One Hour

Friends,

Either I suddenly became an old man, or this some mystic power to waking up at 5 AM everyday. See, for my job I have to get up at 5 AM Monday through Friday. My shift starts at 7:30, but I have to catch an early bus to get there on time and on days where I don't need to take the bus, I still get up at 5 so I don't screw up my morning routine.

While working relay and for a while now, I got up pretty much everyday at 6 AM. Like clockwork, I'd be up a 6 because, well, Emily woke me up. It was no problem. I'd stay up to midnight, or maybe even a little later if I couldn't get to sleep, and I'd be up at 6. Of course, I'd be groggy and barely alive at 6 AM, but I'd still be awake.

However, since I started getting up at 5 AM, I can't seem to stay awake beyond 9:30 PM. Last night, I fell asleep on the couch before 9 PM while reading the new New Yorker. Yeah. That's not the first time that's happened either. This sucks a lot.

I get home from work, most days, at around 5:30. If I eat, let the food settle, then work out for my usual amount, it'll be 7:30 or 8:00...and my body is just powering down for sleepy time.

What the fuck? 5:00 AM is only one hour earlier, but it has completely sapped me from all my ability to stay up at night. I'm a bit more perky in the morning now, but I have so little time to do anything at night anymore.

Is this just getting old, or is 5 AM magic, somehow?

viva el mustache

Bad Music Sunday

Friends,

Last week, I was in such high spirits no music could be bad music. This week, the glow of the new job has worn off. So the whole world of shitty music has blossomed anew. Here's this week's dose...

Tim Curry - Anything Can Happen on Halloween


Hoobastank - Ghostbusters
Some songs just cannot be covered. The genius of Ray Parker Jr.'s Ghostbuster's theme is one of them. Behold, Hoobastank doing what they do to this gem from our childhoods.


Sophie B. Hawkins - Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover


Midnight Star - Freak-A-Zoid


Whodini - Freaks Come Out at Night


Mannheim Steamroller - Creatures of the Night
This band ruins everything.


Def Leppard - Love Bites



Bonus Oddity

I heard this one on the radio today. Apparently, it's by the guy who does the "Witch Doctor" but I never heard this before. So, enjoy. Hope your Halloween was good.

John Zacherley - Dinner with Drac



viva el mustache

Sunday Morning

daybreak, this morning.


(the top two pictures were taken with the panorama function on our new camera, so click on them to enlarge them.)

The Big Stinky Flower

Friends,

We were driving around Madison when we saw this:




So we were like, "Fuck yeah!" So we go in.

And, here it is. The Big Stinky Flower.



Does it stink like rotted meat, as advertised? Yes.

viva the big stinky flower!

Parents in Wisconsin

Friends,

I never posted these? Really? These are from Labor Day. Everything is falling behind.

My dad, posed heroically (though he didn't know it and wanted to delete the picture)

Bernie watching the game.

SAILBOATS! They were sailing in a very tight circle for a while, obvious part of a sailboat class at UW.

Seagull on the UW Memorial Union Terrace. I wasn't that close. My parents have an awesome camera.

This hawk was sitting on the roof of a mini-mall that houses a fine place for breakfast called the Pancake House.

Here are pictures of me with my parents. I never noticed how huge my ears are until this picture...or that my head changes in height according to who I'm sitting next to.

The Shine of Golden Handcuffs

Friends,

When I reflect on what I wanted to be 5 or 6 years ago, and where I am now...things certainly veered a touch. I never was a wild one, or even remotely interesting on that front, but still...police? Really? After bouncing from elementary school teacher to here, while it hasn't been a jagged line, full of wild anecdotes about strife or loss. I got middling meandering. That I have. But still, to be here now instead of in another year teaching just seems strange. And where I landed, this isn't a job anyone would ever strive for. No child growing up in America says to himself, someday, I'm gonna push paper for the po-lice. Nope.

Funny how many jobs there are that are like that, too that wind up being careers. Life's work in doing some menial, yet essential thing. And I always wonder how people reconcile that with what they wanted...how are they able to let go? Or, maybe, jobs like mine is where people without plans wind up. Just adrift out there and their little balloon of life gets hung up in a corner, so there it nestles in for as long as the helium will let it because there is as good a place as anywhere else.

All this is on my mind today because I endured a new-employee orientation session with what I believe to be an honest-to-god motivational speaker who said, when he left, "I'll see you on the flip flop," which sounds funny from a 64 year old. At this event, they talked about a lot of planning for retirement, and one person chimed in that they knew of someone who had retired after 40 years in parking enforcement. Writing tickets for 40 years. A lot of helium in that balloon...or maybe the person just loved pissing off people, I don't know. Those kind of folk exist. But, this gig here, in all it's splendid mediocrity, so long as the technology doesn't make me obsolete, could, maybe be a career. Maybe. Not the best choice I made, but if we're talking solely money wise...I'm doing about as good as I would be teaching elementary school...and it's less dangerous (I got some bullet-resistant glass where I'm at now). Oh, these golden, golden handcuffs.

All this isn't some round about way to say I'm unhappy. Like I said, I got 300 more dollars in my paycheck and I never have to listen to old ladies and their foul pooping ever again (I don't think). What's to be unhappy about, right? Well, there's this information I suppose, that's enough to give a person the heebie jeebies about the world outside (punch in your address...while only select cities provide criminal data, you could still look up the sex offenders in your area here).

This is a `round about way of saying, "So, this is where I am now. Hm. How about that shit? Didn't see this coming. What the hell am I doing now in order to do something next, if there even has to be a next?"

viva el mustache