okay, let’s shoot through what i got for xmas. to start off with, wednesday evening when i had supper with the potts they gave me some stuff:
- table runner with several large skulls
- two throw pillows with a large skull on each
- some tootsie rolls, a confederate $20 bill replica, and a plastic skull and tombstone
- a couple of plastic containers of homemade snickerdoodle cookies
on xmas day, i got the following from my brother and his wife and son:
- drive-by truckers – live from austin tx (austin city limits) (new west)
- johnny paycheck – nowhere to run: the little darlin’ years 1966-1970 (omni)
- james hand – shadow on the ground (rounder)
the drive-by truckers album is actually both a cd and a dvd, both containing the same material, recording during their austin city limits appearance in september 2008. the paycheck cd was just recently released, the the hand cd is his latest.
- the master and margarita – mikhail bulgakov (everyman’s library)
- the short stories of anton tchekov – anton tchekov (modern library)
- father and sons – ivan turgenev (modern library)
all hardbacks, the tchekov and turgenev are fairly old prints (and thus have that classic old hardback look and feel). my brother minored in russian in college, so he has more knowledge of russian authors than i do.
and then from my parents:
- aphex twin – 26 mixes for cash (warp)
- black flag – the first four years (sst)
- wayne hancock – viper of melody (bloodshot)
- dale watson – one more once more (continental song city)
(i joked with my parents that everyone is going to think i have hip parents for getting me aphex twin and black flag cds. my parents blamed my amazon wish list and said they didn’t know what most of the stuff on there was and didn’t know if they should be getting it for me or not.)
- blade runner (5-disc complete collector’s edition) – warner brothers (blu-ray)
- lost constellations: the art of tara mcpherson, volume ii – tara mcpherson (dark horse)
i’m glad to get this mcpherson book. it has the piece i bought a limited edition print of in it, and even some things i don’t think i’d ever seen on mcpherson’s website.
they also got me a dickie’s zip-up hoodie, and a reproduction of a map done in 1849 of california, mexico, and the republic of Texas that was originally published by a german map company.
outside of the gift exchanging, my time in brady has been pretty uneventful. my nephew was teething some and possibly sick, so my brother and wife went back to austin xmas day. i visited with my grandmother today for a couple of hours. mostly i’ve tried to avoid thinking about having to deal with the bel air, and tried to avoid thinking about the other things in my life that make me feel depressed and hopeless. occasionally it works for awhile. unfortunately, i tend to find it pretty easy to focus on the areas of my life that i feel are important where i am not content. but tomorrow i get to try and deal with my car (at the least tomorrow, if things go well — otherwise, it may be for a few days). i can’t say as i’m looking forward to it.