Friday, May 27

No Ed, this was no "Whoops..."

Years ago I worked at a restaurant with a girl named Laura Tardy. She was rather high strung and would occasionally snap, walk onto the expo line and announce "I am about to have a moment." Everyone would scatter as she then went on a rampage, often breaking plates, hurling whatever was handy. These became known simply as "tardy moments."

I'm fixin' to have a tardy moment.

The last few weeks of my life have been building to a point. That point is best described as the scene in "The Godfather" where Micheal Corleone says "Today I settle all family business." His henchmen then shoot and kill everyone who stands in their way or has betrayed them.

One day, very soon, I'm just going to have to settle all my business.

Thursday, May 26

Matthew Lawrence


Come on, tell me this boy isn't hot. Posted by Hello

Re: My Birthday Gift List

Okay, so I got two nasty little comments about the fact that I have an Amazon.Com wish list. First, didn't you ever write down what you wanted for Christmas as a child? Didn't you ever believe in Santa Claus or has your life been an exercise in blandness...no magic, no hope, just the cold hard facts. When my parents told me there was no Santa Claus I cried and made them promise that the Easter Bunny was real. If you can imagine I was an emotional child and I'm sure it broke what existed of my parents twisted withered hearts to see their youngest child wailing in what was surely not the first time he realized his parents were complete liars. I maintained my pleas for the Easter bunny despite my grandfathers yearly claim that he had killed the Easter Bunny and we were having rabbit soup for Sunday dinner.

Anyway, back to my gift list. I made that list, partially for myself, and I do keep up with it, deleting things I have purchased through Amazon or elsewhere. I used that list (though I had to print it since she couldn't figure out how to look at it online) for my mother last year for Christmas and received several items I had listed. In fact since this criticism I have added several items to the list, so there!

As for the other criticism, that there are "shitty" movies on that list, well what can I say... My taste in film is probably odd, from stupid but funny films (like "Dude, where's my car, which incidentally stars the sometimes shirtless Ashton Kucher) to films that are not well known (Like Edie and Pen) but star actors whose performances I enjoy....or they are just hot and I like to see them..Hoping they will show some flesh....Take for example two of my choices "Jumping Ship" and "Cheats." Both films star Matthew Lawrence, yes the younger brother of Joey Lawrence, but this kid is hot....Okay, is everyone satisfied...? Huh? Huh? Hmmmppphhh.

Tuesday, May 24

Still Crazy After All These Years.

Okay so the title doesn't really mean anything, it was just running through my head today. I do have a birthday coming up in a few months (34, gasp!) but no reason to panic yet. There is plenty of time to buy my gift yet.

News...Let's see. Well I don't have much to report. The pub lost a few employees for whatever reason so I guess we are hiring again. I have been pretty worn out, the stress level has been high lately, a lot of pressure from many camps on how to accomplish the success of the business both financially and our customers satisfaction. Enough about that, I don't even want to think about the pub until I have to go back to work this Thursday...

Sunday night I went to Napoleon's Itch, a non-smoking gay bar. It was actually nice to not have to hack my way through a fog cloud to get to the bathroom. I was there for a cabaret show that Matt Ragas hosts. Jeff, my roommate, plays the piano for the show which is really more the reason that I went. There were several "guest" spots, Jessica Marasco for one, whose singing I enjoy, an extremely talented young, young girl from the River Parish area...Her name escapes me but she had a terrific voice. Karen Hebert (sp?) did a few numbers, one from Cabaret and one from Chicago. I had never heard her sing before, all the times I had been around her was in her role of choreographer. Jeff has worked with her on a few shows since I have known him. She came complete in costume, a Sally Bowles wig and all...There were a couple other singers too, the names of whom I can't quite recollect now...all in all it was a good show, lots of talented singers and songs I really liked. One surprise was seeing young Wyatt cocktail waiting there. I met Wyatt as the boyfriend of a former bartender at the pub and he is about the cutest boy you'll ever see...Bright eyed and oh so pretty. Imagine my horror when I got a profile shot of him and noticed his damned DORSAL FIN. I am serious, this has to stop. If you have friends who sport this hair-don't, get together and have an intervention. Show them pictures of dolphins side by side with pictures of people and urge them not to jump species quite so quickly. Matthew, the host, is going to be in the Le Petit Theatre production of "Pageant" next month. It's a how about, fittingly, a beauty pageant and all the parts are being played by dolled up young men. Fellow blogger Patrick is also in the show along with a few other folks I know, so if you want to go see a cute show, go see this.

I was online yesterday trying to decide where to rent a hotel in Little Rock. I have to go there for a family wedding in late June and since it's at 1 in the afternoon I really need to drive in the day before. I think I will probably stay Saturday night as well, what with the reception and getting to visit with my family and all. Since I probably won't be in LR many times I am going to try to hit the Clinton Library as well on Sunday before driving back to N'awlins.

Lists...Let's make a few lists here, lists are always fun...

Some of my least favorite things

  • Wet Socks
  • People who can't hold their liquor
  • Rap Music
  • When People Say "The Oz" instead of just "Oz"
  • People Who Pass You on the Street and Say "Got That Coke"

I mean, really, does that ever work, does anyone ever buy drugs from people in this manner?

CD in my computer right now - David Sedaris Live at Carnegie Hall. Fabulous.

That's it for now, but stay tuned...

Friday, May 13

Living Below Sea Level

I know that I live below sea level here in New Orleans and that has a definate affect on our culture...but some of the kids have gone too far now and I think it's time to (no pun intended) reel them in and put them on ice. I'm talking about dorsal fins, this new hair style where the hair is slicked up severely until it makes you look like a dolphin on land. Now this is merely a more severe version of the "Faux Hawk" look from last season...which finally wore me down to acceptance...for those that don't remember the faux hawk, it was a hairstyle that didn't require shaving the hair, merely pushing it up to a pretty non-commital point in the middle like a mohawk might have been. This new dorsal fin thing is serious, seriously insane. I am not sure how much Paul Mitchell texture cream is needed to do this but I assume it's a large amount. If I ever find myself lost in the ocean and in need of a gentle creature to guide me back to shore like has been done for thousands of years by our friend the dolphin, I might appreciate this hairstyle.

Thursday, May 12

Sleep, Classics, Class and oh yeah, Booze.

2 am on Thursday morning and it's nearing time for me to go back to sleep. I slept last night at the Jakesters house, both of us exhausted. We went to bed (to sleep you dirty minded boys and girls out there) at midnight and didn't wake up until 2 this afternoon. I cat-napped around 6 or so last night for a while and pretty soon I think I'll hit the hay again, resting up for the next round of work and binge of partying. The last few weeks have been particularly busy with the party scene. My friend Jason from Indy came for a quick visit, celebrating passing the very tough Indiana bar exam. Jason gave me a great new slogan, I should have this cross stitched into a pillow or something. Perhaps I could print it on the napkins I use for people drinks at the bar. It's a phrase we should all know, "If you're gonna live in ignorance, you might as well get comfortable." Priceless. Jas and I had a great time, but I got no rest at all. He and I are planning to go on a cruise later this year, I should start preparing now by only sleeping three hours a night. Jeff's parents came for a Sunday afternoon visit. We went to see the show Jeff is currently music directing, "Oh Coward," at Le Petit. The show was good and he has a break now for a few weeks at least before the next project. Matties visit was the big kicker though. I had a couple days break in between the two visits but they were filled with drama that I could have done very much without. Once that was put to bed I was ready for Matt's first visit home from his December move to San Diego. I think the earliest we ever got in was 3:30 a.m. the morning before his flight was supposed to leave at 9. Most of the days it was somewhere between 8:30 and 10:30 before we managed to wander home. One morning we almost got the chance to relive our dramatic bourbon street fighting techniques when a rather buck-toothed boy wanted to fight with us. Hopefully this time he would have lost the tooth instead of Mattie.

(For those that don't know this story, let me give you cliff notes: July Fourth Weekend 2 years ago, me trying to help a straight boy find his hotel, purely innocently, when straight boy decides he's going to get into a fight with a black boy at 5 am. Black boy beats him down and then sucker punches me when I am trying to help straight boy up from the ground. Mattie, who happened to be passing, jumps in the fray and we proceed to beat the hell out of the black boy. Keep in mind, this is Essence fest weekend and I am wearing a boy scout uniform. Hilarity Ensued. Mattie broke his elbow and lost a tooth, I managed merely to sprain a finger. Whatever happened to the black boy is a mystery, we both ran when the red lights started and as for what happened to the straight boy, well that's up to Mattie to tell.)

Highlights included the new mantra: "it's classic, but not classy" I'm not even sure now what this was in reference too, but it's one of those things that takes on a life of it's own. There are other highlights, mostly stemming from various alphabetical letters and some of the time we even played Wordster. (Cryptic Caution Intended)

I got Mattie off to the airport Tuesday afternoon and then it was off to Jakes house to help celebrate his birthday. He and his friends had gone out the night before and really tied one on. Several of them, no doubt with Jake the ring leader, decided to jump in Lake Ponchatrain. Now this isn't a good idea sober in the daytime due to the massive pollutants but drunk at night it was not a bright move. Jake has deep cuts on his feet from the sharp rocks, oysters, whatever they might be and cuts on his back from where they were rolling around on the levy. I can't really criticize or tsk tsk them though. Wasn't it me that decided playing tennis with no coat on the day after Christmas break my senior year was a good idea? I probably thought so, but those several days I spent in the hospital with pneumonia weren't that fun. Wasn't it me that once pulled up some weeds around the back porch of some friends house only to discover we had unearthed a huge colony of biting little ants. Of course, drunk as we were, we decided that we had to get rid of them so we poured hairspray over the entire area and lit it on fire....Which wouldn't have been that big of a deal had the flames not caught the dry Indiana summer wood and created a bigger mess. We all took off our shirts to beat out the flames and after it was all over there were little dead burnt ants on all our clothes. Maybe drunk swimming in a polluted lake is pretty smart after all. Anyway, Jake and I didn't do much, we went to his mothers house with some friends of his so he could see her. She was very nice and had cake and ice cream set up for the boys. Jakes twin brother Josh was there too so we sang happy birthday twice, once for each of them. We went home, his friends left and we went hung out, watched a little bit of a movie. He fell asleep so I moved us to his bed and we slept like The Van Winkles.

I have written a ton here so I should close. Before I do though I have to tell you, I was looking for something to watch tonight and decided to watch "Showgirls." Okay, I own the DVD. Okay, I own the box set but that's not the point. I hadn't watched this movie in quite some time. It's truly a classic, but not classy and one of the worst movies ever made. Of course when I saw it the first time I didn't watch "Saved by the Bell" every morning, a habit that will have to stop. I can't look at Elizabeth Berkley ever again without thinking of Nomi Malone. Seriously though, can anyone else believe that her career stumbled after that movie, I mean really... She was soooo good. Those that have seen me roll their eyes should insert their memory of that look here. The rest of you get the idea. Alright, I'm off to bed, Ciao for now.

Thursday, May 5

Less than 5 hours remaining

Until Mattie arrives in New Orleans. Yes, Matties first trip home is upon us. I will head for Louis Armstrong International in just a few hours to pick up the prodigal son.

I'm sure that all 2 or 3 of my dedicated readers have been wondering what has become of my blog, I haven't ranted or raved for at least two weeks. I've meant to do so, but every time I sit down at the computer my head suddenly empties of anything to write about.

I will try to run down some highlights:

-My home state of Indiana has finally decided to join the rest of the country in participating in Daylight Savings Time. You know, that stupid thing where you spring forward and fall back your clock. I did not grow up doing this and still really don't get why Indiana had to fall in line and the rest of the country didn't just stop switching an hour each way every year. In the tradition of "falling back," Indiana has also adopted new standards on school prayer and the pledge of allegiance. I could really go off on a rant here, but I have a solution rather than just a gripe. Let's take the words "under god" out of the pledge. They weren't original to the song, so let's just remove them. I think this will make everyone happy, as long as you are into forced patriotism, but who isn't? I don't have a problem with a moment of silence for prayer either, as long as there isn't any prayer from any religion being led and the children are instructed that this is simply a moment of silence...if they choose to pray with it, then they may, or they may sit quietly, put their head down, have a moment of introspection....what about muslim children, are they now going to be allowed to put down a prayer rug and point it East at the proper times?

- I mentioned during my FQF posts that I had met a young man named Jake and I should write about him now. We have been seeing quite a bit of each other and am happy to report that it has gone mostly well. We had a very rough patch this week but for the moment at least it's been talked through and life will go on as before. Anyway, the Jakester (my name for him) is a very attractive sicilian boy who is about to turn 23 next week. He is also a twin, he has a twin brother named Josh who is straight. I will write more about Jake as time goes by...and even more if by chance Jake goes bye or bi.

-honestly I am brain dead, my brain isn't working today so I am going to close until I can remember all the rest of the thing I should be writing about.

Ciao!