My weekend just started today. (I have sunday and monday off). I'm out on the porch listening to music and drinking beer.

Worked Friday, Friday night, Saturday, Saturday night. Supposed to be a day off today and tomorrow, but I got so behind this past week that I need to send off a flurry of emails today. Ugh. Then I have a big work-related gala to go to tonight, so there goes my evening. Monday, two last minute meetings early in the morning that I have to prepare for today.

So, I'm hoping to take Wednesday off. Sigh.

Contrary to jonmc and typewriter (I'm sorry!), my weekend actually started Tuesday night with an unsuccessful attempt to have a last minute practice before our show in the Boston area the next day. That didn't work out so well, so we decided to drive up early and try to have a few minutes in a room before our show. We did get to warm up, then we went and played the show, then I drove myself, my partner, and my drummer back to nyc that night so the drummer could go to work at 9am the next day. Poor guy.

I slept in on Thursday, went out for pancakes and watched something on TV.

Friday we played late in Jersey City. Saturday we played in Brooklyn. Saturday's show included effects pedal failures and recovery, broken guitar string and recovery, runaway bass drum and recovery, and finally broken bass guitar string and recovery. Pretty much every instrument failure that could happen did. It was a great show. I kid you not. I think everyone had a lot of fun. Today I slept in and went out to breakfast. Now I have to start in on all my neglected chores.

Overall a good weekend, sadly it's the last big (3) bunch of days off other than holidays I'll see until 2008.

Sounds lovely, Jan! I always get the impression that you're one of those people who really adds warmth to the lives of people she knows.

Friday I went to the Place of Scotch with DateGuy. Saturday, I went to the Place of Coffee Coffee Coffee with DateGuy and then he went to work and I went to work. Then I ran around my neighborhood impulsively buying things I pretty well didn't need. Then I went to the Place of Tobacco & Lounging. The Place of Tobacco & Lounging is losing its niceness, but I sat in a chair, reading old Grant Morrison comics, until late. It was pleasant and it's always good to have some alone time, when the rest of the week is full of people. Then I went home, made myself a nice dinner, drank an indifferent wine and watched old movies.

Today, I am unsuccessfully working some more. The cat will not leave me alone and people keep calling me to chat. Will run a few errands and then meet up with (once again) DateGuy. I wish I didn't have to work tomorrow, as I have had three-day weekends for the last several weeks, but this week can't possibly be as busy as last.

Friday Night: Booze run! I got a sixpack of beer and a small bottle of Jack Daniels. Had a beer, went out with lots of friends onto the quad. There were like three groups of people there, most of them freshman. We converged and had a mini party on the quad. People were smoking hookah, I played frisbee and soccer for at least two hours with some people I just met. Everyone else left and we kept playing and then just kinda chilled on the quad. Hooray for pleasant stereotypical college experiences!

Saturday Night: My roommate went home for the day, and everyone on my floor was going out to parties and stuff. I went down the hall and noted this to my friend Carey (whom I have never hung out with without my roommate) and instead of her going directly to a sorority party she and I did jello shots and talked about life and walked around and sat on sculptures in front of engineering buildings, and pretty much just spent the whole night bonding over the whole bottle of Jack. Booze may be a social lubricant, but it can also be a pretty effective social adhesive. Money well spent, in my opinion.

Today: Wearing my retainer for once, listening to Radio Paradise, wondering about what homework I have and when it's due.

After a moment of reflection, I realize I sound like a total stereotype of college and young people, don't I. Feh.

Quiet. Friday evening I dropped off my son at the airport; he's gone to Europe on a 21st century version of the Grand Tour. He'll be away for eight weeks.

I'm still not sure how I feel about my new solitude, or what it will be like to live alone. I've never done it before. So far I notice the quiet, mostly. And I feel myself spreading out through the apartment; it's all mine.

I've spent the weekend getting caught up on sleep and housework. Some time online. Gym workout yesterday morning. Walk the borrowed dog this afternoon.

I just hope I don't kill his bleedin' fish while he's gone, because that would be bad.

Friday: I already told y'all about that one in the embarrass/funny thread.

Saturday-rearranged kitchen, went to Waffle House with hubs.

Sunday-went to first service at church, and in about thirty minutes will be leaving for the airport...putting hubby on a plane to Vegas for a few days (for a business conference.)

Whereupon I and at least one of my daughters will probably go in search of ice cream.

(Essexjan, that fella is PURTY.)

Friday: Major shopping, including the aforementioned dress-for-a-wedding and a swanky bra for unders. Then dinner with my family, where I managed to drive my younger brother into such a tizzy that he left the table by insisted that date rape DID happen at Princeton, school that is made of fluffy bunnies and sunshine. I probably should feel bad about this, but I don't.

Saturday: Slept. Woke up. Slept some more. Made garlicky lentils and rice for dinner. Finished reading Sunshine. Avoided fights with my father.

Sunday: Up at 5.30 to find out my flight was cancelled. Spent the rest of the day bored, bored, bored. I want to go HOME.

I just hope I don't kill his bleedin' fish while he's gone, because that would be bad.

When I was a kid, about 7 or so, the family went on a rare holiday to Mablethorpe. My sister and I left our two goldfish in the care of our paternal grandmother, who was around 85 at the time (she had my father in her 40s, and he was 40-ish when I was born).

I found out years later that my goldfish died the day after we went away. It was a very unusual yellow gold colour and my Nana wrapped it in greaseproof paper and went into town on the bus to the Market Hall, where there used to be a big pet market with tanks and tanks of goldfish. She handed my poor little dead fish to the man and said "I want one just like that". Apparently it took some doing, but he found a perfect match. I never suspected a thing.

I dyed my hair.

My weekend is almost over (thank God) and I was in the lab for most of it. I did manage to get my butt out to a great a wool store to buy 5 skeins of hand-spun, hand-dyed wool for an elephant and some other stuff I'm going to knit for a pregnant friend.

I've been working a lot the last several weeks. Last night, I had a few drinks, watched USC embarrass Nebraska in Lincoln (I'm a 50+ year Cornhusker fan), and crashed. Woke up at noon today, with the TV still running. Took the dog out, had some lunch, took a nap. Woke up, remembered that laundry I started Friday evening was still in the washer, but it hadn't obviously mildewed, so I re-washed it on a short cycle, and tossed it in the dryer.

I feel like taking a nap, again, but it will be time to make dinner in an hour or so. My brother was officially diagnosed as a diabetic 2 weeks ago, and has been put on additional oral meds for that, as well has having had his cholesterol meds changed, again, to try to control his ludicrously high triglyceride levels. So far, the oral meds are doing nada about his high blood sugar levels, probably because he continues to snack at all hours, going out for "walks" that become expeditions to nearby restaurants for goodies I don't keep in the house, so it's kind of pointless that he takes more pills, and makes a show of testing his blood sugar. He's hopeless at working the "simple" blood sugar meter he's been prescribed (and, really, it came with a 73 page "user manual," calibration solutions, coded test strips, and has a poor contrast LCD screen a person with cataracts [as he does] needs a bright light and a magnifying glass to use. WTF???)

Nevertheless, I make meals on the diet and schedule he's been given, remind him to test his sugar, and try not to chide him about his weight to the point he tunes me out entirely. We've known this was coming; it's an intersection of family genetics, driven by side effects of heavy psych meds, but knowing how things will play out doesn't make living the script any easier.

I'm taking several days off next week. All work and no naps make Jack a jerk.

essexjan, I like your friend.

Friday: Cleaned. I'm always cleaning this shit pit.

Saturday: Went to kid baseball games and Target. A gargantuan inflatable super waterslide was delivered at 3 for Sunday's birthday party. The kids, my husband and I played on it for hours. The neighbors came over too, and all the adults were sliding. I slept very well last night. It was quite the workout climbing up that thing a million times.

Today: Another birthday party for my kid that turned 7 this week -- this time with a few of his friends. They had a blast. I'm looking forward to watching "Curb Your Enthusiasm" tonight with the husband and reading Like Water for Chocolate.

What color, chewie?

Friday--Went to the Tiki Bar for the last time this season. See you next year, you fabulously cheesy, tacky, tacky place!

Saturday--Dorney Park with friends. It was awesome.

Happy birthday, son of LoriFLA.

Eh . . . not much. This afternoon, I went into the city to test out a new kettlebell. I've been working with the 35 lb. model but it's starting to become a little too easy. So I thought I'd head to the shop to see if I could handle the next heavier model, the 53 pounder.

The 53-pounder definitely poses more of a challenge. I could clean it and swing it but I had problems with the snatch and with pressing it overhead. And money's a little tight. So I decided to stick with the lighter one for the next two or three weeks and see where I am physically and financially.

thanks jrossi. I've been meaning to ask you how the Hershay spa was. I hope you were polished and pampered.

Friday: Shopped all day. Played a Jazz gig during dinner hours, then played late-night rock gig. Drank mightily.

Saturday: Worked all day. Had a date late-ish Sat night. Hung out at a tapas bar, then saw a Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin show (I lent them much of my gear). Got Laid, got laid, got laid.

Sunday: Woke up and snuggled with date in bed watching Venture Brothers on my iPhone. Went into the shop and worked on an upright bass. Soon I leave for a rehearsal with some friends to work on a Ziggy Stardust show for Halloween. If I have time afterward, will hook up with friends at a BBQ.

All in all, a good weekend.

5 skeins of hand-spun, hand-dyed wool for an elephant and some other stuff I'm going to knit for a pregnant friend.
Make sure you don't get them confused - you may need more than 5 skeins for a pregnant elephant.

Worked - scratching around in the dirt as usual. Did some more work on building the vege gardens, set up the compost bins, dragged some huge rocks out of the way of said compost bins, cleaned up around the back of the shed where some earthworks are happening on Friday, dragged the portaloo out of the way, spread some more mulch around, helped the dude down the end of the street get his ute started so he could go back to work (he had left it sitting for two months while he went to Europe), had a few drinks with friends who dropped over. Did some other stuff, I think, but can't remember.

jrossi4r: not gray! Light brownish, my pre gray invasion color. i'd put it off forever but I was starting to feel old every glimpse of myself I caught in a mirror out in public so I said fuck it, everybody else colors it *I'M* gonna. :D

Weirdly, I find myself scoping out other people's hair now for signs of colorage.

Yay! Lots of people had fun weekends!

Friday: met up with Lola_G and mr. Lola_G for a very fun night of mexican food and lots of beer. Got very drunk. Came home and made a dick of myself on irc. Good times, good times.

Saturday: got up for lots of greasy diner food. Did work all day, but very slowly. Not too bad of a hangover but just felt blah all day. Went out for sushi, came home and watched Brazil.

Sunday: Went to a goodbye party for one of mr. gaspode's colleagues up in Scarsdale. Ate lots of sushi, chinese food (mmmm spicy ligaments), Filipino food. Got full. Ate more. Then ate some more. Got home to look at my useless football picks and watch the Ravens nearly lose. Decided to not have dinner and instead watch L'enfant on dvd.

Friday: Went out for dinner with a new(ish) friend who asked me out to celebrate my birthday...am now wondering if his intentions were purely platonic...

Saturday: Went to mandarin class in the afternoon, and then to my best friends' place where we made dinner, although all I really did was bring the wine and help bake this amazingly easy and yummy "Dense Chocolate Cake Loaf" from Nigella's How to be a Domestic Goddess.

Sunday: The mundane includes sleeping in, reading the weekend papers and balancing my checkbook, so to speak. But the highlight is the quality time spent on Skype with my gifted energy-healer cousin in London.

p.s. essexjan, your friend is yum!

...Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin...

Priceless! I love it.

friday: can't remember
saturday: fucking sucked start to finish
sunday: had some fun; things went better; the sun came out

Friday: Long, long and stressful workday getting ready for a huge 'Harvest Supper' event, feeding 200 people on local farm produce cooked with donated chef-ing services, that if a failure might leave us stuck with a heavy set of bills. Weather forecast terrible. Prepared to give a talk on harvest-related folklore, without much time to properly research it. Worked on talk/event 'til nearly 10, then broke to meet LT for a quick beer, asleep by 11.

Saturday: Woke to rain, inauspicious for large, expensive outdoor event. Went to work and began setting up for Harvest Supper, amid activities of ongoing daytime harvest festival. Chefs swooped in like the Superfriends, dragging a trailer with a large pig-roasting rig, and immediately set up camp like an Army battalion occupying an outlying station. Weather cleared. Spirits lifted. People got on line. People ate cheese and bread and listened to music. People formed large line and ate incredibly wholesome and lovely recently harvested food from local farms. Tensions eased. Candles were lit. Sun set. Words were spoken and songs were sung. Applause. More eating. Moved to another tent, band set up, contra dance commenced. All stress of day evaporated as we danced and laughed and folded tables and chairs and took out trash. LT executes a mean Virginia Reel. Faces all round the tables, talking, meeting people, candlelit, happy, dancing.

Sunday: Cooked large egg-and-bacon breakfast for friends who had come to town for event, to be the contra dance band. Sat over coffee and talked from 8:30 - 11:30. Solved problems of world. Saw them off to next gig. Went back to work to complete festival and put away remaining gear. Counted proceeds: Revenue nearly $4000 from supper, covering all bills and leaving decent margin. SUCH a relaxing, happy feeling: harvest in. Took pleasant walk around town in afternoon autumn light. Bought mozzarella cheese. Went home and made grilled whole-wheat-crust pizza Margherita, with just-picked Brandywine tomatoes and basil and garlic. Enjoyed pizza with excellent wine. Now watching Bruce bootleg DVD from 2000 and getting extremely excited for upcoming show, which I am set on seeing though tix not yet on sale.

An excellent, happy weekend.

crampy with intermittent hot flashes :(

Friday--went to two matinees: revival of Charles Baxter Movie and doc about people in MD who play real-life D&D type game. Found book of cartoons Charles Schulz did for a Christian mag and said hello to jonmc. Went to reading of someone who had been on my thesis committee, but he has MS and was too tired to have dinner. Had mediocre Argentine food.

Saturday--went to Geisha Boy at MOMA, then gym. Had lamb sandwich at Aussie place on Korea block screening a rugby match filled with drunk Brit men and their goldigging yank GF's. Called my father.

Sunday--straightened up (though not enough; my bedrooms still look like the Collyer brothers) and went to Rape of Europa.

Friday: Was the last day of work, so was thrilled to be getting some time off. Had to go into the city (traffic sucks) to buy new tires for my car and get it serviced. Took my cousin brother along and had a nice Masala Dosa on the way back.

Saturday: Felt a bit depressed and stayed in bed till afternoon. We’re into the month of Ramadan right now so was fasting the entire day. Broke fast in the evening with my mother’s usual line of delicacies. Also, decided to go out and have Haleem—yum!

Sunday: Felt depressed again, but was able to get some studying done, after much consternation from mother. The weather had finally cleared up a bit and I took a ride out to get a subway for my sis and I. (It’s been raining non-stop for the past three days and I think that may have had something to do with my change in mood.)

Monday: Bonus—get up at four thirty to prepare for my fast, watch the news for an hour, then hit the shower, shave and get ready for work, only to find out that there’ll be no work today.

I went on a date and I took some photos. The End.

chuckdarwin: those are magnificent.

Thanks, man! I went alone, which I don't usually do, and that allowed me the time to get weird.

I had a real problem with 'hot spot' though, and had to edit them. Some of the problem is still visible... I need a better lens.