Brian Cottle

velocichica @ 2:21pm: After the insanity leading up to this Christmas, the holiday itself was actually blessedly peaceful and pleasant. I must say, a grand time was had by all and I ended up making out like a bandit between the cash and gift cards (and the gift cards are already spent on new clothes for my California trip), Phantom Gourmet ticket vouchers good for both the 2010 BBQ Beach Party and Beer Phest, a massive amount of mineral make-up, more than enough food to sink a ship, and, from Josh, a Stagg 77-C Bb Clarinet!!!

Oh. My. GOD!

It's a bakelite wood grain finish (Josh seems convinced that for his money, he bought a hardwood and I don't have the heart to tell him either the dealer lied or he wasn't paying attention when it was explained to him) but it's a far cry from a student model Bundy or Selmer resin. Despite not having played in years and my breath support leaving a bit to be desired, the tone is exquisite! My muscle memory has also not left my hands and they are all too ready to jump ahead of my lungs!

Now, to practice and practice some more! Who knows, maybe after I get the hang of it again, I can start patrolling Craigslist for anyone in need of a clarinetist! Ha!

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday! Also, thrives and its_lost_on_me, if at all possible, I'd like to see you both before the new year so I can give you your presents!

ffantastik @ 10:54am: Christmas was...

Well. It started off lovely, on the 24th I picked up the rental car. I had reserved a compact but they gave me a sweet ass Cadillac instead. Jen and I drove out to LI to see my dad, we had a nice lunch, we drove to my Mom's in brooklyn, had a nice dinner, watched The Grinch in hi def (the colors almost made me hallucinate - it was fabulous). Home, parked the car a couple of blocks from home (crucial point in the story), up to the apt, Jen and i did our own gift exchange and then to bed.

Christmas morning we woke up, leisurely started our day, and then around 12, went down to get the car to leave for CT only to find that the passengers side window had been smashed in. Nothing was taken, there was nothing to take, but clearly this was not positive. Turned out there were 5 or 6 other cars parked on that same block that had also been broken into. We called the cops. We waited around with some other people who were also frustrated and trying to drive somewhere for Christmas. The cops came. They took like an hour and a half to handle whatever it was they were handling and eventually handed me back my license and the car registration and said to pick up the report on Monday. We drove to Connecticut, two hours late, with plastic in the window, which was flapping around and making a hideous, hypnotizing noise. Jen sat in the back like Driving Miss Daisy, cause there was glass everywhere on the passenger's side.

And still, there were good things. Jen and I couldn't really talk, the window was too noisy. But we sang Christmas carols. And I got to watch her bopping around in the back like an adorable muppet head. So cute.

The novelty wore off after about an hour though. The incessant pounding, popping noise, the drab gray/white snow bleeding into a gray/white sky, the nothing nothing...I felt like we were driving backwards. Presents! I told myself. At the end of this there will be presents!

It was great to get to Jen's moms. Delicious appetizers. Lovely gifts. I was drained at the beginning of the visit though, and i passed out for a while. Drooled. Woke up for dinner. Onion soup! Cesar salad! Twice stuffed baked potatoes! I was livelier after all that.

After a while, we went over to Jen's dad's house, which was full of people, including many small children who ran in circles and shouted. They were cute, but the day had me verging on curmudgeonly. I was like "how is that fun?" and "Santa's not real."

Left CT about 9 only to head right into a driving, icy rainstorm. Connecticut loves dark, dark, windy, dark roads, so it was slow going until NY state where things were less icy and better lit. While I was snoring away at her mom's Jen had fixed up the plastic sheeting in the window with a shitload of duct tape, so at least we weren't rained on and things were quieter.

I was so glad to get home. So glad.

Sorry Christmas. You did not live up to the hype.

ffantastik @ 7:41am: nerd post
I am looking on amazon to get ideas for a gift for a child. So I'm clicking around their catagories, trying to find some inspiration and I see that you can sort by subject (if toys can be said to have subjects). So I sort by "occupation" thinking I might find some cute toys about vets or something, and the number one occupation in kids toys appears to be...pirate.

I understand that pirate is now and was historically a way that people do make their living. But should we really be putting it up there with doctor and fireman? On american amazon at least, don't we culturally have it more in a mental category with king and knight? Those are also real occupations historically and currently, but are found under fantasy and scifi on this amazon system.

I wonder how amazon creates these subject headings. I'm sure they have some catalogers somewhere, but like, what are the standards?