Goodbye pretty pictures...: (
Happy Labor Day!!! It's the first one I've ever had off in my employed history, so I actually get to be happy about a day devoted to us proles and wage-slaves. There aren't enough of these days - and I honestly believe that everything but hospitals, police stations, banks and government offices should be closed today. Of course, its our poor oppressed financiers and politicians who are the ones who truly get to enjoy this day off.
Bastards.
It's been an awesome weekend though! Friday was my last day laboring into the wee hours of Saturday morning, and though I'll miss seeing the thin blue light of dawn creeping up over the coastal Sierras, I must say it'll be nice to get my schedule in line with the rest of the world! Tomorrow I begin working the day shift, laboring among the well-dressed and serious. I'm sad to leave the midnight geek squad, but I'll be glad to actually see my lady on days other than those beginning with the sinister S.
Some drawbacks: I'm terribly afraid I won't be getting much writing done. But it'll be up to me to ensure that I do, and I have discovered the wondrous power of collaborations to force me to work. I'm currently working on a poetry chapbook with one of my favorite fellow poets, and it's going tremendously. I can't wait to make our words available to the world, and though I'll be keeping its contents under wraps until we're finished, I will say that a certain alphabetical poem which first saw the light of day here in my blog will be the opening salvo in our logolicious Sturm und Drang.
On Saturday the lady and I rolled into the City (and whenever I say that now I can only think of Eddie Izzard rolling his eyes as he says "Let's go to the City..." - "what is Oakland, then, a collection of houses?") and had lunch with one of the few people outside of my family that I've known for over a decade, one of my best friends and my future lawyer! We ate at this tiny hole in the wall East German restaurant called Walzwerk. It's trashily charming decor, seriously savory meaty dishes and fucking awesome beer made me deliriously happy. If you don't know the hideously filling joys of German food, I suggest you discover it soon! Plus the waiter was a very German, very frank (advising me to avoid a certain dish I had been craving) and rather cute young man who provided some of the best service I've had in SF. Seriously, somehow the Bay Area seems to attract terrible waiters, and it was nice to have someone both personable and on the ball for once.
After lunch we went to see the ACT theatre presentation of Sweeney Todd, which was fucking awesome. I'm not normally a fan of musicals or Steven Sondheim (in fact, the two words, on their own are enough to make me cringe, and when combined are usually sure to induce convulsions of nausea) but Sweeney Todd is deliciously dark and full of the blackest anthrophagic humor, and the ACT's production was ingeniously staged. For those of you who don't know, the play is based on an old 'penny dreadful' - the precursor of comics and one of my favorite literary modes - and is essentially about a barber and his woman who hit on the fabulous idea of turning people into meat pies. Of course, it's also a very Oedipal tragedy and a critique of class conflict, which was enough to make me fall in love with it. I only wish Tom Waits would do a version of it for one of his albums...The staging was great because instead of the usual separation of musicians, stagehands and actor/singers, every cast member took on all three roles. The cast was incredibly talented, boasting some amazing singers, some wonderful cellists, and some very fine actors (the titular lead being a standout in my opinion).
If you live in the Bay Area - go, see it. See it now. It's easily worth the thirty bucks.
Yesterday was wasted away drinking and watching the entire second season of the American version of Office, which despite the presence of Steve Carell (why didn't Ricky Gervais take this role too?), is fucking hilarious.
And today? Today I am celebrating by getting stoned for the first time in ages, working on a new short story (which I'll post soon) and playing computer games. Delicious geekdom...
Happy Labor Day!!! It's the first one I've ever had off in my employed history, so I actually get to be happy about a day devoted to us proles and wage-slaves. There aren't enough of these days - and I honestly believe that everything but hospitals, police stations, banks and government offices should be closed today. Of course, its our poor oppressed financiers and politicians who are the ones who truly get to enjoy this day off.
Bastards.
It's been an awesome weekend though! Friday was my last day laboring into the wee hours of Saturday morning, and though I'll miss seeing the thin blue light of dawn creeping up over the coastal Sierras, I must say it'll be nice to get my schedule in line with the rest of the world! Tomorrow I begin working the day shift, laboring among the well-dressed and serious. I'm sad to leave the midnight geek squad, but I'll be glad to actually see my lady on days other than those beginning with the sinister S.
Some drawbacks: I'm terribly afraid I won't be getting much writing done. But it'll be up to me to ensure that I do, and I have discovered the wondrous power of collaborations to force me to work. I'm currently working on a poetry chapbook with one of my favorite fellow poets, and it's going tremendously. I can't wait to make our words available to the world, and though I'll be keeping its contents under wraps until we're finished, I will say that a certain alphabetical poem which first saw the light of day here in my blog will be the opening salvo in our logolicious Sturm und Drang.
On Saturday the lady and I rolled into the City (and whenever I say that now I can only think of Eddie Izzard rolling his eyes as he says "Let's go to the City..." - "what is Oakland, then, a collection of houses?") and had lunch with one of the few people outside of my family that I've known for over a decade, one of my best friends and my future lawyer! We ate at this tiny hole in the wall East German restaurant called Walzwerk. It's trashily charming decor, seriously savory meaty dishes and fucking awesome beer made me deliriously happy. If you don't know the hideously filling joys of German food, I suggest you discover it soon! Plus the waiter was a very German, very frank (advising me to avoid a certain dish I had been craving) and rather cute young man who provided some of the best service I've had in SF. Seriously, somehow the Bay Area seems to attract terrible waiters, and it was nice to have someone both personable and on the ball for once.
After lunch we went to see the ACT theatre presentation of Sweeney Todd, which was fucking awesome. I'm not normally a fan of musicals or Steven Sondheim (in fact, the two words, on their own are enough to make me cringe, and when combined are usually sure to induce convulsions of nausea) but Sweeney Todd is deliciously dark and full of the blackest anthrophagic humor, and the ACT's production was ingeniously staged. For those of you who don't know, the play is based on an old 'penny dreadful' - the precursor of comics and one of my favorite literary modes - and is essentially about a barber and his woman who hit on the fabulous idea of turning people into meat pies. Of course, it's also a very Oedipal tragedy and a critique of class conflict, which was enough to make me fall in love with it. I only wish Tom Waits would do a version of it for one of his albums...The staging was great because instead of the usual separation of musicians, stagehands and actor/singers, every cast member took on all three roles. The cast was incredibly talented, boasting some amazing singers, some wonderful cellists, and some very fine actors (the titular lead being a standout in my opinion).
If you live in the Bay Area - go, see it. See it now. It's easily worth the thirty bucks.
Yesterday was wasted away drinking and watching the entire second season of the American version of Office, which despite the presence of Steve Carell (why didn't Ricky Gervais take this role too?), is fucking hilarious.
And today? Today I am celebrating by getting stoned for the first time in ages, working on a new short story (which I'll post soon) and playing computer games. Delicious geekdom...
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
german food? seriously? i never would have imagined. i'll try to seek it out.
i want waits to hurry up n die so i can organise a kickass tribute show. ok, i'd rather he didn't die - ever - so maybe i'll do it on his birthday or something. i would call it greetings from sunny pomona: an evening of music by and for tom waits.
i wondered why you've been rare in the upc lately; now i know. when did you last produce a poem? and what's the chapbook all about? i'm editing/compiling zak's collection at the moment, and i could really get used to this publishing lark.