What did you do today?

[boomana]

Yeah, leave those crazy people out of your life, and come join us at CanJam - good plan.

[xand1x]

Played 5 hours of basketball outside..wonderful day for it too! No wind, sunny & around 20C. Work in the morning though going to be a bit sore

[shellylh]

Wow Vicki, that is quite a bit more excitement than a like to have in a day. Yikes.

[Aimless1]

Boomana, wow. Leaves me pretty speechless. I've heard of but have never experienced anything like that. Hope your friend survives the stalking intact.

My day pales in comparison. Spent the day with my wife's family. Mom Z (85) decided to move to a retirement home, so a big day. First day in forever that I can recall all 4 siblings getting along. So a good day here.

[thrice]

Sorry for the rough day Vicki... huh, I remember what is was like to go to the movies... get back there someday.

We started moving into our new home. Should be done by next weekend.

[Wmcmanus]

Mine is a wreck, but it's because I haven't done any Spring cleaning.

So, in an effort to have a low-key, friendly afternoon, I took one of my best friends of the past 20 years, her son and her father to see Iron Man, but missed most of the movie due to drama. Though my friend just turned 40 last week, same week her divorce was finalized, she'd managed to fall in love (again) with some 63-year-old guy a couple months ago, and everything was just the bestest of the most perfectest everest until some woman showed up last week, who has apparently been living for free in one of this guy's rental homes for a couple years, and in exchange she comes to his home to cook for him and clean for him and sleep naked with him, but without having sex, and has now decided to stalk my friend like a freaking crazy lady because my friend is having sex with this guy, and because she is a good stalker, she showed up at the theater, which means she had to have been hanging out by my friend's home, and started shoving her cell phone at us to show us text messages saying things like "you are the only one" as some weird proof of I don't care what, and my friend, who is another excellent crazy person, starts screaming in Russian, but then tries to hug the stalker, which didn't exactly go over really well, and other than getting dad and kid out of there, I sure as hell didn't know what to do, but fortunately after about 10 minutes of a bad scene (surprised we weren't arrested), the stalker lady left to probably stalk from a distance, and I've spent the last few hours doing what I didn't want to do at all, which was listen to my friend talk herself down and turn this day into some kind of victory, which is naturally so far off the point of anything that makes sense to anyone remotely sane it pissed me off to no end, and I also missed the movie and then the hockey game, and now I'm typing this one long annoying sentence, but that's exactly how I feel right now. Time to cut crazy people that insist on staying crazy out of my life again.

That sounds really crazy, Vic!

But you should have seen what happened to me today!

I'm in Maine, and I made the mistake of mentioning to a few people that I know this guy name Gene, who lives down in Sarasota...

Big mistake! I've been running from the police, several crazy stalker women, and several of their husbands ever since!

[boomana]

if it makes you feel any better, one of my best friends asked me if i wanted to go to a concert tonight, and i said sure, but he didn't tell me it was a jam band, so i feel about the same.

Nope. That's far worse.

[Dusty Chalk]

Mine is a wreck, but it's because I haven't done any Spring cleaning.

So, in an effort to have a low-key, friendly afternoon, I took one of my best friends of the past 20 years, her son and her father to see Iron Man, but missed most of the movie due to drama. Though my friend just turned 40 last week, same week her divorce was finalized, she'd managed to fall in love (again) with some 63-year-old guy a couple months ago, and everything was just the bestest of the most perfectest everest until some woman showed up last week, who has apparently been living for free in one of this guy's rental homes for a couple years, and in exchange she comes to his home to cook for him and clean for him and sleep naked with him, but without having sex, and has now decided to stalk my friend like a freaking crazy lady because my friend is having sex with this guy, and because she is a good stalker, she showed up at the theater, which means she had to have been hanging out by my friend's home, and started shoving her cell phone at us to show us text messages saying things like "you are the only one" as some weird proof of I don't care what, and my friend, who is another excellent crazy person, starts screaming in Russian, but then tries to hug the stalker, which didn't exactly go over really well, and other than getting dad and kid out of there, I sure as hell didn't know what to do, but fortunately after about 10 minutes of a bad scene (surprised we weren't arrested), the stalker lady left to probably stalk from a distance, and I've spent the last few hours doing what I didn't want to do at all, which was listen to my friend talk herself down and turn this day into some kind of victory, which is naturally so far off the point of anything that makes sense to anyone remotely sane it pissed me off to no end, and I also missed the movie and then the hockey game, and now I'm typing this one long annoying sentence, but that's exactly how I feel right now. Time to cut crazy people that insist on staying crazy out of my life again.

Fuck. Yeezh. Jesus.

I did laundry. Drove to Richmond and back. Did some research for work. No drama. Good day. Yes, I am also somewhat inebriated. Rainbows and puppies and fairy-farted pixie dust in mah world.

EDIT: Oh, and can I be the first to say: tch, yah!

I mean, I'm not saying it didn't happen exactly as described, but in this day of post-Michael Jackson scandal, does anyone doubt the appropriateness of this behavior? And that it would lead to even yet still more wildly inappropriate behavior?

Yes, I turned my computer back on just to post this.

Edited May 17, 2010 by Dusty Chalk

[episiarch]

boomana, my sympathies for your day from the land of crazy.

I used to have nuttiness - not quite at that level but sometimes pretty bad - in my life all the time. Girlfriends, employers, long-time friends. (Me? Perfectly sane of course, why do you ask?) It's all far behind now, but your story makes those days suddenly vivid and real all over again, *shudder*. Once again, my sympathies.

[agile_one]

... But you should have seen what happened to me today!

I'm in Maine, and I made the mistake of mentioning to a few people that I know this guy name Gene, who lives down in Sarasota...

Big mistake! I've been running from the police, several crazy stalker women, and several of their husbands ever since!

Doh!

Should have warned you, Wayne. Sorry.

If you find yourself in a So Portland dive called Evelyn's Tavern, do not, under any circumstances, mention my name in the same paragraph with "proprietor's daughter".

[boomana]

Well, thanks for the sympathy, guys, but I actually don't need sympathy. I'm glad yesterday's drama was large enough to actually register with me. I needed that kick in the head. It's about time. I can't blame certain friends for doing what they do or being who they are, but what I don't like is how I've somehow unknowingly allowed myself, slowly over time, to become the problem repository in friendships, where people I truly care about seem to feel quite comfortable creating all sorts of drama that has nothing to do with me, then coming to me when they want to feel better and/or want advice, want to be calm, blah blah blah etc, and then they disappear again, usually to go back to the same drama or create new ones. They want me as a friend when their crap blows up, but once they're feeling okay, there's not so much as a "how are you?". I end up feeling tired and used. If it were just one person, I could say it was his or her problem, but it's not, so clearly the problem is me. It's something I've created. Anyway, it's been a good, if painful lesson many years in the making. So, I'm kinda excited to change things, and just hope my friends are willing to as well.

[Knuckledragger]

Last night I had an experience somewhat similar to what Viki went through. My head is pounding right now, so this is going to be the gonzo version:

Yesterday evening I drove to a random Dunkin Donuts to meet Bozak, a friend of my friends Dave and Kate. He had the tickets to the Shpongle show in Boston last night. I parked on a site street, and waited for Kate and Dave to show up. They got there a few minutes later and we all piled into Kate's new Nissan Rogue (a Cute Ute if there ever was one) and got on the Mass Pike. In spite of her crappy GPS, we got to the venue (the Paradise), parked in a the lot of a tire store across the street. The two opening acts were lousy, but Shpongle rocked. Simon Potsford is a remarkable cool, laid back guy for someone so famous in his scene. He brought along six dancers who wore different UV-reactive costumes. One of them was a breakdancer who did a routine with a glass ball that he kept at the same position in space while he moved all around it. It was mind boggling to watch him.

Right after the show ended, things fell apart pretty quickly. Apparently Kate had slipped out from the show (the club had a lax readmission policy, which was nice) and went back to her sport ute with a local psytrance promoter (the guy who booked me for the gig I played on Saturday, in fact) and drank a beer with him in her car. When she got back, she told Dave she had been "looking for him." Dave figured out she was lying, got quite upset over it, and began the overtures of a fight with her.

My blood sugar was crashing, and I wanted get food RIGHT THEN. Unfortunately, Boston sucks for late night food. We got in front of a Chinese place (ugh) just as they turned off the open sign. The same thing happened with the "City Convenience" store where the clerk locked the door as we approached.

Back at the car, Kate and Dave were fighting in earnest, and I began to realize that I was the only sober person. Kate grabbed her car keys and left Dave and I in the car. She didn't return for an hour and a half and ignored any and all calls and texts from Dave and myself. My blood sugar went through the floorboards, and I began to feel ill. When I go too long without eating, I get a massive headache and I'm not able to do much. This was especially bad, as I needed to be the one to drive. Out of Boston. I fucking hate driving in Boston.

At one point, I noticed that the car alarm light was lit on the dash and mentioned it to Dave. That was a big mistake on my part as Dave said "what, we're stuck in here?" and opened the door, setting off the car alarm. At that moment, I almost lost it. I called my friend Lynn, who lives in Somerville. Unfortunately, she was in NY for the weekend and wouldn't be back until today. She suggested I call a cab, go to a hotel and she'd help me get back to W.Mass tomorrow. A good idea.

Dave kept talking at me while I was on the phone and I yelled at him STFU. He started to get angry at me, as Kate wasn't around anymore. I told him I was leaving his drunk ass in Boston and getting my own way home. At that point, the car alarm stopped. After a bit of experimenting, I conluded two things: #1 the car alarm only goes off for about 90 seconds before shutting off and #2 Boston cops and residents don't give a shit about car alarms.

I was wearing a T-shirt and no jacket, and it was pretty cold, so I got back in the car and sat through the alarm until it stopped. Of course, then Dave wanted to get back in the car as well... I told Dave he needed to avoid fighting with Kate so we could get out of Boston. He said he had to be at work at 8AM (it was now after 2AM) and said he'd do his best. Eventually, Kate showed up with Bozak. They each had an extra large can of "Peace Tea" and no excuse as to where they'd been. I took the keys from Kate (who was in the driver's seat) and she began complaining that everyone was ganging up on her. I asked her 3 times if she was able to drive. She said yes she was but... and started in fighting with Dave again. To his credit, he did his best to not take the bait and start the fight again.

Kate was utterly unwilling to let me drive. I evaluated that she was sober enough to drive, but probably too upset. She drove us about 20 feet, pulled over next to a hydrant and began fighting with Dave again in earnest. She said "I'm going to take another walk" and she and Bozak got out of the car. She hit the alarm button. Again. To his credit, Dave stayed in the car. I said "fuck it" and got out of the car (setting off the alarm) and went after Kate. She began yelling at me as if I were Dave. She was talking about booking Christopher Lawrence (one of Dave's favorite DJs) for an event. She kept referring to him as "Christopher Walken" which would have been hilarious in other circumstances.

My head was now throbbing and I felt ill. I told her we needed to leave now and I pointed out that Dave had stayed in the car. I got the keys away from her and went back to the car. She and Bozak followed. At the car, I concluded that I was really too sick to be driving in Boston. I had only eaten one slice of pizza in the preceding 9 hours. At a few minutes after 3AM, we finally began driving and headed the fuck out of Boston.

Kate drove 80MPH the whole way back. It was speedy, but nerve wracking as hell. We drove past two rest stops on the Pike before Kate would stop. She and Dave stayed in the car, and Bozak and I went inside. I bought some painkillers and a caffeinated soda, and a $5 burger from Mickey D's. The burger was awful, but it put something in my stomach at least.

Back on the road, Kate decided to pick a fight with me, over the wiring of her iPod and car stereo. I ignored her and concentrated on eating and taking painkillers. Finally, around quarter to five in the morning, they dropped me off at my car. I said "It's been real, it's been fun, but it ain't been real fun." and walked away. I got home this morning after the sun came up. I sent out half a dozen emails, canceling just about everything I had to do today. I passed out and woke up around 1 this afternoon with the worst headache, and a text from Lynn saying that her cat Kiki had died. It's just as well that I didn't end up staying in her apartment or I'd have been the one to discover the dead kitty.

tl;dr: Shpongle was awesome. I am never getting in car with Kate or Dave again. Kate will be lucky if speak to her again.

[Nebby]

Holy shit it looks like both of you had quite a misadventure, boomana and Knuckledragger! I'm glad I don't have such drama in my life, though uneventful doesn't even begin to describe my life...

[Grahame]

Wow, Vicki, Knucks., Hopefully one day (and hopefully sooner rather than later) you be able to look back and say "my, how we laughed" Until then feel free to share the drama, if it helps.

Maybe Jean-Paul Sartre was onto something when he said "l'enfer, c'est les autres" (Hell is other people)*

* HC excepted. perhaps

[Salt Peanuts]

Jebus, Knuckles.

I hope your headache's getting better.

[Dusty Chalk]

That sucks, dude, I'm just glad you survived the ordeal.

Yeah, back when I was more involved with the music scene than I am now, I remember that all the people (it seemed especially in the DC area, but I'm beginning to think otherwise) who had to be sucked up to, to get free tickets and whatnot, were those sorts of people around whom drama always seemed to flow like whirlpools, which is one of the reasons I got out of it, and just signed up to paying for my tickets whenever I could, despite protests of my cheaper friends. You really need an ironclad constitution to deal with those people (also, a large bladder, I found -- I would never survive now).

And that really sucks about Kiki. And though I know what you mean about not wanting to be the person to find the dead cat, you might still want to "be there" for her, since she was the one person who was helpful last night (or at least wanted to be/planned to be/whatever).

[Knuckledragger]

And that really sucks about Kiki. And though I know what you mean about not wanting to be the person to find the dead cat, you might still want to "be there" for her, since she was the one person who was helpful last night (or at least wanted to be/planned to be/whatever).

Indeed. I am going to make an 8x10" print of this shot and send it to her:

[aardvark baguette]

[boomana]

Egad, knucks. I feel for you on the lunatic front, and sorry about your friend's kitty.

Well, I plan on having talks with two of my drama friends tonight. In the meantime, I just made plans to go biking or rollerblading (will figure it out later) on Saturday with a person I like a lot, but have never really spent time with.

On the fun and good front, the accountant at work just chewed me out for messing up his books, then handed me a check for $143. Apparently, I'd been given a check months ago, reimbursing me for something I don't remember (guessing books), but I never cashed it. Now I have a new one.

[jinp6301]

Got a scholarship to New England Complex Systems Institute Summer School 2010 which I will definitely be attending

Both a and a , since this means I'm not going to canjam.

[boomana]

Big congrats, jin!

[cetoole]

Congrats Jin! When are you leaving?

[swt61]

Well just when I start to feel my life is a little boring I have Boomy and knucks to set me back on track, and realize that it's just fine as it is.

Congrats numbs!

[Grahame]

Sometimes, boring is preferable to the alternative. May you live in interesting times - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Salt Peanuts]

Congrats, Jin!

Sometimes, boring is preferable to the alternative. May you live in interesting times - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yeah, I like my relatively boring life just fine.