First Day Of School

I'm apprehensive about Mina's schooling. The girl deserves more than our local public schools can offer. However, it's either that, homeschool, or Catholic school. Public school is simply the only option. I know it won't be challenging at all to her. The girl reads like a champ. She was reading to me the shampoo ingredients in the other day: "Sodium Lauryl Soulfate, Cocamidoropyl Tetaine, Sodium Chloride..." So I picture her sitting in the kindergarten class room relearning the ABC's. How sad. (It's part of the reason we are considering moving.)

It felt weird to be school supply shopping for the first time in a decade. Things have changed. No metal lunch-boxes. No paste. No Trapper Keepers. But Lisa Frank is still there gaudy as ever. Of course that is what Mina picket out.

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Half Fast (there's a pun in there if you look hard enough.)

Today:

Chimichanga and Mexican Rice (650? beats me)
Pepsi (120 cals)
Lots of water and coffee.

Yesterday:

Toasted Ravioli and Sauce (460 cals)
Half a can of Pepsi (60 calories)
Lots of water and coffee.

Rival The Sun - Calorie Count

Play...

Me and B spent last night working on a new track called "Rival The Sun". It was a semi-productive evening. Most of the time was spent fighting with Cubase. Going from 4-track to computer recording is a weird thing. There are almost too many easy options. It's overwelming. Plus Cubase kept giving me grief. I think it's too PRO-audio for my ignorant arse. So I procured Cool Edit Pro and am going to give it a try. It seems a bit simpler.
The other thing to come out of last night is that we desperately need female focals. It's solidified. All messing with the pitch is doing is giving B a stereotypical gay voice or Theodore Chipmunk.

Fast Forward...

I was planning on starting a fast yesterday. All was well until the evening when I promised Rebekah I would make dinner. So I cooked up some Kung Pao Chicken and in the process had to sample it to make sure it tasted OK which lead to me eating a plate. I hope today goes better. My record for fasting is only 3 days which I would like to push to a week. The 3 day point is the breaker I hear, after that it's all supposed to be a cakewalk.

Rewind...

So here is the break down for yesterday:

2 cups black coffee (0? calories)
1 can Pepsi (120 calories)
1 16oz V8 Splash (120 calories)
Kung Pao Chicken w/ rice (about 500 calories)
Total: 740 calories

At least I kept it under 1000--not bad.

Star Wars Costume

I've been putting some thought into my costume for opening day of Star Wars Episode III. It's on these special occasions that I'm unapolegitically geeky. The image above is from opening night of Attack of the Clones. I went as the Death Star, my friend as an impaled Tusken Raider, and another friend as a podracer w/ pod. My Death Star mask took a weeks worth of sweat, wall paper paste, and 1984-1986 back issues of the Awake. (They were going in the recycle bin anyway. Don't hate me.)

So the idea for Episode III is to go out with a bang. I want to do something so extreme, so ridiculous that it destroys all previous efforts. I want to do something so huge that I would have a hard time getting in through the theatre doorway. I want to walk in and have people say, "I know he didn't". Why? There's probably a personality flaw in there somewhere; but, I don't have the time to go suss in out in therepy.

The front runner is the two-man At-At, provided I can find a friend willing to back me up (pun intended, sorry). The other option is Luke in Bacta Tank from the Empire Strikes Back.

The JW Carrot Top & B-List

It was my turn to get the donuts for the office. Thus I confronted the ultimate diet challenge Krispy Kreme! So I drove over there at 7:00am in the morning and they were out of glazed donuts. How can Krispy Kreme not have glazed donuts? A female customer in line in front of me dared to ask that question to which the clerk replied "Whachoo mean 'how can you not have glazed donuts?' Bitch." I hate confrontation so I just got a classic assortment and turned tail and ran before the fists started flying.

Willpower. I managed to watch the dozen dwindle without even eating a sprinkle. I held off until dinner again. A worker gave me some garden tomatoes which I turned into a really good marinara sauce and made some spaghetti.

There's an elder in the hall I jokingly refer to as "The Witness Carrot Top" because of his prediliction for peppering his talks with props. He's not really a gifted speaker but he puts so much effort into these half
baked prop ideas that I have to give him credit. One time he drug up to the stage the motherboard out of a computer, a sand bucket, and roofing hatchet and was talking about building a rocketship or something. Classic. He hadn't did it in a while but tonight he returned to his true form when he brought a baseball bat up to the stage and was swinging it talking about the speech-counsel point of naturalness. Because when you swing a baseball bat you can't over-analyse your form, you have to be a natural. Then he started talking about Robert Redford in the movie "The Natural".

I enjoyed the bit in the KM about how it's sometimes good not to make plans for service. It's a real problem in our hall. People make plans for the sole purpose of not getting "stuck" with some of the more unpopular Brothers and Sisters. Inveriably I always end up working with them. I don't really mind working in service with them but I would like variety. It's no fun to always have to work in the same car group because everyone else has made plans. And on the flipside I'm sure they are sick of always working with me. All I can say is it's no fun being part of the B-list publishers.

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Green Tea, Coffee, Water (0 cals)
Pepsi 12 oz (120 cal)
Orange Juice 16 oz (110 cal)
Spaghetti and Marinara Sauce (about 350)

The Dell Girl - Family Study

Just some fragments...

Amy Leland (the original female Dell intern) has such a great look. I love how her mouth is so big in comparison to her face and how her head had this weird pointy shape. I tried to look for a picture to grace my desktop but alas I couldn't find one. Google turned up nothing on her. No one even knows if that's her real name or not.

The family study is still going strong thanks to the new "Great Teacher" book. It makes studying with a 6 year old not only bearable but enjoyable. Today the study was making this huge point about how kids should tell other people about Jehovah. I suggested that my daughter talk to the neighbor boy she has been playing with. She said she already told him. Who knew? I guess that's what family studies are for.

Book Study - TV Cabinet

Today we had record attendance at the book study: 8! I know this is normal for some study groups; but, we had been averaging about 20 so it seemed sparce. We were running late for the study and I started getting paranoid that I wouldn't get a decent seat only to realise at 5 minutes till we were the first to arrive. I started to wish I hadn't come. After all, how many times can one person answer "In 1919" in one night and not get tired. Fortunately, another family arrived and their 24 year old son had blue hands-effectively making my night! He had been dying his blue jeans in the family bathtub because they had faded. Who dyes their jeans? The Blue Man Group is coming to town so I asked him if he was getting ready for the concert. Just a little bit of his body at a time.


In other boring news, we finally got our new TV cabinet up and running. My brother in law lives for wood-working and he knocked it out for us off a dimestore drawing I gave him. I was trying to compliment the window I made in the wall. I don't think it worked...

Athens Circa '99

I just got done recording with one of the friends a new song called "Athens Circa '99". I'm pretty pleased with the results, it's sort of electro-clash meets punk meets spoken word via cheap guitar, bass, toy keyboard, and drum machine. Post-Rap? The only downside was trying to work with/around his 4-track recorder. Yeah it's great for quick and dirty, live to tape demos but for final production it is so lacking. I'm so envious of the Witness bands/group up North, they all have unbelievably sharp production values--lo or hi fi. I really need to figure out how to do computer recording. Among other things I could fire off an .mp3 and negate the need for this posting. Props to ladytron and Black Box Recorder who I stole liberally from, thematically if not in context. I can go to sleep happy. --

Athens Circa '99

I just got done recording with one of the friends a new song called "Athens Circa '99". I'm pretty pleased with the results, it's sort of electro-clash meets punk meets spoken word via cheap guitar, bass, toy keyboard, and drum machine. Post-Rap? The only downside was trying to work with/around his 4-track recorder. Yeah it's great for quick and dirty, live to tape demos but for final production it is so lacking. I'm so envious of the Witness bands/group up North, they all have unbelievably sharp production values--lo or hi fi. I really need to figure out how to do computer recording. Among other things I could fire off an .mp3 and negate the need for this posting. Props to ladytron and Black Box Recorder who I stole liberally from, thematically if not in context. I can go to sleep happy. --

Mostly Minus

I have been playing music with some of the brothers in my area in a rock band called "Mostly Minus" (formerly "Phista Fury", formerly "Violet Brews"). Basically, it's straight forward rock that is being (over)played on most alternative/modern-rock radio stations across country. You know the kind: power-chords, guitar solos, and more testosterone than a high-school football player. Basically, the kind of music that I hate. Well the band has a hard time playing together due to a drummer with little free time (is there any other kind?) so me and the bass player have been using the downtime to embark on something new, different, less by-the-books, quirky. For the first time I am actually having fun making music, good or bad.

Because you didn't ask for it but since I'm a sucker for self-promotion our first track is available. Here's Athens Circa '99 presented as a very rough 4-track analog demo--warts and all. (Link removed - 10/07)

We were talking tonight about how desperately we need a girl singer. Our Kingdom Hall is crawling with girls but I don't know any of them well enough to know if they can or will sing on our stupid little tapes. I'm really thinking about just getting a vocal fx unit with enough pitch shift to make me sing like I just got kicked in the...

Young Boy

When I was a young boy I walked as any young boy should
I stood as any young boy should I would if only I could. My thoughts parted
out in dignified translucency. It was only for a day.


So what if I could only answer his questions. I could only dissappear when
he wanted me to. I could only fear when she said it was OK.

Bocce Novel Google

Yesterday, we had a good old-fashioned congregation picnic at the park. I came ready to leave but Brandon brought his bocce set. So while the rest of the crowd either played softball or stood around singing kingdom songs, Brandon and I hurled concrete balls down a field. It's a simple, soothing game.


I'm nearing the 60,000 word point of my novel. I assumed that I would have to stretch to reach 60k and that once there I would be pretty much finished. Now that I'm close, I realise that I'm not really close at all. The end keeps getting pushed further and further by each unexpected character development. It makes for an interesting story but a very frustrated author. I just want the book to end so that I can move on to other, gentler stories. This novel is such a huge emotional drain that writing feels like throwing up half the time.


If you type my name into Google, it brings up this phrase as the 2nd result: "Keep up the good work. Anthony Mathenia armathenia@charter.net offensive art. " The elders in our hall have been known to type publishers names into search engines or Yahoo! personals to catch them in wrongdoing. I'll have to watch out.

Home Improvements

Home ownership.

When I was younger I thought that I should do everything possible to see that I got a house. Buying a home seemed like opening a savings account-something financial reasonable but not all that sexy. And so we did. And all was well. I imagined living there until I was old and gray and had to install a lift on the basement steps. Not sexy at all but think of the equity!

Home improvements (part 1)

The first phase of my home improvement occured right after we purchased the place. It basically consisted of me destroying all the reminders of the previous owners. We didn't wan't to have to remember that this place wasn't always ours. So out went the shag carpeting that looked like it had never been cleaned. Out went the panelling. I reworked the hallway so that the path to the bedrooms went round the other way--to throw them off if they returned. Soon I ran out of money and had to stop.

Home improvements (part 2)

Was it Trading Spaces? Was it Metropolitan Home magazine? Dwell? Somehow years later I got it in my head that I should like to make the house look like somewhere I should live and not simply somwhere where I do live. We secured some funds and set out to finish what we started. The bathroom was my first fish...I skinned and gutted it leaving only the bones. Then I pieced it back together bit by bit. I designed a pedestal sink using a fruit bowl. In a bizarre fit of ingenuity/insanity I cut a hole in the common wall between shower and living room and installed a frosted glass window. I found the perfect cork floor.
The kitchen came next. I marched in with a stool and whip prepared to tame this beast. I timed this portion of the project with city's spring trash pickup. So while my neighbors were throwing out toasters that failed to toast, or blenders that failed to blend I was chucking out kitchen cabinets that failed to inspire me when I decided to cook. On top of them I threw out the dish washer that we had never used. The drop ceiling. The flooring. It was 2:00 am at the neighborhood tavern. "You don't have to go home but you can't stay here."
I ran out of steam, we ran out of money. So we left off with everything 95% done. a piece of trim missing here. This portion of the wall not painted. No light switch cover--wrong light switch color. But we had transformed our house into a closeted homosexual. Unassuming exterior, flamboyant interior. It would never sell. It didn't matter... or so I thought.

Home Improvements (part 3)

I want to move but I have this house holding me back; a mill-stone coiled round my neck and my boat is going down. We decided to put our home up for sale and go back to apartment life. Which is not a financially smart decision. We've started getting rental applications, which always ask for our rental history for the past three, four years. There isn't a "owned home" box to check. I've looked. But why should there be? Someone who owned a home wouldn't surely want to go back to pissing their money away with renting. But we do.
I'm currently involved with finishing out the house. It is time to put my bevy of DeWalt construction equipment back for one last assignment. It's time to finish out that remaining 5%. All those little things that we've lived with are finally being adressed. These home improvements aren't like the others. These are not for me. They are for the future owners. It's time for me to move on and use my equity to finance my move and deposit on my new flat. It's not financially reasonable but it sure feels sexy.

Modern Prefab

I enjoy modern architecture however it's a shame that you have to be on the upper-financial end to be able to live in some of these great structures. Dwell magazine has opened me up to what is being done to provide stylish, affordable, modern housing.

In the same manner Ikea has brought low-cost contemporary furnishings, there are some architects doing the same with prefab dwellings. Prefab home being the more politically correct alternative to "trailer". I got to check out some of these possible new concepts in housing at the Walker Art Center over the weekend.

The concept of giving prefab-homes a face-lift is great. I just wish the architects would break away from the typical rectangle shape that we have come to associate with trailers. Many of the designs incorporate that tired standard. However, the other end of the spectrum presents structures so insane that they'll never make it off the drawing board.

In our world "trailer" life has become the epitome of tacky. It's a shame because for some people that is all that they can afford. It's nice to know that there may someday be other options. For more information and examples be sure to check out Dwell's contest @ thedwellhome.com

We spent the weekend in Minnesota. I took this picture of Rebekah on one of Minneapolis' skyways. It reminded me of something. I'm not sure what.

Moving

It's final I'm moving.
"When?"
That remains to be seen.
"Where?"
That remains to be seen.
"What do you know?"
That I'm moving.
"How do you know you're moving?"
Because, I've begun readying the house for sale.
"Readying?"
You know, fixing all those little things that you've just lived with. Cutting the weeds. Taking the old junk car to the parts lot.
"Why are you moving?"
Because taxes keep going up. Because strange people are moving in around me. Because I want to create.
"What does creating have to do with moving?"
We are who we are where we are.
"Is that Descarte?"
No it's me.
"And who are you?"
Right now? I'm burned/bummed out. I'm ready to go back home.
"But aren't you home? You've stayed put in the same 15 mile radius you grew up in."
True, but I realised that this isn't really my home. I shouldn't have grown up here.
"But you did. It's home."
Home is where the heart is.
"Where's your heart then?"
Where I'm moving.