"No reason to get excited," the thief, he kindly spoke,
"There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.
But you and I, we've been through that, and this is not our fate,
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late."
Bob Dylan
Friday afternoon - 11/26/99 - Day After Turkey Day
Hope everyone had a good one. Ours was great. My niece Maggie and her fiance had the families over for dinner. "Yumpty Dumpty" Their house looked beautiful. She and Scott were wonderful hosts. Lauren played with Scott's nephew, Andy. I'm trying to think how many people were there, 13 I think-- Maggie, Scott, Heather, Lauren, Glenda, Marilyn, Joe, me, Sally, Don, Beth, Chris, and Andy. The cats, Bertha, Hannibal, and Salvadore, were in hiding for the most part. Guess Bertha did make an appearance a couple of times, scurrying through looking like a dust mop with that adorable flat face. At any rate, they were well behaved. If we would have been at my house, Sheba would have been all over the counters and Growlf would have been begging & being just generally obnoxious. Me? Now I would have gone upstairs to nap and/or freak out. Maggie & Scoot managed to pull it off smoothly. She packed us a container of leftovers for which we were very thankful today today.
The Counting Crows concert on Sunday night was unbelievable. They sang nonstop for 2 1/2 hours and never sounded better. I was exhausted... dancing and playing drums on the head of the guy in front of me. (I'm sure he loved that.) Can't imagine how tired the band must have been. Adam Duritz was so animated, engaging and funny. I never would have imagined anyone who writes those dark lyrics to be so funny. I had heard they were known for being very approachable after concerts so we followed a crowd of young (and younger) people to the stage door. I managed to slide my way in and out until I was standing in the front lines. Matt, the cutie-pie bass player, signed an autograph for me but I couldn't hold on long enough to wait for Adam. I worked my way back out of the crowd and found Joe-- told him I was too old to hang out any more. (It had been almost an hour.) They said they'd probably be back this summer for an outdoor concert. I'll be first in line for tickets.
We skipped the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I was completely wiped out the next day. Besides, I think it was my brother Bill who said, "how many guitars can you look at?" commenting on hall's contents. When we arrived the day before, the Browns game was letting out. Bedraggled and frustrated fans were going every which way. We sat beside a few at the bar and secretly clapped. After listening to those bum Steelers on the way up, we couldn't have handled it if Cleveland hadn't lost also. Not very generous, I know. The really pathetic part is at least the Brownies have an excuse. Oh well, any consolation at that point was welcome.
They descend and then they climb
Feathers falling through the night
Have you seen Ohio rise
It has been four days and nights
A. Duritz
Haven't got much else to tell you. I'm afraid I am going to get an offer for the UPMC job. It sounds like a great job and the people seemed very nice... it's just not what I want. (And contrary to what some people say, no, I don't expect someone to pay me to take naps.) I'd just really like to get into the computer thing or writing but it's not happening. This job has great educational benefits so I could probably get them to pay for classes and move into something more like what I want in the future. Bottom line is we need the money. (Welcome to the real world, Jani.) Please forgive me. I am so spoiled. Anyway, I'm hoping they'll move slowly. Not likely to happen; they said they wanted to fill it a.s.a.p. Hate to leave Lauren in a bind over Christmas vacation. With Y2K, Heather & Joe are both having problems scheduling time off.
Good news. Heather had her review at work this week and got a 10% raise. She was elated. Her boss told her that her review was better than any one else's in the company. He should say that. She works like a dog for nearly nothing.
I'd like to make some phone calls over the next couple of days; check in with everyone. I talked to the Klicks but not to Bill or the Va Beach gang lately. The Days sent me a nice Thanksgiving note. And my friends Deb and Chet both sent me wonderful e-cards. By the by, today is Deb's birthday. Had this funny (nasty) card to send and of course, didn't get it out in time. Did get to talk to her on the phone earlier. I wanted to take her out for a drink but she was all tied up. Hope she had a great day.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEB... LOVE YOU... SORRY I'M SUCH A SHIT.
Thanks for reading. Take it easy... I'm outta here.
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Friday afternoon - 11/19/99
I had a 2nd interview at UPMC this morning. Met Joe for lunch afterwards. It's so gorgeous outside-- I wish I was at Majorsville. I'm going to make this a quickie and at least go out back with the Growlf monster and Sheeeeba kitty.
I'm so ready for the Counting Crows concert Sunday, I can hardly see straight. I'm going to get all my CC tapes in order so that we can listen to them on the way to Cleveland and back. Joe would like to stop in Canton, at the Football Hall of Fame. His dad is in it.... he was in a semi-pro team. Wild if you knew him. He was only about 5'4" and weighed about 110. Looked an awful lot like Joe Paterno. Anyway, it's pretty cool he's in there and we've never had a chance to go look him up. I'll try to to dig up the picture of him in his uniform and post it on my old family picture page sometime next week.
Did you check out the my old local pictures page? Found these really neat pictures and maps-- Forbes Field and Washington. If you knew my parents, the one map ought to look familiar. They used to have it hanging in their kitchen. I blew up a detail of E. Washington from it... shows the old Larkin homestead at 517 East Chestnut. The map was drawn in 1897 so my house and my parent's house aren't on it although the old E.Washington School is. It was a grade school by the time I went to it but I think it was both the grade school and high school back then. Anyway found the map at a Library of Congress web site. [Map Collections Home Page] and the panoramic pictures came from the "American Collection" there.
Lauren spent the night here Monday. She didn't want to go to school the next morning, pretended to be sick. I'm sure it had something to do with that damn teacher of hers. She finally said she'd go. Half of the reason she agreed was because Joe was picking her up after school to take her to the dentist. She's still young enough to believe going to the dentist is some sort of adventure! Oh to be that young again. She had to have 3 fillings but they were all in baby teeth so I guess the dentist didn't have to drill much.
Heather has arranged an appointment to meet with the principal and Lauren's teacher and the guidance counselor. Joe wants to go too. I'm staying on the sidelines here but they have my blessings. Guess Joe found out from a woman who used to teach, that it's imperative kids in grades 1-3 or so feel their teacher likes them. This woman was really horrified when Joe told her what had happened with Lauren last week. She's the one who suggested Heather make this appointment. She said it should be asap because there's no way Heather should let things stand the way they are.
Well, I'm a'goin outside. Have a great weekend. I'll talk to you when I get back from seeing CC!!
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Monday - 11/15/99 - 1:12PM EST
Angelfire keeps "making improvements" and they're just about to drive me up a wall. Today I logged on to find all my files in disarray and a subdirectory where there was no subdirectory before. I don't think it's screwed up anything as far as navigating around my site but if you find problems, let me know so I can fix them.
Took a ride down to the country yesterday. The Steelers were playing so badly, Joe went with me. We put up fences around trees-- used 200 ft. of fencing but are nowhere near being done. I know I've heard that if a tree has been girded completely, the chances of it surviving aren't very good. So I wasn't going to fence in any that were to that point but some were so big and nice, I had to try to save them. If anyone knows how to deal with this, please tell me. I thought I saw somewhere that you could use cheesecloth or something to wrap around where the bark is missing & that the biggest reason the tree dies is because it's susceptible to insects & disease. So we need to buy more fence, at least another 300 feet and we no doubt need divine help saving the ones that are already very damaged. Everything else down there seemed all right. There was a horrible humming sound coming from the coal company site. I'm afraid it's the bleeder shaft fan and we'll have to deal with it for quite a long, long time. It wasn't that loud but you could definitely hear it-- ruining what used to be such a nice quiet place. I guess there isn't anything I can do about it... "Let go and let God."
My interview last Friday went well. The position is a Sr. Administrative Assistant for the Employee Assistance Program at UPMC. All I knew about them was that they offered counseling. It's much larger than I thought. They handle all the UPMC hospitals (15 right now) & also contract out to many large and small employers in the tri-state area. At any rate, the two people I interviewed with were very nice. I'm supposed to hear something by Wednesday, so we'll see.
Have you been reading about the Leonids meteor shower we're supposed to have Wednesday night/Thursday morning? It sounds pretty awesome... predictions of 1500 - 6000 meteors an hour! I'd really like to catch that but I'm a little bit wary. Had this dream many years ago, one of the most disturbing dreams I ever had. Anyway, the dream ended with the end of time. Wanna guess what preceded it? Yes, a gigundo meteor shower. I don't really believe the dream was prophetic but I'll say a few extra Acts of Contrition just to be on the safe side.
Can you believe November is half over already? Some smarty pants people that shall remain nameless are already well into their Christmas shopping. As I explained last year, this is not the way of our people. We must wait until after Marilyn's birthday (12/13) to do Christmas things. This is the way it's always been and this is the way it will continue to be, world without end, amen.
Talked to my cousin Marty on the phone the other day. He sounded well and seems to love living in Columbia SC. He is also nearly apoplectic hearing Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young will be touring. I heard the tickets were some ungodly amount (hundreds of dollars). Told him I wouldn't pay that much to see anyone except maybe Jesus at the Second Coming-- and even then I'd have to think about it.
Had a couple of emails from the VA Beach people-- all sounded okay other than David almost electrocuting himself. I think he should always use rubber-tipped tools and wear tennis shoes to avoid this. Marilyn talked to Bill over the weekend. She and Maggie are thinking about making a trip to San Antonio after Christmas. I hope they get to do it-- would be nice for them all to get together.
I will not discuss the Steelers losing to the Browns except to say Joe and I may stay in Cleveland next week after the concert, become permanent residents and disavow any connection to Pittsburgh. BUMS!!! Did you all watch Pitt beat Notre Dame on Saturday? (T'was the last game at Pitt Stadium and the crowd tore down one of the goal posts before the game was officially over.) I really wanted Joe to call up some ND fans we know in VA Beach and pretend to be selling Panther memorabilia but he wouldn't.
Not much else is going on here. For a change, I'm ready to "do lunch" & other social things. I owe a couple people some invitations. Thanks for reading and I'll catch you later, alligator.
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Thursday - 11/11 (Hey, I don't like this guy's numbers) - 2:29PM EST
Oh oh, Merle is mad at me. I know, maybe Joe will give up his ticket and she can go with me. She'd have to take off Monday the 22nd though-- I'm staying in Cleveland Sunday night. Kills me to be excited about going to Cleveland, what I and every other red-blooded Steeler fan calls the mistake on the lake. When Drew Carey and his gang sings "Cleveland Rocks", we substitute "Sucks". No matter-- I'd go to the bowels of hell to see CC. (CC? No Fifi!) By the way, I saw the video for "hanginaround" on VH1 and Adam looked pretty damn good. So I take back everything I said. He's alright with me. (I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy.)
"When I think of heaven
(Deliver me in a black-winged bird)
I think of flying down into a sea of pens and feathers
and all other instruments of faith and sex and God
In the belly of a black-winged bird
Don't try to feed me
I've been here before and I deserve a little more
A.D.
I've got This Desert Life blasting as I write this. If anyone's interested, according to Lisa's Shrine, CC will be performing on Letterman, November 18. Also the Conan show is repeating tomorrow night. That Lisa, she's a wonder. Half the time she has newer news about CC than their own official web site! Speaking of the official site, it's been updated and is way cool. Check out Adam's bunny ears: [Counting Crows]
Found free games on Angelfire (where the turkey came from.) One is a tarot card game that totally freaked me out. You meditate on a question then look at the cards and read the meaning. I played once and the cards really seemed to apply to my question. Decided to rephrase the question and play again. Again, the cards seemed to be right on the mark. The third time I rephrased once more and this time the card that came up in "the basic situation" position was The Devil. Made my hair stand on end. Anyway, if you want to fool around with it or any of the other games, here's the link: [Angelfire Games].
Did manage to make it to Majorsville the other day. It was incredible. Saw the great blue heron. I like it that he stays through the winter (no wimp.) Found 7 or 8 trees with beaver teeth marks on them. Growlf & I hiked all over the place, up to the waterfall. Yes, there was water but only drips. Maybe we should call it the waterdrip? Whatever, it was awesome. Looked and sounded like some kind of natural cathedral.
Everything in the house seemed to be in working order. Found a little dead mouse beside the tool room door. Managed to sweep it up but not before I'd knocked off half his teeny-tiny toenails (he kept rolling away from me.) Some new construction is going on across the road from Elton (sp?) Whitehead's old place... maybe another house? Work continues at the coal company site across from us. They've removed the patriotic (red, white & blue) oil-well-looking thing. Good. Looks much better now. I sat on the deck writing in my journal for awhile and heard the guys working over there... "Hey, Mike." "This way, Mike." "Okay, Mike." Guess one of their names was Mike.
I have an interview tomorrow morning and that's all I'm saying about that.
I need to take some ibuprophen and a xanax-- getting one of those neck aches, probably from staring at this monitor for too long. Better go. Thanks for reading.
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Tuesday - November 9, 1999 - 11:47AM EST
I bought tickets to see Counting Crows in Cleveland, Sunday - November 21,1999. And booked a room in the nearest Holiday Inn. How neat is that? I'm ready to soar; I'm so high. Maybe I can check out the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame too. Yeah, think I have to do that.
Can't stay on here long. I've been up here all morning and we're having 70 degree weather so I'd better get outside and dig it while I can. Should I chance it and go to Majorsville? Can I handle it if I get down there and all our trees have been chewed down to toothpick size? Growlf would love to go-- no question about that. And since the stuff I write about Majorsville seems to be the most popular in content, guess I should-- new material.
Heard Microsoft stock rose since it was judged to be a monopoly. Only Bill Gates could pull this off. Anybody else and it would have been curtains... curtains I say.
I have an appointment scheduled for the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation tomorrow. My old therapist kept insisting I might qualify for financial assistance for school since I've been being treated since '91. I don't know. The woman who I talked to was not very encouraging. Said their funding had been cut way back. Also, she put a big guilt trip on me. Stressed how their services were for people with real problems. Very hard to justify that this is a real problem. It's not like I'm going to starve or anything. I'll probably end up just canceling the appointment.
I'm losing my mind trying to contact people using this new computer. All my old email addresses are in a Netscape address book and I'm having a lot of problems accessing it. (That probably doesn't qualify as a real problem either.) Haven't installed ICQ yet so I'm not able to chat real time. "It's so di-di-dif, di-di-dif, hard to deal with." (My impersonation of that stuttering pig, as PW would call him.)
Hey, I'm out of here. Have a glorious day.