Numbers

    Obviously, I've been phoning this in for a very long time. I'm trying to hang on until I get to my next big even number, 2,000 posts or whatever it is. I'm starting to think that this is an unworthy goal and I should just hang it up. The problem with being happy is that there isn't much to talk about. I'm not sure that the difficulties of choosing the perfect new cat furniture is a topic that really has legs. (But if anyone has any brilliant suggestions, we would be soooo receptive!)
    I enjoy exploring my dreams, but I don't remember many. I still get the ones where I'm in a city-sized dormitory forever looking for somewhere to eat, somewhere to sleep, or somewhere to use the bathroom. (That should be food, a bed, a bathroom, shouldn't it?) Tamara thinks it means that I feel lost. I can go with that but am fairly used to feeling lost. Also, my brain always takes a while to recognize changes. I told her that the next time I have that dream, I'm just going to stop somebody and ask for directions. I bet I never have that dream again then.

Addicts

    We've been watching Game of Thrones in recent weeks, starting from the beginning. For a while there, we were able to restrain ourselves and watch only one or two episodes per night. We've sort of lost our minds, though. Saturday night, we watched three episodes. This resulted in stiff necks and we swore we wouldn't do it again. That sure lasted! After Jackson Browne, we watched another three episodes, going past midnight for the first time. Last night, we did it again, but stopped before midnight at least. We're about halfway through season 4 (out of 6). So we'll be running out of episodes fairly soon, there being only ten to a season. We dream about it. We talk about it in the night. No doubt we'll be joining a 12-step program soon. (No we won't.) We do try to throw in a light comedy now and then. Game of Thrones is excellent on many levels, but zany it isn't. We're seldom bored with it, though.

Jackson Browne show

    Yesterday's blog post today! Before heading to the Jackson Browne show, we formally agreed that if the show was bad at all or if our fellow attendees were again obnoxious, we would bail and come home. No on one and yes on two, but we stayed all the way and enjoyed it all. It was odd how many of his big songs that he didn't do, such as "Here Come Those Tears Again," "Boulevard," "That Girl Could Sing," "Lawyers In Love." I would have liked to hear "The Fuse" as well. But everything he did was terrific. He did one song that isn't on any record, another that's on his most recent record but which he didn't write. It's by a singer/songwriter very popular in Cuba but unknown here. On the whole, he came across as a very decent guy, and perfectly willing to do requests called out from the crowd. We dug it.
    The Township is still not our favorite venue. We learned a valuable object lesson, though. The expensive seats for the Moodies offered a great view, but we couldn't hear them well. The cheap (actually free) seats offered ok sight lines and we could hear perfectly well. If we ever return, I think we'll go with the balcony. But I seriously doubt that we'll return.

Jackson Browne

    We're going to see Jackson Browne solo acoustic tonight and I'm excited, really, I swear I am. The only thing is that I won the tickets last year, picked them up in early January for a show that was initially supposed to be in January but was postponed due to illness. And the radio has been playing the same promos since January of Jackson singing solo and acoustic. And it sounds very, very, very downbeat and depressing. I know that Jackson has been touring for decades and must know by now how to include an upbeat number here and there. I'm sure it will be a great show and that we will enjoy every minute. But I tell you what: whoever made that promo did Jackson a real disservice. If I hadn't won the tickets, there'd be almost no way I would have bought them. That said, I reiterate: I expect to enjoy every minute. AND to call out my home town like at the start of Running On Empty. We are hoping and praying that the "ROCK AND ROLL FOREVER!!!" people from the Moodies show aren't seated behind us again. Cross all fingers and toes.

Chihuahua chatauqua

    You wouldn't think it would be fun. It isn't a very exciting place. An unpaved road running from nowhere to nowhere, flanked by not very scenic farms. But it's the best place ever for excitable chihuahuas to run, since there aren't other dogs (or people) there. We've gone three times now, and twice with both chihuahuas, and it's been crazy fun every time. We are hoping that Lucy (the older, more nervous traveler of the two) will eventually start to associate car trips with fun instead of vets and plane flights. But it's possible that she has motion sickness. Anyway, once we get there she has fun and absolutely refuses to admit that she's tired when she's obviously flagging. It was supposed to be crazy hot today, but a tropical depression coming this way depressed temperatures. (It also raised humidity, but you can't have everything.) So we got an extra fairly temperate day in what is normally already summer around here. So yay!

Wow!

    The array of presents beloved Tamara gave me for my birthday is just flat astonishing, but I'm not sure she wants me to talk about it. However, the most amazing ones must be mentioned. A tape player with a USB connection for turning songs on tape to MP3s and a turntable that does the same for my old singles and LPs. I'm just in awe, overwhelmed, and crazy grateful. It will take a long, long time for me to work my way through all of them, and I'm going to enjoy every minute! What a sweetheart she is! She also gave me a lot of other neat stuff and three books, always the best way to stay high in my esteem. She is a mind reader, as well as a wonderful person and a sweet darling. What a birthday! Yay!

It's my party and I'll fail to blog if I want to!

    There's been a lot of these lately, haven't there? I was amused to dream last night about going to North Carolina and taking walks on golf courses which looked nothing like golf courses and everything like hiking trails. Sawgrass was mentioned, which I'm reasonably certain is not in North Carolina. A reminder of the Mark Twain quote about a good walk spoiled. There was also some business about a CD I have by Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins and Sonny Stitt with only four cuts on it. In the dream, there was another cut I always left off that was 20 minutes long. Completely fictitious, but now I want to hear that imaginary cut. Have to go to Sawgrass I guess!