Schtuff.

Yep, it's gonna be one of those "brain dump" posts.

Sorry.

Try and stay with me.

First up: TITS! I had my bi-annual boob squish and chest X-ray today. Is there anything more awkward than getting a mammogram? Having some woman manhandle your boobage in between two acrylic boards only to have the girls squished six ways from Sunday is simply bizarre. I guess it's similar to the old "turn your head and cough" bit that you boys have to go through except that YOUR nuts don't get flattened and then photographed.

Anyway, my appointment actually took less time than I was expecting (when was that last time THAT happened at a medical appointment), but it still ended too late for it to make any sense for me to go back to work, so instead, I hauled ass to the movie theater and saw "Talk to Me." I've been a huge Don Cheadle fan since "Boogie Nights." His subtlety and depth is fascinating. This movie was great because of him. I'm so damn white that I'd never even HEARD of Petey Green before this movie came out, and after learning his story and the impact that he had on the African-American community, I'm pretty ashamed by that. Cheadle made you understand how this brash, in-your-face guy was also charming, compelling and attractive. All of the cast was great. And nothing really beats going and sitting in a cool movie theater on a sweltering summer afternoon after having your knockers mammographied.

Did I say "sweltering"? Yes, I did. After all of that rain that we were all bitching about, the summer has arrived with a vengeance. This week we had our first "ozone action" days, and I had to water my flower beds and yard for the first time. It is August after all, so I guess we shouldn't complain. I will say, however, that I wouldn't mind a bit more of that rain right about now.

Wait. I just realized that I totally forgot to tell you guys about the Rufus Wainwright show last Saturday.

Sigh.

Rufus...

Well, I went to the show with two friends from work and their other friend. We met even more friends there, and ran into more and more folks we knew throughout the night. Stubb's was sold out, and it's basically an outdoor pit, so with the teeming humanity and the lack of breeze and the fact that it's August in Austin, it was HOT. As fuck. But Neko Case put on a great--if waaaaaaaaay too short--set, and Rufus...well, Rufus was flawless.



His band was tight; his voice was perfect; and his banter was witty. Any guy who can pull off a striped "short set" with a huge cowboy hat, brooches, and a low slung belt and still look strangely sexy while singing his ass off is a-okay in my book.
And when he came back from the encore, he was sporting custom made lieder-hosen (I know I'm misspelling that. If you're German, please forgive.) Awesome.


Sunday was spent recuperating and blowing my Weight Watchers "Flex Points" with bloody Marys and Tex-Mex at Sazon. But fuck it: how often do I get to party with my friends while seeing Rufus? Never, that's how often.


For some reason, The Geej decided to board the "wake mommy up" train every night this week. Sunday night: 4 times. Monday night: 3 times (the last time was at 4:10 am, and I never got back to sleep until about 20 minutes before my alarm went off). So last night she went to stay with Dah, and man, was I ever looking forward to an uninterrupted night's sleep. But no: Earl had to do his thing: At about 3am, he crawled up on the pillow next to me and started making biscuits while purring so loudly that I'm pretty sure the neighbors' houses were shaking. Once he'd made his nest, he plopped his Rubenesque ass down and fell asleep. Then started snoring. When I shook him and told him to "shuthefuckup," he got up and started making biscuits and purring an inch away from my ear again. So, I kicked his ass out and shut the door. Then he started clawing under the door and crying. Fucking mama's boy. Talk about having to sleep in the bed you've made...

Lordy.

What else...let's see...

Oh! I went to BookPeople today and dropped serious cash on some books that I'm pretty sure I'm never going to have the time to read. I even splurged on two hard covers! What the Hell was I thinking?!

Finally, I'll leave you with one other funny Earl thing (sorry Badger). I wrote recently about how I got my autoharp back in shape. Well, I've really been practicing and picking out songs and working on my playing. The Geej loves it. She's always asking me to play my "music thing" during dinner, and since it takes her about 6 hours longer to eat than it take me, I gladly oblige to pass the time. Well, during one recent dinnertime serenade, I looked in my bedroom to find this in my autoharp case.

I love how he's maximizing his use of the space: head spilling over one end, tail over the other. Reminds me of that show on HGTV called "Small Space: Big Style."

Y'all, the boy has issues.