This morning I woke up out of coffee at the homestead and was forced to venture out into the world to buy some so I could bring it back and have my Sunday morning coffee. I don't mind venturing out into the world. Not even before I have my coffee, but I haven't in a while. Partly it's because money is a little tight as I'm transitioning into having a job again and waiting for the paychecks to start coming in. Partly it's because I spent most of November sitting in the studio whether I was writing, recording or just procrastinating. I haven't completely come out of that mode yet.

1. After I picked up coffee I walked to the pet store to buy litter for the mateys. On the way there I passed the local cheap haircut place. It's called Great Clips, and it's actually where I got this $11 'do before I went to my sister's wedding in Michigan a while back. Today Great Clips was doing a little extra street advertising, and there was somebody holding up a sign on the nearest corner. I have no idea why the person holding the sign for Great Clips was dressed as Spiderman, but they were.

   It was chilly out, so the Great Clips Spiderman was actually wearing what appeared to be a sweatsuit (including a hood) under the Spiderman getup. The result was a slightly misshapen Spiderman who didn't look fat so much as simply amorphous. I honestly couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman under there.

   I kept thinking "what the hell does Spiderman have to do with inexpensive haircuts?" Like, of all the superheroes who could endorse a barbershop, the one who wears a mask that covers his entire head seems to be the least likely candidate, right?

2. I was thinking today that maybe in January I'll do a little four song EP for the four states that make up the Southwest region of the United States. All of the other regions are about the same size as the Midwest, so if I'm going to eventually do all of them I imagine I'll need at least a month for each one except for the Southwest.

   I really have felt weirdly like I have nothing to do since I finished my album for NaSoAlMo. I was almost certain I would immediately just relax and read books and play videogames and stuff. I have had a chance to address some issues on this site that I wanted to spruce up or reorganize, and I've done some cleaning that was overdue, but really I feel like I should be working on something else big and creative.

   I mean besides the bigass haiku project. I will continue posting those pretty soon. I just kind of didn't want to flood the blog with nothing but haiku, so I was sort of waiting to have something else to write about.

   I am in the middle of an album. I keep forgetting that too. Weird.

   There's another album-in-a-month thing that takes place in February. This one has a specific required number of songs. (That is, fourteen.) I don't think I'll be ready to try to hammer out that much work in a single month again this close to my November stint, but perhaps I'll do something for it. Maybe something less ambitious. Something acoustic or without any kind of drum programming or whatever. Beats me.

3. Christmas is coming up. Already. At the pet store today I asked the clerk if he was tired of hearing Christmas songs at work yet, and both he and the other clerk rolled their eyes and said "YES" in unison.

4. Before I paid for the cat litter I picked out a couple inexpensive new toys for the mateys. Fluffy fur balls are only $.39, and that just about made my day. It seems to have improved the mateys' days as well. I was kind of surprised how much they liked them.

   Anyway, while I was picking out toys that wouldn't break the bank and also wouldn't be ripped to shreds in five minutes by the Blau bite-and-pull attack, I got to overhear a conversation. I'm still not exactly sure what was going on. The guy told her he was vegan, and she said "Oh wow. Today is the first day I'm trying to start eating vegan!" I figured she was trying to impress him or something, but then she added "My freezer is still full of chicken though."

   I know, right? I was just thinking "Portland."

   Also, vegans in pet stores totally freak me out and kind of irritate me. Cause like, you guys do know that cats and dogges eat the meat, right? I got no beef (haw) with your beliefs and your diet and stuff, but if you have an animal and make it eat vegan too, you're a dick. Unless it's like a bird who just wants seed anyway.

what's on:
"Grounded to the Soil" (Spelunkers - Breakfast Is America)