It was foggy all day today, foggy and misty and great. It was warm enough that I was able to walk to and from my radio show at night with just a hawaiian shirt on top. My eyes felt much much better when I was outside, because of the combination of dimness and humidity. So, okay, I was a little late to syntax. Then I went to Sharples for lunch, sat with Joel and Joe and theory teacher Lex Rosin, and spent the bare minimum amount of time preparing a dialogue for French class with Matthew Block and Forrest. After that I commenced a long stretch of running errands in preparation for the party. I created a bunch of flyers, with the moose picture, and with clever words and phrases. I picked up a party proposal. I made a phone call to a representative to talk about funding for public education. I went to the SAC office to wait for Gabe, and while I waited I played harmonica in Upper Tarble. Then I made photocopies until the machine ran out of toner, and took a bunch of strands of christmas lights. I ran into Hans downstairs - he said "I've run into you three times today: in the library, in the gameroom [basically the minute before] and now...I guess it's hard to get work done on a day like today because so many people stay inside." Okay. I went to LPAC to talk to Nick Kourtides, and although he didn't have anything to lend me, he did call a place to find out about renting a sound system for the party, which they priced at $235, and explained why my other ideas wouldn't work out. Then I came home.

Rather than clean my room or anything, I took the moose out of the box and started assembling it. It's in my room now, in the middle of the floor, mostly complete except I'm having trouble with the antlers. It's pretty big and cool-looking. I listened to my new Ted Leo/Pharmacists CD, which just came today. It's really good. I made phone calls and wrote e-mails about sound and money. Then Brigid came over.

We played a friendly but frustrating game of scrabble - frustrating because the board was extremely tight the whole time. The entire upper left half of the board, as divided diagonally by the string of double-word spaces, was basically inaccessible the whole time. We did reach six of the triples though. We both traded in our letters several times, which I tend not to do much at all, even though it's probably a good idea. That was partly because we had really bad letters. We didn't use all of the letters - the game ended when nobody could make a word (we had between us three i's and two a's; my last full hand had been four i's, two a's and an e). We didn't talk the entire time. We never have conversations, so don't go suspecting that we do. I kept being interrupted - by phone calls from Ben and Delia and Ester. I didn't make dinner because all the people I had been planning to make dinner for decided to eat elsewhere. I did go over to Parrish with Brigid to eat some of her "caesar" salad, which wasn't salty at all. Elizabeth and Ester were watching "Prospero's Books" (aka this weird version of the Tempest with frames), except they weren't really watching it, they were just ridiculing it. Ordinarily I would have been mocking it just as much, but perhaps because they were doing it I wanted to give the film some credit and try to appreciate it the best I could. I mean, it was critically lauded and my dad loved it, at least the music. It was pretty plotless, as least as well as I could tell not being able to hear the dialogue over the laughter. We also talked about Douglas Adams and the Queer/Closeted Alliance. Then I came home again

I put away some CDs and assembled the moose some more and stuff. When I was in Tarble with Brigid I had run into Andy Alderete, who made my life incredibly easier by agreeing to use the SoundMachine equipment, which means that we can have the Rattech setup. Phil later e-mailed his concurrence: "Thanks dude, this should work great. Party on!" I e-mailed publicists and people. Then I went to my radio show.

Ali was there waiting for me, and I played some stuff that she likes and then started playing a lot of 12-inch hip-hop singles and other stuff around the studio. It was almost all funk and hip-hop in preparation for the party, with the occasional Gorky's track or something thrown in. Here's what I played:

the end of Drew’s Destroyer Track

Ted Leo/Pharmacists : Under the Hedge
Dismemberment Plan : Sentimental Plan

Bahamadia : The Biggest Part of Me (axed)
Maxwell : Get to Know Ya
Avalanches : Flight Tonight

Olympics : I’ll Do A Little Bit More

Willard Grant Conspiracy : The Beautiful Song
Renegades of Funk : Afrika Bambaata
Arrested Development : Africa’s Inside Me (Zingilamaduni Mix)
Liz Phair : Uncle Alvarez
Dilated Peoples : Rework the Angles

Bis : Dead Wrestlers
Buckshot LeFonque : Music Evolution
Del Tha Funkee Homosapien : Doctor Bombay

Call and Response : Lightbulb
DJ Towa Tei : Funking for Jamaica
Jungle Brothers :Freaking You
Large Professor : ‘Bout that Time
Whitney Houston : My Love is Your Love (Salaam Instrumental Remix)
Doug Fresh : Cut That Zero (Remix)
EPMD : Give the People
Erick B. and Rakim : Juice (Know the Ledge)
Gorky’ s Zygotic Mynci : How I Long

Outkast : ATLiens
Arsonists : Millionaires
Kruder and Dorfmeister : A Mother
Armand Van Helden : What’s Up Doc

Her Space Holiday : Perfect on Paper
Spoon : Fitted Shirt
Dismemberment Plan : Time Bomb

It was a really interesting show. I played around with the turntables a lot and did funny transitions and I'm sure alienated most of my listenership, as well as Brigid who stopped by for a minute or two. Liza came right at the end and we hadn't seen each other in a long time. I stopped by the triple again (it needs a name - so does the moose) and yakked with them folx, and Nick who was there too. Yup. Then back here.

It's so late right now (3:10) and I really should be asleep, but I'll just finish this first. What happened was - I worked on the moose and the CDs, then Alyssa called. We talked about the news in our lives - she had lots of excellent stories - and then realized that we had practical things to talk about and plan, like how we're going to see each other in LESS THAN A MONTH! She said she was not going to have the car, but then later said she would try to talk to her folks about it again. A car would make things so much easier. In any case, she'll come bisit me in Roch and hopefully go to Wanakena too. And stuff. And she loves me - I remembered I love her too after she said that. She's writing a story for Spike. Lots of surreal things happened to her. She laughs. She's good.

And then I saw Lizzie in the hallway and asked her about the fondue set, which she doesn't have here, but they offered me pomegranate seeds, which I ate as I talked to all my neighbors in their kitchen about cape cod snap sex shirts and leftist academics and pomegranate seeds and moose of course. I have to remember to be neighborly more often. And then I went into Joel's room and we talked about theory and I played "take-off" on the guitar and then we harmonized on "14 Cheerleader Cold Front" and then Rebecca came in and we sang it for her and then "Everywhere," and we lay on the bed and Rebecca told us her exciting major plans and we looked at my high school yearbook and I said I have to go and write my journal and go to sleep. And go to sleep.

I need someone to take some joy in something I do