beneath the wheel

Again, I find myself nodding off in the stacks of the Goddard Library at 11:00pm on a Sunday night, desperately trying to do the reading I should have spent the weekend doing in lieu of enjoying myself. Hauling one's arse to the library is difficult for even we "indoorsy" types when the weather in Worcester is a rare and voluptuous 75-n-sunny. I almost wore shorts in public today. Almost.

Last week was a flurry of birthday celebrations, 5:00am reading sessions, sushi, grading undergraduate papers, whiskey n' soda nightcaps, hastily written papers, small get-togethers-turned-ragin'-keggers and feeble attempts to keep a regular workout schedule. I believe that the slight edge I had on the semester is finally being sanded down. Beneath the wheel is apparently where I belong.

I am elated because my good college buddy Carl is coming into town this month for the Tribe Called Quest show (can I kick it?). I am enraged because my headphones--both sets--have abandoned me in my time of need. Oh Gods of Rock, can't you give me a break??

Speaking of the Gods of Rock, I made my first blood sacrifice to them Friday night. I was playing my friend Jacob's guitar at a party and rocked out so hard that my right index finger split open and splattered blood all over the instrument, myself and a few audience members. I didn't even notice for about 15 minutes, at which point my hand began to resemble Frodo's bloody finger stump after Gollum bit it off in the cracks of Mt. Doom.

While we're on performances...my father busted out his famed Elivis routine at the company's annual corporate talent show in Orlando, Fl. Our family literally had a conference call this evening so Dad could "debrief" us all on the performance. I had to call a special 1800 number and enter a conference pin and everything.

In more regrettable news, I utterly spaced out on one of my best friends' birthdays. Meghan Daniel turned 26 on September 8th. When I expressed to her that I was a horrible friend and despicable human being for forgetting, she simply apologized that her birthday was "at such an inconvenient time for a lot of people..."

In the world of cuisine, my friend Xiaomei from Southwest China made me an amazing home cooked meal on Saturday night. Real Chinese food scarcely resembles the sugary, MSG-laden lomein crap served in American Chinese restaurants. Spicy cabbage, potatoes, smoked tofu smuggled into the country from her summer trip home. Tremendous. Those commie bastards can't repress yumminess...mmm....

That's a wrap. Dang it! The library's closing. Off to Moynihan's?

TKP