is entirely appropriate to wish Happy Holidays rather than a Merry Christmas. I work with the public on a daily basis and would never dream of saying Merry Christmas to a customer. I am not a Christian. My family does (kinda) celebrate Christmas...but not in any spiritual way. When a customer wishes me a Merry Christmas I do not rebuke them and make them take it back, but I wish them a Happy Holiday. I guess what I am saying is that I don't completely disagree with Bush2 on this one. (Not that I think he actually had anything to do with it, lol.)

My paternal grandfather, I have been told, passed away this morning. So, it's official that the three biggest assholes in my life all died this year. Unfortunately, I also lost 3 people that were very important to me - I guess everything evens out... I wonder if this means I get a free day off work now? I think when my father died they insisted on giving me the day off...but at this time of the year I would rather work and make the money than sit at home for a day off. (Although, I would get funeral pay...they have got to be sick of paying me for that, lol.) I was looking for his obituary online today (not there yet) and came across a tool that lets you look up property values for Tippecanoe County. Looks like my grandfather owned over $500,000 in property alone in addition to the house and buildings on the farm. Almost makes me think it would have been worthwhile to stick around for the money - almost.

In snow news: It started snowing this morning around 11:00 and still hasn't let up. It is supposed to continue through 4:00 am and then blow/drift until noon tomorrow. There are about 6 inches of snow in my neighborhood and roads are HORRIBLE. This afternoon I called for a pizza and went to pick it up. I left my house at 2:15 to drive to the pizza place which is 4 miles away. I got home at...Anyone wanna guess? Oh, come on - GUESS! OK, fine - I got home at 3:30. Eight miles in 75 minutes...not exactly the Indy 500. At one point I was on 52 idling at 4 mph and was keeping up with traffic. We open tomorrow at 7 am, I have to be in at 8:45, and I predict we will not pick up business until noon at the earliest. It will suck - and we're open till midnight...at least that's not my shift (this time). You should all go out to your local May Co. store and give us something to do...

Here is a radar pic for you all to enjoy. At least Indiana is not COMPLETELY covered in snow as it was all afternoon. I put in an approximation of where I-65 is and a circle where I am...looks like the worst of the snow is past us. That's exciting. My dog Bella has mixed feelings about the snow. When I open the door from the 3-season porch onto the patio she looks at me like I've lost my fucking mind. Once she is out in the snow, though, it's hard to get her back inside. What's sad is that she is really short and right now the snow is up to her belly, so when she pees it touches her hoohaa...She doesn't like that very much.

One is the Loneliest Number ...

It also happens to be the temperature right now. One degree. That's not a windchill. I am pretty sure, when it is this cold, quantifying it is a mere technicality. This way they don't have to say, "You're going to freeze your balls off" on the news.

In other news - my warmest wool coat is at the cleaner's - I am going to die today, lol...

Some Days the Good News Outweighs the Bad

First of all, I am feeling SO much better than I have been this past weekend. Thanks to everyone that commented and e-mailed wishing me well.

I (re)bought the RENT Broadway cast recording today. This makes the third time I have bought it. One I gave away to someone who was visiting and fell in love with it. Another just 'disappeared' during a party. I went to fye on my break today at work and looked for it. They were sold out, but were supposed to be getting more this afternoon. Well, by the time I left work and called them, they still hadn't gotten any. Being the instant gratification person that I am, I just went to Best Buy (not one of my favorite stores, but the one that happened to be on my way home) and spent $34 on the 2-disc set rather than the $26 I would have spent had I been able to wait to go back to fye tomorrow. Good News: I have the RENT cast recording again. Bad News: I spent $8 more than I needed to. (I probably could have found it even cheaper, but I am not a bargain hunter.)

I also bought my xmas present to myself today. Considering we have some pretty chilly nights here in the Great Lakes, I bought myself a heated mattress pad. My bed is one of my absolute favorite places in the world...I spend moderately extravagant amounts of money making it a safe haven of comfort and warmth. (That's another thing about my bed - it's for sleeping, not sex...The are more exciting places to have sex, lol.) I have an orthopedic pad, a comfy mattress pad, ridiculously high thread count sheets, a luscious down blanket, and an incredible duvet...and now a heated mattress pad... :) Good News: No more cold feetsies. Bad News: I can't think of any right now.

My sister visited me at the store today. My paternal grandfather went into the hospital last night with a stroke. Tonight they plan an EEG and, as determined by the results, they will pull the plug. Most of you know I have had little contact with my father's family since my mother's death in January, 1999. My father and paternal grandmother both died in April of this year. Some of you know I have been planning (toying with the idea, really) to change my name. (The crest to the left is my family's crest...the Latin translates to 'endeavor to assist the distressed'.) The point of this name change would be to distance myself from the local legacy of my family in the community and (more importantly) in my own mind. I had kind of been waiting that family out, so there would be no objection to my planned change...so... Good News: No obstacles remain that would dissuade me from carrying through with the change. Bad News: __________ I guess that my grandfather may be dead as I write this. (Hardly counts as bad news in my book.)

Before I Fall Back Asleep

OK, so I thought I was over my little illness - but then I uckadoo'ed at work this morning and came home around 1:30. I managed to be awake last night long enough to watch Des Wives and Grey's Anatomy. This afternoon I went to bed with a couple peices of toast and slept till about 4:00. I was up for a while and had a bowl of chicken and noodle soup - and then threw everything up again. This is really getting old.

I learned a little lesson, though, tonight. During the winter I usually use a humidifier in the house to keep everything moisturized and I've heard it can help with heating costs. Well, what I learned when I woke up at 8:00 tonight is that is you put the humidifier in the hallway next to your thermostat, it will never turn off. I woke up and it was 82 degrees in my house, even though the thermostat only showed 70.

I am going back to bed - have a good week.

OK, So Here's Me.....

OK, it's a gross picture, I know. It's also not me - it's Keanu. And also I didn't throw up outside the car, I threw up inside, all over myself, while I was driving.

Friday night I went to go see RENT again with Sarah. (Yeah, I saw it Tuesday, too.) After I dropped her back off at her apartment I went to go see Jakob Best Outfit at the Purdue Memorial Union. After the show we headed over to the Knickerbocker for a few drinks. Lynn had to work early and Robyn's contacts were bothering her, so they both left early. I stayed and hung out with the guys from the band and a couple other random friends. We went over to Melissa's house for a beer after the bar closed, and then I got home around 5:00 or so. I went to bed and woke up around 10:00. I had to work at 3:00 so I did some laundry and gave the dog a bath. About noon my back started to kill me, so I took a muscle relaxer. And then I started throwing up about 20 minutes later.

At first I thought it was pennance for the night before...but I had already been awake for a couple hours and felt fine. Then I thought it was because I took pain meds on an empty stomach. Sounded plausible. I chalked it up to stupidity and got ready for work. I had one more bout of vomitting after I took a shower, but then was ok, so I got ready to got to work. (I even wore my brand new orange shirt that I love.) As I was driving to work, I started to feel a like queasy, but thought I could make it. Well, unfortunately, my stomach decided otherwise about 4 blocks from my house. The worst part of it was that I had no time to pull over, open the door, grab a bag or napkin...I just threw up all over myself. I pulled into a parking lot and had to use the payphone to call work...The manager I spoke to told me not to worry about it - just go home and get some rest.

Well, I got back home without incident. I hung up my coat (with a reminder to get it dry-cleaned), showered, and then set about cleaning the car. After I was done I layed down for a while, but my stomach kept growling. Realizing that I had thrown up what little I had to eat within the past day or so, I went for a bowl of Rice Krispies. Let me tell you - you have not lived until you've puked a bowl of Rice Krispies out of your nose. I was trying to make it to the bathroom and covering my mouth when all the sudden it started shooting out of my nose. After I went to the bedroom to change PJs (again) I came back to the bathroom and then I got worried. There was blood in the toilet. I knew that was a bad thing, but at this point had absolutely no energy whatsoever. I went back to bed and fell asleep for most of the afternoon. I have only vague memories of most of the evening until I took my temperature around 9:00 last night. It was 102.8. The rational part of my mind was saying, "Blood in your vomit, temperature over 100 degrees - get thee to a hospital." Unfortunately, whatever part of my brain is actually in charge made me pass out on the floor in the bathroom instead. I woke up about 2 hours later...just in time to throw up again. I showered (again) and headed to bed. I managed to stay conscious throughout most of Dane Cook and James Blunt on SNL...and then slept until 3:00 this afternoon.

I feel almost completely better...so I am not sure what was wrong. I am still worried that I should maybe go to the hospital. I did manage to eat something this afternoon and kept it down, but the blood from yesterday is nagging at me.

So, this entire post is disgusting. But that is how I have spent my entire weekend...glorious fun...I am going back to bed.

Tomorrow comes. Sorrow becomes his soul mate. The damage is done. The prodigal son is too late.

A former Purdue football player, Kyle Williams, has been arrested in connection with 2 assaults on Purdue University's campus this week. Both attacks were on Tuesday night. The first was in the parking lot of Delta Zeta sorority. The female victim was found after calling a friend who lived in the house from the parking lot where she was discovered unconscious a few moments later. She had suffered a broken nose, cuts, and apparent strangulation attempts. Less than two hours later, another report of an attack came in the 100 block of Waldron St. The woman was jumped from behind while walking from the Purdue Memorial Union to Hillenbrand Hall. The woman was thrown to the ground and endured several punches to the face before a bicyclist came into the area. The man started running north toward Cary Quadrangle and, within minutes, police came across Williams apparently following a 3rd woman also walking north. When police approached Williams he had blood on his jacket, hands, and pants, but denied knowledge of either incident. He is being held in the Tippecanoe County jail on $50,000 bond.

Um, no reason for sharing this, necessarily, except to remind everyone to be careful when walking alone at night...I was attacked once on campus years ago - Stay safe, kids...

Fierceness Is Always Welcome

We (finally) have some new Music of the Moment. I got an invitation to a fundraiser organized by the Friends of Hillary to raise money for Hillary Clinton's 2006 Senate re-election campaign. The event is this Saturday at crobar Chicago. It just so happens that Victor Calderone is appearing the next night. (Yes, I would kill to be able to be in Chicago this weekend, lol.) I dug through some old music and found this great gem from years (seriously, years) ago. This is from a part of my past when I was a friend of friends of Tina...never acquainted with her myself...and this song was always in regular rotation in our group. Particularly at after-hours parties, the host would play this song while he picked people to dance in the windows...it's pretty fitting. So, here is 'Circuit Boy' from Victor Calderone feat. Alan T.

Just realized that the last time I wrote was Saturday night and Lynn and I were going out to campus bars. We sure did hit the campus bars. We started out at Jake's Roadhouse and met up with James and another guy and his girlfriend. (I'm really bad at names.) We sat around the table playing card (read: drinking) games. The one I actually remember is called Player's Club and it was BRUTAL. After a while we headed over to Where Else? to dance and everyone but James disappeared while Lynn and I were on the dance floor. Right at last call we decided to run across the street to Harry's Chocolate Shop for one last drink, but it was almost 3:00 and they weren't letting anyone else in. Luckily, we knew if we could make it downtown we could still have a cocktail at the Knickerbocker before they closed. It must have been after 3:00 when we got there, but we sat there for a few minutes with the regulars and then decided that we should drive out to Romney to go hot-tubbing at James' house. James said it was only 10 miles away, but it sure did take us almost 25 minutes to get there. All I know is that I didn't get home until 7:30 in the morning and I was done.

Tuesday night Lynn, Holly, and I went (finally) to go see RENT. I have said before that I was worried that they were going to fuck it up. I have seen the stage show 12 times, but my worries were fairly unfounded. I LOVED the movie - and still cried in all the same places. I did notice a little rearranging and some missing songs, but I think they did a great job. After the movie we went to The Knickerbocker for "a drink". I know what you're thinking, "A drink, what's that?". Well, clearly Jeff was trying to kill us. I don't know how you make a tall gimlet any stronger, but he made it happen. All three of us were drunk after our first drink - and then kept going. I talked with Holly about the possibility of us moving in together into the Lahr Apartments downtown. (Convenient because, if you look at the picture of the Lahr Hotel above, the Knickerbocker is the door on the right...IN the building - There is no more Piggly Wiggly downstairs...it's now a super nice French restaurant, Bistro 501.) Evidently Lynn was leaving at the same time as Billy and I pulled her (not very) aside to tell her that she should hit that shit. Evidently everyone in the bar heard me, but I care not. I also made out with someone - or two or three people, I am really not sure. Our friend Ben was there, drinking shots of Don Julio. Bad news. I ended up spending the better part of an hour sitting on the bathroom floor with him - rubbing his back, wiping his mouth, and giving him water - while he threw up on a fairly regular basis. Hot. The bar was closing down and I walked him home and had Jeff and Holly meet me there for a ride home. When I got him into bed, he asked me to help him take his boots off - and then his jeans - and then thanked me for not trying to take advantage of him. No worries there - vomit is not the scent I like my men to wear. I gave him a kiss on the forehead and wished him well...

Today we woke up to snow...only about an inch - and it started to melt off the streets by the time I got to work at 8:45. There is one thing that men and snow have in common: an inch is just a pain in the ass. (Actually, I guess 1 inch on a man would just be a disappointment.)

That's all caught up then - I will try to write about something more interesting in the next couple days. ;)