A Semi-Bummer Weekend

This weekend decided for itself in advance that both Yesenia and I would be in a mood.  Work related, seasonal mood affective disorder, we both got our period, you name it.  For whatever reason, we went into the weekend unenthusiastically and the weekend delivered as promised, as far as mood.

Which is odd, since a) we got a lot done around the house on Saturday, which always brings good vibes, and b) Ansley and Mariangela came over and hung out for hours, which was something I'd been looking forward to all week.

On (a): while Yesenia cleaned, mopped and vacuumed around the first floor, I gave my car the cleaning it's been needing for about two years.  I cleared out all the crap, dragged the vacuum outside and gave it the once over, shined the dash, and took the trunk cover out of the shed and put it back in for the first time in years.  I even went so far as to order new mats for it (although I drew the line at installing the new rosewood dash), meaning that it's going to look nicer than it has in about a decade.  Mats should be here end of next week, meaning I have something to look forward to.

After that, I took it to be washed at the extra-deluxe mondo cleaners, and realized that a car wash is really only about as good as the age of the paint job, so the car looked pretty much the same with the 'Ultra-Works' package as it would if I spat on it and then rubbed it down with my elbow.

Then it was a flurry of random stuff; took the deposits in and got $5 for my troubles, dragged about 200 pounds of fallen tree from the backyard curbside, blew the $5 on Carvel with chocolate dip.  The only thing I was stymied in was in trying to find a replacement power supply for my car CD player.  I realize I'm hopelessly behind the times, but we have one iPod and it's Yesenia's, and I really dig my pre-roadtrip routine of digging through the CD rack to find the albums I think I'm going to want to listen to for the trip.  Always a lot of Byrds, Patton Oswalt and David Cross, although hope springs eternal that I'll suddenly get a bug up my ass to listen to that Wilco album that I own but just sits in my spinner rack.

Yesenia then made an amazing Mediterranean dinner; hummus and babaganoush from scratch, salad with mint, etc.  Chilled bottles of Vinho Verde and the breeze out on the porch, with the music coming through the big screens.  Ansley & Mariangela then came over and we finished off the dinner, and Ansley and I had an epic heart-to-heart (more like spleen-to-spleen) and then all day today, Yesenia and I hung out on the couch with the windows open (again!) and watched hour after hour of Enterprise and then had Chinese Fooooood, and...

...actually, when the whole thing is written out like that, it sounds like a really great weekend.  Note-to-future-self: remember that this was a weekend when you were in a bad mood.  You're a weird guy, Dave.

D.

Note: credit to Harvey Pekar for the perfect title for this one.

Ow

Goddamn earache is back, and worse than before.

D.

Stalking the WIld Derivative

Now that my father has returned from his month-long math excursion (in Poland, of all places), I'm now back on my Calculus tutoring in advance of Calculus at RCC in the fall.  At which point, I will likely need more Calculus tutoring.  The number of people who I would consider to be far more mathematically inclined than me who mentioned that they failed Calculus their first time is giving me pause.

Of course, those may have been people taking Calculus II or III, even, which is the point at which you get into proofs, which no doubt renders the whole thing just that much more difficult.  Math, as it turns out, is one of those things where you're better off not knowing the why or how, so much as the what.

D.

Better Judgment

Back to the gym for the first time in many months, this evening, on the same day that I started my diet.  So, of course, tonight was pizza night at the gym.  Yesenia could avoid it easily, and I found myself idiotically envying her her dairy allergy.  I knew willpower was not enough for me, and only the threat of the food actually making me ill would keep me away from it.

Yes, I ate a slice.  But I didn't eat a second one, and that's got to count for something.

The goal here is to lose - oh, let's say fifteen pounds - by my birthday.  And if the gym won't play along, well... is it my fault that there's no part of 'free pizza' that I disagree with?

Sometime later this week, I'll post an official start weight, and do my best to keep track of my progress here.  Exciting, no?  If nothing else, it should make for some entertainingly terse and cranky Ramblers.


D.

Day by the River, 2010

Presented mostly without comment, a sketch of Yesenia made earlier today, during our perhaps annual outing to Haverstraw Bay Park, right along the Hudson.  She was doing a watercolor of the river, while I drew her.  Maybe someone over on the Westchester side had a pair of binoculars and was drawing me at the same time.

I've been making an effort to have the majority of the drawings in this particular sketchbook be stronger work - which means, of course, that I'm moving more slowly through the pages.  It was inaugurated with the preparatory sketch of Bettina Richmond back in March, and this drawing is only on page four, so I clearly either need to draw more or care less about quality.

This particular drawing was made with my Pitt brush pens, a set of six, with three warm grey tones and three cool grey tones.  I'm still working out how to use them, trying to see if I can get both fine detail and also soft blended textures out of a single (and here's the important bit), clean drawing tool.  Probably not - the best tool for that job will likely always be graphite.  But I can hope.

D.

That Kind of Night

Fairly sizable pile of freelance stuff to work through over the next couple of days - after which, my schedule will be much freer.  At which point, my attentions will turn to the much overdue cleaning of the basement and general cleaning of the house.  Stand by.

D.

Like an Arrow

The weekend moved fairly quickly, even though not much of real consequence happened.  This is a good thing, no?  Yesenia and I went up to our favorite* mexican place, Café Fiesta, way up in Highland Mills.  We've been eating there since the earliest days of our relationship, after she moved out of her dad's house and up to stay at her mom's vacant condo.  When we were first looking for places to eat nearby, I suggested it but Yesenia was doubtful, repeating that her mom had thought it was mediocre.

Her mom was wrong.  It was great, and is still great.  It's probably a good thing that we don't live closer, or I'd eat there twice a week.

As it is, it's always a nice drive and I love the whole adventure routine of piling in the car, driving out the end of the Palisades and continuing on north into the mountains, hunting for the mexican.

When we got back, we set about removing the branch that had fallen in the back yard after last Monday's big storm.  I say 'branch,' here, but it was in all truthfulness the entire top half of a tree, which took down other massive branches on its way down, embedding itself it the ground and completely covering our shed - multiple heavy branches intertwined, impossible to move.  

Out came the ax.  I chopped it off at the trunk (well, the thickest part that had impacted about a foot into the soil) and then two of the larger branches higher up.  Shirtless, sweaty and with Guess sunglasses on as safety goggles.  I'll bet I was a sight, but I'm not sure if Yesenia got a picture, so you may be spared.

Thing is, the sheer volume of tree that had come down was far too much to fit on our curb, so I now need to see if the town will take away two consecutive loads - otherwise, it's back to several hours of chopping and carting off trees.  Perhaps this time, I'll man up and rent the chainsaw.  Chopping trees in August swelter is strictly unfun.

D.

*Well, at least it's my favorite.  But Yesenia does like it a lot.