1. Just got a phone call from daycare. Baby vomiting, but otherwise happy. still means we have to pick her up. What this means is that mr. g will spend the afternoon with her and go back to work tonight. Which means no meetup for me. Aw, I wanted to meet cortex.

2. Bridge last night was a disaster. Not often I have nights where nothing I do feels right. Still, that's why we go back. It's such an awesome game.

3. my mother hasn't called or emailed in a couple of months. This is not abnormal (she has gone for a year before without answering my calls or emails), but last time I talked to her, she was worried about getting laid off, so I'm a little concerned.

1. Took my daughter to her weekly hip hop dance class this afternoon: while she learned her shuffles and shimmies, I biked around the relatively unfamiliar area where her class is located, and took a metric ton of photographs. The nooks and crannies of old Tokyo, they never fail to offer up little visual riches, as long as you've got an eye out for 'em. It was a good day for snapping.

2. Plans to eat dinner in the neighborhood (with aforementioned daughter and my wife) were thwarted: our super-delicious and oh-so-cheap local okonomiaki joint was unexpectedly closed. The matron of the establishment, a Korean lady, is like, well, she's like our mother or something. Like a fabulous mother: doesn't fawn over us or play a part, in that often obsequious manner one sometimes finds among restaurant staff here in Japan: she's just very warm and matter-of-fact, and extremely generous. She's always bringing something unexpected out of the kitchen, gifts of this little dish or that, that she's prepared. She's just wonderful. But we're a little worried, cause just the other day she complained of a stomachache, and the unexpected closing tonight... hope she's alright.

3. So after a home cooked meal (which was mighty fine, actually), the wife headed out to play a gig, an all-night event of experimental electronica knob-tweakers and Gameboy 8-bit people and so on. She'll come rolling home, groggy as hell, no doubt, on the first morning train running. My daughter is asleep, and late Friday night (well, Saturday morning, actually) here in deepest Tokyo is quiet and still.

1. I've had tennis elbow for at least the last month. Massive doses of ibuprofen has helped somewhat, and yesterday I bought a brace. It helps too, but I set up a doctor's appointment for May 15th anyway. It was worst about three weeks ago, when I couldn't lift a coffee cup. It hurts the most in the mornings.

2. Said injury has majorly affected my hobbies. I don't have the garden totally in, and though it's peak migration time, lifting and holding binoculars hurts. The front yard landscaping project I took on this winter is stalled and the areas that are done are filling with weeds. Not loving this.

3. I've been a little down the past couple of days. I'm trying to mitigate it by cleaning and socializing a bit. But it seems not to be working too well. I keep stalling on cleaning, and I don't know what to make for dinner tonight for the friend I have coming over.

So, um, overall not too awesome.

1. Flights are very cheap, esp for my little burg, so we just bought a flight to NYC for the end of Sept - first week of October! Maddie, please be done barfing by then. . I would love to meet your mom.

2. Wife has been coughing her head off but no other signs of the flu. .. yay!

3. Still have a trip to BC to figure out for the summer.

a. My life this year has been quite the roller coaster. Just when I think it's over, something else happens. So now I am resigned to that fact and just trying to get by.

b. This morning I picked up dry cleaning, tried to get my hair cut, and made small talk with all the old folks (and their dogs) at my coffee shop. Now to shower and head to work (hey it's Friday + I can go in whenever I want), finish a manuscript and then be thankful for the relatively uneventful week.

c. I will spend much of the weekend finishing up a couple of overdue books, writing a hour long talk I'll be giving next Thursday, and trying to think of creative ways to break out of my rut. I foresee some impulse travel.

1. Got a new person starting today, and everyone else it out. I mean everyone. I've got a student and one staffer from each of the other departments here.

2. So of course it's time for all the deliveries we've been waiting six weeks for to come in.

3. Very glad it's Friday. I've had a rollercoaster year, too. Looking forward to buying plane tickets to FL! Yay!

1. It's a weird day at the office, oddly deserted.

2. I need a project for this (hopefully rainy) weekend. I'm thinking something buggy, inspired by this post. Maybe it's time to indulge my fascination with moths.

3. I'm wondering what to order when I meet a friend for Thai food. Pad See Ew?

1. Chinese food day!

2. I wish the instruction booklets from my sewing patterns would stop lying when they list the "finished measurements".

3. I'm trying to play the theme from "Schindler's List" on the violin. It does not sound nearly as good as Itzhak Perlman on the soundtrack.

1. Have been forcing myself to not clean my house and instead work in getting a prototype of my final for my info tech class (read: let's learn HTML and CSS!) ready for class on Monday. She got all pissy with the fact that no one had anything prepared for last week. I did just mop my floors though and now my place smells very clean.

2. My brother and his friend came and removed my washer and dryer. Also, discovered that my dryer vent had about 7+ dead birds in it. Ew. They removed the ones they could reach and shoved a Lysol-soaked rag into the hole. Still stinks a bit in that room. But hopefully I'll have a shiny new washer and dryer soon!

3. Paid my bills yesterday and finally sat down and looked at my savings and expenses from these past few weeks where I've been spending lots of money on various things like groceries and frames for artwork. I'm in decent shape, which is quite surprising and very pleasing.

1. Just wrapped up a screening session where I showed my current project (which is only about 50% done, maybe a little more) to the bosses. It went well, and they didn't take it apart too badly. The show airs in July, but has to be mostly done by mid-June, so we're still right on schedule.

2. Leaving tomorrow to spend the weekend in Asheville at mygothlaundry's house! Yay!

3. May order out pizza tonight for dinner.

1. Had a fun night last night seeing Timer (I hope it gets distribution, it was really good) and going to a party.

2. Awful Awful morning including getting a nosebleed on the subway platform with only 1 tissue at hand, getting the wrong kind of bagel untoasted with cream cheese on only one side at the deli, and then walking in to work later (bc of bleeding) to find 15 emails all about the same minor work emergency that people were waiting for my input on.

3. It might be a nutella and potato chip day again.

4. I will be at the nyc meetup tonight so I hope to snap out of this funk by then.

(Timer trailer if you're interested.)

1. Still waiting on a job offer/rejection, they promised that they'd call me either way but it's been since Monday. I do have a job (that I hate) so I shouldn't complain.

2. Hopefully going to a Pirates games tonight if it doesn't rain (too much). They're one game over .500 and I'd love to see them while they have a winning record. I think that if they have a losing record this year they'll go in the record book as the worst team in baseball history.

3. The son and a buddy are driving to Ohio today to hang out with another friend at Oberlin College. I'm only slightly nervous about this.

1. Started my day on the air at WSCA for the Uncle Phil show, and as I was walking down the street after we wrapped, Uncle Phil himself leaned out of the window of his car and screamed "LT IS AWESOME!" Oh, also on said show someone called in with a $500 pledge.

2. Then I went to a leadership meeting for a local cause I'm involved with and spent the last 20 minutes being laughed at and condescended to by some old boomer dude.

3. Now home, Pledge Drive done (on the air seven times in six different shows this past week), and now have to start cutting up my jeans for costuming in Jeffery, which officially opens tonight (last night was Preview Night).

4. BONUS CHECK-IN POINT: I'm fucking fried.

1. I worked today from 6 - 3. I love my coworkers. My job is such a pleasure.

2. I forgot about stew meat in the fridge that must be used by today. I browned it with some sauteed onions and stuck it in the crockpot with some other ingredients. I estimate dinner will be ready around 8. I don't think I'll make it until then. I might have to order pizza or make sandwiches and have the stew tomorrow night.

3. I think I'm going to take a water aerobics class at the Y on Monday. I think it will be fun to be out in the sunshine moving in the water.

1. I MADE THE MISTAKE OF SAYING OUT LOUD EARLIER TODAY THAT I THOUGHT I WOULDN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO THIS AFTERNOON AND 2. IT IS THE AFTERNOON FROM HELL BECAUSE 3. IT'S TRUE WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT ACADEMIA AND ACADEMICS AND THEY ALL JUST NEED TO GO BACK TO THEIR OFFICES AND WORK ON WRITING THEIR PAPERS ABOUT THINGS THAT NOBODY CARES ABOUT IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Whew. Got to combine an update thread with shouting thread. It was necessary.

4. $3 beers at happy hour once I finally get out of here. And free nachos and baseball.

IT'S TRUE WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT ACADEMIA AND ACADEMICS AND THEY ALL JUST NEED TO GO BACK TO THEIR OFFICES AND WORK ON WRITING THEIR PAPERS ABOUT THINGS THAT NOBODY CARES ABOUT IN THE FIRST PLACE.

That's exactly what I am doing right now! But I am not bothering anyone else, I swear.
I estimate that about 19 people in the whole world will read the paper I am currently working on.

Er, sorry special-k. I should have added a "present company excluded."

no worries pups. I just wish I could join you for $3 beer.

I'm cutting down on the fags. In the last week, I've smoked (per day) 6, 6, 5, 5 , 7 and 5 cigarettes. Not too bad.

Goode. Fuck FOX for cancelling KotH just to give Seth MacFarlane more airtime.

1, 2, and 3.

1. I am waiting for a break in the on/off rain so I can mow my lawn again. I can't believe how much it's grown in just a couple of days!

2. Tired of customers at work walking right past me, to talk to a Man, only to have said Man come to find me, as he doesn't know the answer, and I do. Am I invisible?

3. I'm watching "The Penguins of Madagascar" on Nickelodeon. What? I love the animated stuff!

1. I actually did physical labor at work today. It felt good for a change, wouldn't want to do it every day or anything like that.

2. Tomorrow I get to go hang out with my Dad while my Mom runs some errands. He's been pretty sick lately and she doesn't want to leave him alone.

3. Also tomorrow I get to go to a potluck dinner here in town and see a good friend of mine who lives about 4+ hours away.

Damn, I have a great life.

1. Dad in hospital again -- hyperglycemic episode combined with aspirated fluid in lungs leading to congestion around the heart. Draining overnight seems to have helped. He was fighting with the nurses and pulling out his IVs and catheter -- not good. Had to spend four hours at ER Thu/Fri night because the on-call doc was called away for two code blues.

2. My attempt to change over the payment for his long term care insurance apparently failed, yet they somehow processed the "notify Dan" part of the same request, so they have now notified me that the payment I thought would now go to my Mom's bank, uh, didn't. I now have three weeks to pay the policy or it lapses. Did I mention their customer service closed for the weekend 12 minutes before I read the letter? Fuck fuck fuck fuck.

3. Still have to deal with foreclosure on the fourplex and evicting a non-paying tenant. Oh, and it's the first, and I had hoped our paying tenant would be here already. I have no idea how you're supposed to get people to sign leases when your property is in foreclosure (even though we are going to short-circuit it with a bankruptcy filing, it's still nerve-wracking).

1. Bought new bras today. Oh, how I needed them. I cannot wait to throw away the old ones. Got fitted at Orchard Corset, a place on the LES run by a Hasidic couple. "Only in New York, kiddies, only in New York".

2. NYC meetup this evening a great success. The venue worked out great and lots of people showed up, oldies and newbies alike. I can't believe I stayed out until almost 2:30 a.m. I stay up that late almost every night, but staying OUT that late feels scandalous.

3. Lazy weekend ahead. Sunday is Stynxno's birthday!

1. I was really looking forward to a specific salad that one of the dining halls usually serves at dinner on Friday, but by the time I got there, they were out of it.

2. I FINALLY did laundry, after three weeks. Phew. I was on my last pair of underwear.

3. I went running at 12:15 am, which I guess is technically not Friday anymore. While I was running, I got a call from a classmate who I don't like, saying that he was in lab and needed help scanning a gel. He should have gone in to do this work hours earlier, and it's possible his results are ruined because of it. (Never mind that our last day of this class was today, and by this point in the semester, scanning gels should be second nature.) It must have been the runner's high, but I went and helped him, and I feel a little virtuous now.