Friday, Jul. 16, 2004
A tiger on a liferaft, posted at 10:30 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com My new modem came today; the old one fried in the non-storm we had last Thursday evening. The Verizon guy tells me the modem shouldn't stay flat on the carpet or it overheats, so that might be it. Regardless, I'm glad to be connected again, although my life without the Internet was much more productive than life with it.I read half of Go Tell It On the Mountain, which at first I loved but now is just a bit heavy for me, and I can't believe that our incoming 9th graders will have to read it. I also read half of Life of Pi, which is pretty good, although it doesn't handle a young person dealing with religion nearly as well as Bee Season. I read 115 pages of Life of Pi in one sitting though, which is pretty good for my easily distracted mind. The boat just sank and I have a feeling it's going to get really good right now.
In addition, I weeded my garden, cleaned my house top to bottom, and mowed my yard.
***
My sister's visit finally ended. It was fun while it lasted, although at times I wished it was just the two of us, and not her two friends as well. First off, they've been her friends she she was 8 and I was 11, so the fact that one of them is a former stripper doesn't do much for me; she's more my sister's friend (with a kid), than a hot girl. In addition, I ended up being the responsible big brother to her drunkenness this weekend, and they dragged me to places I would never go to otherwise, like Baja Beach Club in Power Plant Live. One of her friends picked up this poor guy who thought he would come home with her, and I had to play the role of cockblocker because I'm not about to have some guy I don't know trying to screw around with my sister's friend while they sleep in the living room and I sleep on the other side of the wall with only a curtain separating us.
This is me being a big brother:
Heidi: My stomach hurts. I don't understand it. I must have food poisoning.
Me: Heidi, you've gotten wasted for five nights in a row now. Maybe it has to do with the gallons of beer you've consumed, or maybe those shots of Raspberry Smirnoff you took before you went out every night - you think?
It was nice having her here, though. I really need to get healthy myself after their visit. Victoria Williams once sang of her summer of drugs (Eddie Vedder did, too, covering Williams, but Williams' loopy voice works much better for the lyrics), and, so far, this is my summer of beer. I cannot get back to my fitness goals if I continue, so I've got to curtail it and cleanse myself a bit.
My new philosophy of the summer is that Hunger is a result of poor planning. I've got to pack things to eat or else I end up eating pierogies at work. Where, by the way, I was cut today after having zero tables in four and a half hours. Ugh. I'm sure we'll have another booming day tomorrow with Artscape. Not. Thank god I have the night off tomorrow after working all day.