Thursday, February 28, 2008

home alone, really

welcome to a slice of rare life. hold on while i pinch myself to see if this is indeed a moment in real time and space.

set the scene? sure...

radiohead's in rainbows blares from the bose ipod dock in a dark corner of the room. thom yorke's ethereal wails deliver an ironic sense of hope to the place. a faint trail of smoke lingers. RG sits at the table in the dimly lit dining room, the glow of the laptop - meiwah's sushi page on the screen - causes him to squint slightly, taddling on the modest beginnings of crow's feet in the corners of his eyes, and he's contemplating a cigarette. earlier he spotted an old pack of smokes on a shelf in the basement. god knows how old they are?

scattered about the stainless steel tabletop are the following, in no particular order:
  • work files on some media company ceo RG's meeting tomorrow AM
  • phones - cell and land line
  • amex card
  • half glass of red wine - debating whether 1/2 empty or 1/2 full
  • diet coke can given a makeover, now a makeshift device
  • 3 lighters, 2 of which are dead
  • nalgene bottle of water, full
  • netflix dvds - halloween (rob zombie remake), live free or die hard, 30 days of night
  • paste magazine

missing from this picture are wifey and kids, all swayze on this particular night. mommy and cole are in FLA, and the jackal is doing a PJ party at the nanny's.

terrible, ruby-red welt on his right arm, a hell of a pinch. he looks around the room to verify.

yes - it's true. he's home alone (and apparently referring to himself in the 3rd person tonight). the netflix selection might have given away the fact that he premeditated this.

of course he misses them terribly. still, how many times in his lifetime (at least the next 20 years) will he have the entire house alone with zero responsibility?

delivery guy at the door, time to get after it. probably the toughest question he might face tonight is over which flick to watch first. life's hard.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

the healing power of laughter

as i mentioned yesterday, i've basically been residing under a rock with a man cold. probably everyone has already seen these videos, but i'm posting them anyway. i can attest to the healing power of laughter after watching these. i'll take any remedy i can get.

first - sarah silverman's confession to jimmy kimmel that she's fucking matt damon:



then - kimmel's revenge. turns out he's fucking ben affleck. ben's best acting job in years...

Monday, February 25, 2008

sick and tired of being sick and tired

for the past two weeks i've felt like a cast member in one of george romero's zombie flicks. not one of those bullshit fast zombies you find in more recent stabs at the genre. (i still can't believe the remake of romero's dawn of the dead pushed fast zombies on us.) no, whatever the hell knocked me out left me listless and worthless. i was a tried and true slow-ass zombie who more than once wished some hero would deliver me a fatal head shot and cue the closing credits.

in the beginning of what i often felt was my end, my wife and i sort of laughed it off. she even posted a video clip to poke some fun. incidentally (for those of you who don't enjoy zombie flicks and never find yourself, i don't know, daydreaming about being perched in your attic window with a high powered rifle, eating tuna straight from a can, and staving off a charge of walking dead with bullets to the brain), the british actor in that clip, ed frost, plays the hysterical sidekick in shaun of the dead -- a fantastic zombie spoof that happens to remain true to the slow zombie theme.

as time passed and one week of illness gave way to a second, it became a real drag. suddenly i was half-assing every aspect of my life -- work, parenting, being a husband. to say i half-assed blogging would be an understatement. i straight up bailed on this. not a critical component of my life though, so no regrets. i started thinking about a post from last year in which i debated my ability to care for my sick spouse, and wondered if the same thoughts might be going through wifey's head. she's extremely nurturing and grounded, so i doubt it. if she did though, i would not blame her.

it appears that i am on the mend now, though i shiver superstitiously just typing such a bold statement. a week ago i thought i was better then found myself on the floor with muscle aches and confusion over the whereabouts of the truck that ran me over. at least i am on antibiotics now with a round of steroids waiting in the wings in case i need the reinforcements. the doctor told me last week i might have a case of walking pneumonia. good times..

i have a big guys' weekend coming up, so i'm determined to be healthy. mommy and cole are headed to FLA for a long weekend with family and to attend a wedding for one of her old friends. that means the jackal and i are going to be on the loose, infecting the nation's capital with our good old smarmy ways. fast zombies won't have shit on us.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

so, got any plans after the match?

not the highest quality video, to be sure, but the amy winehouse celebration conveys well...