Three Words Back...

Daily Routines

One of my favorite randomly entertaining blogs to keep up with is Daily Routines.  Each post details the daily routines of creative types, past and present.  Half the time I've never heard of the people listed, but all the same it's interesting to read about how people that have chosen to do something "creative" with their lives structure their lives.  Below is a recent listing for Stephen King, originally sourced from Lisa Rogak's Haunted Heart: The Life and Times of Stephen King.

“There are certain things I do if I sit down to write,” he said. “I have a glass of water or a cup of tea. There’s a certain time I sit down, from 8:00 to 8:30, somewhere within that half hour every morning,” he explained. “I have my vitamin pill and my music, sit in the same seat, and the papers are all arranged in the same places. The cumulative purpose of doing these things the same way every day seems to be a way of saying to the mind, you’re going to be dreaming soon.

“It’s not any different than a bedtime routine,” he continued. “Do you go to bed a different way every night? Is there a certain side you sleep on? I mean I brush my teeth, I wash my hands. Why would anybody wash their hands before they go to bed? I don’t know. And the pillows are supposed to be pointed a certain way. The open side of the pillowcase is supposed to be pointed in toward the other side of the bed. I don’t know why.”

Faithful readers, do any of you have interesting daily routines?

YouTube Tuesdays: The WTF Blanket

Props to College Humor for this:

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

365 Days Later

From late January 2008:

If this constant feeling of being punched in the stomach would stop being so damn stubborn and start working its way up and out through my fingertips, then maybe I could find a way to write about the past few days.  But this one isn't really for any of y'all, anyways.  It's mostly for me (and maybe even my family) to start to work through an immeasurable grief.  Some like to throw tears, questions, and anger at what they do not understand.  I'm open to try each of those in their own time, but for now I'll settle for throwing all the words and phrases I can at a sorrow that will never completely go away.  So for tonight I'm writing, if for no other reason than the Kleenex is out of reach and my brain needs something to work on.

So it's a year later.  Like any other watershed event, it simultaneously feels like it happened just a few months ago and also so very, very long ago.  And I'm still trying to throw all the words and phrases I can at something so hard to wrap my mind around.  Truth be told, I have stopped trying to understand it.  There's nothing to understand, really.  In my opinion there is nothing profound to uncover, no life lesson waiting to be learned.  We live in a broken world, where good and bad things happen to everybody, every day.

And on January 25, 2008, a blood clot formed and took a fatal path through her bloodstream towards her heart.  It happened, and we've been adjusting ever since.  Below are some of the songs that helped make sense of things, at least to my ears.

"And it came to me then, that every plan, is a tiny prayer to Father Time...and I rationed my breaths, as I said to myself, that I'd already taken too much today / As each descending peak, on the LCD, took you a little farther away from me"

While driving around Midland with Larry the day after it happened, There Ain't No Reason by Brett Dennen came on the stereo.  It was already a favorite of mine, but it sort of bonded to the moment and it's now one of the songs I associate with the grieving process.  Below is the video for the song, and it looks to draw awareness to how social issues affect us all directly.  This seems fitting, since Tammy was always involved in causes and organizations that strengthen the community.

The goal, for me at any rate, is to not just remember that her life came to a shocking, sudden end. The goal is to remember what she did with the time that she had, and how she chose to spend it. Today doesn't have to just be a sad day. It can be a detail, but should never be the most prominent memory of one of my favorite people ever.

This and That

Yay for having internet at my apartment!  No more justifying daily trips to Panera Bread (thanks for the free wi-fi, PB!)

After a year and a half of traveling all the time, I can't tell you how nice it is to have an apartment I really like to come home to every day.  It's also nice that my commute to work can easily be measured in yards, or tenths of a mile at the most.  I am a stone's throw from the parking lot adjacent to my branch.  Ergo, I get to sleep in later.  So very nice.

But back to the apartment.  It's 78% put together.  Still missing an entertainment center and a tv to go with it.  And the walls might not have anything on them yet (part of my next paycheck is already devoted to framing some prints).  But all in due time, because I'm still admiring my long missed but not forgotten bookshelves!  Complete with books, packed like sardines and wedged tightly from end to end, all fighting for space with all the knick knacks I've picked up over the years.  And believe me, I've picked up some knick knacks along the way.  And I'm sure my boy-crazy, er, I mean book-crazy friend Bethe will agree with me when I say that deciding how to arrange a library worth of books is a fun-filled way to spend many a free hour (if you don't get just decide to pick one off the shelf and spend the next hour curled up on the couch, that is).

Oh, and I set up my own DJ booth over at blip.fm.  Because I don't spend enough time thinking about music.  I also picked up a few downloads for free (and legally!) over at noisetrade.  It's been a productive Sunday, fo sho.

YouTube Tuesdays: The Star Spangled Banner

I think Francis Scott Key would have liked this version.

Soon And Very Soon

I have a date on Wednesday.

(wait for it)

(wait for it)

With a Comcast Service Rep.  For sometime that morning.  So I might (stress: possibly, but don't bet your 401k on it) have internet by the weekend.

In other david-related news, I might get a haircut this week.  Change, it seems, is everywhere.

YouTube Tuesdays: Love / Hate Relationship for 2009

33 days and counting...

Beat That, Michael Scott!

So...we had a branch meeting on Sunday. Where I did my level best to inspire and motivate my employees to do their very best for our customers. Where I did, in fact, state the following: "Because, as the poet Vanilla Ice so eloquently put it, 'anything less than the best is a felony.' " There was no laughter afterwards. On the bright side though, I didn't burn my foot on a George Foreman grill while getting out of bed that morning.

Remember To Breathe

2009 is off to quite a boring start for this particular blog, thanks to an incredibly busy first week at work (70 hours) and a lack of internet access at my apartment.  Hopefully the work hours will lessen soon, but there is just so much to adjust to and learn at my new branch.  It's been a good first week though, and I'm in a good situation.  I am definitely glad to be here.

Now, if someone wants to come clean my apartment while I'm at work tomorrow, that would be awesome.  You can even help yourself to the string cheese and yogurt in the fridge.  Hands off the Totino's Pizza in the freezer though, that's getting saved for dinner.

Call Me

With the move to Houston, I updated my phone to a local Houston number.  So if you didn't already get a text message from me and you need the new number, drop me an email.

In other news, the new branch manager gig is going well.  Two days in and the place hasn't burned down yet.  I'm exhausted from a 13 hour day today, but I promise to be more interesting next time around.

Have you checked out The Next Mix Tape music blog yet?  I am like the Ringo to everyone else's George, Paul and John over there, so go check it out when you get a chance.