well, after going to bed sometime between 4 & 5 friday night/saturday morning, Cat woke me up for food around 10:30.  actually he’d already been fed, but matt and i had built a new home for his food, water & litter, and he’s still a bit confused about it.  i thought i’d go back to sleep, but i didn’t.  i finished my book, the first in the trio 2666, author… i forgot & it’s upstairs, then worked on some house things.  i can’t even remember what.

later i did some grocery shopping, then carl came over and gave helpful advice about my dryer.  very handy.  then dick came over and we made green curry paste and while we were working on that, matt called.  FINALLY.  i’d been about out of my head wondering why i’d heard nothing yet.  as it is, his dad is quiet and tired, sleeping a lot, but alert and aware while awake.  matt’s glad to be there.  his other siblings are all around too, although their various partners mostly aren’t, which is a good sign that everyone thinks we’ve got a little time yet.  i feel a little more easy about my pending trip to new mexico to see my mom & stepdad.  who knows how the next few days or weeks or anything will go yet, and i’m going to try to keep pretty ready to hop on a plane any moment.  i have 2 different people with house keys, although one would find it very inconvenient to come here to check on cat.  she’s backup, and she doesn’t know it yet.  it’s actually an accident she has the keys.  (no this isn’t a request for offers, but thanks anyway.)

anyway, it was VERY good to talk to matt and hear his thoughts.  our nephew was hanging out with him while we talked, and i have to say… although it’s a nice way to interact long distance with very young relatives, i prefer a more private conversation than knowing the whole room is listening to me through matt’s laptop.  he forgot to take a headset with him… 🙂  i guess he was a little preoccupied.

after the phone call, i went and helped finish the curry paste, then we made a lovely brown curry with it.  (i screwed up and used the extra dark soy sauce when mixing it, so it completely overwhelmed the green… but it tasted good anyway.)  by then it was pretty late, so we cleaned up our cooking mess, dick left, and i got ready to go to Strange.

it’s really too bad i was so tired.  i left just as it was really starting to get good, and lots of people i know and like were around.  oh well. 

a little about ankhnaton:  it’s a club on the nieuwezijds kolk, which is very central, and thus gets a mixed crowd.  also, it’s not a club that particularly caters to any "alternative" scene.  they have doormen in suits who hold the door open for you, they REQUIRE you to check your coat, and the bartenders don’t actually even know what cider is.  they also are young enough and inexperienced enough with accents that if you pronounce "vodka" with a v instead of a w, they haven’t the faintest idea what you’re asking for, which is something i haven’t seen for a while, not since maastricht, i don’t think.  all that said, it’s a decent space, with a layout i rather like.  i personally can’t say much about the acoustics, since i’ve only been there twice and last night i was too tired to notice anything at all.  the last time i was there was quite a while ago, i forget the name of the party on that occasion.

so, last night i arrived around 11ish, which is very early, but hell… i was tired.  i went in, paid, and had my jacket pins complimented by the woman who took the money, then gave up one of my coats (i was wearing 2 because i’d been cold when i left).  then i saw troy, which was a good sign i was in the right place, then i walked into the main room.  at that point, i got very very confused because the music was very disco-ey techno.  and all the people i could see were studenty looking types.  and i thought, shit, are there 2 rooms, and i walked into the wrong one?  about a half-second later, someone grabbed me around the shoulders and i turned around to find kiki, who i haven’t seen since treffen (may).  what a relief!!  i was in the right place, it was the music and people who were wrong!  she thought the same, but as we chatted the scene changed.  by the time i left, around 1:30 or so, the crowd was many people i know or who obviously knew the people i know, or who didn’t but didn’t look like students, and the music was getting really excellent.  i would have liked to have stayed and danced, but i was SO tired.  2 major dance events in one weekend is unfortunate planning, considering how often weeks and weeks will go by with NOTHING going on in town.  i heard some negative gossip about that, which i’d prefer not to be involved in, since i really like the people that i know who were involved with both events.  i’m sure i don’t know everyone involved, and i don’t want to know more about what happened.  in fact, i’m thankful that i have such very bad hearing in loud clubs, because i didn’t hear much of what i was actually being told last night anyway.  it was a person i’d never met before, and difficult for me to understand.  it’s amazing how knowing people better makes it easier to fill in the gaps in your hearing during a conversation.

anyway, it was nice, again, to see so many wonderful people and to hear more great music.  i only wish i’d been more alive to enjoy it! 

i’ve slept in really late today, because i overfed my silly cat, and i’m still tired.  i’ve made a video of my street and house for my mom & stepdad to see when i get to their house, and i was going to upload it to my computer and mess with my photos, but i seem to have left my cables at work.  oh well.  i think i’ll putter around with little house projects for a while, and maybe make some carrot bread.  yum.  tonight i’m going to eat vast quantities of buttered popcorn and watch the entire 1st season of buffy.  🙂  under the duvet, which will be under the cat, who will be competing with the popcorn bowl for lap space.  🙂

yesterday was long and strange.
i spent the morning with matt, talking and getting him ready to go home to his dad.  and discussing timeline for when he thinks i should come.  he says that he’d like to see for himself first and then he’ll let me know.  this could be days, or it could be months.  … i feel kind of useless about this.  when matt was still resisting the idea of going, my job was clear:  get him on a plane.  having done that, i’m at a loss.

then i went to work.  work has been extremely stressful lately.  my assistant is on holiday and soon on maternity leave, so i’ve been training in a temporary replacement.  on top of this, one of my colleagues is leaving and i’m taking on a lot of her responsibilities.  on top of that, we’re coming up on one of our major conferences/markets, which i’ll be attending, and not only do i need to prep normally for that, it’s one of that colleague’s normal responsibilities to handle the coordination of our whole team effort, and i’ve taken over that too.  all this is fine, actually – i’ve been managing, and even feeling positive about it, because i like my new roles.  however, the leaving colleague chose yesterday to spew her issues all over me.  nice.

after work i ran errands about the work we’re doing on the house – trying to get to 2 shops before they closed, because their information has been holding up the work.  success there, which is good.

then i went home to try to find interesting clothes to dress up my friend anne, who decided to attend ghost ship with me, patrick, and patrick’s friend solomon.  while i was messing around with that, dick came over and kept me company.  he left a little later, and anne, patrick & solomon showed up.  we went to dinner at the turkish place on my street, then came back & got ready to go.  anne never wears makeup and never styles her very thick and heavy hair, so it was kind of fun doing that.  we took pictures so she can show her mom, who thinks that people who dress in any gothic fashion are devil worshipers.  heh.

GHOST SHIP was FANTASTIC… i hadn’t been to stubnitz before, but matt had told me about it from the one time he’d been.  excellent venue, excellent music in 3 rooms (noise/industrial, ebm/dancier stuff, trad goth/punk/etc), plus smoking deck.  i danced in all rooms a bunch & talked to lots and lots of people.  thanks to everyone for a great time!  i also didn’t talk to a few people who i recognized but couldn’t think of why, and a few people that were very busy when i saw them, and i didn’t want to interrupt.  everyone i did speak to, of course, wanted to know where matt was, or they already knew and wanted to know why i wasn’t there too.  well, we’ll see. 

i found anne, patrick & solomon on the smoking deck sometime around 3, and they wondered if i was about ready to go in maybe 20 minutes or so.  i said i was ready anytime, now, or in 3 hours.  it’s been a while since i’ve enjoyed a night out quite that much, where i can be satisfied and ready to go but at the same time still ready for more.  🙂  but when i got home, showered, checked to see if matt was on skype, and got my damn dreads dried, i was exhausted and fell asleep with my hand on Cat, which he hates.  he much prefers active petting or just leaving him the hell alone.  😛

tonight, unless plans change unexpectedly, i will go to Strange, at Ankhnaton.  After that, I plan on being tremendously exhausted and relaxing for the rest of my weekend.  which, once i’ve woken up, won’t be very much. 🙂

hello friends!
does anyone know enough about wiring/electrical to make my clothes dryer stop shorting out the house?  it’s been in storage for a couple of years, and apparently didn’t like it.  it’s a condenser dryer.

if you know how, and want to come over and do it for me, i will pay you (and your choice of companion) with a delicious meal of:

black mole enchiladas with black beans, rice & cheese (shredded chicken is another filling option)
pico de gallo, sour cream & any other applicable condiments
chips & salsa & guacamole
margaritas/ tequila shots
flan dessert

or, if you don’t like that kind of food but can help me by fixing this for me, i will make you something else delicious – you just tell me what you don’t like, and i’ll run something else by you.

if you know how, but live far away, and you think you can explain it to me simply in ways that i (someone who has only ever spliced wires before, nothing else electrical) could pull off, please email me separately.  payment will have to come in some other form, later. 

🙂  thanks!