02 Dec 07 Sunday
Free? I think not.
Current mood: annoyed
Category: Web, HTML, Tech
The email topic says: Your iTunes songs, compliments of Ticketmaster, but when you click the links to redeem your free downloads, it says the offer has expired.
Did I miss all of December? Because the email also clearly states that the offer is valid until December 31, 2007. That didn’t happen yet, right?
So I wrote to the Apple people, figuring they have nothing else to do on a Sunday in December. I’ll let you know what happens. But I suspect this is just another way in which Ticketmaster rips off its customers. Boy do I feel silly.
–Mary
Currently watching:
XXX [Blu-ray]
Release date: 20 June, 2006
03 Dec 07 Monday
Technical Difficulties
Current mood: cold
Category: Web, HTML, Tech
I’m on The Parents’ computer. I brought my laptop with me, but I can’t for the life of me work out how to get connected to the Internet here. Even if I plug directly into the router, I can get only local access. Forget about trying to do the wireless thing. It’s very frustrating.
Oh, I’m at The Parents’ house because my car is getting fixed. It appears that my radiator has a crack along the right side, which is why antifreeze was dripping from the bottom of my car. That’ll do it. So $400 + some-odd later, I’ll have a decent car again. Or at least I’ll have a car that isn’t leaking antifreeze.
It’s freezing here. Not here as in New York, but here as in at The Parents’ house. My stepmom has an aversion to heat. I wore a sweater, but my hands are cold. Typing helps, as long as I keep moving fast enough that my fingers don’t acutally freeze solid during a sentence.
To keep this on topic … SSID! WEP! LAN! Network! Wireless Access Point!
–Mary
PS – My mood is “cold” but that’s just my hands, not my heart.
03 Dec 07 Monday
UPDATE
Current mood: good
Category: Automotive
(Because I know you’ve all been on the edge of your seats since I posted about my radiator having to be replaced.)
Everything is going along fine except that VW Mike can’t finish the car tonight. But so far so good, he says.
We call him Volkswagen Mike because he used to specialize only in VWs. He restored a few of them for my cousin John and his wife Dana and for The Parents. Even though he now does all sorts of cars, we still call him Volkswagen Mike. (I knew you were curious. A good writer assumes the reader knows nothing … except the language. I’m aspiring.)
You may now return to your usual Monday evening business.
–Mary
04 Dec 07 Tuesday
Going Glam
Current mood: smitten
Category: Fashion, Style, Shopping
Ooooh, baby!
Those are my new Ellie fuchsia Gogo boots. Three-inch heel. Black sole. They rock, if I do say so myself.
–Mary
PS – My car is worse than we thought. Now the intake manifold needs to be replaced. So I’m still driving The Parents’ car. At least for one more day.
Currently listening:
Songs of No Consequence
By Graham Parker
Release date: 07 June, 2005
05 Dec 07 Wednesday
New Blog
Current mood: strong
Category: Blogging
I’m impressed with how many hits my blog here gets. I have no idea who’s reading it (other than the four or five people who have subscribed), but obviously someone gives a crap what I’m saying.
Or maybe you’re just looking for something to hold against me.
Anyway … I’ve just posted a new blog entry on my Depression Place web site:
http://blog.depressionplace.com/ — it’s about coping with holiday blues.
I’ve also been adding a lot of links to various web sites: http://www.penguinsonparade.com and http://www.ferretnews.com/ferret_gift.html
You might as well go and look. You don’t really want to be doing whatever it is you’re supposed to be doing at work.
If you’re lucky, I’ll have more photos to post later on. I still have some from the Ian Hunter tour in the UK and some decent ones from the two Jesse Malin gigs I went to (well, the ones from the Bowery Ballroom weren’t that great because they didn’t want you to use flash photography, but I did get a couple of decent ones from the Stone Pony).
Mary
Currently listening:
This Year’s Model (With Bonus Disc)
By Elvis Costello
Release date: 19 February, 2002
06 Dec 07 Thursday
Car Update
Current mood: fabulous
Category: Automotive
I just got a call from VW Mike. He ran the car once last night and twice this morning and nothing is dripping! My car is healed!
Thank you to everyone who sent automotive healing thoughts. It worked!
–Mary
Currently listening:
Seconds of Pleasure
By Rockpile
Release date: 27 April, 2004
06 Dec 07 Thursday
Send Healing Thoughts …
Current mood: hopeful
Category: Automotive
… for my car.
It seems that the engine did overheat, though it never behaved like it overheated. Weird, perhaps, but irrelevant.
I need the power of positive thinking here: Please, everyone, take a moment to think good thoughts for my car today. VW Mike has replaced the radiator, the thermostat and the intake manifold (which was also damaged). Let’s all send a plea to the universe that the damage ends there. He’s putting it all together and running it today to see if it’s all right.
I’ll update you all later.
–Mary
PS – I did end up putting up some pictures last night. Look at my pics at the Jesse Malin stuff. A couple of good ones there.
Currently listening:
Shrunken Heads
By Ian Hunter
Release date: 15 May, 2007
06 Dec 07 Thursday
Car Guts Pictures
Current mood: grateful
Category: Automotive
Take a look at the naked inside of my car!
1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
You can see all the larger pics and captions in my “My Photos” album. Lovely crispy look to some of those parts, isn’t it? I swear the engine never overheated on me in the traditional sense. But it’s pretty obvious from these pics (that VW Mike sent to me) that the engine was cooked.
I’m thankful again that I didn’t get stranded anywhere, especially that late night coming back from seeing Jesse Malin in Asbury Park (all alone!) the night before Thanksgiving. I think I had someone watching over me that night. I’m not sure who it was, but THANK YOU!
–Mary
Currently listening:
Glitter in the Gutter
By Jesse Malin
Release date: 20 March, 2007
07 Dec 07 Friday
More pics on Photobucket
Photobucket Album
08 Dec 07 Saturday
Well … Just … CRAP!
Current mood: crushed
Category: Automotive
Today started out very well. I woke up refreshed. I did 40 minutes on the treadmill. Ate healthy meals (the last of the truly hideous protein powder shakes and then a spinach salad with tuna). I even did a little work.
Then I decided to go out and do a few errands. For one, I need a box of Revlon ColorSilk Bright Auburn hair color. This is vital. It may not seem vital to you, but trust me, it’s vital. So I go out to my just-repaired car and notice a little spot under the right front of the car. I said, “Shit.” (That’s the edited version.) But I couldn’t be sure if it was an old spot from before the car was fixed or if it was a new spot. I checked the antifreeze reservoir and it looked the same as the day before. So I figured it must have been an old spot. Or at least mostly an old spot.
Off I drove with that smoldering feeling in my gut. First stop: Rite Aid. What I’d really wanted was a Duane Reade, but my brain misfired and I ended up at Rite Aid. They had Revlon ColorSilk Light Auburn and Revlon ColorSilk Medium Auburn, but they did not have Revlon ColorSilk Bright Auburn. I wandered around looking for other things, but my mind was on my car.
Back in the parking lot, there’s nothing under my car. Hmmmm… Maybe I was overreacting. Maybe.
Next stop: Stop and Shop. I needed half-and-half (that goes in my coffee in the morning, nothing else will do) and laundry detergent (the kind without dyes or perfumes). I also picked up a small dark chocolate Dove bar and a pack of Eclipse Polar Ice gum. On the off chance they’d have it, I looked for the Revlon ColorSilk Bright Auburn hair color. No. Still I couldn’t shake the ominous feeling that this car thing was not going to go away so easily.
Outside, it looked like there might have been a drop under the car, but I couldn’t be sure if it was from my car or from a previous car that had parked in that spot. (Note to self: Always park your car on virgin pavement when you’re trying to figure out if you have a leak.) Off to CVS to see about the hair color.
The feeling continued to build. I’m very good at bringing down a heavy, dark blanket of doom and gloom upon myself. Today has been no exception.
CVS was also a bust as far at the Revlon ColorSilk Bright Auburn hair color. Instead, I left with a container of Secret Invisible Solid (unscented). I saved 80cents with my CVS card. Again, out in the parking lot there was nothing under my car. Perhaps I’d been too hasty in bringing down the doom and gloom.
Back at home, the feeling would still not go. Of course, by now I’d realized all the ramifications of a nonfunctioning car: How would I get to Brooklyn and Philadelphia (with all the people I’d already agreed to drive!) to see Ian Hunter? How would I get into NYC to see Jesse Malin on the 18th & 20th? And then up to Connecticut with my sister? How could I possibly survive? If the engine is shot in this car, then I need a new engine or a new car! I don’t have that sort of money.
I waited half an hour and went outside. Nothing. Had I dodged the bullet?
I waited a total of one and a half hours and went outside. There it was. A few drops of something under the front driver’s side of the car. My spirit fell further. I touched the stuff and it was wet, but it felt more like oil than antifreeze. But what do I really know about car fluids? Besides, this was a higher percentage of antifreeze than what I’d had before. Still, it didn’t look greenish. It looked brownish.
Shit. (Again, the edited version.)
So I sent off an email to VW Mike. Not that he can do anything about it at the moment. But I wanted to keep him apprised. Just as I finished that email, an email came in from my sister: she can’t go with me to see Jesse Malin on the 20th. Shit. (That’s actually unedited; it’s exactly what I said.) Since I was already on the downward slope, this pushed me into a bit of a free-fall.
Then a friend called and by then I was crying and sniffling and whining. He was as helpful as he could be, but there’s really not much you can do for someone who’s feeling a bit persecuted by the universe. Nevertheless, the call did help.
So I went out for one last look at the pavement under my car (by this time it was dusk). Yep. There’re the few drops on the driver’s side, near the front, and it still doesn’t appear to be antifreeze to me. It feels too slippery and thick. But now there’s also a little (about the size of a 50-cent piece) spot under the passenger front side — under where the antifreeze reservoir is. That looks like antifreeze. It’s only a tiny bit, but, as James pointed out to me: “It’s not supposed to leak at all.”
So here I am, feeling very sorry for myself. Poverty-stricken and near my wits’ end with what to do next. The first thing will be to continue keeping an eye on the car. The second will be to see if VW Mike has an opinion on it (I’m sure he does). I guess I go from there.
The upshot? I have no idea if my car will be able to drive me to Brooklyn, Philly, and NYC on the 14th, 15th, 18th and 20th. I hate when things are iffy like that.
The other upshot is that I now have an extra ticket to see Jesse Malin at the Mercury Lounge on the 20th. It’s a $12 ticket. If anyone in the NYC area is interested, send me a message. I know it’s a Thursday night and Jesse isn’t scheduled to come on until 10 PM, but I know it’ll be a good gig. I don’t think he does bad ones.
Well, this little confessional has cleansed my soul a bit (the chamomile tea and 1 mg. of Ativan didn’t hurt either). Tonight I’m looking forward to putting on my Yoga Toes and watching some classic Hitchcock.
–Mary
Currently watching:
Notorious
Release date: 07 September, 1999
10 Dec 07 Monday
When Obsession Takes Over …
Current mood:Obsessed
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes
Confession: I sometimes get obsessed about things. No, really. I’m sure you couldn’t tell by all the Ian Hunter pictures, but it’s absolutely true. I get obsessed.
Some might say that obsession is an illness. But isn’t love something like obsession? Love’s not an illness. (Though now that I’ve typed that, I’m thinking Hank Williams’ “Lovesick Blues.”)
Scratch that.
All right, then, obsession can be an illness, but it can also be a passionate pursuit. Yeah. Like art. I’m an obsession artist. That’s it!
Anyway, when I start feeling myself getting a tad too … preoccupied, I put my energy into changing my focus. Right now I’m working on two foci: fitness and writing.
The fitness jag comes and goes. Right now I’ve started lifting weights again and even doing some cardio. (I hate indoor cardio, but it’s a bit more tolerable if I listen to decent music.) I’ve also been doing a totally half-assed version of a low-carb diet. I’m trying to lose some fat, while preserving muscle. It’s not as difficult as it sounds. The hardest part is getting enough protein. I need about 115 – 120 grams a day. That’s a lot, when you consider that a can of tuna has 30 g of protein. Imagine eating four cans of tuna a day. That’s why I do the protein powder thing.
The other focus is writing. I started that new journal and I’ve been writing in it every day. I’ve even written some utterly hideous “poems” (I’m loathe to call them that, but that’s what the creatures were supposed to be when they were gestating).
As for that obsession I was trying to shove out of my consciousness? It’s still there. One of these days, I’m going to do something about it.
–Mary
Currently listening:
This Year’s Model (With Bonus Disc)
By Elvis Costello
Release date: 19 February, 2002
11 Dec 07 Tuesday
Another Car Update
Current mood: happy
Category: Automotive
I saw VW Mike today when I stopped at The Parents’ house (he was there working on my dad’s truck). He said that I shouldn’t worry about the dripping. As long as the engine runs at 180 degrees and the level in the radiator reservoir isn’t dropping madly, then the system’s just “finding its level.” OK. Sounds reasonable enough to me.
Now I am officially no longer stressed over my car. But it wouldn’t hurt to make some small offerings to the automotive gods, just in case. Keeping gods appeased is always a good policy.
–Mary
Currently listening:
Get Happy!!
By Elvis Costello & the Attractions
Release date: 01 May, 2007
12 Dec 07 Wednesday
Getting Psyched
Current mood: excited
Category: Music
In 48 hours I’ll be in Brooklyn, (most likely) standing outside waiting to get into the Music Hall of Williamsburg to see Mr. Ian Hunter! I’m getting very excited about this.
I’ve cleaned all the crap out of my car so I’ll be able to fit everyone and their bags (for the Philly leg of the tour). I colored my hair. I’ve tried on a bazillion different outfits (and still don’t know what to wear other than my new fuchsia gogo boots!). I made up all the beds at The Parents’ house so we don’t have to do that when we get there at two in the morning. Tomorrow night I’m doing my nails and packing all my stuff.
It’s not just seeing Ian & the band that’s exciting, it’s seeing friends from the Internet and other IH gigs. What a perfect time of year to be able to see all these people who annoy the crap out of me the other 364 days each year. Naw. They’re all pretty good eggs.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make any buttons/pins/badges. The last IH tour really broke the Bank of Miss Mary, especially with the holidays here. Nevermind the car fiasco and a couple of trips to see Jesse Malin (with two more JM gigs next week! ), gasoline prices ($3.29 per gallon was the cheap price!), and … you get the picture, I’m sure. Fortunately, I don’t have to budget for beer and cigarettes. Though I do have to eat.
Tonight is a working night. I’m going to put up some more things on Ebay while the gallery pictures are free. I’m also going to put up some more of the web pages that seem to be making me a little money this season.
On a totally separate issue: I still have no idea who’s reading my blog! Whoever you are (and, yes, I mean you!), I hope I’m keeping you mildly amused. Or at least helping you pass the few minutes you have to look busy just before five o’clock. I should be used to total strangers reading what I write — hell, total strangers used to know the names of all my ferrets! Still, I’m curious. I have this illusion (delusion?) that it’s someone who secretly has a mad crush on me. (Really, though. )
–Mary
Currently listening:
The Best of Johnny Cash
By Johnny Cash
Release date: 13 August, 1991
13 Dec 07 Thursday
Blog blog blog blog
Current mood: inspired
Category: Life
Good afternoon. The delightfully soft, fluttering flakes of snow that drifted to earth earlier today have metamorphosed into tiny beads of icy rain pelting the ground and forming sheets of ice on car windows that will, no doubt, be as tenacious as superglue. Tomorrow morning will be one of those hour-long sessions of ice removal. I know it.
I’ve taken this opportunity to stay inside and get things done. I cleaned the house. OK. I swept the floors, cleaned the bathroom, sprayed Febreze on the couch, scooped the cat’s litter box (what an unholy job that is!), wiped the spilled stuff out of the refrigerator, and took out the garbage. That’s very nearly cleaning the house. I’ve also done laundry, put about 40 million things back where they belong, did a good half-hour of “mountain trail” on the treadmill, and cleaned up the cat’s vomit.
I don’t know why Milo was sick; he seems OK now. Maybe it was just a hairball thing. I know much more about ferrets than cats, and Milo isn’t telling me anything. He’s an old cat. Very old. Eighteen or twenty. That old. He’s losing muscle mass, as old animals do. But he’s still extremely friendly and cuddly. I worry about him.
Fascinating day, huh? Well, just wait! My next task is figuring out what I’m going to wear to the two Ian Hunter gigs. I’m not sure if I can wear my brown sweater dress with my fuchsia boots. I think I can, especially if I also wear some pink jewelry. But I’m going to have to get a few opinions before I commit. (I know, this is not only silly and superficial, but it’s dead boring to read about, too.)
What else?
I keep thinking about my mom. I’m not really sure why. I think it’s because I go past the cemetery every once in a while. Sometimes I stop. But mostly I just wave and continue on my way. She’s not there, anyway. She’s here ( ).
Mary
Currently listening:
King of America
By Elvis Costello
14 Dec 07 Friday
Reading Is Fundamental
Current mood: sleepy
Category: Writing and Poetry
Tonight I finally read the manual for my camera and learned how to change the ISO so I can take pictures properly in the dark. Look for some good gig pictures after this weekend and next week. I wish I’d read the manual sooner. Like a year or so ago when I first started using it.
Just for fun — one of my favorite William Carlos Williams poems:
This Is Just To Say
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
Finally, an old fortune cookie fortune I found:
This could be an almost
perfect day. Enjoy it.
(It also says my lucky numbers are 16, 36, 45, 6, 3, and 29.)
Good night.
–Mary
16 Dec 07 Sunday
Ian Hunter Brooklyn Gig Photos
Current mood: exhausted
Category: Music
I’m way too tired to tell you all about my fantastic weekend, but here are the pics I took at the Brooklyn gig:
http://s225.photobucket.com/albums/dd208/marydrews/Brooklyn%20IH%20Dec%2015/
I’ll post some rambling tomorrow.
Mary
PS — I’m annoyed that the picture for the book I just got as a gift is not loading or doesn’t exist. But, hey, welcome to technology.
Currently reading:
Between Thought and Expression: Selected Lyrics of Lou Reed
By Lou Reed
Release date: October, 1991
18 Dec 07 Tuesday
Here’s that rambling I promised…
Current mood: adventurous
Category: Music
I read something today that made me remember that I once tried to read Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake while I was drunk, hoping that doing so would endow it (or me) with clarity and vision. But I just couldn’t manage it. Or maybe I did manage it and everything became clear while I was in the midst of a blackout, so it’s gone forever, locked inside one of my liquor-withered brain cells.
At least I tried.
I hope some of you have looked at the pics I posted on Photobucket Sunday night. I was dragging tired when I struggled through getting them on there.
The pics were from the Ian Hunter Brooklyn gig at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Nice venue. The area was all right, too. The sound up front was muddy as usual. But I like being up where everything is happening. You get to see the interaction among the band members, the looks, the smiles.
This was my fantastic weekend:
Friday I picked up Carolyn at the train and got home just in time for Susan’s arrival. We put ourselves together and headed into Brooklyn, where we picked up Mick and Sue at a nice hotel in a somewhat dodgy area. Then we crawled along Broadway for about 40 minutes. There’s an El train over Broadway, and Carolyn pointed out that it was like being in The French Connection. But it was more like being in stills from The French Connection.
We found the venue and a parking space. It took me about five minutes to parallel park. Maybe it was more than that. It was traumatic. I don’t really want to talk about it.
Off to find a pub. We ended up in what I think was called the Williamsburg Cafe. It was a decent little place with one of those living-room-like areas where we all settled. I got in touch with Mike (that would be Andy and Janet’s kid) and he showed up just as Susan, Carolyn and I were headed out to line up for the gig. Turns out we could’ve stayed a while longer, but we’re dedicated to getting ourselves up front.
The Music Hall of Williamsburg is similar to the Bowery Ballroom in that they let you into the downstairs bar (where there is no cell phone reception of which to speak) well before the actual door time.
Of course, we three ended up at the front. The gig was fantastic. Ian was in a good mood in October in the UK and that continued for the Brooklyn gig. Detailed reviews have been posted elsewhere (on the IHMB), so I’ll forgo one here.
After the gig a group of us went over to the Union Pool where Lisa Ronson’s band was playing. An interesting sound — “Art School” is how Mick described it. They did “Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” among a couple of other songs before they were off for the night.
Then so were we. Susan, Carolyn, Mick and Sue (Mick’s friend) and I went back to my parents’ house to sleep. The next morning we were off to Philly for the next gig.
The drive down was fine. My car behaved beautifully (thank you to all who have been praying to and/or making offerings to the Automotive gods). We got to our hotel and saw Justin as we were checking in. After a quick-change into appropriate gig attire, we were off to Moriarty’s to meet up with other Ian Hunter fans.
Moriarty’s has really yummy potato soup.
We met up with Tanya and her friend Jeff, Stephen (who I met in the UK) and his wife Christie, and Rick. Eventually Janice and the Boschy clan showed up. But soon after several of us were off to line up at the venue.
Susan and I took a cab and the bastard driver tried to rip us off. Good luck, bucko. He overshot our destination because he forgot where he was going. When we did get to the Trocadero, I paid him with a $20 bill. About a minute later he jumps out and says that he gave me the wrong change because I’d only given him a $10 bill. I stared him down and told him (very sternly like someone’s angry mom or something): “I gave you a twenty.” He tried to insist, but I insisted more insistently. He finally gave up and said: “If that’s the way you want to be …” Well, yeah, I like to be honest.
The next scary thing was finding that Carolyn and Stephen and Christie weren’t the first on line! We were all very concerned that we’d not get up front. But when they finally let us in, it turns out that the first group of people on the line had to pick up their tickets before they went inside. So we were front and center again.
The Trocadero is a nice old theater, but the stage is really high. I couldn’t even see Steve Holley in the back. I also couldn’t see Paul Page for much of the gig. But I was there primarily for Ian, so that worked out all right.
Again, there are more detailed reviews in other places, so I’ll just get on with the things I want to talk about.
There was a little girl there right up front. She was there with her mom. The kid couldn’t have been more than 6 or 8 years old. She knew the words! James Mastro made sure she got a set list. If I’d had my wits about me, I might have imposed upon him to get it signed by everyone for the kid. And there goes that ghost on the staircase.
After the gig we returned to Moriarty’s for karaoke. No shit. I’ve never done karoke. Never. But Susan has. Of course, Susan has a nice voice, so it’s all right for her to do it. But I agreed to do “Roll Away the Stone” with her when we found out that they had it. How could I not? It’s my theme song. Eventually we were up and we did a rocking rendition of RATS. Seriously! We were really good.
I’ll leave out how we wrecked “All the Young Dudes.” (It wasn’t our fault; the karaoke screen kept putting up Ian’s rap and I never do that part — I always do the chorus).
The ride back to NY was uneventful despite the dire weather predictions. It drizzled. That’s all.
Today I’m heading into NYC to see the Jesse Malin Xmas Show at the Mercury Lounge. If you’re there, say Hi. I might be all on my own if I don’t hear from Mike and his buddy. I’ll be there on Thursday night with my cousin Karl. I’m really looking forward to seeing Jesse again. What a great way to celebrate the season.
–Mary
PS – I forgot to mention that I watched this somewhat brief documentary on Joe Strummer last night: Let’s Rock Again. It was on the Sundance channel. It really sucks when people die too young.
Young
We know it.
The light, the glow.
What’s left of them —
not memories
(those are here).
But the flash
seared fast into us.
The fused part
where we meet.
Where we’ll always meet.
Dense as the dark now,
but for a sharp impression
snapped across the sky
then gone.
There’s the trouble.
The absence of light —
knowing what’s gone
once was not gone.
Once was here,
was illumination —
life.
How can we not know it?
The spark, ash
— already.
–M.R.D.
Currently listening:
Glitter in the Gutter
By Jesse Malin
Release date: 20 March, 2007
19 Dec 07 Wednesday
Photos from Jesse Malin 12/18/07
Current mood: satisfied
Category: Music
Some pics from the Jesse Malin Xmas Show last night at the Mercury Lounge.
Photobucket Album
Jesse Malin Xmas Show – 12/18/07
Currently reading:
Wild Iris
By Louise Gluck
Release date: 01 January, 1994
… continued …