Disturbing moments in hair, volume three. This is yer humble host at age 16. Notice the carefree way I managed to part it in the middle but still have bangs as well. And the cigarette is a nice touch too, no?
Here are volume one and volume two, in case you need a refresher. I’m scanning backwards in time, so we’ll hit the 1970s soon. No telling what interesting and unfortunate tonsorial experiments might yet surface…
Had a visit from Mom and Dad on Saturday. The whole unemployment thing sucks, but at least it gives me time to bond with the parents a little more than I might have otherwise. I may even go back up there next weekend to root through the giant box of Christmas decorations which are otherwise going to Goodwill. I think if I do, though, I’ll make it a day trip this time around…
There was actually a bit of thunder and lightning a while back. It sort of took me by surprise, but today’s storm is defintely a warmer one than yesterday’s storm was. But tomorrow’s storm is supposed to be another cold one. I like winter here. Remind me I said that the first time I have to drive to work in the ice, though, OK?
I’ve think I’ve officially hit the point where I have absolutely nothing of interest to write about. I should probably stop, huh?
At this point, I’m very glad I terminated my brief and unsatisfying relationship with Bank of America several months ago.
Bank of America: We Suck Because We Can™…
I’ve been realy worried for the past couple of months about how I’m not finding a full-time job, about how I’ll manage to support myself, about what I want to be when I grow up, etc…
That all changed today…
Mark called me near the end of my lunch with “Roseanne” on the local WB affiliate. Since I was on the phone, I didn’t turn off the TV or change the channel as I usually would have. And what I saw because of that one little variation from my normal routine may change my entire life…
You see, after months (or even years) of agonizing over it, I now know that all I need to do to make thousands of dollars a month, part-time from home, is to spend Wednesday afternoon attending a real estate cashflow seminar hosted by these twin dwarves…
Why couldn’t I have seen this infomercial back in July?
Despite the festive season and all, it would be rude and presumptuous (and maybe even crass) of me to mention my wish list here, so I won’t…
A date which will live in infamy:
I’m sorry if it detracts from your “goth cred”, baby, but if it’s any consolation, that whole hardcore tattoo and piercing thing is rather a turn-off for me, so at least I’m happy about your decision, even if no one else is…
Not, mind you, that I could ever find you to be a turn-off…
I made my annual trek to the mall today. I hate malls, which is why I generally only visit them as needed around Christmas the holidays December. But as malls go, Carolina Place isn’t a bad one. It’s more mid-market, not all pretentious and foofy like Southpark. And people aren’t getting shot there on a weekly basis like at Eastland…
I got some of my shopping done, but the best find of the day was that the McDonald’s inside the mall has its McRib combo for about thirty cents less than any of the freestanding locations around town…
Here’s a view you can’t really see anymore. They’re tearing down most of the Ambassador Hotel in LA. The school district plans to build a new 4000-student high school which will integrate some parts of the old hotel, but not all. The famed Coconut Grove nightclub will be restored and will serve as the school’s auditorium, while the old coffee shop will be a teacher’s lounge, but most of the structure will be removed and replaced with new construction designed to “suggest” the appearance of the former occupant…
There was something of an uproar over the demolition of the Ambassador. Architecture aside, it was also the site of Robert Kennedy’s assassination in 1968. It’s no secret that yer humble host is a fan of old buildings, but in reality, what could they have done with this one? A big hotel building of this sort isn’t useful as much other than a big hotel building, and if a hotel were really essential at this spot, the Ambassador would probably still be one…
I love this building and I’m really sorry to see it go, much like I was sad to see Carolina Circle Mall in Greensboro go. But there’s almost no realistic way to adapt massive structures like these once they’ve outlived their original puropse. And even if there were a way (usually involving an astronomical public subsidy), the buildings would have to be so significantly altered that there would be little if any historical context left anyway…
I have a similar problem with the “restoration” of Charlotte’s Carolina Theatre. The auditorium has been gutted, the lobby and all surrounding structures have been demolished, and frankly, I question whether there’s enough left there to make it worth the investment to “save”, particularly when that investment is financed through tax dollars…
It’s much more prudent to talk about “adaptive reuse” when it involves buildings that can actually BE adapted for some useful and in-demand purpose. That’s one of the reasons I’m a big fan of Jane Jacobs stern rebuke of the “make no small plans” method of urban planning, which led to so many urban renewal suberblock monstrosities, most of which will also be impossible to adapt or re-use in the coming years…
Again, adaptive reuse is a great thing in appropriate circumstances and when there’s a demand and realistic use for the sapce. Spending a fortune in public money to build something inapproriate from scratch inside the carcass of a big old building reminds me of stuffing and freeze-drying a dead pet and plopping him down by the fireplace. It’s just a little bit creepy…
Went up to Greensboro today to see my parents, rummage through assorted Christmas decorations, grab old photos for a holiday project I’m working on, and have dinner with my friend Jeff who I disturbingly hadn’t seen in more than a year. It was a good day, except when my mom got all freaked out thinking she’d lost her box of old and sentimentally important ornaments…
And boy, did I have fun at the grand opening of the new Staples this morning. There were tons of freebies and dirt cheap stuff and I also got my mom’s Christmas present at a 40% discount…
I rarely ever heard about grand openings in San Francisco, and even if I did hear about them, they were usually so mobbed that non-masochists like myself wouldn’t bother attending. Here, on the other hand, I’ve been to three in the past week (a Lowes Foods and a Compare Supermarket in addition to the aforementioned Staples) and it’s been pretty danged cool…
I think I’m becoming a 1950s housewife, and it both frightens and excites me. When I start contemplating a career in Tupperware, I hope someone will please have the presence of mind to kill me…
Only a week until I get my hubby back, a concept much more exciting than Tupperware…
Sigh…
If only this color palette and lighting scheme were still available in the average mall developer’s design kit, Christmas shopping would be such a pleasure…
The problem with a going out of business sale at Media Play is that even with a 20% discount, everything is still more expensive than it is at Best Buy. This, of course, is probably why they’re going out of business. Of course, every time I’ve walked into a Media Play store in the past year or two, it’s pretty much looked like it was already going out of business anyway…
What really baffles me, though, is that Media Play’s corporate siblings Sam Goody and Suncoast manage to live on. I don’t really understand how they or FYE (formerly Camelot) fit into the retail music/video scene anymore. As I recall, the last time I remember hearing someone saying they were headed to Sam Goody, it was so they could pick up that new Pablo Cruise 8-track…
Apparently, though, there are people who actually PREFER paying more for stuff at outdated mall stores with no selection to speak of. But wait. They’re going to REMODEL all the Sam Goody stores. That should fix everything. Yup…
Interesting thing, this here internet gizmo: I just heard from a cousin I hadn’t talked to in over twenty-five years because she happened to wander into this site accidentally. I believe the cousin in question is second from the right. I’m the handsome diapered fellow in the middle…
Bed now. Only four more very cold nights before the nuzzling and snuggling recommence…
I bought my first computer ten years ago today. It was a Mac (what other kind is there?) and it came with a 100MHz processor, a whopping 16MB of RAM (which I later updated to the maximum of 64MB) and a massive 1GB hard drive. With a 15″ monitor, I think it cost about three thousand bucks…
A month later, Planet SOMA made its debut. But more about that anniversary later…
Any and all opinions on the idea of a Jewish state in Palenstine aside, why do people seem so shocked and surprised when confronted with the fact that there’s a psycho running Iran. It’s not like this is anything new. I have trouble remembering a time when there WASN’T a psycho running Iran…
Since (a) the big day is only ten days away, and (b) Charlotte had its first ice storm of the year today, I decided it was time to put up the holiday colors…
Driving down Monroe Road today, I came across this woman in a big-ass SUV (surprise!) who was driving like an utter maniac. She was repeatedly tailgating people at 60 - 65 MPH (in a 45 MPH zone), cutting people off left and right, and generally causing chaos wherever she went…
I happened to pull up behind her at a stoplight and I noticed her two bumper stickers: one a Bush-Cheney sticker and one reading “engage your faith” or some such nonsense, with this URL at the bottom…
What I wanted to ask her was if it was her “faith” that was causing her to drive so recklessly and put so many people’s lives and well-being at risk. Maybe she figured that by knocking off a few, she’d allow them to see God a little sooner and would thus be doing them a great favor…
But I bet if you asked her, she’d claim to be fiercely pro-life. As is the case with so many fundamentalists, her actions don’t quite mesh with her lofty beliefs…
If someone greets me with “Feliz Navidad” or anything else other than “Merry Christmas” this season, I will kindly answer them with “Merry Christmas.” I truly believe to say anything else would offend Christ.
Sherry Jarrell
Of COURSE Jesus would be offended. English was, after all, God’s official language, even before anyone was speaking it here on Earth. That’s why the Bible was originally written in English. Old English, specifically. And that’s why he only understands your prayers if you say “thou” and “thine” instead of “you” and “yours”…
It’s been suggested that since I’m not a believer, I might want to steer clear of theology. But I’m not a hippie granola either, and I always felt comfortable pointing out THEIR inconsistencies when I was in SF. Now that I’m here in the land of the scary fundamentalists, it’s only natural I should pursue the most logical and available local targets…
Besides, I’m better acquainted with the Bible than a large proportion of the so-called “faithful” anyway, having actually READ it and all…
My husband may or may not be in an airport in San Francisco right now, looking very sleepy and possibly rather distracted. If you see him, please offer him a Sauasge McMuffin, as there are no Bojangles locations nearby…
Couldn’t have said it better myself:
What’s offensive — also surreal and absurd — is the notion that Christianity, a faith claimed by 76% of all Americans, is somehow being intimidated into nonexistence. Some of the earliest Christians were stoned for their beliefs. In some parts of the world today, Christianity is a crime punishable by death. And the AFA is feeling persecuted because a salesclerk says “Happy holidays”?
That’s not persecution. It’s a persecution complex.
I know a lot of you get it in your local newspaper, because it’s one of those strips which inexplicably showed up just about everywhere in the country almost overnight. And I cannot, for the life of me, understand WHY. Does anyone really think Pearls Before Swine is funny? Or that it has any discernible point at all?
Am I just missing something here?
Good morning, Midnight. It’s Christmas:
My boyfriend said, “It’s really sweet the way you go for Christmas cheer.”
I said, “We can’t afford the tree.”
He said, “Love is free.”
So we trimmed the cactus with my earrings that we’d meant to pawn.
I’d almost forgotten that it was time for my annual posting of the official Otherstream Christmas anthem…
I got a Bilingual Elmo and a Holiday Elmo and a book about supermarkets and another book about supermarkets and some pants that fit and a miniature Eckerd and a shredder and a towel rack and some money and some candy and some DVDs and some more stuff too…
And I ate many varieties of pig and was very happy…
After waiting several hours for Office Max to deliver something several DAYS late, we finally left Charlotte about 1:00. We made it to Rock Hill, about 25 miles south, before realizing that we’d have to go back because someone (who shall remain nameless because this is his website and he has that privilege) had left his wallet on the kitchen counter.
The brief showers that had been predicted for the Carolinas had become thunderstorms and a tornado watch by the time we cleared Columbia, so the drive was extra fun. We arrived in Savannah just in time to be the last customers of the day at the suckiest Piccadilly Cafeteria in the world. We drove around a bit and opted for sleep, knowing Thursday would be better.
Thursday WAS better. I was almost over my cold, which was a very good thing. As we got started too late for breakfast, we started the day with lunch at the original Carey Hilliard’s on Skidaway Road, where we were served by a very nice lady named Savannah (yes, Savannah…) who was dying to tell us where to party. In retrospect, we probably should have asked her where to find the Lady Chablis (of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil fame), but we didn’t think of it. She did, however, recommend a good breakfast spot for Friday.
We toured the ‘burbs early and then headed downtown to see all the “official” sights, one of which was the really scary line waiting for reservations at Paula Deen’s restaurant. Said line cured any craving we might have had to eat there.
Downtown Savannah was really nice, what with all the moss and the trees and the history lying around everywhere. It’s much less precious and cute than Charleston, and it’s possible to imagine mere mortals living amid the blocks and blocks of quaint. I rather liked it, especially the sort of spooky underground area in front of the Cotton Exchange.
After a rather long drive, we found A Taste of India, the perfect place for dinner. Who would have thought that I’d find the best Indian restaurant I’d ever visited at the front of a nondescript office building behind a mall in Savannah, Georgia? It was quite amazing, despite the decor which was disturbingly reminiscent of a country-themed queer bar I once visited in Las Vegas. It seemed a little like what I’d imagine an Indian restaurant in Cheyenne, Wyoming might look like. The food, again, was incredible.
Breakfast was at the restaurant attached to the lobby of the Days Inn by the mall, per Savannah’s suggestion. It was really good, and it amused me just a little that we’d eaten three of our four meals in Savannah within a block of this same suburban shopping mall.
We drove around Savannah a bit more, finding a near-mint condition Alamo Plaza motel in a really scary area just west of downtown, and visiting the convention center on other side of the river for skyline shots. Then, it was off to Charleston via Highway 17. Somewhere along the way, I was reacquainted with my cold.
Sometimes you see a restaurant listing in the newspaper and you know it was the precise spot where you were MEANT to eat. Gullah was that place for us in Charleston: an unpretentious place, a little rough around the edges, and more about the food than the “fine dining experience” or whatever such rubbish. ‘Twas heaven. I had shrimp grits, collards, and gumbo. Mark had roast duck, she-crab soup, red rice, and succotash. We split an order of gator tails for an appetizer. Yer Humble Host LOVES alligator.
We drove around a bit in the historic district and were very relieved not to have eaten among its assorted metrosexuals, hipsters, and other fashion victims. I’m hoping that the severe obnoxiousness of the tourist crowd had to do with the fact that we were there for New Year’s.
We decided that today would be a good day to explore places other than downtown, since the New Year’s Eve crowds were rather intense today but probably wouldn’t be on Sunday when they were all hung over. It proved to be a wise choice.
Breakfast was at Alex’s in Mount Pleasant. Then we covered most of Greater Charleston. It was all very nice and all, but I was amazed at how downtrodden most of the neighborhoods on the peninsula (Charleston north of downtown and the suburb of North Charleston) seemed. They weren’t scary bad, just very depressed. I’m sure the gentrification from downtown Charleston will catch up sooner or later, making them suitable for nothing but upper middle-class white folks.
On the west bank, however, there were some nice enough 1940s and 1950s areas I wouldn’t necessarily refuse to live in, if only they weren’t in South Carolina, whose sole purpose for existing seems to be to give North Carolina something to feel superior to.
We had our New Year’s Eve dinner at a very good Japanese steakhouse and went home to our ghetto motel to watch Dick Clark, and listen to fireworks and airplanes landing in the parking lot.
