Month: September 1999

Bugs

I asked my vegan friend today if there was an approved way to kill mosquitoes. I knew this was, at best, a rhetorical question. Firstly, and most obviously, vegans don’t approve of killing anything. Secondly, it’s damned near impossible to kill the little bastards without living under a perpetual toxic cloud anyway.

So Shawn told me there’s some smell which mosquitoes really hate, but he couldn’t remember what it was. Do you? And do you know if it comes in a roll-on?

I don’t really understand what’s up with all these bugs lately. They seem to have appeared last summer as a reaction to El Niño. Apparently they liked it here. I’m not amused. If I wanted mosquitoes, I’d still live in North Carolina.

Of course, it doesn’t help that I’m sleeping with the windows open thanks to the miserable weather we’ve been having lately. Of course I don’t have screens. Until last summer, I didn’t have bugs.

It was 92°F (33°C) today, the hottest it’s been here in two years. I hate it. But the fog’s coming back in tonight. There is hope.

Things I love today:

  • Bay TV.
  • The ceiling fan in my living room.
  • Maude and All in the Family from 11-12.

Things I hate today:

  • The weather.
  • The bugs.
  • The weather.

Here’s the Story

Damn, do I feel old…

It was thirty years ago this week that the Brady Bunch made its primetime debut on ABC. And I remember watching it that first year. I almost never missed it. The few times I did usually involved a trip to the brand new mall in Burlington. I was usually grumpy the whole time.

The number one song in America on this important date in American history was “Sugar Sugar” by the Archies. It was a bubblegum universe, to be sure. No Vietnam, civil rights issues, or junkies in sight.

At one point, by the time I was 11 or 12 (a year or two after the Bradys had moved into syndication heaven), I remember catching upto four episodes a day. Must have been a special slice of heaven for my mom and dad.

Unrelated…

  • I had a job interview last week. Imagine my delight at not being asked one single question which started with something like “you are trapped on a desert island with two rubber bands and a piece of gum…”
  • Why did I pick the hottest day in two months to hover over the stove making gumbo?
  • Am I some sort of freak? My voice never cracked when it was changing.
  • Yes, that last rhetorical question was inspired by the Brady Bunch marathon I’m watching.

Happy Monday.

Thunder and Lightning

Thunder and lightning for the second time in two weeks. Imagine my surprise. That’s more than we’ve had in the past seven years here.

Of course, I was able to experience it first hand at 3AM, as I was enjoying yet another insomniac moment at the time. But today, I was able to stay home and “enjoy” feeling like crap, although it was a little hard to sleep through the construction noise and the earthquake.

Yes, another little baby earthquake. I almost didn’t notice it. Frankly, the quake didn’t shake the house nearly as much as the pile drivers have been doing for weeeks. However, since there was no pounding noise accompanying this particular quiver, I realized it must be a natural phenomenon.

The earthquake only lasted a couple of seconds. I get to listen to the pile drivers for two years, while the freeway nextdoor is repaired, a mere ten years after it was damaged by a real earthquake.

But I’m babbling. Back to bed now. More about job interviews, road trips, and why my neighborhood is going straight to hell coming soon…

Isomnia

This sucks.

It’s 5:00 in the morning. I haven’t slept yet, even though I went to bed at 11:30. I have to be at work at 9:00. Calling in sick is not an option today.

Unlike some past sleepless nights, there were no particularly disturbing thoughts keeping me awake this time. I just couldn’t get to sleep. I was awake at 2:00. I was awake at 4:00. And now I’m just waiting for a little more daylight so I can go into work early, finish up early, and maybe come home and grab a nap.

Which, of course, will throw me off schedule when I try to go to sleep tomorrow night. Or is it tonight? I’m not realy sure anymore.

Dammit, even on my worst and most angst-filled nights, I usually go to sleep eventually. This sucks. But I already said that. I guess I’ll switch from Citra (so I can go to sleep) to Coke (so I can stay awake) now…

On a completely unrelated note, for those of you who are keeping score, it was a year ago today that I revamped the site adding these journal entries to the front page. Apologies for a less than stellar anniversary piece.

18 September 1999


Recycled photo and semi-orgasmic smile from June…

Enough of this class warfare stuff from the past few days. It’s time to get back to the meat of what Planet SOMA is all about. To be more specific, I scored three boxes of Count Chocula yesterday at Target, thanks to an email tip. Seems they’ve receieved their Halloween shipment, complete with Scooby Doo marshmallows. Halloween appears to be the only time of year they allow the stuff past the agricultural inspection station on I-80 and into Nothern California.

Thanks to ever-vigilant readers of Planet SOMA, I’ve had a very good Count Chocula year. This more than makes up for the fact that I’ve been broke all year and that I seem to have given up sex entirely.

Time for a few updates: