It's been a quiet weekend. Maybe a little too quiet.

HathOriginal is back in South Dakota for the holidays, leaving me to fend for myself for a week.

Only a few things to note happened recently.

I played basketball with a large group of friends last Wednesday. This was the first athletic act on my part in quite some time, and the first time I've stepped on the court in about three years. I did well, mostly playing defense. I was proud that I played a full court game, running most of the time. This hurt the knees and lungs a bit, but they will bang back into shape after a few more games. I played the whole game in a pair of chucks though, so I lot a big patch of skin on one foot from a nasty blister.

I also informed my boss that I am starting to look for a new job. This was out of courtesy because we've worked together for 11 years now. He understood and told me it was not unexpected (I spend about $450 a month on gas to commute). I'm glad his reaction was so supportive. Now I can start looking around for something that suits me more.

I've also gone over a month without working overtime. I haven't done that in about a decade. These weekend things, they are kind of nice.

Nothing else to say, except that my X-box 360 is due back from being repaired tomorrow , so that should help kill some of this time I have lately.

How are you all doing?

UN. FUCKING. BELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!!

Time for a new update...but I am feeling pretty damn lazy right now. So I will write a new entry later.

Right now all I can say is that I am totally geeked about the Celtice come from behind win last night. What a game.

Super-Spectacular update!! Now with Pictures!!

Lots going on around casa-de-Jerry these last few weeks. Two weeks ago Kindle and Siamkittie stayed at the house and had a merry time getting Hathoriginal very drunk at the local watering holes. Kindle was our roommate at one time, so we already know her and her various perversions. But we were meeting Siamkittie for the first time. It turns out she's just as cool as on the interwebs, and bonus...

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It was a good weekend and I look forward to having everyone around again for more home-cooked foodz in the future.

This past weekend was a nice three day weekend for me (extra nice because I normally work 6 nights a week). We attended my cousins wedding, and since I was in the party, I got to get all gussied up.

There was much silliness to be had at the wedding:

In August we get to travel north into the wilds of Maine for another wedding for another cousin. Then another wedding (my best friend) in Syracuse, NY come September, with at least one more wedding somewhere between the two. Everyones gettin' hitched this year it seems.

Aside from the wedding, I made sure to squeeze in lots of time for eating good food, loafing and reading this weekend

So it was a damn fine weekend all around. I'll have to have another just like it soon.

How goes it for the lot of you?

A general update on all things Jerry-ish in nature...

Spring cleaning is in full effect around the apartment. HathOriginal bought a new vacuum cleaner today and is going nuts with it while attacking various small projects that cross her path. At some point I hope she stops; we still have an episode of Battlestar and some Top Chef on the DVR to watch tonight.

Part of the reason for the spring cleaning session is due to an upcoming visit from the lovely Siamkittie. She will be here and getting silly with Jenny and Kindle in a week or so, I will be handling the cooking end of things (turkey chilli and a nice pork roast as per Kindle's request). I need to make sure that I get up to speak to our landlord soon, there are a few repairs his guys need to finish this week around the house. We also need to ask if they can put carpets in the apartments above ours; all we can hear is the neighbors above walking around on the hardwood floors, and with the odd sleep hours I keep, and the early bedtime Jenny has, it can be very disruptive.

I picked up the new Portishead CD, I have only listened to it a time or so, but I'm digging it so far.

I'm still trying to change the program I work at, it's just moving a bit slowly. After doing my budget and realizing I spend over $400 a month on gas money, it is more of a priority now as gas prices seem to just keep geting higher. That $400 would be a nice sum to put away every month towards a mortgage in the future.

May is looking like a busy month. Truth be told it is going to be a busy summer, with a few weddings and various birthday parties to attend and cook for. At some point we all have to plan our annual summer cookout and party, and this year we are hoping Jenny's mom can make it from South Dakota. Our summer party is a hoot; lots of friends and a ton of food cooked by yours truly in a manic sleep-deprived state while working in a kitchen that has gotten up to 130 degrees on a summer day before. Good times.

That's about it for now, oh, a hypothetical question that has been bounced around the house for a week or so: What type of wedding ceremony do you think would go over better? A Pirate wedding or a Zombie wedding? All guests would be expected to attend in costume (no matter how boring or unadventuresome they are), and the man officiating the event is a personal friend with some acting skill who can do whatever is necessary for an entertaining ceremony and vows? Just curious.

What is up with all of you?

It's been a nice day today.
Last night I prepped a pork shoulder for Jenny to put in the oven at 4:30 this morning. By the time I came home around 9:30, I could smell the pork all the way down the driveway. So I turned the slow cooked shoulder into a big steaming pile of pulled pork and made some sandwiches for Jenny and her coworker. We just had a nice lunch in the park outside of their office. It's such a nice day that I'm able to forget the ridiculous drama and incompetent coworkers I have to deal with every day at work.

I worked my first shift at a new program last saturday night to see if I liked it better. It was different in a lot of ways. I've always worked at an unlocked facility that was set up more like a dorm for the kids. This new program is a locked facility. So I had to get used to letting the kids out of their rooms (cells) when they had to go to the bathroom throughout the night. The two guys I worked with were pretty cool though, and they wanted me to move to that program permanently. We'll see how I feel after another shift or two there.

We're waiting for the landlord to finish with his repairs to the property before we get started with our proper spring cleaning phase. A new bed for me and Jenny is high on the list of changes along with a garden in the small yard we have. We would also like to plan a party/bbq or two for the spring and summer. We'll have to plan around all the weddings we need to attend this season though. First up is my cousins wedding in May, then another cousins wedding in August (this one's in Maine), and then my best friends wedding in october up around Syracuse. There may be another one or two snuck in there somewhere that I forget.

I'm hoping that I can make it out to South Dakota with Jenny in July...but I'm not sure if I can do it financially or if I'll have the time off available yet. It would be nice.

Any plans for this spring or summer?

I work all night.

12am-8am.

I get home around 9am-ish.

I drink coffee all night. All. Night.

I'd like to be able to come home and have a bathroom available to me before I sleep.

I don't.

There is a plumbing team in my can, tearing down a wall looking for a major leak between my apt and the one above us.

This is a dilemma.

Lots of coffee.



Edit: crisis over. Apparently I was so exhausted, that I was able to force myself to nap through all manner of demolition work and seriously big-time power tools just below me and on the other side of the wall from me. My cats were very happy to be finally released form a locked room as well.

I did have a seriously fucked up dream that I can only say was a cross between Six Feet Under and Night of the Living Dead. It was kind of badass now that I think about it.

I am slowly going out of my mind. I am a patient man, but I'm sort of losing my professionally calm and cool exterior right now.

I'm still awaiting word on a possible new job (see last journal entry), the director, ex coworker and friend who runs this detention facility I am interested in was on vacation last week, so there was no moving forwards on things. I'm hoping he gets back to me soon so I can schedule a few shifts at his place, in order to get the feel of things before officially deciding to ditch my job of 10.5 years.

In other news, I am broke as shit. I took a vacation a while ago. I needed to, so my vacation time wouldn't pile up too much. At the end of the fiscal year (July) in my program, all of your vacation time converts to sick time. I already have about 250 hours of sick time saved, and I'd rather not lose my vacation time. So I had to use some up. Well, a vacation is nice, but I don't get a chance to earn my normal overtime hours (I regularly work 6 nights a week). So now I am feeling the crunch of the loss of OT money. It'll be a week or two until things even out, so it's bachelor food time until then to save cash.

In good news: my brother just hung an art showing at a local cafe/gallery in Salem. Before he even finished hanging the show, one of his pieces was purchased (he works in digital photographic manipulation and other film tricks that are beyond me). The next day while he was recovering from hanging his (and his best friends) show all day, he got an e-mail saying that 3 more pieces sold, and could he bring more art to the gallery for people to see. I don't know of many young artists who aren't happy to hear news like that. So now the dude is scrambling to get custom frames ordered while he's glued to his computer and darkroom all day. Good for him.

Other than that stuff, things are pretty good right now. We're thinking of plans for a late spring party. Jenny wants a hawaiian theme I believe. I'm good with that.

What's new with you?



Edit: I just watched the banner raising and ring ceremony for the Red Sox home opener. God, I'm happy to see baseball season again.