Thursday, September 19, 2013

Cicada Invasion!

Last night, I was reading in bed and my eyelids seemed to be made of concrete so I decided to take Belle out one last time and hang it up for the night.  She peed and we came back in, only we weren't alone...

A cicada flew in behind us, attracted by the kitchen light.  It chirped obnoxiously and flew circles around the chandelier.  Felix lept up from the floor and staked out the kitchen table, swiping at the cicada when it came into range.  Meanwhile, Belle's also got her eye on the hissing vermin and trotting around the kitchen table, not taking her eyes off it.

Felix managed to bring the cicada down but didn't do anything with it after that, to my dismay.  It wobbled back into the air and continued chirping and crashing into the light.  I grabbed a broom and hit the cicada out of the hair like it was a tennis ball and I was one of today's current tennis players, not Pete Sampras like I originally planned on writing.

It bounced off the wall and landed on the floor, right in the gab between the floor and where the trip used to be.  I swept it out of the crack  and it chirped on the floor.  After Belle had her sniff, I swept it outside, preventing my house from being infested by insectoid vermin while I slept.

Monday, September 9, 2013

Kinda sucked

So, right after we watched a Season 3 episode of Breaking Bad, Brittany prepared to leave for work and I prepared to take the dogs for a walk on what was probably the hottest day of the year.  We passed a house with a man working on the roof and I thought, "Man, it would suck to be working out in this heat."

The dogs performed admirably on the walk, due to the intense heat and humidity and also that they were still recovering from a Saturday romp at my parents'.  We returned to the house and the garage door was closed.  I thought "It would suck if Brittany locked us out."

Yadda yadda yadda, she did.  After checking the basement door, I walked to the one neighbor whom I thought might still have my back door key from the days when my parents owned the house.  She wasn't home.  I walked around the house, panting dogs in tow, and checked all the windows.  All locked.  And my cell phone was on the kitchen table, right next to my keys.

As I cursed and tried to decide which neighbor I'd impose on to call my dad.  Then I remembered I felt a draft next to one of the basement windows a couple days before.  I walked up to the unattached garage and it was blessedly unlocked.  I procured a screwdriver and walked back to the basement window, dogs still in tow.

After some amateur breaking and entering, I popped the screen out and slid the window open.  Daisy, still leery of me after living in my house for almost three months and knowing me for about a year, was surprisingly understanding.  I said "I know you're not going to like this but I'm going to pick you up now.  She didn't struggle and let me carry her into the darkness of the basement.

Belle, my faithful hound of nearly 13 years, was almost as understanding.  She stood at the open window and looked at me.  "Belle, this is our house.  I'm going to pick you up now."  She yielded but wasn't happy about it.  Soon, we were all navigating the Stygian darkness of the basement.  I don't think Belle quite understood where we were until we reached the basement steps.  Soon, we were again in the welcoming light of the main floor of the house and all was well with the world.  I gave the dogs treats and they were soon napping in front of the air conditioning vents on the living room floor.


Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Bands I've seen live

Bands I've seen live (This is a very ska-heavy list)

  1. The Toasters
  2. The Secretaries
  3. Isaac Green and the Skalars
  4. Skavoovie and the Epitones
  5. Let's Go Bowling
  6. Unsteady
  7. The Skatalites
  8. The Slackers
  9. Chris Murray
  10. The Suicide Machines
  11. AFI
  12. Avail
  13. Apocalypse Hoboken
  14. Assorted Jelly Beans
  15. The Weaker Thans
  16. The Specials
  17. They Might Be Giants
  18. The Reverend Horton Heat
  19. Los Straitjackets
  20. Southern Culture on the Skids
  21. Deke Dickerson
  22. Big Sandy and the Fly-Rite Boys
  23. Eastern Standard Time
  24. The Green Room Rockers
  25. The Aggrolites
  26. Mr. T-Bone
  27. Dr. Ring-Ding
  28. Monkey
  29. Toots and the Maytals
  30. Flogging Molly
  31. The Pinstripes
  32. Deals Gone Bad
  33. The Pietasters
  34. Split Lip Rayfield
  35. Bonerama
  36. The Gadjits
  37. Mephaskapheles
  38. Red Stripe Allstars
  39. Murder City Players
  40. The Pinstripes
  41. Dan Pothast
  42. MU-330
  43. Lawrence Arms
  44. Alkaline Trio
  45. Dale Watson
  46. Spring-Heeled Jack
  47. Th' Legendary Shack Shakers
Huh, I guess I haven't seen that many bands live.  It felt like more than this but there are a lot of multiples on the list.  I've seen the Slackers 20 times and a few of the other bands four or five times.  There are some smaller bands whose names I either don't remember or don't care to mention.