I really meant to do more today.

I had grand plans of writing and other adventures.  Instead, I napped, sat on the couch watching Mythbusters, and played my guitar.  I regret nothing.

I did venture out early in the day, to have a brief meeting with my friend Jim, who brought many fine cheeses.  This trip he gifted us with a Queso Blanco, some lemon juice Ricotta, and his first successful mozzarella.  After that, Tara, George, and I went over to the Taco Taxi for some brunch tacos.  This was the first time I was able to get the anticuchos, and I must say they were delicious.  When you order, he throws the raw, marinated meat on the grill right in front of you, cooking the meat with a spoonful of cilantro chimichurri, and then he adds a few roasted baby potatos to the skewer to make it a meal.

Brian told us that in the next few weeks he may be serving food a few days a week in South Austin.  Watch his website for further details.

I’m not sure why I was so tired today, although I suspect it had something to do with this.

Saturday, I spent the day in the tattoo chair, getting the first round of color added to my sleeve.  I got there at 3 in the afternoon, I left at 10 that night.  So much detail work.  The arm was still a little tender from two weeks ago, and this didn’t help any.  It doesn’t really hurt, but it’s sore.  It’s very sore.  In the muscle sore.

I knew going in to this tattoo that the elbow was going to hurt.  I was ready for that.  The outside, with the bone, was bad.  The inside, where there’s very little muscle, was also bad.  But like I said, I was prepared.  You know what I didn’t expect to hurt?  My inner arm, close to the arm pit.  If you look at the picture, I’m talking about Magnificent’s right foot.  That’s his right, not your right.  That little spot there… it feels like the needle was suddenly electrified.

But it looks awesome, doesn’t it?  Two more weeks, one more session in the chair, and it should be finished.

And now, it’s time for some aftercare.  Twice a day, I wash the tattoo with warm water and anti-bacterial soap, and then apply a light coating of Aquaphor.  The tattoo will scab over for a few weeks, and it’s critical that the scabs be kept moist.  If the scabs get dry, they will pull off easier, and that can also pull the ink from the skin.  Pull the ink from the skin, you have to re-do that area. And we don’t even want to think about infection.  After-care is important, and must be followed to the letter.  Love the tattoo, and treat it well.  So it’s off to do some aftercare, and then I have a date with my wife and The Simpsons.

Be good to each other.

Hello poor neglected blog.  Yes, I have missed you.  Yes, I heard you singing “Telephone Line” while I was sleeping the last few nights, and yes I’ve felt you staring at the back of my head for weeks now.  I wasn’t ignoring you, I swear.  I’ve just been busy, you know how it goes.  There’s been a lot I’ve wanted to talk about, but time gets away from me and I forget.  And then I take up new projects, and I’ve just been so tired.  Even now after a breakfast energy drink and a large cup of Gyokuro Kin I’m still finding it hard to keep my eyes open.  But, as you can see, I’m here anyways. 

The skin is peeling off of my left index finger.  I don’t know what’s up with that.

I meant to tell you about our canoe trip last weekend.  Basically, it was great.  We packed up a little earlier than planned and took the scenic route from Austin down to Spring Branch, by way of Driftwood to Wimberly to Fisher to Canyon Lake and down.  Scenic it was, no doubt, and curvy as hell.  We didn’t get above 50 too often, but got a peek at Damien Mandola’s winery, a lot of goats, and quite a few biker bars.  Since we made it to Spring Branch about 90 minutes ahead of schedule, we stopped at a saloon for lunch (with a good 100 or so bikers and other passers-by).  The food was good, aka fried and delicious, the open patio was air-conditioned by way of gigantic fans, and they had decent iced tea for a bar.  I’d go back, and if I could remember the name of the place I’d tell you to go too.  I’ll get back to you.
Anywho, after lunch we met up with 95 other folks from the Alamo Drafthouse for our group canoeing down the Guadalupe River.  After waiting about an hour or so for everything to get settled, we loaded onto short busses and white vans and headed upstream.  Once on the water, Mick and I proceeded to suck it up as canoers.  To be fair, I was doing most of the sucking while Mick tried to correct for my ineptness and yelled “no! switch! right! now left! no, not like that! paddle, dammit!”  We almost ran into a tree once.  About halfway down the river, though, we started to get the hang of things, which led to us only getting stuck on a rock once.  By the end, we were feeling good, navigating the blobs of tubers quite effectively, and even managed to cruise the rougher parts with relative confidence.  And we managed to be the first ones back to the camp.  Which meant we got to pick a good spot to plop ourselves down and wait for the movie to start.  Did I mention there was a movie?  Of course there was, it was a Drafthouse event.  And what better to movie to watch after canoeing than Deliverance!  Of course it was fabulous, I hadn’t seen it for many years so it was refreshing to enjoy it again.  There was also bbq provided (A WHOLE SMOKED PIG!), which was absolutely delicious.  And everything managed to wrap up before 11, so the non-scenic drive home was quick and painless and I was asleep before 1am.  In short, I will probably not be purchasing a canoe in the near future, but I wouldn’t be opposed to going again.  I have a couple pictures that I’ll happily post for you tomorrow. 

The ensuing week after the trip has been relatively uneventful.  Sunday night we did go see the new Rush documentary, Beyond the Lighted Stage.  Did I mention I have been recently completely obsessed and emotionally obliterated by Rush?  I don’t think I’ve listened to anything else for at least two weeks now.  Maybe my soul is trying to make up for the 24 years I never listened to Rush, shunned them even.  What the hell was I thinking???  I wasn’t, that’s the problem.  I was letting someone else think for me.  Well screw that!  I’ve got every album (except the live ones) on my ipod and have been rotating through the catalog about once a day.  Occasionally I’ll stop and live in a song for a little while; this morning it was Time Stand Still, for a good reason (**see below), and I listened to it four times on the way to work and once when I got here.  It took me at least two of those to try and forget the strange and slightly silly video.  But even for a non-obsessed superfan, the documentary is well-done and enjoyable.  Mick wrote a great review on CyberMonkeyDeathSquad, which you should read.  And then pick up the doc when it comes out on dvd/blu-ray June 29th. 

**I think part of my current obsession with Rush might be linked to the books I’m reading.  I finally picked up The Chronicles of Amber, which was recommended to me first by my old buddy/book guru/life-saver Chas, and then later by Mick who owns pretty much the whole series and some other stuff too.  I read the first book, Nine Princes In Amber, in a matter of days and was immediately completely and totally in love.  I wrote a review for the website, then moved on to the second book.  Guns of Avalon was almost as impressive, though absolutely captivating in places, and it got a review too.  I’m now in the beginning of the third book, Sign of the Unicorn, and am loving it just as much as the rest.  There’s already been some interesting revelations, a good bit of family drama, some awesome dark and scary bits, and I left off last night at the end of a chapter right when the protagonist gets stabbed by a mysterious intruder.  And, as mentioned above, that was the reason for my Time Stand Still fascination upon waking this morning, as the climax of the last chapter deals with the slowing of time and heightened consciousness and the like.  Beyond that, it seems that Rush and Amber just go really well together.  There’s elements of fantasy blended with a healthy dose of reality, a little warfare, a dash of sexy, and all of it makes my soul very very happy.  One is constantly reminding me of the other, and when I’m separated from both I think back to them regularly.  A more professional person might say that this is unhealthy.  I won’t tell them they’re wrong, but I won’t care much either.    

Well blog, that’s where I’ll leave you for today.  Only a few other things have happened lately, none of which can’t wait until tomorrow.  I’ll see you then.