I'm sitting in my room, surfing around the internet.  I'm listening to Built to Spill's There's Nothing Wrong With Love.  I lost this cd when I went to France back in March, and I'm pissed off at myself for doing so.  This is about the first time I've been able to listen to it all the way through since then.  And it's great. It also makes me sort of pensive.  So i thought I'd write a bit. I was trying to write a short story or something like that, but nothing ever comes to me when I'm sitting at the computer. Kind of like when I'm in a guitar store and pick up a guitar, and then I can't think of anything to play and just sit there awkwardly.  Anyway, here I am.

    So the ambiguity I've been writing with lately is beginning to annoy me. But I don't know what else to do.  So how about a vague, generalized account of my Friday night?  It'll be long, so you better settle in first.
    I met Matt and Jen at Jen's Upper West Side apartment last night around 5.  We were planning on meeting Jed at the Astor Place Theatre to see the Blue Man Group.  It was Matt's idea, since he'd seen it once already this summer.  But he really couldn't provide a satisfactory explanation on what it was about. And after seeing it myself, I'm not sure I can either. But more on that later.  Anyhow, Jen and Matt and I made our preparations to ensure a fun night out, and took a cab down to the Village.  There we found Jed, right where he was supposed to be, right when he was supposed to be there. How about that?  I was doubly pleased with myself yesterday for remembering to bring everything that the three of them asked me to bring from home.  I can't remember the last time I left the house needing to bring so much stuff for so many people and didn't forget anything.
    Anyway, we walked around Astor Place a bit, then went into the theatre.  Inside, before we were seated, we were each handed a yard-long piece of thick tissue paper.  No explanation was given.  Most people tied it around their heads like a headband. Others, mostly girls, put them in their hair in little bows.  I wore mine in a Jacob Marley-esque way around my head and jaw.  The show made extensive use of those little electronic ticker tape displays, greeting the crowd and explaning certain things with little text messages.  It read things like "We have some very distinguished guests in the audience tonight," and would list names of random people in the audience.  Or it would say something like "Helen Smith has a headache tonight. Let's all express our sympathy to Helen by saying the following. Ready Go.  Hello Helen. We're all very sorry you have such a headache tonight.  Our deepest sympathy. All this yelling probably isn't helping either."  Anyway, it was amusing.  The dhow itself started with a lot of percussion, with the three Blue Men playing separate drums.  They were set up behind three panels, illuminated from behind the Blue Men, so at first you cold only see their shadows.  From there it kept getting weirder and weirder. But it was really cool.  Some comical bits sprinkled througout, and a lot of cool stuff done with percussion and rhythms and lights.  At the end, they grabbed the ends of the rolls of paper that were suspended over the audience, and the whole theatre started pulling the paper out, while black lights and strobe lights went on and off. The whole thing soundtracked of course by techno beats.  But to be there in an out-of-my-head way, it was a pretty fucking cool sight.  I told you I couldn't describe the show well. I think I've used the word "cool" as my only adjective.  So I'll stop.  Kind of a shame that my curriculum in journalism school focused so much on reviews just like what I'm trying to do now.
    After the show, jed went back to brooklyn. For those interested in this sort of gossip, around 11:30 this morning I was awoken by a knock on my door, and greeted by a just-returned PFC Kathy.  Let the vicarious thrills commence!  Anyway, i was glad to see her, but I was sort of rude I think.  But you know, I felt shitty, I couldn't really see, and as I just mentioned, it was 11:30 in the morning.
    So Jed and Matt and I continued the evening and headed down to the Lower East Side, to the club Tonic, where we were looking for one James Dimitrios Angelos.  We eventually found him. We sat in one of the old wine vats, doing nasty, warm shots of vodka out of plasitc cups. It's a real class place.  And the two shots were equal to at least five.  I wasn't all that ship-shape coming in, and I remember after drinking half the first shot, leaning to Jen and saying "it's going to be a long night, isn't it."  Then I spent a good amount of time trying to convince Jen that she had thrown her matches against the floor, and had yelled "fucking matches!" While doing so.  matt of course had to try to foil me and tell her that it was really me. And now I'm feeling guilty that this is how she'll find out. Sorry bout that, Murph. But it was funny. And speaking of Jen, she just dyed her hair a nice reddish hue. It looks good. No, really, she looks fucking hot!  no, really.  It brings out the eyes I think.  Really, i'm serious.

    While we were at Tonic, two guys and girl asked if they could sit with us in out wine vat.  Sure, I says.  So they do.  We dicussed things like Land of the Lost and other stupid shit. The one dude was Enlish I think.  And the bartender was from Wales I think.  So they chatted a while.  the girl was sort of cute.  Jen said "Under any other conditions you'd just think she was trash."  Probably, yeah.  But the whole thing became more intriguing when they would take turns kind of looking away when they thought none of us were looking, and would sprinkle a little cocaine on their hands or shoulders and do a little blow.  Matt missed that whole thing, twice, but I think that made the whole experience a lot cooler for him.  I found it very funny. I don't know why they bothered trying to hide it.  It's not like they were being super sneaking or anything. I guess they just didn't want to share their nose candy.  Hey, I'm cool with that. But I mean, it was our wine vat they were sitting in. The least they could have done was offered.  Then I started thinking along those lines and began to think that this was the only reason they wanted to sit there with us.  Wankers.  Anyway, the rest of the night was a fucking blur. I know that I made two separate trips to MacDonalds and Wendy's and ate A junior bacon cheeseburger, a filet-o-fish, and a total of 11 chicken nuggets. Then somewhere i got a hotdog. I am a sick, sick man.  Another Jen quote that I've been hearing in my head since she said it three days ago: "I can't believe you're not morbidly obese."  Really, everytime i eat now I hear that.  Thanks, murph.  I shared a cab home with Matt, and bid him adieu. Well, nothing so eloquent. It was more like "unn... allright,  take it easy dude. Later."  He's back in DC now.  Kind of sad to see him go.  He just got a digital camcorder for his birthday, so he informed me he'll be sending movies now instead of emails.  great.
 

    So other things I'm doing to keep my mind busy: I'm trudging my way through On the Road.  I've never read it before, and I just felt like I should. It's Rodzilla's copy.    She didn't get that far into the book.  And I've been reading it on and off for two weeks, and I'm on page 75.  Anyway, I'm only now beginning to get a feel for what's going on in the book.  So it's getting a little better.  There's a certain feeling I get when I read the book in public, which is a sort of cheesiness, like people will think I'm all full of teenage angst and wanderlust or something.  Well, ok,  that's certainly true. But I don't want people to think that's the reason I'm reading this particular book.  It the same feeling I get reading Catcher in the Rye.  These are good books that unfortunately have taken on all sorts of connotations undesired by the casual reader.  But fuck it, I just wanna read the book.  I've got a bunch more on the shelf waiting too. For the first time ever, I've actually got a list of books that I want to get through.  Never thought that'd happen.
    I also ordered a few DVDs the other day, on tuesday. I remember it was tuesday because I ordered them specifically on that afternoon because I was going to Atlantic City that night.  Not exactly the rousing sucess that the last trip was.  Brutal, and quick.  All gone in a moment.  I knew there was a good chance I'd lose a hundred bucks or so, so before I left I ordered the DVDs because I was pretty sure that if I waited till I got back, I wouldn't be able to order them.  Anyhow, I don't know how many people have noticed, but the prices for these fucking things is skyrocketing.  Maybe i only noticed because I hadn't bought one since Christmas, but the prices have almost doubled. It's ridiculous. But I felt like i needed to have these movies.  And these movies are Rushmore, probably the best movie i've seen in the last 2 years, and Magnolia, the 3-hour Paul Thomas Anderson follow-up to Boogie Nights.  Both are movies that I really love, but they're tough to watch for me for a few reasons.  But they're too good not to watch.  And still,  it was almost worth the money.  Rushmore was a special edition with a lot of extra stuff, and Magnolia is a two-disc set.  So whatever. That should keep me busy for a while.

    Anyway, been a while since one of these marathon entries that don't really say much.  Hell, it's been a while since a lot of things.
 

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