Review

I had one of those weekend that not only tired me out, but it bled my wallet dry.
Drier than dry.
I think I saw a piece of lint in there today, but I also heard an echo.
But I'm not complaining (much).

Friday night I volunteered a show at Old Town. I'm a little bummed to know that when I volunteer now, it's for nothing, really nothing, as I'll be losing my points (I have over 400 points) as soon as my new jobby job starts. I don't really mind, there are benefits to being staff beside getting paid, but it's still weird.  I thought maybe I should just not sign in, but then the volunteer coordinator will not know that I was there.....so anyway.
Right before the show began, I got a text from Eldest Stepsib that she and her fam were at my bar, down the block.
I snuck out, said hello to the fam, stole a piece of nephew's pizza, and hied back to the show.
It was a later night than I'd have liked, for a Friday, but that's ok.

Saturday morning brought the new stress of the new guitar class. Not only am I repeating 2rep (again, again, I know) but this time around I have a very scary teacher. Scary to me. Intimidating. Whatever. He's tough.  AND his teaching method is entirely different from any other I've had so far. Sigh.  He took away our music stands (my crutch) and did NOT give us the sheet with the words and the chords! He didn't even tell us what song it was. Just taught us some arpeggio business, then some bass line stuff, then "chunklets" of the song. For the life of me I could not figure out what the song was.  To my credit, I did know that it was a melancholy sound, and I was curious.  Only in the last 5 minutes of class did he start singing, and it was "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen.  I would have never guessed, and I have this song on my iPod!!!  His teaching style is going to be very tough to get used to.

Saturday night I went to dinner with John and Toni. We went to an amazing Peruvian restaurant near their house in the Wicker Park area.  It was warm enough and close enough to walk.  I love eating out with John and Toni because they love to eat, try new places, and have a great meal be the entire evening.  Sure, it was more $$ than I expected, but I was more than full, and the food was great, so it was worth it.  Plus, they are so great to hang out with.  They hate people as much as I do, so it's kinda perfect.

Sunday was breakfast with TheMarty at Tweet. I would call it brunch, except that at 9:00 am, that's breakfast.  There are very very very few people I'd set my alarm for on a Sunday, and TheMarty is one of them.  We had a lovely time. 

I also ran to my new favorite place on Sunday - Trader Joe's. What had I been missing!! It was only my second time there, and I'm obsessed. 

Much running around, not enough resting time, but these things happen.

Done

Did your heart just skip a beat?
No worries, the title does not mean what you think it means.
This here lil ole blog is not done.

What it actually means is I am finished with the word d o n e

It's not something I consciously realized, at first.
But after a while, I started to notice that I really do NOT like the word done and I've been replacing it whenever possible.
Without sounding pretentious.

I think my 6th grade teacher had a little something to do with it.  Sure, I can't remember what I did yesterday, but I can specifically remember something he said in English class one day.
Ah, Mr. Ronsevall. Terrifying in every way. Tall, scarily red-faced, short tempered and from Little Rock Arkansas.
One day, Mr. R said "Billy? Have you finished?"
Billy said "Yes, I'm done."
Mr. R became even more red-faced and yelled: "DONE?!? Turkeys are DONE, son, PEOPLE ARE FINISHED!"

And I remembered it.
And I lived by it, and I taught it to others.  I have friends who to this day repeat that back to me.

Now, all of these years later, I'm eradicating that word done from my vocabulary.  I think "finished" sounds polished. I use "finished" a lot at work.
Also, ended. Completed, even.

Now, to train myself not to cringe when other people use the word.

Other shoe?

Again, I had a fantastic weekend.
Leaves me waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Friday night I was working a show at Old Town, which you all know is my happy place. Well, now it's my VERY happy place.
I've been offered (and have accepted) a house manager position! I've been waiting and wishing and hoping and praying for this for a loooong time. I thought my best shot would be when they open the new building in January 2012. I've mentioned (and mentioned and mentioned again) that I would love to be a house manager.
And, as of August of this year, I will be one!
I'll be saying goodbye to my volunteer shifts/points etc....and will be an actual member of the Old Town Staff.  I was so excited that I couldn't fall asleep Friday night.
This is a part time weekend/evening thing, so this will be in addition to my full time real life jobby job.

Saturday morning I was out running errands when LB1 called. She asked me if I had time to run by her house.
Um...?
She had been in WI last week, and had remembered that I didn't buy myself enough New Glarus beer, so she bought me a case of Spotted Cow.
Oh, did I make time to go over and pick that up!!!
So awesome. And of course, when I offered to pay for it, she would have none of it.  She really does spoil me.  I'm very lucky.

Sunday being Easter was family day.  While I do not attend Mass,  I do believe in Easter and what it stands for, and I do love the chance to spend time with people I care about.
While the people were at Mass, I cranked up some Dropkick Murphy's and baked some Pillsbury rolls and such. 
I headed upstairs to brunch the second everyone got back - my timing is amazing.
Sadly, VonDad was home sick and didn't come to brunch.  VonMom said he has a cold, but VonSis said he was really sick.  Love the downplaying, VonMom.  I dressed all cute in a new dress, fixed my hair, put on makeup.......and wore white tennis shoes.  That was specifically to piss off VonMom. Can't give too much, you know. 
I stayed upstairs until 4:00, I felt that was long enough for brunch.

I have had not one but two bagels. Ah, so glad Lent is over!!

What happens in New Glarus......

........Unfortunately had to STAY in New Glarus.
Yes, there was that much debauchery.

I think I can give you some highlights though:

Two nights in a row of cheese fondue.
YES

A fuck ton (sorry, no other way to describe it, really) of New Glarus beer was consumed.  Yes, of course there was Spotted Cow, but there was also: Totally Naked, Belgian Red, Smoked Rye (YUCK!), Two Women, Fat Squirrel, Snow Shoe, and my new favorite: Cabin Fever.

Alas, I didn't bring nearly enough beer home for myself. I have three bottles of Cabin Fever, and one giant bottle of Belgian Red left, and that's it.  I might have to hit up Shannon and TheMarty for some of their stash.

I do, however, have three NICE bottles of wine from the Primrose Winery.

I wanted to dance with a Vietnam Vet. I almost had my chance, but I had to pee. Really really badly.

The men-folk in New Glarus are adorable and flirty and friendly.  I totally could have gotten me some, if I didn't have a room mate, and if I had been more devil-may-care with the whole stranger sex thing.

My room totally had a sitting area, which made it the party room. It would have been the party room without the sitting area. Yes, I am that much fun on vacation.

Favorite part: Commandeering the jukebox at Sportman's Bar. And getting the entire bar to air drum Phil Collins. Yes, we did.

My hair was the curliest/cutest/dare-I-say sexiest it's ever been. The snow and wind totally helped. NO, I do not have a picture to prove this!! Drunk people don't take awesome pictures.

I didn't kill anyone. 
Though a few people did deserve it, by Sunday morning, totally. 
I showed restraint.

I fell in even more love with my Boston people. Primarily the two that came along to WI. 

I named Scott the brewer (squee!! An actual New Glarus brewer!!) "Shiny Pipes Scott".  Sure, you think it's dirty, 'cuz that's what you do. This is his name because he said to me "I don't work on the big copper pots, I work on the other ones. The shiny pipes."  And he loves his new nickname.

I harassed the only non-gift shop employee at the brewery until he came out to talk to me. A) Wisconsin people are so dang NICE B) He knew it was futile to ignore me. I followed him around the brewery C) Not my fault the walls of glass have little spaces between them, in which I could yell  speak loudly at him, until he came to talk to me.  He was a lab-rat, who spends his time checking fermentation processes. And no, he doesn't get to drink all day. I am sad for him, and recommended he move to Boston and go work for those Sam Adams people.

I did not go to the sausage store, nor did I give two shits about taking pictures of the fiberglass cows all over town.

But, if you ask VonMom what she heard about my vacation, she will tell you that I rested plenty, read lots of books, dressed warmly and went to bed early.

I know, right?!?!?!

Three posts in one week!!
I can't believe it either!

I'm going on a little weekend trip with the other two parts of the Tricycle of Awesome, a couple of my favorite Boston people, and a gaggle of other people I don't really know.
Could be interesting.
I'm just hoping it'll be fun.

I know, I know... pictures or it didn't happen.  My camera is charging as I write this.  Now, I just have to remember to pack it.

Where are we going?
Thanks for asking!
We're heading up to New Glarus Wisconsin to DRINK.SOME.BEER.
and
Drink.some.wine.
and
Eat.fondue.
and
Maybe polka.
and after that
Drink.More.Beer.

Quick trip - leaving tomorrow, back on Sunday.
I hope I remember enought amusing details to relay them back to you.

See you on the flip side.

Best.Movie.Ever.

Last night I finally watched Pirate Radio.
I think the only reason I put it off for so long was the fact that I'm not always the biggest Phillip Seymour Hoffman fan.
Like, he's a great actor - GREAT actor, but I don't see how he's sexay or anything. Sometimes, they want him to come off as sexay and I get skeeved out.

BUT

Pirate Radio was awesome!!
Without a doubt, one of my top five favorite movies of all time. I'll say it again, OF.ALL.TIME.
And the soundtrack. Good God. That's one of the best soundtracks I've heard in years and years.
And the song placement!
I could go on and on.
But the part that gave me chills?
When he played this song:

Definitely one of my favorite songs of all time.
Do I sound like a broken record?
I'm ok with being THAT broken record.

*yes, I'm aware I posted a video. Shadup.

So, this book I just read

So, I read this book over last week, called "Feed" by Mira Grant.
TheMarty insisted that I read it ASAP, so I did. 
Plus, I had me a lot of time to read, during my most recent quarentine.
The book? Well, it was pretty good.

But that's not what I wanted ot discuss.

So, the book is about post-zombiacolypse living.
The news, the entertainment, all of it comes from bloggers.
Blogging, actually, is one of the main characters of the book.

So I got to thinking.
If I take my blog-roll and apply it to the premise of the book, would I be alright?
Never for one second did I put myself in the leading lady roll, that's just not me.
But my blog roll?
Would they become my people for realz? My network? My internet family?

Well, my recent bout of illnesses has proved that they already are these things.
They are my people, my network, my ifamily, and my friends.

So, yeah. I think it's a safe bet for us getting through the Zombipocalypse together.
Especially since one of us already IS a member of the undead.