candleopera

friday last week in the evening i headed over to notsuoh to catch atarimatt. i’d been wanting to see him perform for a long time, and it didn’t disappoint. punk rock music made with two atari 2600’s hooked up to two tvs that display a different pattern for each musical sound is pretty slick. unfortunately, he had already sold all of his cds and didn’t currently have plans to make any more. i did pick up the i was a teenage metalhead split ep he did with great unwashed luminaries, who also played that night. as did wood & felt, and good night light & the red balloon. djing before, and then inbetween bands, was ryan supak. while i was in the area, i ate at frank’s pizza. downtown seemed really dead for a friday night. but then i haven’t been down there in a long time…maybe neither have a bunch of other people.
last saturday evening i headed over to a co-worker’s place for a party. he had rented a margarita machine, so myself and another co-worker felt like it was our obligation to at least drink enough to get it to where you could see an air gap at the top of the window in the front. those things have a big reservoir. we failed. but it was a valiant effort on our part. afterward, i was cajoled into playing rock band. i played drums, then bass, then bass and singing, then bass, then drums again. it was fun, but i have a stand-offish, can’t-enjoy-myself, image to protect, so that was a temporary lapse. i was the last to leave, because i have a tendency to overstay my welcome and then feel stupid later, but as we were standing outside talking there was a cracking sound or two, then a tree fell over beside us. that was weird. evidently it’d already leaned over onto a car earlier in the evening. (probably about a 4-inch trunk, so don’t imagine a huge oak or something.)
sunday i went to a carter country, but managed to avoid purchasing a pistol. i got pretty close though. i’m not sure how much longer i can hold out. i then went to ikea, where i almost purchased some candles. my will that day was strong though, as i maintained control.
wednesday night i signed up for both plurk and twitter. but i’m trying to not get sucked into either one of those. i was just protecting my name. at least that’s what i’m telling myself. so far, it’s working.
thursday during lunch a co-worker and i ate in rice village and then headed to the yankee candle store. they were having a semi-annual clearance, and thursday was the first day of it, so i wanted to make sure i got a good selection. in the past, almost every time i’ve gone to the yankee candle store i’ve gone with…we’ll say “sue” (to protect their identity). and i was the one that made a yankee candle believer out of this person. but this time i went with the co-worker. so i wanted to be nice and let my friend know there were some good candles on clearance. this was the text exchange:
me: Juicy peach, beach stuff, lots of good stuff on sale.
her: U went without me. . . Nice. Real nice. Who did u cheat on me with? U know what, I don’t want to know. U make me sick.
me: Hey baby, it’s not like that, i thought we had an open flame…
her: Save it – maybe your Yankee whore wants to hear your lame ass excuses, but not me. I may never be able to look at a Yankee candle again. Thanks for ruining them for me. I thought u were different than the other guys. . .
me: I was weak. I’m sorry. But…would you maybe consider a three-wick? There are enough scents to go around. I’m still the same candle lover.
her: I can’t even believe you would suggest a three-wick. What kind of girl do u think I am? And do u really think you’re man enough?
me: I didn’t want to say anything, but the same scents were getting old. Surely you’ve thought about trying new scents too. At least i’m man enough to admit it. I can’t hide it under a bushel!
her: How dare u – Terry you ignorant slut
me: Well, one of us has lots of new candles to enjoy. I understand why you’d be jealous. Green isn’t your color though.
her: I’ll try to forgive u for your indiscretion
a couple of hours later i got a text message from her husband…
him: I’m cool with 3 wicks
anyway. i did go a little crazy. but at $12.50 per large candle, it’s more than half off the regular price. here’s what i got for myself:
medium candles:

• peppermint swirls (cranberry peppermint and jack frost)
• very berry (sweet strawberry and buttercream)
• caramel apple (macintosh and vanilla caramel)

large candles:

• sweet strawberry
• honeydew melon
• juicy watermelon
• sparkling lemon
• berry tangerine

there were others i wanted, but i managed to restrain myself a bit. we’ll see if i can keep from going back. at this point, i’ve already got enough candles to last me for probably a couple of years. i think maybe i have a bit of a problem. i love candles. and i’m not just looking around the room to say that. i love candles.
last night was the geek gathering. the hot russian chick from work and her daughter (whom she’d brought to work friday) joined me in going to tropioca. although before that i had to join them on a hunt for the new tiger snake webkinz. it was a successful mission, thankfully. i had the possibility of seeing sara at the geek gathering, who currently lives on the west coast somewhere but was in town for some job fairs for local schools, but it didn’t work out. i was also possibly going to hang out with sue, but that didn’t work out either. but it was still a good evening and night. the turnout at the geek gathering was pretty good, which is always nice.

“there’s no earthly way of knowing
which direction we are going…”
–willy wonka, willy wonka and the chocolate factory