EriqX / Journal 2002

26-DEC-2002

As I type this, I am shoveling Andy Warhol California Style Vegetable Soup - Now with more vegetables! in my mouth. My muscles are quivering in agony from this evenings personal training session. The motion to simply reach for the mouse makes me clench my teeth as pain shoots through me.

In the past few days I have slept little, and worked little. Work gets slow during the holidays, and sleep suffers ultimately because I let it. And because I make poor decisions at late hours of the night.

Somewhere in those last few nights I had Mary and Kate over. We slouched around my living room and had chitty chat for a bit. Somewhere around 1:00 AM it became apparent that we were all hungry, so we walked down to Chico's for some fat-ass burritos. I had the vegetarian of course, and it was rather tasty for a 5-pound serving of Mexican food at 1:00 AM. I never even realized the place existed. It's nice to know, for now any future early morning cravings can be appeased.

The remaining blur of time was spent on xmas. The holiday itself seems fine, its the things that surround it that are picking away at my tolerance for humans. At the center of my xmas this year was Star Trek. How hella-geek is that? Mom, Ian, and myself watched Nemesis in the theater while Dad and Hannah stayed behind and played with their new presents. Aside from that, me and the syb's had our traditional donut/coffee run, which was not derailed by the fact that Speedway was out of donuts. We just upgraded to the premium holiday ice cream cookie sandwich package. New China Buffet for dinner, and the whole thing was over as quickly as it started. I forgot to mention that I actually enjoy the company of my family. I hear that's a little rare these days. So basically, I had a good xmas.

22-DEC-2002

I seem to be continuing a theme of reuniting with people I haven't seen in a long time.

Two nights ago was Joy. Joy is an old-school high school peep who left for Virginia after we graduated. She's back for xmas, so we got a group together and had our share of free wine samples at the Olive Garden (many thanks to Joanna.) Those in attendance were Joy, Becky, Andy, Michelle P, Joanna, Matt B, Mike (different Mike,) Matt J, and myself. The food was good and the leftovers have yet to be eaten. After abusing our stomachs with Italian and alcohol, most everyone went to Wonderbar to continue the alcohol abuse. I'm a big froofy-drink drinker, in the sense that I don't like beer, just froofy stuff. Joy, on the other hand, knows her beer. So that makes her the most recent person on a long list of people who get to make fun of me cause I drink like a girl. The evening - well, morning wrapped up with the Friday Night Freak Show at the Times Cinema, where The Princess Bride was playing. Joanna won a T-shirt with my help, and once again, a good time was had.

Last night was Kate. Kate is a hella-tough chick and that's why I love her. It had been almost two years since we last saw each other, and a lot of conversation was spent on how nothing has really changed. We are all the same people - just older, and with more bills to pay. We fiddled with ideas on how to spend our evening, and ended up joining Mike, Matt, Matt, and Jessica over at Mike's place. Standard lingering around ensued before the group headed out to Rooters in Waukesha, where Light Up was playing. Light Up is a damn good Styx and general '80's rock cover band that Mike's mother knows. We spent a little time at the bar where it turned out that Kate is also on the list of girls who can stomach real alcohol, unlike myself. This was pretty much summed up when Mike spotted Kate's New Castle Brown Ale and proclaimed his approval, while I sipped away at my cherry-flavor-added Smirnoff Ice in the background. We all hit the floor and absorbed the excellent '80's vibes. Fried food at Judy's followed, wrapping up a great time had by most.

20-DEC-2002

Just retired from a long and eventful night with the ever-lovely Laurel. For reasons I will most likely never understand, she wanted to help me clean my apartment. Keep in mind I have recently moved in and still have some boxes lingering. I will not pretend to know the source of her kindness, but I appreciate it endlessly. It was the kick in the ass I've been needing for close to a month now. At this exact moment I can do little more than say "thank you," but I do intend to repay her appropriately in the future.

After the cleaning frenzy, we watched Office Space, did some catching up, and I walked her home. It was a perfect night.

16-DEC-2002

Today I was killed by a homicidal snowman. Or so went the plot of Chad's film project. In the story, my girlfriend enters a building to meet me and instead finds my bloody corpse just below the blood-dripping blade of the killer snowman. The snowman then turns his attention on our heroine, only to become her victim instead - for she luckily produces "Killer Snowman Be Gone" spray at the last moment, destroying the enemy and saving her life. Michelle plays my girlfriend, while Canton is our masked killer. Chad of course wrote and directs. In addition to my corpse duties, I did some lighting and worked with Michelle a bit with some acting insight. The whole process was mostly enjoyable, as I tend to miss working on film projects (hopefully soon to change,) the only exception being my half hour on the cold floor covered in very cold stage blood. We filmed at the puppet shop downtown. Just thought I would throw that in there - I love that place.

Earlier today I broke down and washed my car at lunch. The super-pimp hyper-chemo jets somehow managed to turn the rear emblem into a blurry silver mess. Where there was once a blue shield with a red griffen, there is now a big crappy looking silver circle. I'm not sure how that worked exactly, but now I think I need to just take off all my rear emblems. It would look cooler anyway. I'm not sure why I am telling this story. I guess todays lesson is: never wash your car.

15-DEC-2002

Last night was the official inaugeration of my new television. Spider-Man played in 36-inch glory before Ian, Matt, Matt, Mike, Jessica, Becky, Laura, Scott, and myself. My alcohol supply is once again exhausted, perpetuating the endless cycle of depletion and replenishment. After the movie we spent some quality time on Dr. Mario, then waited until midnight for Jessica to turn 21. Then we hit the bars. One of the benefits of living on Milwaukee's east side is that the coolest bars are all within walking distance, eliminating the parking problem, as well as potential drinking and driving problems. We ended up cutting the night short, as a certain birthday girl got hella-tipsy hella-fast. But all in all, a good time was had.

13-DEC-2002

I do feel better. But not by much. Either way, I'm tired of complaining. Today was Friday the 13th, nothing too terrible to report though. Just the usual petty little things that happen everyday, and yet for some reason or another when they happen on this day, it's some kind of bad luck. Who cares.

Star Trek Nemesis was good, I saw it with the Matts. I didn't do much else today besides work and go to the movie. I did, however, return home to a pleasent surprise. The mail. I got a card today from a certain someone who is now responsible for significantly brightening my day. You know who you are, "You have been an angel in my life." Thank you.

12-DEC-2002

Third full day of sickness. Head is in intense pain. Nausea and aching continue. The world is on hold, there is nothing I can do but wait for it all to pass. The new apartment still needs unpacking and organizing, and here I sit in front of this computer, the simple act of walking hurling me into a dizzy spell.

I look forward to tomorrow simply because I know I'll feel slightly better than I do today. And of course, it's Friday. This weekend will be spent on recovery. That, and the new Star Trek movie. What can I say? I'm a geek.