I'm not in the mood to blog so I'm letting the pictures talk for me...
Pam's fecking AWESOME Australian shepherd, Cupcake.
PEby and Sus gathered around our fancy meal just before we dug in.
Subdued lighting for the over-50 set at the Steve Miller show.
Finally! I'm in one of my own pictures.
Lately I've gotten into the bad rut of taking lots of pix but not actually being *in* any of them. Me,
Suzi and Tom after the after show. Beaucoup thanks to them both for getting the free tix and goodies. Asians have the mad hook up, yo.
Say it with me...BACKSTAGE PASS.
Kinda like when you get your syllabus for the semester, I hereby outline what's coming up in postings to recount the week's activities. Plan now which lectures you'd like to attend:
Five Guys with Erin on Wednesday followed by a viewing of my-jury's-still-out-on-this-one
Hostage.
KRISTIN COMING HOME and doing a Girls Night redux on Thursday. Powerful margaritas at
Guajillo and soft serve from Carvel. MMmmm.
Happy Hour at
Hawk & Dove with Kristin, Erin, Tom, and Suzi on Friday. Circuitous drive to NW to see Matt's "new" place, then tromping over to
Utopia for martinis and jazz.
Today is for lazy
reading on a rainy day, perhaps a movie, and then we're going to see
Steve Miller tonight at Wolf Trap. This here's a story 'bout a big old jet airliner full of wild mountain honey piloted by a Joker who's gonna fly like an eagle to the sea...
I've decided that I love Leo Kottke but only when he doesn't sing. I'm spinning his
Sixty Six Steps (2nd collaboration with Phish's Mike Gordon) and I can't get enough of the acoustic stuff but somehow when he starts singing it turns me off. Except for the song "Grid" that talks about the concept of living life on and off "the grid," a phrase I use liberally and have to respect when the subject of an entire song.
On a side note, I'm using
AOL's Listening Party and noticed that they have a part of the site dedicated to "Britney's Baby Watch." ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
I LOVE CHRISTIE!!!!!!I have been a bad friend and penpal and I hereby apologize. I am not too busy for her (except when I'm watching TV...she and I have discussed this and are on the same page about it) and I wished she lived down the street.
Wait, so, maybe instead of apologizing to her
she should apologize to
me for living so far away. Yeah, that's it....
Just in case you can't see, to get the full effect know that that is a Virginia "Bowling" license plate.
PERFECT PERFECT PERFECT.
I'm no Kristin Mahan (see Producto Roboto), but don't let it be said that I can't get my productive bustle on from time to time. In the last 24 hours I had lovely dinner with Annie at the
Lost Dog Cafe (per her and XO's recommendation) and I barely got past the door (where all the beers are). I enjoyed the scrumptious San Diego sandwich, an amber and an IPA, and then moseyed over to the
mom-and-pop hardware store on Washington Boulevard that's been there since the 1940s. It's as much a 5-and-dime as it is a hardware store, so imagine the aisle roaming that can happen. For instance, in one trip I bought ant killer, a flexible fabric cooler, a magnetic arithmetic set, and some nickel candy. SEE YOU NOW, TARGET.
Now today since leaving work I've run many errands, cleaned my apartment, repotted plants (and then placed them on the shelving I bought--and assembled--especially for said plants today), am doing my laundry, and in 3 minutes when I start the final dryer load I will set about grilling a round steak and nuking some corn on the cob. I will enjoy this whilst watching some DVRd goodness and then...I will *collapse* into bed. Not unlike a hyper child who goes full-bore right up until the moment where she falls asleep with her face pressed into the floor and her ass in the air in the middle of the kitchen because that is when and where her diesel ran out. I'm sure you can picture it.
OMG. WHY didn't anyone tell me that
Transporter 2 was in the making, and comes out on September 2??! Ohmygahohmygahohmygah. CarsfightsJasonStatham. Diggity DAMN they know what I like.
Two weekends in a row I've done outdoor things in 100+ degree heat. SMRT!! Last weekend it was the WITO thing in Leesburg; yesterday it was Pickin' on the Neck, a bluegrass festival near Lorton.
Mason Neck State Park is just south of Fort Belvoir, on a spit of land that sticks out into the Belmont/Occoquan Bays. Absolutely gorgeous, tranquil area--you'd never think it's so close to the bustle of D.C.--where Pam and I scoped out a shady spot by the water and settled in for several hours of good ol' country music. Besides the very good tunes, we were treated to a must-have for any good festival: a drunk, rowdy man. You couldn't bring in drinks or coolers, and this was a family event run by the Lions Club, so I'm guessing this dude got pre-soused and then headed in for the music. He was maybe 55 and looked like life has used him very harshly...florid/sunburned skin (of which there was a lot; shirts were invented for a reason, fella), straggly white/blond hair, molester yellow-tinted glasses, a huge belly, and stringy limbs. He jumped and "danced" in front of the bandstand, and shouted out comments to the bands and crowd in general. Example:
Singer: "This next number is an old favorite, 'Mama and the Hard-workin' Day'."
Geezer: "MAMA?! Mama's a hussy is what she is!"
And many other gems along these same lines. Like an idiot I forgot my camera, but PEby has one in her phone and we got a wee snap of him mid-shimmy, so I hope to have that for you at some point.
Today I was treated to a visit to FredVegas with none other than
TV, who was on the 5-year plan there at Mary Washington back in the day. I caught up on all the goss from the Old Job
on the drive down, then we rolled in for a fun stroll through Civil War/antique/memory lane. Lunch at
Sammy T's, then meandering up and down Caroline Street (think historic Occoquan or Old Town Alexandria). Then we drove up to campus where Steve pointed out "I partied here" or "I threw up there" or "This was the A-1 dorm in my day and OF COURSE I lived there". ;) I kid, of course. And like we all don't tell those tales when we go back to our old campus. Needless to say the school is beautiful and sweetly small, but very pictoresque and still quiet since students aren't back yet. As an aside, they're welcoming the class of 2009 this fall. JESUS. I am fucking OLD. That means Shelby will be the class of 2010 from wherever she goes, and that Samantha will be the class of 2013 and that? Just makes my head hurt.
We finished up by cruising by
Carl's on the way out of town to get milkshakes that have been touted to me by many F'burgers. I don't think it's a coincidence that Carl's is on Princess Anne street. They were simply waiting for me. I think in the way that I stop in to Williamsburg for Pierce's and CheeseShop, so now too shall I pop off of 95 to get me a chocolate malt.
Adam, what high school did you go to? And btw, having now seen parts of your 'burg, I CANNOT picture you growing up there. Because it is all about me. Duh.
I'm buzzing on coffee after a good night's sleep, just finished my
book, and am ready, finally, to do what will probably be a paltry and unnecessarily-hyped entry about last weekend. But since it's almost
this weekend, I figured I best get on that biz...
Friday after work I met up with Erin D., Erinn N. (WOO! so great to see her after almost a year...too long!), Betsy, and Erinn's UVa friend Sue for a chill girls' evening. We ended up destroying hors d'oeuvres and drinks at Erin's, only to follow it up with klassy Pizza Mart (? Bets...help me here w/ the name) pie. I was so wiped from the first official week of work that I didn't contribute much beyond thumbing through
US Weeklys on the coach and adding the occasional comment, but it was so wonderful to see everyone and just be around peeps.
Saturday was the activity portion of the weekend. I signed up for Loudon County is for Women in the Outdoors, a day-long seminar for women who want to be more involved in outdoor recreation. You could choose from a number of clinics on things like fly fishing, archery, survival skills, etc. for 2 4-hour sessions. I had such a blast being outside all day, learning stuff to help me camp and hike and not end up hurt or de'ed. Being around just women took off all the pressure and we lived it up. I was on the go from 5:45 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and it was about all I could do to bathe and fall into bed Saturday night, but it was so worth it.
What I most wanted to recount about the day, though, were the general surroundings. Ideally I would have pictures to go with this tale, but I just couldn't figure out how to snap the pictures of what I found amusing without coming off as judgmental or condescending and friends, these people had firearms, so I wasn't about to go down that road. Not even for irony.
The event was hosted by a local chapter of an outdoors' league, but was organized by the National Wild Turkey Federation. And the NWTF is all about hunting. So the lodge was all about dead, stuffed creatures, posters proudly proclaiming membership in the NRA, and raffle prizes that included a wild turkey cookie jar and salt n' pepper shakers. Needless to say I did not buy any raffle tickets. The boys that were there (instructors, etc.) were of the Good Old variety, and were so helpful in setting up the station where you'd get fitted for your CUSTOM RIFLE-RANGE EAR PLUGS. As everyone should do.
Actually most of my smack talk is for blogging purposes because I was genuinely bummed not to make it into the handgun seminar (I canoed instead). I don't object to weaponry on principle, and people who handle guns and themselves calmly and responsibly--more power to you. But little liberal voices inside my head were definitely chirping here and there throughout the day. Until I told them to hush up so I could concentrate on orienteering, because a lost Doss is not something any of us wants.
Sunday I trotted over to Suzi's to be treated to homemade popovers and strawberry butter and banana nut muffins. Girlfriend? CAN COOK. We drank coffee and chatted and then watched the earlier-mentioned
Alias episodes, with a quick run to CostCo and Trader Joe's thrown in for good measure. I ended up doing nothing of the "cleaning the house" variety that day but ask me if I care.
Now...on to this weekend, which will feature a bluegrass festival, cooking out with PEby, and perhaps a run to, as TV calls it, FredVegas, with the man himself! Bring it on!
Gaza? Baghdad?
Nope.
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.Stampede and melee are the words being used to describe how a
crowd bum-rushed the gates at the Richmond International Speedway in pursuit of $50 laptops. Kids and elderly people trampled, cops called in. Ah, fair Virginia. Or more precisely, fair Richmond. I think maybe
Bill has a point when he goes on about how jacked up our state capital can be.
OK, so I thought I'd be blazing a new trail on the blog, getting back into the daily posting swing, but time keeps getting away from me. I promise to be more diligent and get deets of my weekend up here, but I ask for a grace period because the work schedule, she is not so "regular".
Just know that tales will include taxidermy, canoeing, Jersey gas caps, and multiple viewings of "Miracle." ARE YOU SO EXCITED??!
Great weekend, activity-packed. One of the things I did was re-watch some Season 1 episodes of
Alias with Suzi. She and Tom never watched the show in the past and are Netflixing to play catch up. We sat rapt before the first 3 episodes of the show, and I had forgotten just how fucking awesome this show is. The characters were already really well developed (i.e. I couldn't love Spy Daddy or Marshall more if you paid me. Seriously.); the stunts and look of the show were detailed and polished, but not heavy-handed; Vaughn and Weiss have *killer* repartee and are dressed like under-paid, over-worked junior officers; and I miss Francie and Will! I was bummed to get to the end of the disc. I don't have Netflix anymore...does anyone have Season 1 on DVD? Can I borrow? ;)
On the way to the beach last Friday BD and I crossed into hallowed ground...the 100,000 mile mark.
Almost there...
THE MONEY SHOT
Settling into a new digit
I'm also more than a little proud that I took these en route and kept 'im at a steady speed. My mom was none too pleased, but that's another story.
BD is my special boy!!!
