I can’t beleive I’ve got a Spacebook account…

This really is bad. I don’t know why I’ve done this. I suppose lately I’ve been feeling like stalking people and haven’t had an outlet to do so. I really don’t know what the point of having this thing is, I can’t figure it out and it keeps sending me emails about what nonsense everyone I know is doing on a minute-by-minute basis. I don’t really care if you have decided to get a puppy and neither does anyone else. So, I think when I get enough friend requests or at least one friend request, I’ll probably delete the account. I mean, between the blog and real life conversations, I really haven’t the time for such pseudo-social conquests.

Plus like Bernard Black says: “and what am I supposed to do while you’re doing the underpants Charleston with this insane, blind tart!?” wait, that’s not the quot I was conjuring….here it is: “Yeh, well, frankly you’re doomed. You and all the shy people are. Natural selection favors the loud and the aggressive. I don’t mean this in a bad way, but, genetically, you are a cul-de-sac.”

New background and features!

Just what you all have begged for. A bright new format for the summer and a link to my RSS feed. Finally you all can read my blog without actually visiting it. Just click on the RSS button on the right there and pick your RSS application. Its just that easy.

So, I’ll hit you with a video too while I’m here. Its Richard Harris singing MacArthur Park. My friends and I were talking about him the other day and one friend asked if I meant the actor who played Dumbledore in the Harry Potsmoker Movies? I said no, I must have misspoken, and then I said Richard Harrison. But that didn’t sound right. I resolved that there were two Richard Harris’ out there, one who was an actor and one who sang folk music. They are in fact one and the same. It kindof freaked me out for a minute. I’ve never seen the Harry Potter movies, well, half of one in college. I just never got into them and I surely don’t know the characters names. I do know of Dumbledore because some Irish guy got a tattoo of him on his back and then it came out that Dumbledore was a homosexual and it made it as a question on The Big Fat Quiz Show of the Year.

Let me explain the Richard Harris thing; my father is a huge folk music fan from the 1970s. I spent most of my childhood listening to Richard Harris, Cat Stevens, Jim Croce, Gordon Lightfoot, Bob Dylan, and Harry Chapin records, with my father in our basement. Maybe thats why I’m so glum most of the time. As Dylan Moran described blues music, “I ain’t got nothin, and their taking that away too!, I haven’t even got a guitar, I’m strummin my fuckin belly-button here!” It just puts you in a mood, and since I’ve moved out of my parent’s house and I’m the only one who has a record player, I’ve been borrowing some of their records to supplement my collection; which consists mostly of Neil Diamond records and one Minor Threat album. So on Sunday I borrowed The Richard Harris Love Album, a couple Jim Croce albums, Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks, and some other miscellaneous vinyl. Their collection really is amazing and includes almost all of the Beatles albums, Dylan, CSNY, CSN, Neil Young with Crazy Horse, Elton John, and others I can’t remember. My folks were never into Zeppelin or the Stones, but beggars can’t be choosers. So here is a taste of my play lists as of late. Enjoy.

Richard Harris – MacArthur Park

Jim Croce – Next Time, This Time

Harry Chapin – W.O.L.D.

Won’t you take me back to school?

I saw their DVD performance on Saturday with my folks and aunt and uncle, and I have to say, the Moody Blues still have it. I never really got into them that much in the past and after seeing that DVD, I wondered why. So I’m off to get my Moody Blues education; starting with these two…

Five Facts About Me

I just bought a pair of Levis 501 Shrink-to-Fit Jeans on Ebay; a first for me. According to some crazy Japanese denim websites, I should sit in a cold bath for an hour with them on and then walk around and let them dry on my body. Should be fun.

When I was younger I wanted to grow up to be a carpenter, a mechanic, a teacher, or work in live entertainment. Real Estate Analyst was not on that list. Incidentally, I now want to be a pilot.

I picked my university because I liked the name. Seemed like a perfectly reasonable criteria to base a decision on. I picked my major for a similar reason.

I hated high school with a passion only realized years after the fact. I thought I liked it when I was there but I now look back and realize how awful it was. The direct opposite is true of college. I hated it while I was there but now I have a strange affinity for those memories.

I can’t find the sweater I’m wearing in this photograph, nor do I remember this photo being taken. Weird. Maybe that’s not me.  Doppelganger!

Good Dream…Yes Please

I had a dream this morning that I really rather enjoyed. I typically either enjoy my dreams and wake up with a smile, or I get freaked out when I wake up and am messed-up for a day or so. This dream was of the former type. It was so powerful, I decided to write down the gist of it when I got to the office. For your reading pleasure…

The dream starts off while I’m at work. I had been walking around one of the side streets near Macy’s and the subway station and I remember it was windy and a little dark. The kind of general climatic malaise that comes right before a violent rain storm. I had gone to get something, but somehow on my way back, I was no longer in possession of whatever it was I had gone for. But, as luck would have it, I found some muffins in a plastic tray. I don’t know where I found them, but they were now mine. There were 8 muffins, two of each assorted kind including blueberry, blueberry corn, corn, something with those giant sugar crystals on top, and poppyseed. They were in a plastic bag and I decided to test one out to see if it was any good. You know, if you find baked-goods on the street in a bag, you can’t be sure of their freshness. So I started eating one and it was of the corn and blueberry variety. I then walked back to my building and passed a homeless man, whom I gave one muffin to. This muffin was not in the eight-pack, but in a single container that I hadn’t yet noticed, but it must of been there the entire time. It was a pumpkin muffin. He thanked me.

I don’t remember exactly how I got back to the office, but I was all-of-a-sudden there. When I came back, my boss was there and we were talking about how much space we had that we didn’t use, in fact, he showed me a light switch that I didn’t remember existing. I have a pretty small office and this dream office was much bigger. I’ve had a dream like that before whereby I now occupy a giant office with so much room and cool feature that I can’t believe it. Then a group of people had to come in our office and take a test of some kind and since we had so much surplus space, we allowed them to use our office. The only caveat was that they had to stay off our desks since we needed to complete some work for the day. These people instantly overtook my desk and they spilled soda on my keyboard. As I was trying to clean it up and “shoo” them away, they kept asking about my keyboard and how it operated since they had never seen one like it before. Then they went and opened all the windows, which don’t usually open and papers started flying around and rain was coming in and it was just a mess. I tried to close the windows as quickly as possible, but then there was something going on like a party in the hallway and then all of the test-takers were now party-goers. Its not clear whether they were just there for a party to start with; I think that is quite possible.

Then we saw the Celtics parade go by our window and my office was transformed to a subway car and that’s when I left work. That is the only crazy part of the dream.

I left work and got in my car to drive to New Hampshire (I think it was New Hampshire). It was certainly a “country rural” type place that was somewhat alien to my day in the city. I’m pretty sure I was supposed to pick something up I had bought on craigslist and the girl that I bought it off of wasn’t there yet. So her younger brothers let me in and we watched television and told them about how I was there for the Celtics parade. Her brothers were pretty cool. I sat in a brown recliner. I asked if I should just take the item and leave the money but her brother phoned her and she said “no”, she would be back soon. I never ended up getting the item, or if I did, I don’t remember.

I ended up handing out with the brothers and their friends for quite some time and we had a really good time. For a while we were in the back of a pickup truck and all kinds of shenanigans took place. There was one fella who took a keen liking to pissing off the side of the truck, which seemed funny at the time. We were even pulled over by the cops once and I squared it away since I was a respectable older guy; comparatively. It seemed like there was a town-wide festival or party going on at the time. I remember some hay and a lot of guys in baseball caps and maybe even a banner. Then all of a sudden I was leaving and I had my friends in my car. They just appeared and I’m pretty sure it was Len, Coral, and Nick. Where they came from I have no idea. I decided to bring them home since it was getting late and the girl I was trying to meet up with had to go to Dallas with some guy for some reason. That part of it still isn’t totally clear, but I do know that I was torn up about this and thought it was the end of my fun time in this place.

On the way back home, we hadn’t even gotten out of town yet, we were nearly in a car accident at an intersection when a speeding car sped past us and missed by about an inch. No one seemed to notice how close it was and then at the next intersection, we were in an accident as the car in front of us got hit head on while at a stop and it got pushed into us which busted the front slightly on my car. I got out of the car to take pictures and gather information and for some reason my sister was there telling me that I needed to document the intersection and take down street names and directions, then she disappeared. I then noticed the girl there with the guy she left with and he was a real weirdo and touchy and had shaggy frat-boy hair and an Abercrombie hat on. I had a kind of a personal internal fit and then she looked at me and started to walk away from the guy and over to me through the accident scene and then I woke up.

She was blond and moderately tall, maybe 5′ 6″ or so. She was thin (but not too thin) and quite attractive and I think this may have been the first time I had really seen her up close. She was was wearing faded blue jeans and a tank top with black or dark blue and white horizontal stripes. Fat stripes. I would describe her as a very wholesome girl. That’s all I’ve got.

I don’t know what to make of this dream, but its kept me in a good mood most of the day, albeit a bit distracted. Long post, but oh well.

SPOON

SPOON is coming to town in July and I am super excited to see them live.  I sent an email out to some of my friends and as it were, none of them knew who they were.  They are a band from Austin and I really rather like them.  I might have to go to this show alone, but who cares…its going to be awesome.  To give you cats a little taste of SPOON magic, here is Julia Nunes singing their latest single The Underdog with a little Ukulele action.

Evan & Gareth

Check these guys out. They met at Emerson and make some pretty funny videos.  The Testy Fest video is pretty sweet.

Morning Bill…

I’ve got the consumption, its traditional, alright…

Seriously though, this cough won’t go away.  Hopefully I don’t start lunging like Doc Holiday…

Bill Bailey – Love Song

Just a quick video today for you music fans out there.  You may recognize Bill Bailey from just about all Simon Peg’s movies, most notably Hot Fuzz.  He’s the cop at the front desk.  Enjoy.

Tailors, as essential as the barber

Now, I’m not suggesting that you need to find a bespoke tailor right away. I don’t have one and nobody I know has one. That’s a lie though, my boss once employed the firm Dege and Skinner, however, it has been some time since last they made anything for him. I have spoken about my tailor before on this blog and I will discuss them in more detail here and now. Mr. and Mrs. K Custom Tailors of Fall River, MA are my tailors, specifically Konstantinos and his son (whose name escapes me), are my tailors.

While talking to my friend this past week, I realized that there may be some barriers to acquiring a good tailor. Does one just waltz into a tailor’s shop and demand services be undertaken? In a word, yes. You have to know what you are looking for. There are tailors and then there are people who hem pants, and they are entirely different people. A sure fire sign of the latter is if they are located within a dry cleaners or laundramat. Typically if its not a tailor shop, its not worth going to. I went to a shop once that was at a dry-cleaners and the woman there tried to adjust the sides of my pants and whilst doing so she sewed the pockets on the pants shut accidentally. I later found out that I could only get my right hand into the pocket and it was so tight, I could not remove it easily, and the left could not even fit. A total waste of time and money because the suit was unwearable afterwards. I have found that the best tailors are men and most men are more comfortable with a man taking their measurements and whatnot.

My tailor doesn’t speak English, its preferable that they don’t, kind of gives you that old world craftsman feeling. Its not really a problem since his children do and they can translate. I also speak Polish fluently so that helps too. So I encourage you all to get out there and get a tailor. Once you are a regular, your guy will know what you like and how you want your garments to wear. You might also realize that he can do things for your wardrobe that you thought impossible and the cost is really not that bad. I once heard someone say that the true cost of a garment is not how much it costs, but rather how much is costs, divided by the amount of times you wear the garment, and a little bonus for how much pleasure you get out of wearing it. Your garments will cost more overall to have them tailored, but they will last longer, fit better, and make you feel like a million bucks. A suit that fits right looks more expensive than it is. There is a confidence factor involved.  When you look good, you feel good.

Now go!