Today I dived deeper into geekdom (I know! Whoever thought it was possible?!). I gave Geoffrey a chess set for our anniversary, and tonight he taught me to play. Shooo-wheee, it's a hard game. Not too hard to understand, really, just hard to be any good at. Lots of strategery (as W would say) involved. I can see how people get obsessed with it. I don't think I will become too obsessed, especially since it's frustrating and we all know how good I am dealing with frustration.
I had dinner with Josh and his lovely (and SO funny) wife, Michelle, tonight. Besides the joy of being with friends was the joy of finding a restaurant where (a) parking is relatively easy, and free at night!, and (b) you can get dinner for less than 10 bones. It's a trendypants noodle place, but pretty good and very low-hassle. No waiters, really, and you refill your own drink and pay up front so you can leave whenever. What a concept!
Not much else to report today. Mostly stayed in my apartment. Not because of the wacko sniper so much as because of my filthy apartment, which I tried to spruce up a bit, with not as much success as I had hoped. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.
I put South Carolina flag sticker on my car (Ramon, of course) today. It looks nice since he's blue and so is most of the flag. Gives him a little more personality. I wish I could find a Furman sticker for him, but I don't think I'll have a lot of luck around here. Oh well, maybe next time I give the school money I'll demand a sticker ... nice how alumni can demand things, even if you only give 'em 10 bucks, you know?
QUOTE OF THE DAY: From my mom, who e-mailed to inform me: "There was an article in our Sunday paper [The Atlanta Journal-Constitution] about blogs. It said that they're very popular with teenage girls. One site estimates that 30% fall into that category, another site said it might be higher." Oh. My. God. Puh-leeeeze. Gag me with a spoon, 'K?
LISTENING TO: Whatever was in the CD player (mostly RYAN ADAMS/Demolition and KELLY WILLIS/Easy) so I could avoid being forced to listen to my stupid neighbor's music blasting through the walls. I really hate this apartment complex. And I'm sure my neighbors will come to hate it, too, when I get revenge by practicing my viola here tomorrow. :)
Stacy - 11:58 PM
Tuesday, October 08, 2002
One thing I like about working downtown is I am frequently handed free stuff. Today a man in a great big yellow and white hat gave me free samples of those weird new Twix + cookie thingys. He had a button with some sort of company name on it, so he must have been official, right? It was NOT, then, like taking candy from a stranger. Ahem. Anyway, he was so obviously some poor college liberal arts major trying to earn latte money. Lots of people ignored him, but I am one who always takes things I am handed, have quite a collection of Greenpeace fliers growing on my desk. He said to me: "Two great tastes that make a great snack" and I feel bad because I think I kind of giggled at him. It was only because he said it in the most deadpan voice imaginable, something like: "twogreattastesthatmakeagreatsnack," and looked so angsty. But hey, I got a free snack. It wasn't very good though. Kinda like a Twix bar that's been run over. Also downtown I have gotten a free plastic cup from the Food Network for the "Unwrapped" show and a CD from a Mennonite choir that was performing over my Metro station and was actually quite good. I am hoping for free $100 bills, but no luck yet.
The 6th was Geoffrey and my two-year anniversary. Two f-ing years, we keep saying to each other. It's been a good, if sometimes dramatic, two years. I'll spare everyone the mush, suffice it to say it's been the happiest, most fun two years of my life. I was a jerk and had to work on our anniversary, but G made plans for us to eat at a nice restaurant we've never been to. We didn't end up going though, but for a very good reason. Our friend Casey from Anderson was swinging through town and made a wonderful surprise visit. It was so great to see her. She's making her way up to Boston for treatment to help her battle cancer -- for the third time. She is the bravest person I know. One of the funniest, too. My tummy was all sore after she left because I'd been laughing so much. So a shout-out to Casey, who made an already wonderful day even more, um, wonderfuller. Ick.
They've posted the 2003 Merlefest lineup! Here's the list. Some notable omissions (Nickel Creek, why have you forsaken me???) but some exciting additions (Emmylou! Bela Fleck! Donna the Buffalo is back!). You should come with me this year. If you visit the Merlefest site and do not want to be there so bad you could puke, you are dumb.
Finally, these sniper shootings. OK, it's getting scary. What kind of sick freak ... ??? It's hard to even try to imagine how this could be happening, even harder to realize the person's still on the loose. What the hell is your point, buster? OK, we're all scared, but you're so random that no one's going to change their habits, their lives. You've proved nothing, except perhaps you're a coward who gets off on shooting 13 year olds in the back from a safe distance. Ah, it's sickening, like anyone needs me to tell them that. I guess all Geoffrey and I and our friends here can do is hope odds are in our favor and that the cops do a better job finding this guy than they did my car. Or the blow-dart people. Sheesh.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: From Ian B., who I've never really liked anyway, who e-mails: "Marcus said you guys are doing well. Said you actually have friends. What? You? And Geoffrey? I always heard D.C. was a little strange, but that's just downright bizarre."
WORD OF THE DAY: "Nuculer," which W. had to have said AT LEAST 400 times during his war-drum beating speech on Iraq tonight. He also totally stole a quote Condoleeza Rice said like a month ago, without giving credit, of course. At least he didn't screw it up.
LISTENING TO: BRUCE HORNSBY/Spirit Trail, which I'm borrowing from a co-worker. Coincidentally, Bruce Hornsby is slated to be at Merlefest next year. I think recently he's been leaning more heavily than usual on the roots/bluegrass thing. I'm looking forward to hearing him perform. This CD is a few years old. Very diverse. He definitely has his own sound, yet the range of his style is amazing. Definitely no two songs on this album -- a 2 CD set, may I say -- sound the same. Thumbs up.
Stacy - 12:07 AM
