I got a home a little earlier than usual. Just a 1/2 hour but it feels significant nonetheless. I want to get the house cleaned up and looking nice again. It never lasts. The mess is inevitable.

Rob said he would come by later after his hair cut and that’s a enough of a reason to get the house cleaned. I usually need a reason. Otherwise I am happy doing nothing about it. The one nice thing I have found is if I want to make my clutter seem insignificant, all I need to do is go into the loft where Lisa lives. It’s all relative.

I need to go and visit Aprille. My hair has gotten extremely long and I need the ends dusted. I learned that phrase from a magazine. It refers to getting the split ends cut off but leaving the original cut pretty much intact. I think I need a little bit more than a dusting.

I should make a midori cake. That would be so nice. A green cake dusted with powdered sugar rather than frosting since frosting is a bit of a bitch.

That’s it.

I HEART this song!

..but I despise Tawny Kitean. I think she looks slutty and I don’t like that. Plus, I still feel that she’s responsible for ousting Arleen Sorkin from hosting America’s Funniest Home Videos back in ’92. Arlene was, like, a thousand time better than Tawny and I have no doubt Tawny did some nasty things to a producer or two to get Arlene’s position.

Back to Here I go Again, the lyrics resonate with me. Of course, the lyrics to Who Stole the Kishka also resonate with me.

I need to start playing the lottery or gambling. Otherwise how else will I be able to quickly amass a fortune that will allow me to retire tomorrow? It’s not that I hate my job, I actually like it for the most part. I just prefer not working. I guess it’s between winning the lottery, continuing to work as usual or become a hobo. I read somewhere that in the song that I feel describes me and my nature best, Whitesnake’s Here I go Again, the line, “Like a drifter I was born to walk alone,” was originally written using the word hobo for drifter. This was quickly changed because when sung, it sounded like, “Like a homo I was born to walk alone…” I can see this not going down well with their core group of fans.

I have a morning meeting so I am not rushing around trying to catch my train. Instead I am leisurely taking my time until I am late and have to rush around like a maniac to drive to my morning appointment. At least I am consistent.

My guitar playing is really getting so much better. I am finding that I am memorizing the finger positions so much easier this time than last time. I think the reason is I was more concerned with looking like Judy Collins than playing like Judy Collins. I have E minor, G natural and A down pretty good. Rob says I need another chord or two and I can start playing the Moody Blues song Nights in White Satin! I just gotta practice– practice makes perfect. I told Rob he had better watch out because I might surpass his guitar playing skills. Can you believe he laughed at me?

“Don’t get cocky, kid!”

Recently discovered the Sartorialist’s blog. I love the photos he posts. Some of the fashion is a little iffy in my book yet more often than not, I like it regardless. In fact, his Web site has me thinking of my own sense of style which seems to have gone missing. There was a time when I shopped every weekend. Although, I was always on the look out for bargains rather than the perfect outfit. I think my closet is perfect evidence of this. Except, yesterday I CLEANED IT OUT! I got rid of three trash bags filled with clothes. There were a lot of items that I tossed (not really, they are going to my mom to look through and then to my Aunt Helen and/or my Cousin Laura who will pick and choose and then eventually the castoffs will be sent to the Salvation Army) that I wore just over the past few weeks but I am tired and need to get some new stuff. I think that’s the problem being in your thirties. There are still some nice pieces of clothes in the wardrobe except they are slightly dated or slightly too young. If I am no longer shopping at the Gap then why am I still wearing items that I bought there 4 years ago? So I cleaned out. Now I need to get myself over to a store that sells clothes that work for me– of late, it’s been Ann Taylor Loft even though it’s not quite me, it’s close enough.

This afternoon I grabbed my Charles Hix book, Dressing Right, off my bookshelf and flipped through it with Rob. We had been talking about Queer Eye for the Straight Guy earlier and this book seemed to complement that earlier discussion.
“Why are we looking at gay erotica?” Robert asked me.
“This isn’t gay erotica! This is male fashion! This is going to give you ideas of outfits to wear”
“That man is wearing a raccoon coat without anything underneath it.”
“That’s not true, he’s also wearing a bow tie”
The book didn’t provide much fashion fodder for Rob. I guess it really was just gay erotica.

I am sitting outside on my back patio, surfing the web, listening to Os Mutantes on Rhapsody and feeling quite lovely. Last night Rob and I barbecued and his two friends, Steve and Karen joined us. It’s amazing how good chicken tastes once it’s been marinated. That’s an issue Rob and I have had in the past. We get back from work and we are so ravenous that we just cook the chicken without soaking it. And then we wonder why it doesn’t taste all that great. Last night, I got a good head start. As Rob watched the Kentucky Derby, I placed the chicken breasts into a plastic bag and poured Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce into the bag, massaged it a little bit and placed it in the fridge for a couple of hours. Amazing how something so simple can make such a big difference. At any rate, Steve and Karen came over and we grilled the chicken and burgers and I made margaritas. It was really quite nice. Must do this more often. Must do this more often and invite MY friends!

So I have once again picked up the guitar. It took me a good two weeks or so of writing that one entry in which I stated that I would start practicing again to start practicing again. Of course, I practiced the one chord I thought I remembered incorrectly for about a week. I showed Rob this morning and he corrected it and he showed me a second chord. I am doing pretty well. I think I have them. I just really need to keep practicing. It’s a little boring when you only know two chords. If I could only learn another chord and then I would be able to start my own band.

Rather than sitting out here in the sun, I should be cleaning out my garage. It’s in such sad shape. So much crap that simply needs to be tossed. The thing is, I don’t know if the garbage men will accept any of it. I should just sit it out on the corner and if they don’t take it, then I can just haul it back and come up with a Plan B.

Driving home from work yesterday, I noticed the trees have leaves. I know it wasn’t an overnight phenomenon but it finally hit me that winter is behind us. I am beyond happy that it’s going to be warmer.

When you are an XM subscriber, you can listen online as well as in your car. Normally I listen to Rhapsody at home but I’ve been in a bit of a rut, listening to the same songs over and over again. Not much different than when I played my music on a record player, I had the same 5 or so albums out and I would just shuffle through them again and again. This morning, I decided to try something new and I opened up the XM online radio player. What I found is in addition to the regular stations, they have special online only stations. The one I am currently listening to is a complete and utter LuxuriaMusic knock-off. This doesn’t bother me one bit. Of late, whenever I log into LuxuriaMusic, I find they have some monotone DJ yapping away, making stupid jokes and only now and then playing music. This XM station, entitled On the Rocks, is great- no DJ and lots of weird music. I can’t figure out why its not on the regular list.

Beefs with the XM Online player:
1. I only have 8 preset channels– I NEED MORE!
2. You have a tie in with Napster, why not Rhapsody?
That’s it– very nearly perfect it is.