November 16, 2002

My darling wife is on vacation. Today was the first day. We slept in until 8:00 a.m. – what a couple of slackers. I wrote first thing as soon as I woke up. I went and got the paper. I clipped all of the news items for this week’s show while listening to two brand new Bill Hicks records. One is a compilation of new material and the other is a whole gig from Pittsburgh, PA on 06/20/91. The Pittsburgh, PA show was one where supposedly the audience did not get it and he fought with them a couple of times. There was some good impromptu stuff but I was disappointed, however, that Bill Hicks did not fight with them more. Instead, he complained and then stuck with his prepared material. I went and bought some books and some records. I listened to a great new Who bootleg that collects all their singles in the original mixes. It is excellent. I talked to my wife. We went to a couple of grocery stores in search of guacamole mix. The grocery stores that are close to our house suck. I commented to her repeatedly on the tragic decline of humanity. She agreed. I worked on some material for my act. We ate guacamole. We watched TV. We talked. We did our thing. I BLOGGED. I am about to run and listen to the second half of the Cavs game while I run. It is not an exciting life but it is, indeed, a life. And today it seemed like a pretty good one.

November 15, 2002

Tom Ericsson’s art project is finished. We worked on it all day in the cold and the rain. I took cold medicine and sucked on cough drops. I wore a dust mask all day and that really seemed to help. Wearing a dusk mask is fun. You can pretend like you are invisible with a dust mask on. Big ups to Tom Ericsson and his art project. It was hard work and it was too cold and I was sick as a shit but it is killer to be part of something that kicks the ass and Tom Ericsson’s art project kicks the ass. It is where “Mr. Hero” used to be on the north side of Euclid Avenue just east of the Old Arcade. Go look at it and experience the power of art.

My wife parked at Tower City when she came downtown to pick me up from the art project. We shopped at Tower City amidst the most dubious of ruffians to get a discount on parking. I bought a Brooklyn Dodgers hat. Now, I feel as if my life is complete.

It was a horrible run tonight. It was too cold and too rainy and my knee is still stiff. It hurt from mile 2.5 to mile 2.75. I had to chant “Whitey won’t keep me down” to pump myself up to run through the pain. I finished my 5K feeling pretty tough.

Keelhaul rocked. Me and Tom and both of our lovely wives plus Tom’s step brother Louie all went to Peabody’s Down Under to get our rock on. And rock we did. It was funny seeing Tom and Cassandra who are both kind of sophisticated New You art types stand up to a night of old school Cleveland, OH heavy metal. I could not figure out why they wanted to go to this show but maybe old school Cleveland, OH heavy metal is not freely available in the five boroughs of New York City. I wonder. I don’t want to waste time giving shout outs but you know that shout outs go out to all.

I pulled a Thea and did not get this one up in time but I was distracted by my wife yelling, “Give me a break. I’m drunk.”, at the cats downstairs. Forgive me.



posted by Thea at 8:41 PM

November 14, 2002

I am sick. I have been fighting a cold since Saturday and today I had a fever that was so wicked that I thought for a couple of moments that I was about to pass out but maybe that also might be coming from the fact the I will be seeing Keelhaul tomorrow if I can rally. You know how I love to faint and/or take naps at Keelhaul.

Today, besides the fever, was a struggle and a blur. My cold is making it hard to do anything and I have a ton to do. I am participating in my friend Tom Ericsson’s art project. It involves hanging large pictures in empty windows in downtown Cleveland, OH. I am also trying to finish my book and work a full time job and rock out. Tomorrow, I am not going to the office, so it should be a little bit easier.

I have been sleeping all night and I don’t feel at all refreshed. I feel like going back to bed. I was supposed to see Saint Andrej tonight at the Grog Shop but I had to pass because of the cold. Oh man, that sucks. If there is anything better than an intimate evening of acoustic rock with Saint Andrej, I don’t want to know. This really does suck.

I am going to grab some juice and then head back to bed. Goodnight everybody.

posted by Thea at 9:23 PM

November 13, 2002

When it is all said and done, are you going to want remember about all of those great times you had at the office, sitting in a desk under fluorescent lights doing work that you couldn’t care less about or do you want to remember your life as something else?

I am trying a new system for work that involves going in to the office and doing all of the work that is actually needed but otherwise having my secretary cover me while I do something else instead of me spending all day at the office doing work that I don’t really need to do but I do anyway with the idea of trying to look busy. I have done enough work for the two offices that I have worked for this year and really only want to be there when absolutely necessary. Yeah, I have to work and, yeah, I have to get things done but couldn’t my life at the office be just the back drop for an otherwise pleasant day of following one’s own star?

I am sorry I was not at the office more, I will tell them, but something came up. I did what I had to do and then I did something else. I am liking the sound of this. I wonder how long I will able to keep it up?

posted by Thea at 8:11 PM

November 12, 2002

There is no point for me to be BLOGGING since the website is down but I don’t think I need a point. I am going to try to live a life free from point.

The self-designated year of hard work is almost over. I am a month away from birthday 31 and I am taking a break for the holidays before I start the self-designated year of big change. What is going to change during this year of big change? Almost everything I am in a cycle of habitual behavior that needs to be destroyed if I am going to progress any further in life. A simple analogy to describe my situation: I am a mouse in a wheel in a cage. I have trained myself to go faster on the wheel than any other mouse. I run and run on the wheel. I go faster and faster. I tell myself that I am doing something because the wheel goes so fast. But I am still on the wheel and I am still in the cage.

I relived the worst moment of my adult life today in part. I was walking down the railroad tracks to the Thug Mart to buy some plumbing supplies. It was cold. I was listening to Joe Tait. The Cavs game itself was unimportant. I am a Joe Tait fan. I was walking down those railroad tracks listening to Joe Tait during the worst time of my adult life. I remembered tonight, while listening to Joe Tait, what I am trying to get away from.

I have the soul of a poet and the balls of a little girl.

posted by Thea at 10:27 PM