I had a really nice Memorial Day.  There was a Drag City barbecue at Zach’s & Dan K’s (they live upstairs/downstairs from each other).  Whole lotta fun.  I spent most of the time playing with the dogs like I always do at barbecues… getting my hands shredded by puppy-bites is totally my idea of a good time.  :-) Me and Eric played badminton for awhile too, with Bettina from Thrill Jockey and Liz from Town and Country.  Eric was talking to Rian’s girlfriend (fiance!) Lisa, it turns out they both spent their early years in Burnsville, MN and even went to the same elementary school.  Not at the same time, but still, that’s a small world for ya.

I have a new office chair, the most awesome chair I have ever owned, I’m sitting in it right now.  It was on sale, so cheap I couldn’t believe it.  And to think I went FOR FUCKING EVER with the crappiest, most crappier-than-crap office chair you ever saw, with a ripped-up vinyl cushion held together by upteem years worth of peeling-up mailing tape.  And I must have moved that thing to five or six different apartments.  Why why WHY?  I put that shit out by the dumpster behind my building, went upstairs and back down again 10 minutes later with a bag of trash, and it was gone already!!  I feel sorry for whoever’s cursed with it now.

Tomorrow I’m driving to a super-secret location to drop off the computer I’m donating to the Rainbow House shelter.  I have to sign a confidentiality agreement saying I won’t tell where it is, or talk about anybody I may see there, etc. etc.  Because of course it’s a shelter and there are people in there being sheltered from other evil people on the outside who I’m sure would really want to find out where that place is and who’s inside.  Fuck you, man!!  I ain’t tellin’ NOTHIN’ to NOBODY.

Thursday I’m doing fucking JURY DUTY.  Like, OMGWTF, don’t they KNOW who I AMMMMM?  Heheh.  Just kidding.  The last time my number came up was at least ten years ago, when I lived in Brooklyn, so I guess I’m due to do my duty.  I have stuff to read, and I’ll bring my laptop to play with.  I’ve been saving up crossword puzzles too.  Patternless is my thing.  Those are hard!

This coming weekend is Kraftwerk, I’m so excited!!  I actually had a dream that a cop stopped me on my way to that show and tried to ruin everything for me even though I’d done nothing wrong.  I woke myself up crying "He’s gonna make me miss Kraftwerk, I JUST KNOW IT!!  SOB!!"

Next weekend we get rolling again with the recording.  I’ll be working with Lindsay and Josh I believe, maybe John Hasbrouck too.  Mark still recording, and Rian still producing.

Oh, and I talked to Azita at the party yesterday and asked her if she’d maybe grace the record with a little piano.  The answer was yes!  I don’t think that’ll happen until later on though, when we go in to do post-op work at North Branch.  Azita kinda terrifies me, in a good way.  Meaning, I can’t predict what the fuck she’s gonna sound like, because doing what’s predictable is simply not in her vocabulary.  We’ve only worked together once before, on the Supersession album that Neil Hagerty produced.  I remember those sessions well; her playing just about made me burst into tears.  In a good way!  So this should be pretty fresh and interesting.