Our house. Be there.

Scene: Wikipedia employee hears from a friend that Tim Russert is dead. Employee runs to their computer and updates Tim Russert’s entry with death information before it can be properly announced by the man’s home network, as is journalistic tradition. NBC is told employee of Wikipedia is fired. Right…. Much as I hate to say it, Wikipedia was on the cutting edge of information with that one, despite the disrespect.

But what about when the rumors of someone’s death (impending or otherwise) are GREATLY exaturated by an actual family member…and Wikipedia posts it. Who do we fire, then?

Scene: Wikipedia employee catches wind of Mitch Winehouse’s speech to the media after his daughter, the famed Amy Winehouse, collapses in her home after signing some autographs for fans. Surely a different employee, but again bent on posting information before processing it properly…JUST in case it isn’t right…includes Amy Winehouse’s name under its entry for emphysema. The singer’s spokesperson denounced the father’s statement today, forcing Mitch Winehouse to modify his statement.

Amy does not have the degenerative lung disease, but traces of a problem that could certainly lead to it should she see fit not to quit smoking, say doctors. (Was the fact that we never notice, except in 5% of cases, a true case of emphysema until someone’s 40’s an actual clue?)

Again, people…who do we fire, here? Media mogels rushed to post this one as they were jotting the details of Mitch Winehouse’s speech in their PDA’s! Do we fire the Wikipedia employee, or Mitch Winehouse? What about the foolish readers who took a single person at their word via multiple media sources?

Think on this. How much do you really trust your wiki? How much do you really trust your press?

I can’t sleep. Friday night in a relatively silent house and I can’t sleep. Why? Where do I start…? Annoyance, mostly. You see, everything has to be just so for me to approach staying asleep. And right now everything is just not. We are not at home. He got the short-couch (ha…) and I ended up with the all too familiar extendable ‘chair’.

We are visiting his mother in Chesapeake, Virginia. I call it Nowhereville because unlike DC there is not a thing to hear at night unless you open the windows and catch some crickets. No traffic, no kitten playing outside the bedroom door, no ambyu-lances. When the timing is right you get silence…which is when I thrive in sleep. He jokes that we need to buy me a coffin to sleep in that gets a decent silent air-supply. Don’t think I wouldn’t look into it had I the right project-spending funds. Tempurpedic would get a good custom contract out of me really quick.

Tonight however, I have the periodic drop of the ice-maker, the wine-fridge on its last legs (which I just put out of its on-switch misery until we get up..the wine will live), and of course…a (expletive) ceiling fan providing moving air…which really does nothing but keep me awake if I even feel it just slightly. Oh, and the air-conditioner occasionally turning on and off. Oh oh oh…and the grinding of his teeth, his occasional snore and ya wanna know the ironic part? The dog…who I was about to say was pleasantly not snoring…started doing so when I wrote this very sentence. I shit you not.

I forgot ear plugs. And I am not in a bed next to him. (As I might have mentioned, that has only actually happened a handful of times in the 5 years since we met. Neat huh? How often do ya find that?) So I’ve been at this ‘trying to sleep’ bit since 1am. About 15 minutes ago (it’s 2am), my new phrase got used when I went to find a comfortable spot on the floor and smelled something really rank in that corner of the room…no doubt underneath the carpet. I said to myself, “really?” It’s what I say lately when everything adds up and gets to a point where I just don’t believe it. “Really…?!” I wonder if it’s the elder cat or the dead cat I have to thank for that smell….

As I said, I’ve been at this for an hour. I’m sore from a coworker’s going-away party at Science Club, so I cannot find a comfortable spot. No longer does good dancing stay good the next day. And the painkiller isn’t working it out this time. Figures. Not even a beer made me sleepy. I’m officially wound up. So I grabbed his phone (which is my old Treo680 because he finally got pissed at his Blackjack and decapitated it on a wall…and I have an iPhone now) realizing I can type much faster with it and decided to write. I set up a quick email push so I could post it…and here we are.

A recent realization revealed that I should be focusing on my ability to write. Sort of hone it back to where it was before. Part of this epiphany came when I remembered that I won awards for it in college. I figure I stopped writing at a certain point because I felt like it wasn’t on my terms anymore – it was always for assignments or requirements. And I didn’t really write again until you could say it was back on my terms, and mainly because of when I met Sean (theseanshow.net) and started this blog. I could be wrong but I am pretty sure he re-inspired me to start writing again. If not for the purpose of therapeutic jotting, then definitely for the joy of getting my opinions out there and seeing who would read them. Rather egotistical, no?

The other night I re-proved to myself that writing might be what I’m supposed to be doing with my life besides the music. I came home from a visit to a bartendress pal who shall remain nameless…and wrote a pretty solid Irish drinking song in less than 5 minutes. Sort of a pity-me-but-don’t-because-I’m-a-simple-man-and-all-I-need-is-love song. Should the song ever get famous I promise to embroider a copy of it into a frame for her home, take her out to a great dinner and night out, help her pay for a couple classes if I can justify the cost and impart upon her my eternal thanks for the inspiration. I’ve only shown it to one other person (not her yet) at this point, and he liked it. It is with he that I am also kicking around a TV-show idea based on a dream I had about a mysterious man named Ben. Leaving the details out in case that show becomes a reality. Get your mind out of my gutter, it’s not like that and gutters are small so it’s a bit tight as it is.

I miss writing these long posts. I hate to say it but Apple might well have stuck with actual keys. I would welcome if they came out with such a phone. I actually did most of my writing via cell (like this post) for a time thanks to wp-cron…marking it up later.

What else to say…wish me luck? I am gonna try sleeping again and see what happens. Maybe I just needed to write. 235am now…! *clicks send button*

This showed up on Craigslist, so I had to share it with you. It was too priceless not to. Funny yet sad. Discuss….

“You live on Hobart st. i know your name but dont want to say it. I was excited you followed me even though you were super drunk. You asked me to come home and snuggle with you so i did……unfortunately when we arrived your boyfriend was there and you failed to mention to me that you had one, poor me. I’m sorry i couldnt help you when your bf got angry and did what he did to you, i wish i could have, i never saw anything like that happen before and it freaked me out. You probably shouldn’t have brought me home and it would not have happened, i don’t know, but never the less i felt really sorry for you and felt helpless and dissappointed. I think your a really beautiful guy and would love if you see this and get in touch with me. Me , well i am a tall mixed race exotic sexy fool visiting from Los Angeles to refresh you with wild crazy hair. By the way i was still standing outside when your bf came back out and smashed your cell phone on the sidewalk….i think i have a piece of it, hehe…i’d love to give it to you sometime…I hope your well man and i hope to hear from you. This is a first for me posting an ad on CL….if anyone knows this southern boy on the 1700 block of Hobart please tell him to read this and email me….I believe his name started with a G i wont say the rest. Peace my friend……”

I got a driver’s license today. And I did it before I turned 30. Nyah!!!!! So below, I provide the post from when I got my permit. The opinion still stands

The best part? The test was only to drive around the block and not manage to kill the instructor.

And….scene!

Driving. It’s not rocket science, despite what some people think. (Unless it’s stick…I hate, ironicaly enough, driving stick. Heh.) And yes, I learned right along with everyone else…in 1996. But I let the initial permit expire that year and was content not to take the driven-exam for the full license. I had no car, knew no one close with a car…and didn’t really have a great reason to get it. This was also in Maryland, where it is (was?) an extremely tedious process anyway.

And in the DC area you never need a car unless you want to leave the area.

Now that I live in DC…I have found the process to be much easier. I walked into the Georgetown DMV and was out in 2 hours. And now after much nagging from family and loved ones that wish I could take over now and then (rightfully), I have ended my nearly 11 year hiatus from the driving world and picked up a permit with a perfect (read that again…perfect) testing score. Look out, Northeast. Here’s comin’ to a liquor store near you.

“Ha,” to those who actually believed I was just a numb-skull. 40 boo-certified hours and I’ll be the real thing. No more carrying my passport! Woo, and such.