Perception

A few nights ago I was made clear of some perceptions about me. Not really about me but about me and the people I hang out with. Mostly just us as a group and not about us individually. We have just been kind of lumped in together. Not that I think these perceptions are baseless but it's coming from people who couldn't actually pick me out of a line up. It would be foolish of me to say I don't care what people think. It may not consume my every waking hour but from time to time I get slightly annoyed. Mostly those times pass.
Yes I am a snob but let's evaluate the areas I am a snob.

Music, I am a huge music snob but I am also very open minded and have listened and continue to listen many different kinds of music.

Beer, If you know me you know I like beer but beer of a certain kind. Mostly imports, there are domestics that I enjoy but your typical king of beers I find with little flavor and so carbonated that it's like a soda.

Buffets, Yes I have gone on my tirades about most buffets and that I like ethnic buffets because I find that the food I get on the buffet there is the same as the food I would get in delivery. And really in the grand scheme of things I haven't been to buffets that often.

As for areas that I am not a snob are vast. I don't care what people do for a living, who they date, what they drive, what they wear, where they live, what they look like. Sure we all make comments like "Gurl, did you she what she is wearing?" But you know I found a long time ago that humor is a great defense mechanism. It's a great way for me to avoid what I really feel what I really want/need to say. I have found that people find me funny so I run with it. Has it made me judgemental? Maybe, but really people who know the real me know that isn't really me.

As for other reasons people may think I am a snob is because I am socially shy and awkward. When in public I tend to not talk I like to people watch, it's easier then actually having to interact with people. I always assume if they are not talking to me that the reason is they are not interested in me. So I save them the awkward task of blowing me off. And in those few times someone does talk to me, I tend to verbally vomit and make an ass of myself.

So if you are reading this and don't know me know that my standoffish nature has nothing to do with you but my inadequacies. Now aren't you glad you never asked. How I ever got laid is beyond me, and more and more lately I am questioning whether it ever happened in the first place.

Bomb scares and whatnot.

So a student at the school wrot eon a bathroom wall that they were going to blow up the school today. So the police and bomb squad were here all night and into the morning looking and patroling the area. They found nothing. I assumed as much but it is nice to know that you can take care of these things without causing a scene. Knowing that things would be fine and that most likely nothing was going to happen we were told to keep an eye out for unattended items and to report anything "strange". Seriously though I felt very safe in my building. 1. Know one knows whats over here to bomb it anyway and 2. if they did bomb it I would almost let them cause that would mean we could get new facilities.

But my favorite was the teacher in resource yelling out about every 5 minutes "Whose bag is this?" imidiately a student would come over and claim it and he would write a detention and chasties the student. I am thinking to myself, isn't that a bit much.It gets better when a student doesn't claim it. I am thinking the kid doesn't want to get yelled at and get a detention. But the teacher looks at me and says "What do we do?" I didn't know, he asked if he should open it. I said "give me a 5 minute head start."

"But what if there is a bomb in it?"

"That is why I wanted the head start."

"But it would blow me up."

I said "Take comfort you probably won't feel anything."

Turns out the kid was just outside in the courtyard. Of course the teacher hadn't thought of that until I asked if he had checked outside. Some people just over react. I looked at it this way if there was a bomb mere meters from me I probably wouldn't remember if I survived or never feel a thing.

It is as easy as riding a bike.

So tonight when I got home from dinner it was starting to get dark. I also saw some apartment buildings I was interested in so I decided to take the bike out for it's first jont around the block. I did this when it was dark so people couldn't see me make an ass of myself when I fell. I didn't by the way. I hadn't been on a bike in like 20 years so I wasn't sure how this was going to work. It worked pretty damned well. I rode all over the old north side and my neighborhood. I even biked down to the Metro so Mom could see my new wheels. The only thing is my ass really hurts from riding. It was only 30 minutes but damn. We will see how this truly effected me come more. I am feeling a bit in my calves already so heres hoping I can still walk.

I really loved it tonight. I think I will make this a nightly thing. I should probably get a light for it or something. Maybe I will spend this week building up my territory. Hopefully get to the canal. Not actually ride the canal because knowing me I would bike right into it. I am so excited.

Why does my body hate me?

I awoke at 4 am this morning. Mind you have spent the last week and a half pining for bed rest. With the musical at my school over you would think that I would be able to sleep, but alas it was not meant to be at 4am when I was wide awake with no rest in my future.

I have been exhausted for weeks... months... well years actually. I haven't slept fully for a long time, I should probably get that checked out right?

Anyway, so here I am at work an hour before I need to be here with nothing really to do. I caught up on my inventory project from this week. So what do I do. I am now at 6:30 tired enough to go back to sleep but I can't.

Why does my body hate me?

These are the days I miss an office job. Because then I could work at a leisurly pace but here I actually have to be alert and on all freakin day. In an ofice job you can be sluggish and not talk to anyone and they don't care even in meetings.

Oh on a lighter side, I went to my first rehearsal for Once Upon a Mattress. I have never seen the show but from what I understood going into last night it was awful. After playing thru it, I believe them. I really don't understand why someone would put pen to paper and say this was a good idea. I also rank those people up with those who step out of their house in clothes not befitting their age or size and saying "Damn I look good!"

So terribly bored

Excited about the bike still don't have clue as to what I want. May not get it today may just do some shopping around.

I really want this week to be over. Just thinking about all the time I will be spending in the pit just seems like a mountain that I couldn't possibly scale. I really wish there was a fast forward button on life.

The weather has turned very nice today. It just makes me want to not have class and go sit outside and have lunch.

Speaking of lunch I am really hungry. Weighed myself today and have somehow in the course of 2 days lost 4lbs. I know that can't be right but will enjoy that feeling, no matter how diluted it is, for the moment.

With the bike I am wanting to start riding to work. According to the trail maps I can get from my house to school with minimal interaction with street traffic. Obviously I am a bit nervous because I honestly haven't been on a bike that hasn't been bolted to the floor in 20 years. Maybe I will get one with a basket on the front and streamers on the handlebars, and oooooooo a bell, or an old fashioned bike horn. That would be dead sexy. I guess this also means I need to start buying spandex outfits. :)

A new bike in my future.

So today I got a pleasant surprise in my mailbox. They have already paid us for the Musical. Usually that paycheck comes after the musical but this year someone shipped it early and woo frickin' hoo. So tomorrow with my 2 hour break between school and rehearsal I am going to go shopping for a bike I am supper excited. With the sun coming up sooner and sooner every day I am seriously contemplating biking to school the last few weeks. We will see I will make a few weekend trips to see if it will kill me. And by "if" I mean "when".

Life in the Pits.

Well another season of high school musicals are upon us. When I say us I mean mostly me because unless you are a student involved, a parent with a student involved, or just whoring out your talents there really is no reason for anyone to go see high school musicals. Not "High School the Musical", well really there is no reason for that either.

I say whoring out my services in the pit because I am getting paid and paid well (twice as much as union players) and most times I enjoy it but this time around not so much. We are doing "Thoroughly Modern Millie", which if you have had the misfortune of seeing you understand my pain. It's pretty racist and misogynistic, and to be putting it on the stage in a high school is pretty awful in my book. But then again at the end of the run I get a big fat check that is like having another paycheck worth basically two weeks.

Normally I really have fun in these things because most times the music is fun and challenging something I don't get when I sit with the students and play there parts in concert band. This music however may be tough it's just not that interesting. Now several years ago I playing in "Anything Goes", great music, terrible plot. Millie is just terrible music, terrible plot. It got to a point I was waiting for someone to come out in black face and do a Jolson bit. When you have two Chinese "helpers" *read "slaves"* and their names are Bung Foo and Ching Ha, I gotta ask why in the 21st century are we doing this without a hint of irony? I mean really why not call them Chinky Winky and Benni Hanna.

I digress, but not by much because I have a huge problem with the major plot line is the main character trying to snag her boss as a husband. I gotta shake my head and ask how exactly is this a "Modern"? Actually I can get over the plot lines because for the most part musicals have very bad and thin plots to start. Really it's the music that brings the people in the story is secondary, always has been always will be. Which infuriates me, because I like clever stories with good music. Don't get me wrong there are a few good musicals out there I am just hard pressed to find them. I know, I know this makes me a bad homo because I don't like musicals. And if that were the only thing that made me a bad homo I would be good but alas the lack of Bette, Madonna, and Cher in my music library as the gay mafia threatening to take my card away.

Back to Millie. So I had a thought what would a Thoroughly Post Modern Millie be like. My friend lets call her Lesbian 1 (L1) said it wouldn't make much sense. There would be lots of random shouting, lots of smoking, berets, bare light bulbs hanging from the ceiling, and it would probably be in German. I said "So Cabaret" she replied "Yeah pretty much."

Under the heading of: "Are you Kidding me?"

Back story:

The space we use for band and other classes is at best small. Tiny and almost unusable for our purposes, is probably more accurate. Four years ago when we had to split the percussion we were told to send them upstairs to the choir room that was not being used. Fine, we did and 4 weeks in we were told by the choir teacher to stop using it and find a new place. Of course the administration that told us to go there in the first place said nothing but to us, "Deal with it." This completely screwed my lesson plan for the semester and had to start over but not before treading water for 3 weeks before things worked out. The next year we were up into a very nice area that worked well for our needs and all was well. After that year we were told once again that we were to use the choir room and it would be fine. Ok? So again we were dismissed, and again because transient. Special K teaches a class at the same time I do and it is hard for her to teach in the office while I teach a rather loud (by nature) class in the band room. The administration suggested using the choir room because it was not being used during that period. Before that got off the ground the choir teacher bitched and Special K teachers in the office and I in the band room not ideal but whatever. I still use the choir room for sectionals and Jazz band before school and during first because again I really have no place to go.


That brings us to today. When said choir director comes down to complain about the water on the floor. *sidebar* For those of you not in the know, instruments create a lot of condensation. Much like when you breathe on a window in the winter time. Well it's gotta go somewhere and most often the easiest and most convenient place is the floor. *end of sidebar* I told her that I had no way of controlling that. Brass players do it and sometimes it leaks beyond their control so it is what it is. My favorite moment came when she explained to me that spit in the 60's and 70's is not like the spit today. (Huh???) She purposed that only woodwinds go up there to rehearse. (remember she has already kicked out percussion.) I said that jazz band cannot rehearse without brass. She kept reiterating she didn't want spit on the floor. My solution, granted said in a terse and frustrated way, was that we would no longer rehearse up there and I wouldn't take any group up there again. She got huffy and walked off.

I mean seriously I am so done with this women. Every time she has kicked us out for whatever reason she has come to me to ask for a favor. I really don't know where she gets the gall. It would be different if she had classes in that room every period of the day but out of 8 she has 4, where as we have multiple classes at once in our space and at least on class every period of the day.

Grrrrrrr, I want to push her down a flight of stairs.

This rant has been brought to you by the letters F and U.

Potential Headlines for todays post

It's Thursday? Right?

Dear Jebus save me from my friends and acute alcohol poisoning.

So this is what Alcoholism looks like.

Shut up Liver

Why am I out of Advil?

How much is too much?

Where did this bruise come from?

Where are my pants?

Why am I asking so many questions?

Any other suggestions for potential headlines for this week are welcomed because I think half my brain came out when I blew my nose just now.

Spring Break update

Ok so today marks the halfway point of my spring break oddessy. Let's just a quick break down of what we have.

Number of times to the Gym: 2 (planning to go today but not going to count that)
Loads of Laundry completed: 0 (But I have thought about it a lot, does that count?)
Number of hours in BGB Rehearsal: 11 (I thought this was spring break?)
Number of hours on Gay.com: 38 (In my defense I forgot to log off on Monday night and remained logged in till Tuesday morning so 15 of those hours really don't count.)
Number of games of darts: 15ish ( I say ish because really I have been drunk a lot this week.)
Number of drinks: 1,232,987 (I could be wrong on that count.)
Number of times I have said "Spring break, Woo!!!!!": 2,784,190 (Again I could be wrong on that count.)
Number of emails from Special K: 0 (Thank fucking god)
Dollars spent to get creepy stripper to go away: 1 (That was about $3 too much)
Number of years taken of my life from this week:10 (It is probably more but really who wants to live forever anyway?)

So yea I think that pretty much sums up my week so far. And dear god it's only the morning of Wednesday.

Where am I

Seriously I need to slow down my body is not use to this and I will need a spring break to recover from my spring break. So last night we did a very odd bar tour. We started at English Ivy's and the boys had dinner. I ate before I went out the door so I was good. Romeo ordered me a Cosmo, even though I said no. This doesn't seem to phase these boys, anyway.

We left there and ran up to the Varsity. This is a bar I have been in once and has always been referred to as where gay men go to die. When they're youth and money have all been spent this is where they end up. Having looked around I could see that. It's a nice enough place but the sheer amount of smoke in the air makes me not want to go back for a while. We were there long enough for us to have a few cocktails and for Blanche and Romeo to sing a song each. I did however pick up a volunteer for the Parade committee. So not a total waste.

Now it was time to head off to the petting zoo. Now again I want to reiterate I was just kidding when I had mentioned drink and drown on Sunday evening. But alas there I was with a stripper who was 10 years my junior grinding away for a $ and I really just wanted him to go away. Blanche gave me the dollar I am sure in hopes I would do something with it to entice the boy I used it to let him know he could leave anytime now.

Now I am all for people doing what they need to to make a living and I don't begrudge people fulfilling a fantasy doing this as well. But, I have never really found it to be a turn on and really just creeps me out more than anything else. I do not frequent the Hornicorn that often and by that I mean it is like years in between visits. One of the last times I was there I was sitting at a table and a dancer comes up behind me and starts dancing on me. I turn my head and say "I have no money to give you." "It's not about the money baby." He stays for about five more seconds just to prove to me it's not about the money and then goes about his business. I turn and say "Tell your friends."

Why do I go. well a $5 cover and penny well drinks. That is incentive enough for me. But again I also have no problem spending money so it may take another 3-4 years to get me back there.

Romeo and I leave the petting zoo and run up to Gregs where we have yet another drink and play some pool. Over all a good night I was dropped off at home and went to bed and crashed.

The End