Author: Average Jane

Up until early this week, I had tickets to Rockfest this coming Saturday. The lineup sounded great: Godsmack, Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin, Seven Dust, Saliva, Drowning Pool and a bunch of other bands I like.

My husband and I eagerly bought tickets as soon as they went on sale. Then we started to think more carefully about the realities of the concert-going experience:

• Sold-out show
• 40,000 attendees
• Outdoors
• In June
• At least 12 hours long
• Concessions advertised as "all items $5 or less"

We both enjoy heavy metal as much as ever – particularly when we’re playing it. However, we’re not young folks anymore by a long shot. When the gritty reality started to set in, we realized that our ideal concert experience these days looks more like this:

• Concert DVDs
• 5:1 surround sound
• Big-screen TV
• Comfy leather couch
• Free snacks and drinks
• Air conditioning

It would be a different story if we were performing, but we simply don’t have the will to subject ourselves to that kind of endurance test as attendees anymore. Lame, I know, but what are you gonna do?

So, we sold our tickets on Craigslist and now I’m going to spend the day volunteering at a low-cost rabies clinic, among other things. Maybe I’ll at least get some song lyrics written that day so I don’t feel like a total traitor to teh rock.

Speaking of songwriting, I’ll probably have a MySpace or Bandzoogle page for my band started in the next week or so. It looks as though we have a couple of songs that are about ready to be mixed and uploaded. I’ll be sure to post a link when that happens. Have a great weekend!

To provide something of mild interest during a week when almost nothing is happening, I thought it was a good time to just throw some links your way.

• Sonic Nightshift – This is a game developed by some of my esteemed co-workers that puts the player through the paces of keying in orders at a Sonic Drive-In Restaurant. That doesn’t sound too hard, but wait until the customers start changing their minds. Speaking of Sonic, they’re giving away free root beer floats tonight after 8 o’clock. Enjoy!
• I’ve expanded my LOL photo enjoyment to include robots and ’80s bands. The robots are particularly amusing if you’re a long-time science fiction geek like me.
• The Supreme Story Program is a new site from Megan Mullally of "Will and Grace" fame. She’s soliciting stories from visitors on various topics to be displayed on the site and possibly compiled in other media. Think of it as a blog carnival all centered on a single site. The current topic, "Most inexplicable fling (or crush)" is generating some interesting anecdotes.

Okay, that’ll have to do for now. I’ll be back tomorrow and in the meantime, don’t hesitate to comment. I’m starting to feel all alone in the blog world this week!

Just before I woke up this morning I had a dream that’s stuck with me enough that I’m breaking my rule of not blathering on about dreams in this blog.

In the dream, a woman (me? it’s always hard to tell in dreams) is dying. In her own dream, or perhaps just metaphorically, she is packing an enormous suitcase with piles of items from various stages of her life. On top of each pile is a different black cat.

The image of the black cats makes perfect sense to me. I’m in my third black cat era now and if the dream is at all prophetic, I will live long stretches with many more cats in the future before it’s time to pack things in.

My new exercise program is reaching a new level. I’ve been taking yoga classes 2-3 times per week for the last couple of months and now I’m starting to add walks to get some aerobic exercise.

Yesterday I had a challenging yoga class at lunchtime and then a brisk 25-minute walk before dinner. This morning I could barely pry myself out of bed. It isn’t about sore muscles – they’re not too bad. I just have the urge to curl up into a ball and sleep until I can’t sleep anymore.

Since that’s not an option, I guess I’ll make myself presentable and head off to work. Maybe I can turn in early tonight…

In our town, we get a special large item pickup on the first trash day of each month. Yesterday I noticed a neighbor putting mattresses out by the curb, so that was my cue to drag my extremely reluctant husband to the garage to help me put out the old La-Z-Boy couch and chair that had been shoved into a corner since we bought our new furniture several months ago.

The furniture looked like this (try to imagine it without all the junk piled on it):

The time the furniture spent in the garage did not do it any favors. The upholstery was already quite worn when we put it in there and one side of the couch no longer reclined properly. By the time we pulled the couch from its damp corner, it was dirty, a little mildewy on the side that had touched the ground, and the broken half was sagging even more than before.

We carried it to the curb (very heavy!) and piled the base and back of the chair on top of it. Both pieces were gone long before dawn. Ick!

I’m certainly no stranger to the idea of people cruising through the neighborhoods on big trash day. In fact, some friends of mine in a neighboring suburb that only has large trash pickup twice a year have a party to celebrate. We all go to their house and sit in the driveway watching trucks go by and playing bingo based on the loot the scavengers have selected. It’s one of the social highlights of the year.

One of our friends has thrown in his lot with the trash pickers. He makes a tidy extra income on Ebay picking up perfectly good or easily fixable things that people have thrown away (lawn mowers, guitar amps, drum sets, stereo equipment, etc.).

My first introduction to the kinds of hideous things people will take as long as they’re free came years ago when I was helping my dad move. We put out an ancient mattress and box springs that should have been thrown out fifteen years earlier. As we were making another trip to the curb, a guy pulled up and said, "Hey, do you mind if I take that mattress? I have furnished rental property."

May I say, "Ew! Ew! Ew!"

Now you know why you should never rent a furnished house or apartment. You’re welcome for that mental image.

I went to a dinner party last night with a bunch of friends and rather than just buy a bottle of wine, I figured I’d make and bring some brownies. I have a great scratch recipe and once I’d mixed them up, I just started adding extra ingredients and didn’t stop until I ran out of ideas.

They were awesome! I think I ate four of them, which is a LOT for me. Here’s the recipe in case you want to try them yourself.

Fully Loaded Brownies

1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup coconut flakes
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup mini marshmallows

Blend melted butter, sugar and vanilla. Add eggs, beat well with spoon. Combine flour, cocoa, baking power and salt; gradually add to egg mixture. Stir in nuts, coconut, chocolate chips and marshmallows. Bake in a greased 9" square pan at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 30 minutes or until center seems firm. Let cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

Today it’s been three weeks since I last had caffeine. I didn’t think I could live without coffee, but apparently I was wrong. I’ve discovered that decaffeinated coffee is just plain icky, but that I like herbal tea. I had to find a coffee alternative quickly because my social life wouldn’t be the same without coffee shops.

I’ve turned my back on caffeine before, but never for as legitimate a reason as I have this time around. My acid reflux had gotten well-nigh unbearable and the doctors were all pretty unhelpful about it. I admit I was thinking to myself early on, "Yes, I could follow their evil food restriction guidelines, but I shouldn’t have to!"

Well, I did have to if I wanted any relief from stomach, chest and throat pain.

When it comes to breakfast, I tend to eat as though I stepped out of a 1950s speculative documentary about THE FUTURE! "Each day, Jane unwraps a nutrition bar that provides her with 180 calories and 10 grams of protein."

I was starting to get the idea that having the same flavor of Luna bar for breakfast every single day might not be doing my stomach any favors. I’ve now switched to a daily bowl of vanilla yogurt topped with fresh strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and some granola. It’s a lot more satisfying than a peanut butter flavored bar and probably has more nutrition to boot.

I’m on yet another acid reflux medication called Aciphex (pronounced
"ace-if-ex" by the doctor, even though you and I both know that it’s
spelled "ass-if-ex") and it seems to have helped a lot. Maybe if I keep the spicy, fatty foods to a minimum I can eventually stop taking it altogether.

At first, having to give up foods and beverages I like made me feel like a petulant toddler. Now that it’s actually helping me, though, I’m a lot more sanguine about the whole thing. It’s amazing what you’ll trade for freedom from pain.

Ahhh, how I enjoyed my four-day weekend. Here are a few of the things I learned (or was reminded of) over the last several days:

I sure love naps. In fact, I took a nap every day this weekend and I’m not talking about little catnaps. No, I mean good, solid two- or three-hour deep sleeps. No wonder I’m always so exhausted at the end of every workday.

It’s very freeing to have a blank calendar. My husband and I didn’t plan anything this weekend except recording and a trip to the cemetery where his mother and stepfather are buried. It was nice to just hang out at home for several days. That’s why we travel well together – we’re both content to sit back and see what happens.

Catnip is the perfect icebreaker for any cat party.

I’m ready to get back to work. As nice as it was to have the time off, I’m all set to get back to the office and get some things done.

How was your weekend?