things have happened

These posts always start the same way:

I really didn’t intend to fall off the face of the internet. And it’s true. I didn’t. Oh sure, I kinda was around Flickr, and I posted a status update or several on Facebook, and I pinned things on Pinterest, but this blog thing… well, I kinda forgot to do it. I suppose part of it is that I’ve been kinda sorta busy, though not unbearably so. I suppose another part of it is that I sometimes wonder at the point of having a blog that I update anymore, though I also suppose that I always wonder at the point of having a blog around this time of year.

Anyway, here I am. Things have indeed happened. I don’t know if anybody reads here anymore, since I kind of a little bit killed my blog not exactly on purpose, but if you happen to stop by, here is an update on what is going on with me. Prepare to be fascinated.

1. Driving in crappy weather. I’ve done that quite a bit lately. It’s a side-effect of living in Michigan in the winter and having a job that is not within walking distance. You know, I used to hate winter because it was cold and dark all the time, and I suppose those are perfectly valid reasons for winter-hating (they remain on my list called Reasons Winter Can Go Fuck Itself), but the main reason I hate winter is that I hate driving in crappy weather. I’m generally a pretty even-keeled person who doesn’t get terribly worked up about things (except for all the things I get terribly worked up about, that is), but driving in crappy weather gives me anxiety, and by the time I arrive at work in the morning, after white-knuckling it down the interstate for an hour, I’m kind of a wreck, yet I walk in and make jokes about HAHAHAHA I ALMOST JUST SLID INTO ONCOMING TRAFFIC AND THAT IS HILARIOUS! Honestly, the weather was crap all day on Saturday and I didn’t even care because I knew I didn’t have to drive anywhere, but getting in the car on a work day and having to drive across the county on slush-and-ice-covered roads with every other idiot who’s in a hurry to make it to work on time is bad for my blood pressure. Spring cannot get here fast enough, which means this year we will probably have blizzards until May.

2. I have to drive a lot in crappy weather because hey, you know that job I mentioned getting way back in November? No? Back in November, I got a new job. Well, I actually started the new job in January. It’s been quite a transition, not getting interrupted every two minutes by the phone, customers standing in front of me, and therapists and doctors and nurses standing behind me. So it’s sort of weird being able to sit at my desk and work on things in relative peace and quiet, but it’s an adjustment I can handle.

3. I’ve been cast in a play. First read through is Wednesday.

4. I saw Soundgarden! I had amazing seats! For real!

This is a photo of Chris Cornell and Matt Cameron that I took with my phone.

It was an adventure, because I live for adventure. Let’s see. I had to pee in a men’s room in a McDonald’s. And about an hour before the show, I realized that instead of printing two separate tickets, I’d printed one ticket twice, which meant that I either had to find a printer or one of us wasn’t going to get to see Soundgarden (and thank goodness I noticed it before I was in line). So my friend and I left our fantastic parking space and headed to a Staples that turned out to be closed, but one U-Turn in downtown Detroit later, and we were at a hotel. When I walked inside and the desk clerk asked how he could help me, I said I needed a printer, and he said he was sorry, but the business center was closed for the evening. Undeterred, I tried the Big Brown Eyes thing and said “Listen, I’m supposed to go to this concert in an hour and I need to print a ticket.” He said he couldn’t do anything for me. (Seriously dude, where is your sense of kindness for your fellow humans?) So my friend said “I’ll give you 10 bucks.” That did the trick. Correct tickets printed, we headed back to the venue and got our same fantastic parking space (what are the odds?) and got in line for the show. It was, of course, snowing. And we had to do that I’m-not-really-laughing-I’m-coughing thing because the women behind us were reminiscing fondly about that time they stood in freezing rain to see Nickelback, which is not something anyone should ever do, ever, let alone admit out loud in public if they happened to do this in a moment of weakness and insanity and terrible taste in music.

The show was great, by the way. It was indeed my teenage rock ‘n’ roll fantasy come true. You know how sometimes you get a chance to see something you thought was amazing when you were younger and you approach it with trepidation because what if it’s not as great as younger-you thought it was? (Like how that fourth Indiana Jones movie came out and destroyed fond memories from childhood.) What if it doesn’t kick as much ass as you thought it did? Well, Soundgarden kicked that much ass. Plus, they did the song “Tighter and Tighter” (first time ever performed live, I believe) which is one of my ALL-TIME FAVORITES, OH SOUNDGARDEN HOW DID YOU KNOW?!?!?

And then we walked outside and it had snowed four inches and it had just started with the freezing rain. Oh winter, you adorable bitch.

5. That’s all for now. What’s new with you?