Yep, like Peter in Office Space I did nothing. It was a Seinfeld episode run amuck at my place for a solid week. Even amongst a bunch of nothing I did do something (besides watch Good Times). I began my vacation with a trek into the heart of darkness, Murfreesboro, to catch another show by the hottest band in the land; The E-1's. I decided to pay a visit to the local Hastings store before the gig. Now I knew the new Harry Potter book was coming out that evening at the stroke of midnight, but I was still unprepared for the amount of nerds milling around the place at 8 PM. I could understand the children in costume - they're young and excited and many of them had grown to adolescence reading the Potter books, but as geeky as I am I can't fathom why middle aged adults were capering all over the store looking like rejects from a renaissance fair or the loony bin; take your pick. I tried to do my usual browsing, but I couldn't take it. I might read the occasional comic book but this was too much. To quote the title of a very geeky cult television classic that starred Chris Elliot: Get A Life, please!
The only thing that could fix me was a draft of Guinness at the Wall Street club where The Exotic Ones were going to play later that evening. The draft was incredibly overpriced and the bartender didn't know how to pull it (is that the term?) properly, but I was desperate for an adult beverage so I didn't mind. I had a good time hanging out with the band before they hit the stage to rock a pretty decent size crowd. Highlights were "Shock Wave" during their sound check, "Jack's Surf Shop", and as always watching the maniacal Zoomga performing his theremin solo on "Green Slime". It was a fun and fast set and it looked like they won over some new fans.
My biggest project was supposed to be teaching my 6 year old daughter Emmy how to ride her bike without the training wheels. That turned out to be a piece of cake. All I had to do was take the training wheels off. She did the rest. She's spent the last week learning how many different ways to describe skinned knees and elbows, but she's not doing too bad considering she's really outgrown her bicycle. We'll take care of that soon.
One thing I love about being off during the third week of July is that I'm able to watch the final stages of the Tour de France live on OLN. It was a little dull this year since none of Lance Armstrong's rivals tried to challenge him (they were beat down in the Pyrenees), but it was great to see Hincapie and Savoldelli get wins for the Discovery team. Lance showed them he deserved the yellow at the final time trial. 7 year in a row - just amazing. ESPN may not think cyclists aren't athletes, but the Wally household knows the score. We'd like to see the talking heads at ESPN ride a bike up a mountain in the Alps.
I spent a lot of time playing with the soon to be 6 month old Liam. I played my guitar often. I watched cartoons with the 3 year old daughter Harper Lee. I listened to the Soulfish Stew wife talk about what she was blogging about while all I did was check my email. I decided I needed to break my book reading blues so I read two Hemingway books (technically re-read) and am now on his short story collection. Imagine my surprise to see that Ryan at The Emerson Street Tavern is also talking about Hemingway. The Jungian synchronicity in my life abounds.
Today I've found out that I am now a middle-aged member of Generation X. I had just about forgotten all about that term. I was into it at one time, but then I went to see Reality Bites. Damn, I hate that film. I refused to identify myself with any group from then after. Plus, after I got out of the movie theater that day my car wouldn't start. The almighty gods of slack had spoken and their message was clear: all of this generational talk is just nonsense useful as a marketing tool only. Being true to yourself and others is what matters. And as messed up as the Harry Potter nerds were on that first night of my vacation I'll give them that much: they were nerds - truly.
2 comments:
I miss "Get a Life". What a completely overlooked show that was. Wasn't it on FOX back in its early days? I believe they also had the "It's Gary Shandling's Show" with its unforgettable theme song.
"Get A Life's" first season was excellent, but the second season where he moved out of his parent's house has to be some of the weirdest television ever. Do you remember Spewy? Hard to top the last episode where Elliot plummets to his death from an airplane.
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