I was choking on a cornflake
You said, "Have some toast instead."
I was sleeping maybe three hours
You said, "You should get to bed."
-belle & sebastian, "Stay Loose" (my favorite song off of 'Dear Catastrophe Waitress' which is still a pretty damn near perfect album, if you ask me.)
A lot of days this spring had belle & sebastian soundtracks and the sun has been so warm and all the colors look so highly saturated, and as a cute boy I know has said, "It just seems like everything's going faster when you're in a convertible." It's true, and also you can smell the jasmine and eucalyptus trees.
You prolly think I've been neglecting my blog 'cause I've been off in love or something like that running around, having fun. Well if you bet on that, you're only half right. I've been working whack amounts -- we're talking 70-80 hour weeks for the past few months. Basically, I'm working on work for almost all of my waking hours. It's pretty insane. No lunch breaks, and no blog breaks.
In fact right now, it's 2:30a.m., and there's a boy in my bed trying to sleep, and I'm typing on my laptop propped on the pillow 'cause I'm so caffeinated/agitated that I can't sleep (I got home from the office at midnight), and I need to be online starting work again at 6:30a.m. in just 4 hours. It's vicious. I'm also suffering from tendonitis in my wrists from too many work hours spent using my keyboard/mouse. I hafta wear big, hard plastic wrist braces to bed to help my hands get proper blood circulation. They're hot, lemme tell ya. I sense a new fetish will be created around these things, as more and more tech workers need to wear them.
But somehow, I've still been managing to have some fun. It's just sleep I'm lacking.
For Owen's 30th birthday, our housemate Ric built a 9-hole mini-golf course inside our apartment. See, it was pretty freakin' impressive. And then lots of people came over and we played pac man drank lots of beer and sangria and ate copious and plentiful meats augmented by cotton candy (brought by Mindy) and a fabulous birthday cake (brought by Bethany).
I saw my favorite show yet -- belle & sebastian at the Warfield on April 30. The accoustics in that venue are amazing! They sounded like velvet. And, appropriately, they performed (a pretty much impromptu) cover of one of my favorite Velvet Underground songs, "I'll be Your Mirror." (A boy in the audience said that it was his birthday, so they offered to play him a song. They asked what his name was, and the boy said "Nico." So, they started into the Velvet Underground cover for him.) Bobby has amazing stage presence and charisma without being too contrived. When he said, "I hope you all realize how lucky you are to live in this town. We love visiting this place," he really meant it -- they talked about Pac Bell Park and baseball games, and then launched into "Piazza, New York Catcher" with its San Francisco-themed lyrics. They also played my all-time favorite b&s song "Sleep the Clock Around" off of 'Boy With the Arab Strap.' I first heard it years ago when Jeff put it on a mix tape for me, and I've never gotten even a tiny bit sick of it.
One of my friends from Vassar days, Jon Swerdloff, visited California for the first time (from NYC) last month, and we spent some time at the end of April hanging out -- I showed him around the city and took him to wine country.
For Daniel's birthday, Mici threw him a surprise party at the Ebb Tide. I fell asleep (damn work!) and missed the beginning part, but everyone said he was really surprised. Mici did a kick-ass job. Everyone had fun. And then Daniel gave Mici a kiss.
Oh, and I must be getting sleepy, 'cause I almost forgot about the karaoke with the live band at El Rio. Allyson took pictures that made me look like Jack White.
