In the Key of Ow
My morning routine changed today. I think I like the new version:
1) Wake up, slowly, a few minutes before the alarm. Don’t go back to sleep. Body will thank you for not cramming adrenaline into it so early.
2) Do morning e-mail and webcomic troll as usual to activate brain.
3) Once brain is functional enough, make and eat breakfast. Do not wait until you’re running out the door to shove breakfast down throat.
4) Shower, dress, and leave for work.
This works far better than previous routines. Let’s see if I can keep it up.
Last night, I went to see the Dresden Dolls at the Norva. They’re an extremely offbeat duo, but I was hooked on my first listening by their wild energy, odd humor, and musical skill. Amanda Palmer plays her keyboard like an insane person, hitting the keys with the flats of her fingers, rocking back and forth on her stool, tucking a knee under her chin, and yet delivering one of the most complex and precise performances I’ve ever heard. Translate that to drums, and you have Brian Viglione’s playing; on top of that, they seem to telepathically communicate during the show, improvising crazily and yet in sync. I had to go.
My body regrets that today. There’s little-to-no seating there, and my left knee can honestly barely support me today after 5.5 hours of standing. I am seriously considering bringing the forearm crutches to my next Norva show, to help hold me up. However, it was certainly worth it – they played my favorites, “Coin-Operated Boy” and “Girl Anachronism“, new material, and material they’re preparing for their next album. For a closer, they dragged audience members and the opening act to the stage to perform Led Zepplin’s “Immigrant Song” and then cleared everyone off for their cover of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs”. You cannot understand how awesome that was without having been there 🙂
The oddest part: in my head, people are rated “real” by the amount with which I personally get to interact with them. For example. Bill Shatner is not especially real to me – I’ve only seen him on TV and movie screens. Leonard Nimoy is slightly more so, since I’ve been in the same room with him, but separated by a stage and a couple dozen yards. George Takei I’ve spoken to briefly, but Spice Williams and I have had a lengthy conversation.
Well, Amanda unexpectedly came down from the stage in the middle of one of her songs, and continued singing as she walked around the balcony and through the fans on the floor, passing within a yard of me several times. Suddenly, her ‘real’ quotient in my head jumped dramatically, and I was quite surprised. (I was proud of my fellow Virginians, who did not mob or crowd her, but let her move freely around and respected her performance. One lady, sadly, took the chance to grope her quite unsubtly, which rattled Amanda enough that she expressed her distress on her return to the keyboard. But it didn’t dampen the evening.)
I’m pleased with the way the week’s started. I even bumped into a White Plectrum fan on the way to the concert. (“I recognize the jacket – did you work with the filk singer? I love his stuff, I can’t believe you live around here!”) Now I am sending down more blessed ibuprofen to quiet this stupid knee.
Onboard computers are now in command of the countdown
I keep being almost-late to work. This is unsatisfactory to me, so I have spent some time identifying the cause in hopes of making changes.
The cause is fairly clear. In order to get to work on time, I must get out of bed at a time of day when my mind is especially fogged and sluggish. Though I keep an eye on the clock, I am repeatedly unable to summon any sense of urgency until I reach the point at which I really should have gotten out of the shower 5 minutes ago. Then I panic, my mind clears, and I efficiently complete my morning preparations and head out the door.
Now, the obvious answer is, “You lamer, get your act together, concentrate, and get moving!” Unfortunately, that’s a bootstrapping problem. Despite repeated attempts, I find myself completely unable to focus or concentrate until that first burst of adrenaline. Though I don’t like drinking soda in the morning, perhaps caffeine pills would help as part of my morning chemistry regimen. (Boy, does that clash with my action-hero fantasies. Dammit, Indiana Jones doesn’t have to hit a pharmacy every 6:30am.)
If they ever offer me that earlier shift, I could be looking at a problem.
And more Tech memoriams
There are about a half-dozen full-size LCD billboards scattered along Hampton Roads highways. Distracting things, let me tell you.
Today, they are flashing luminous messages of support for the Tech victims.
Throat, meet lump.
Explosive Devices
How to identify a complete Trek geek, #117:
The use of “photorp” as a verb, e.g.: “They’re actually adverstising phaser eye surgery now, so I figure the next step is getting your eyes photorpped.”
In other news, the gnome mage/engineer Mirandala finally reached level 60 last night. Though this accomplishment is no longer as cool as it was two months ago, it’s still a wonderful milestone.
Hardcore World of Warcraft players manage this in 6 weeks – it took me about 18 months of casual play. If it’s an addiction, it’s one with a very weak hold on me 🙂
Please state the nature of the medical emergency
Friday morning’s “gas pain” turned out to be diverticulitis (does involve the lower G.I., so the Wikipedia link may squick some folks). After a day of agony, I ended up in the ER until 4 a.m. where the doctor was thankfully able to diagnose me immediately. I’m on antibiotics for the next few weeks, and I have to give up peanuts only months after finally learning to like them.
My system’s still a bit rattled from the fever and pain. I’d rather stay home another day or seven, but duty calls.
Go to 110% on the reactor
Some of the interesting points of the weekend…
Friday night I got to see Carbon Leaf! Or hear them, at least… outdoor concerts are fine until the sky clouds over, the sun goes down, and it’s suddenly 50 degrees. I was huddled under a blanket for most of their set.
Saturday night I played Star Munchkin in a dark, smoky coffeehouse with three complete strangers until 2 am. For some reason, this strikes me as the opening to the all-geek version of “Faust”.
Sunday our friend Laura was with me on the way to pick Rain up for lunch when we happened upon a nasty two-SUV accident that had happened seconds before. Laura has some medical training and hopped right out to see if there was any useful first aid she could supply, while I made myself useful by calling 911. Response arrived within seconds it seemed, and while we can’t say for sure, it looks like everyone escaped with treatable minor injuries, even the three whose vehicle rolled a few times.
And, this morning I’ve done my King Kong impression again by climbing up on a building’s roof to mess with the antennas. I need to get a doctor’s note excusing me from that, or something.
Uncomfortably numb
I was right to be worried yesterday. I had a slightly rough day at work – nothing that wasn’t handled by the end of the day, but it was a little draining. As I headed home, I felt worse and worse despite efforts to center and clear my head, and by the end of dinner, I needed to lie down for a bit. The bit lasted the rest of the night, as it turned out I had a fever, sore throat, and nausea.
Feeling a little better this morning; I think I kicked it. Didn’t help that it was a chilly morn in Norfolk today: the car heater has been turned on for the first time this fall. We have separate thermostats for hot and cold air, so I think we’ll be planning to re-balance them soon.
I did miss the Enterprise premiere Friday, we had other things to do and I’m not going to let TV programming run my life. I suppose the people at UPN assume that their target audience all have TiVos. 🙂
Phase One complete
Yes, Virginia, you can fit a futon, mattress and all, in a Hyundai Elantra.
Spent my first night in the new house. The room I’ve slept in for the past three months had crappy A/C, but this morning I woke up a bit chilly – raininva will be pleased. Glad I found my bathrobe in the move. This week I start unpacking what I have with me of my office, which is little more than a mess of boxes at the moment. The commute is easier (it seems so far) than the previous commute, which is nice. I have to find out why the smoke alarm emits random stifled beeps all day, but last night I was far too tired to notice.
Had the sense to take some ibuprofen before bed, so didn’t wake up too sore.
So, it seems a Mac shareware developer released an app which, if you enter a pirated serial number, erases your Home directory – your system and applications survive, but every personal document, music file, movie, e-mail, website, password, etc. is GONE. So, is this just desserts for pirates, or equivalent to burning someone’s house down for punching you in the nose? Discuss.
