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Welcome to 2K8!!
2008-01-02, 1:58 p.m.


Day 1228

Lets start the year with this weeks free association list from Unconscious Mutterings

Memorable :: Remarkable
Resolution :: Useless
Goal :: carrot
2008 :: Already?
Sensational :: splash
Popular demand ::
Old :: passe
Music :: TSO
Intense :: serious
2007 :: sayonnara

No big huge list of resolutions. Really have only 3 things I want to do/work on this year.

A � Work harder at my Al Anon program. I know this will pay off in other areas, specifically in close personal relationships. 2007 saw some extreme highs & lows in this area. It�d be really sweet to level out in the high zone.

B � Get my butt moving again. Literally. Been really slacking at the gym, it�s showing up in my waist. I need to get back to the condition I was in a year ago.

C � Go back on the Fit Day regimen. I am not disciplined enough in my eating to be able to go all freestyle. Yet. Another 6 � 9 months of Fit Day will help reinforce what I learned over the last 2 years.

So. It�s been a while. Know what I�ve been up to? Very, very little. Saturday (last year fer cryin out loud!) was the Trans Siberian Orchestra concert here. People � if you have the means, you must go. If you don�t have the means, you need to get them. Beg, borrow, steal. But go.

Here�s a typical shot of the lighting � it�s a cheesy camera phone shot set to wide angle.

Yeah, we were that close. So close I could even get this:

This was the more technically gifted guitarist. The other lead guitar was more the showman. They played off each other pretty well.

I was considering trying to smuggle in my smaller camera in order to get better shots. But silly me was worried about getting patted down and losing my camera or something. As it turned out, there was no searching, no funny looks, nothing. There were SO MANY people in there with cameras � real cameras. At one point, showman guitarist asked everybody to turn on their cell phones and flash him their screen. I turned back and looked. Out of 10,500 people in the arena about 1/3 of the crowd had some sort of screen glowing. Next year? When we take the kids? Cameras WILL be on the packing list, right alongside the earplugs. Seriously. A gal in the row in front of me was packing plugs. We were kind of lucky in that the bigger banks of speakers were suspended about 25 feet over our heads. I�m guessing it made for better sound in the far reaches of the arena and probably spared those in front permanent ear damage.

I was constantly entranced with their lighting equipment. The whole thing was rigged on steel cables and exquisitely controlled. They could position it seemingly any way they wanted. It rarely sat still � always morphing from one configuration to the next. On one number they even made it do the wave. During relatively quieter parts of the concert I was imagining what it would be like to set that monstrosity up, program it, test it, play with it. Sounded like a fun job. Must be the geek in me.

Two cool things. 1 - The small string group TSO used was all local musicians. Bet they had a blast. 2 - The drummer was from a town called Horseheads � only about 90 miles from us. Also � I don�t care what the drummer gets per show, he�s grossly underpaid. He likely doesn�t care as it looks like he was having a blast of his own up there. After 2 solid hours of playing, they cut him loose on a drum solo and he ripped the place apart.

I did mention next (�scuse me � THIS) year. About half way through the show, during a brief lull in the hyperactivity, Cindy and I agreed that tickets to this will be on the kids Christmas list this year. When I mentioned to them we were going they were all �DUDE!! I�ve been wanting to go see them!

Funny part? When I told Cindy I had the tickets she was all �We�re going to see WHO?� � That�s when the kids chimed in with their �DUDE!!� bits. Yeah. So come September 2K8 I�ll be looking for some advance warning from Ticketmaster. It�s true, you get kinda butt raped by their fees, but this time it was worth it just to get the great seat selection. Now that I know � next time I�ll lube up a bit first.

Bowling last week went pretty well. No lefty � he waas sick enough that he thought he should skip. We all thanked him for not sharing his germs. As luck would have it, we were bowling the 1st place team (we�re in 5th). Lost the first game by 7, while baby bro & I bowled terrible. Second game we picked it up a bit and won by 55. Third game we were hoping to hang close enough to take total pins and maybe salvage a split for the night. But the other team (those 1st place guys) were still in the Christmas spirit and gave us the 3rd game by imploding in the last two frames. Ended up taking 6 of 8 points from the 1st place team and we learned that the 2nd place team lost all 8 points. This is going to tighten up the standings considerable. Don�t know that there will be any position swapping going on (darn!!) as the gaps from team to team were pretty large, but things certainly did get more interesting. Tomorrow we per schedule again, then next week is position round � where 1st bowls 2nd, 3rd bowls 4th, etc. Could make for a nice tight pack at the top as we approach the end of the season. Oh � personally, I beat my average by 26 pins total (after missing it by 24 in the first game) and ended up scooching it up another half pin or so. Won�t show up in the standings sheet because we truncate instead of round. Another decent week like that though and it�ll inch up again.

Lessee � how�d New Years go? Quiet. Vewy kwwiet. Zach was down at Jills parents (south of Buffalo), Eric went off to his girlfriends (north of Syracuse). Cindy and I (just west of Rochester) were left all alone � no kids within 100 miles. It was heavenly. She went to an AA meeting, I made chicken parmesan for dinner. When she got back, we ate and watched a movie (Ratatouille � eh, ok). I stayed up for a bit, surfing football scores and watching some horrible series on Cinemax, then hit the bed right at midnight. By 12:05 I was out.

Yesterday morning we found out Zach called Cindy�s cell at 12:07 to wish us a Happy New Year. Talked to him yesterday, told him I had gotten in bed at 12:01 and he told me �Gee, right when I stopped puking!� Of course, I had to ask if he was sick or drunk. Turns out he had been fighting off flu symptoms the whole 3 days they were at Jills parents. He spent most of New Years Eve just feeling like crap. At least his midnight puke wasn�t some beginners night escapades. Truthfully � he doesn�t drink all that much. He takes his mothers lessons very much to heart.

Heard from Ms. CL this morning. She�s been tossed out of her house. Couldn�t and/or wouldn�t knuckle under to her husbands control freak demands. He wanted her to turn over her paycheck, give up her cell phone, stop going to Bally�s and quit her job in the city - amongst other, slightly less outrageous demands. They live in the sticks, 30 miles east of the city � actually in the birthplace of the Mormons � where Joseph Smith heard the call of god as it were. I�m not up on the whole Mormon story. It�s like most of my religious education � incomplete.

Anyhow. I think she was hoping I�d say something dumb like �lets go trot off into the sunset� or �lets get an apartment together� or �Gee, I�ll toss Cindy out on her ear, come on over!� Needless to say, none of that crap fell out of my mouth. Turns out she�s looking into a studio apartment right across the street from the county courthouse (where she works). Good, smart move for her, but I wonder if it will increase her attempts at contact?

Man � this whole affair thing may yet come back to bite me on the ass � again. Best way to defuse it is to be upfront and frank with Cindy. It�s the only way. I need, need, need Cindy to maintain her confidence in our relationship. Keeping her abreast of the Ms. CL situation is the best way to avoid any nasty surprises. Any chinks in her confidence could erode the progress she�s (we�ve) made over the last few months. I do not want to see her slip back into the bottle. It is therefore my job to make sure she has no doubts. (Hmmm � new resolution?)

I ought to go meditate or something. Maybe that�ll be resolution (D) � learn to meditate. Couldn�t hurt.


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old habits - new tricks