Let's Have Bizarre Celebrations: Of Montreal, of Athens, GA

Last night, Lexia and I drove to Athens and saw Of Montreal play at the 40-Watt. We met up with Martin (who we both knew from NYC; he goes to UGA.) and Martin's friend Curtis (from Douglasville. Small world, huh?)

Of Montreal is based out of Athens. I was hoping they'd play a special show since they were in their hometown. But every show that Of Montreal puts on is special, entertaining, and a little weird. I don't know how they'd make it any better, really.

It was a GREAT show. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. (Best viewed while listening to Sunlandic Twins or, according to Lexia, Cherry Peel.)

P.S. A highlight of the show (but, of course not THE highlight of the show) was a new song of theirs (out in January) that's chorus went something like: "There's a girl that left me bitter. I want to pay another girl to just go up and hit her." Okay, that might not sound as funny out of context. But, yeah...







Before the show, we went to Ben and Jerry's and Lexia got a little crazy.

I've Visited...

create your own visited states map

I've visited 80% of the U.S. (41 states). Next up... Alaska?

Synchronicity

I'm not a big fan of the "Shuffle Songs" feature on my iPod. I don't use it that much because I feel like randomly playing songs doesn't, I don't know, juxtapose them well. I have so many different kinds of music on my iPod, from punk rock, to jazz, to acoustic ballads, to soundtracks, etc. that, a lot of times, songs sound awful right beside each other. I mean, The Pixies right after Beethoven? It just... doesn't work.

But I'm slowly starting to like shuffle. I end up fast forwarding through about 70% of the songs to get to the next ones, but still, there are a lot of songs that are buried that get uncovered by using shuffle.

I've had two instances of synchronicity occur while using "shuffle" lately. You know, just random occurences that coincide with what's going on at the moment.

The other day I was lost somewhere in the outskirts of Atlanta (there are a lot of outskirts) and I pulled up to the intersection of Peachtree Industrial Boulevard and Longview Drive at the exact second that Longview by Green Day came on. Weird.

Then yesterday I was driving to Atlanta from Wedowee (Alabama). As I literally crossed the Alabama/Georgia line and looked at a sign that said, "Welcome. We're glad Georgia is on your mind," Ray Charles' "Georgia on My Mind" started playing. I love it when that kind of thing happens.

If You Can't Get to NYC, Bring NYC to You*

Yay! I just found out tonight that Lexia's coming to GA for about 3 weeks! Yay! And she's gonna go to the Of Montreal show with us Saturday! Yay!

*No, Lexia is not exactly NYC, but she's part of it.

You Could Be a Big Winner!!!

Here's the deal.

I'm tired of the name of my blog. Get Off Your Duff has officially gotten off its duff.

I'm ready for a new name. See what you can come up with. The person that comes up with the best name gets a prize. I don't know what kind of prize. Open to suggestions for that, too. Maybe a post dedicated soley to that person's merits?

Come on, people. Be creative for me.

Happy Birthday, Parker! (Like he reads my blog...)

Today is Parker's 22nd birthday. It's gonna be a big year for him. He'll graduate with a Landscape Design degree in December, and he'll be getting married in May. (See last year's post.)

So this weekend, we all came to my parents' house in Wedowee to celebrate his birthday. Friday night we had a full house -- Parker, Melanie, Tyler, and I were all here. (My parents' house is actually what used to be our "cabin"; it has one bedroom and a loft.) To give us a little more space, my dad parked our R.V. in the driveway. So I slept out in the R.V. Friday night. It rained during the night, and let me tell you, there is nothing better than waking up to the sound of rain on the roof.
Nothing better.


Yesterday Tyler, Parker, and Melanie all left but I decided to stay here the rest of the weekend. So there's plenty of room in the house for me to sleep. But I still slept out in the R.V. last night.

Which brings me to one of my new goals and aspirations... At some point in my life, I want to live in an R.V. for at least a month. Yeah, add "R.V. resident" to the list of things I want to be when I grow up. (You know, the list that includes wife, mother, published author, and world travelller.) Hey, I survived a New York City apartment. I think I can survive a Winnebago...

"But I've already watched the Ewoks five billion-quadrillion times!"

When I was a kid, I would always get really bored by the end of the summer. I would just sit there and complain that I was "borrred." My mom would suggest I go outside and play. "But it's too hot," I'd whine. (And I would still agree with the kid Lauren. We grew up in the South. It was crazy hot.) So my mom would suggest I ride my bike and go swimming at my grandparents' pool. (How lucky was I, by the way, to be able to ride my bike to go swimming?) "But I don't wanna swim by myself. It's not fun to swim by yourself." (Read all of this with a whiny kid voice.)

Bascially, I'd whine long enough until my mom would yell, "It doesn't matter what I suggest to you! You won't like any of the things I say! You'll find something wrong with everything!" And she'd be right, of course. But I had successed in causing at least a little excitement, if only for the moment. My poor mom. I used to love to pick fights with her. Even when I was little. Maybe I'm revealing a little too much about myself, here. But I enjoy a good argument. These days I guess I usually take the heated discussion route via politics, religion, music, whatever. And I've even grown kind of tired of that.

So I was sitting around tonight after Project Runway went off, (SPOILER ALERT) bummed that Bradley Baumkirchner got kicked off. (I love those hippie, bearded types. I'm tellin' ya.) He was the only person left on there that wasn't totally cut-throat. But I digress.

So I was sitting around tonight after Project Runway went off. Sara went to sleep at about 7 PM tonight. (And rightfully so, because we stayed up until 2 AM last night talking about boys and goofing off by making sweatpants look like mom-jeans, a favorite past-time of the Snow sisters, apparently.) I was bored out of my mind. Still am. I've thought of every possible solution to the problem of boredom, and come up with some reason against every solution. Maybe that's how I deal with boredom? By discrediting the solutions that I come up with to stop being bored?

• I thought about going for a ride around Atlanta; gas prices are freakin' high and I might get lost somewhere in the ghetto.
• I thought about going to the fitness center in our apartment complex; I don't want to get sweaty and have to take another shower before I go to bed.
• I thought about watching a movie; I've already seen them all, or I'm not interested in watching them.
• I thought about channel-surfing for a while; I didn't want to get into that eyes-glazed-over stupor that sometimes results from channel-surfing late at night.
• I thought about surfing the internet; I've already done that today. Nobody's updated their blogs lately.
• I thought about going to the lake; I'd get there really late and wake up my parents.
• I thought about booking an overnight flight to NYC and landing on Lexia and Reghan's doorstep bright and early in the morning; last-minute flight prices are insane.
• I thought about booking an overnight flight to the cheapest destination I could find; but then I'd have to rent a car and stay in a hotel.
• I thought about writing a short story; my brain isn't cooperating.
• I thought about writing some poetry; I suck at poetry. And I'm not inspired enough by the misery of boredom to write about it.
• I thought about going to sleep; it is physically impossible for me to get to sleep before 2 AM these days. (What's up with that?)
• I thought about taking pictures of random things around my apartment; my digital camera isn't too good with macro, and I've already taken pictures of the apartment itself.
• I thought about listening to music and just sitting there; Charlie Parker was the only stuff I could handle for more than two songs, and just sitting there inevitably leads to thinking too much. Usually about how bored I am.
• I thought about taking a Benedryl and forcing myself to sleep; I just took two Advil because I think I might have the first cavity I've ever had in my life. And I don't want to overdose.
• I thought about reading something, anything; can't concentrate on anything, even David Sedaris.
• I thought about calling people; ehh, why bore them with my boredom?
• I thought about eating anything I could get my hands on; bad idea all around.
  

So I wrote this blog post instead. But my question is this: What do YOU do when you're bored? (And my next question is: What am I going to do now that I'm finished with this post?)

Note: I changed the picture above. I was sick of looking at the image I had up there.

Addendum: I've been looking at my horoscope and apparently I need to find a Gemini because we are "karmically destined to bring fulfilment on many different levels." Are there any single, male Geminis out there? I don't think I've ever even met a Gemini. Ever. Star-crossed, I guess.

Semper Fi

Thank God it's Monday. 'Cause my Friday? Not so good.

My parents' 30th anniversary was yesterday, and I told them I'd stay at their house and take care of the dogs for them to get away for the weekend.

So Friday afternoon at about 2:15, I left my apartment to drive the 2 hours to their house. Then I hit traffic on I-85 (which happens all of the time, so I wasn't surprised).



Then I hit traffic on I-20 about an hour later because of construction. Traffic was completely stopped. (And this was after I drank a HUGE glass of water in the car, mind you.)



I was repeatedly thankful for this little guy.



The temperature was 101 degrees outside. Notice, too, that I was going 0 mph. ZERO.



About thirty minutes and one mile later, the temperature had escalated, as had the contents of my bladder. At this point, I was searching for a place to pull off and run into the woods. There was no shoulder, no exits in sight, and we were completely stopped. (Again, note: ZERO mph.)



Finally! An exit! So it was in the middle of nowhere. So, it was only a truckstop. I had to use the bathroom. (I have never been in such intense pain from a full bladder. Never.) And I had to get off of I-20. I knew the back roads from this exit. We were in business.

Except after I stopped at Dairy Queen to use the bathroom, my car wouldn't start. Wouldn't even turn over. Crap, I thought. Good thing I have jumper cables.

So I got the most well-kempt looking man driving a mini-van to jump me off. He told me that his son was about my age and irresponsible, too. His son always left his lights on inside his car and his battery was always going dead. I clenched my jaw so hard I thought my molars would crumble. I hadn't left my lights on. I hadn't been irresponsible. My car was just dead.

We got the car started and I was on my way. I was about 45 minutes away from my parents' house at this point.

I pulled out of the parking lot of the Dairy Queen, pulled to a stop at the stop sign, and accelerated to pull out onto the highway. And, instead, rolled into the highway. My car was dead again. (At this point, I was convinced my alternator had gone out and I was screwed.) Meanwhile, I couldn't get my car into park, I couldn't take the key out, and I couldn't take my foot off the brake or it would've rolled further into the road. I was in the highway. With truckers yelling at me and telling me to get off the road. (By the way, my hazard lights wouldn't work either.)

I literally sat there, with my foot on the brake, for about 5 minutes trying to figure out what to do. I called my dad, and he called my mom. (She works around this area.) She was on her way.

A guy about my age in overalls (with no shirt underneath), a goatee, and a big wad of dip in his lip pulled up beside me and asked me what the problem was. After I told him, he reached in my car, with me sitting in the driver's seat and tried to put my car in park ('cause, you know, I hadn't tried that...). (Might I just add that his hair armpit was dangerously close to my face.) I told him that I had someone on the way to come pick me up. He shrugged, got in his pick-up truck, and left.

I pulled up the emergency brake (Why didn't I think of that earlier?) and got out. I sat on my trunk and waved people around me. Most of these people were irrate truckers that yelled at me and made obscene hand gestures. Damn, I'm sorry I'm inconveniencing you, you redneck trucker. But I REALLY want to sit right here, in the middle of Highway 100 in rural Georgia and take in the nice day. Especially since it's 103 degrees and I'm wearing jeans. (One guy really creeped me out. I don't know exactly what he said to me because his truck was so loud, but it was of the sexual harrassment variety.)

An ex-Marine that had been eating a Blizzard in Dairy Queen with his wife noticed that I had been sitting there for quite a while. He came out and tried to push my car by himself, up a hill, and back into the parking lot. The automatic steering on my car wasn't working of course, so it was really hard to steer. Another man came up and helped him. I was finally out of the road and in the (relative) safety of the truckstop parking lot. The ex-Marine and his wife sat beside me in his truck until my mom got there.

This is my car in the parking lot. Dead. Completely dead.



We called our insurance company and they sent us a tow-truck. The tow-truck got there about the same time as my dad.

Sad picture, huh?


We took the car to my uncle's house about 30 minutes away. He found out that it was just my battery and not the alternator. (I guess the battery was so dead, it wouldn't even hold a charge.) We left the car there overnight, and drove to my parents' house.

We finally got home, and all was right with the world when I saw these guys:

Tug,

Jax,

and a random butterfly. (?)

Unfortunately, my parents' Saturday plans were bashed since we had to work on my car. They argued that they enjoyed having me around, that if I had to have car trouble, they were glad it was close to them so they could help me, etc. Happy 30th, folks.

We enjoyed the day Sunday, though. Rode jetskis and the boat, went swimming in the lake and were just kind of lazy.

As I headed back to Atlanta last night, I had a new battery in my car, and an optimisitic attitude. Especially because there was no traffic and the sky was beautiful. (I was a little paranoid when I got on the interstate, though.)



Obviously, I made it back safe and sound.

But I learned some things this weekend.
-- 1 out of every 7 people are nice and helpful. The other 6 are pretty mean and selfish. (Sure, there are variables to this. But for every person that stopped to ask if I needed help, there were about 6 that gave me the bird.)
-- Under stress, I react with anger. The first thing I did when my car wouldn't start the first time was hit the steering wheel. Sure, it's probably to cover up my fear. Or to keep me from freaking out. But I was mad.
-- I'm generally pretty cool under pressure. (Despite the last statement.) People were yelling at me and I was just rolling my eyes and waving them around me.
-- A familiar face (especially those of your parents) is really good to see when you're under stress.
-- Always carry jumper cables.
-- I like ex-Marines.
-- Good ol' boys aren't necessarily that nice. Or good.
-- I have good parents and good aunts and uncles.
-- Monarch of the Glen isn't that great.
-- I'm a lot more reserved on a jetski than I used to be.
-- I am definitely of Scotch-Irish descent and, therefore, sunburn easily.
-- At least scary situations lead to interesting blog posts.

Ahh.

I love the rain.

Update

I've been MIA since last Wednesday when I turned in all of my assignments. I've done a lot of things I've been wanting to do. I have pictures of some of the things I've done over the past week, but they're on my computer and my wireless card's not working. So I'm using Sara's computer.

So I'll just list some of the things and give pictures later. (All of the pictures are on my flickr account.)

Over the last week, I:

• Updated my flickr account. I finally broke down and upgraded to a pro account so that I have more storage space on there. So all of my Ireland photos are up. Along with pictures of our apartment, my plants, and my trip to Cheaha (in Alabama).
• Watched a lot of Sara's DVDs -- and not just DVDs -- miniseries. (I've got to get 'em all in before school starts.) I've mostly stuck to the period pieces: Wives and Daughters, North and South, Berkeley Square, etc.
• Went hiking at Cheaha (the day after I turned in all of my assignments). I really needed the fresh air.
• Bought the July issue of Mojo which came with a CD called "Revolver Reloaded" -- The Beatles' Revolver covered by various bands including everyone's favorite... Luke Temple covering Dr. Robert.
• Read a lot of Kierkegaard.
• Joined Netflix. And watched my first three movies: Bloody Sunday, This is My Father, and The Matchmaker. All films with Irish content. (If you want to bawl your eyes out, watch This is My Father. Even I cried.)
• Got A's in both of my summer classes.
• Went to a soccer game. Atlanta has a professional soccer team (in the USL) called the Atlanta Silverbacks. A group of us went to a game last Friday. It was a lot of fun. It's a really small, new stadium and we sat right behind the makeshift "drum corps." These guys were all of the rejects from high school (I know that's mean, but you should've seen them.) They must've been into Dungeons and Dragons. Had to be. But they definitely made the game more, um, interesting. There were a few hot players, too. One of the guys is from Ireland. (That's right, I looked up their stats.) AND, he's played for Luton, Genevieve. Thought that was pretty cool.
  

Point is, I'm already getting bored. It's too hot to do much outside unless you're in the water. (Hmm, maybe I'll go to the lake this week.) Give me some ideas, people. I have 20 days to fill. What can I do? You can only check your email so many times in a day... (By the way, I welcome any and all personal emails and/or phone calls.)