I break bones and laugh.

So jobhunting blows, as per usual. It's not that I'm surprised, though. It's amazing, though, how many employers say they'll contact you and then don't. I don't know if it's akin to the dating "I'll call you", if it's a misguided attempt for the prospective employee to show initiative or my personal suspicion, indicative of a greater problem. You see, when employers tell me they'll call me and then they don't, I immediately suspect that this lack of attention to detail is only the beginning and "Oops, I forgot to return your call" will turn into "Oops, we won't have paychecks until after 2pm" or "Oops, I forgot to not break the law."

If I don't get a spa job like I want, I won't be too miffed. I noticed today that my old hotel job here is hiring for the position I used to fill. Um, I can do that!

In better news, I was unsure where I was in my Netflix queue--I have a yooge list of TV series at the top, although I occasionally move movies and whatnot to the top*--because I'd just finished a series. So imagine my surprise when Degrassi: TNG showed up at my door. Canadian teen melodrama? Oh, hells yes! I watched every version of Degrassi until TNG, because the haters at my cable company also do not supply Noggin/The N.

rockgeisha watches Degrassi: A play in one act:

Emma, quoting her Treeemail: "You saved my heart and my prohject.
Salome: "Prohject"! Canadian accents, LOL!
Salome's head: *explodes in delight*

Dear Canadia,

Hey.

Love,

Salome

I need that kind of joy because I am attempting for the first time to watch When the Levees Broke. That, combined with thinking about working for the old hotel again, has me thinking of the weeks I spent with evacuees.

( When the levees broke: Very depressing and I'll probably get embarrassed and delete it later )

It was a beautiful day.

Obviously my internet access is a bit spotty right now, what with Compy getting ready to go to the hospital tomorrow. So while today (it's still October 16th until I fall asleep) is a very momentous day, I don't have the time to write what I want to tonight.

So look for my birthday paean to the Chief/10th annual SomeBandiversary tomorrow hopefully some time this week.

Ten years ago tonight, I went to see a band and well...I'll let Kylie sum up the rest:

And everything went from wrong to right
And the stars came out and filled up the sky
The music you were playing really blew my mind
It was love at first sight...

Love at first sight.

Friday I went for an interview at the place I've wanted to work since I got my license. It was a two-part interview. The first part was a regular interview, which I love because all you have to do is talk about how awesome you are, and the second part was supposed to be three massages in a row. I got through the first part and as I was halfway through the first massage, it struck me--I don't want to work there. So I finished the massage (I am such a professional!) and told them that.

It was a combo of reasons: I'd have to get up at 5am (I thank the Lord for the nighttime), there are actual shifts instead of a flexible schedule, to be considered full-time I'd have to work six-hour shifts five days a week, pay is 37%, it is so far out that my phone goes to roaming...all adding up to no, thank you.

So I'm going to go with the job I posted about the other day. It's a much shorter commute, much more flexible, better pay rate, and I think I'll like it more.

After all that, I went home and changed and then returned to Birmingham to see Giant Bear, Rantings of Eva and Young Agent Jones at the Nick. I'd never seen any of them but my friend's in Rantings of Eva. The first band was Giant Bear and OMG, I love them. They did this funk blues cover of NIN's "Head Like a Hole" and that was off the rails. It sounded so different that at first, I couldn't figure out what it was but I was like, "What is this song?! I know I know it!"

After their set, I struck up a conversation with a few of the members and they were such sweethearts. Very smart, too.

"Not just the same old guitar, bass and drums rock band, Memphis’ Giant Bear creates its folk- and bluegrass-oriented Americana eclecticism by blending banjo, cello, flute, lap steel and mandolin with conventional bass and guitar."

Love them! The next band was Rantings of Eva and they were quite good. Reminded me a little of the Cure mixed with Embrace. I liked it. Next up was Young Agent Jones and they were very fun.

All in all, Friday night was more fun than a frog in a glass of milk. And I even fell in love at first sight!

Saturday, I went to see the Prom King. We didn't really have any plans and I was very tired from the night before, so we ordered in pizza and went to see Talladega Nights. And I loved every minute of it. I liked Anchorman okay and I expected to like TN but I was surprised at how much I adored it and all the dead-on bits--the idiosyncrasies of professional racing, the propensity of southerners to threaten violence at the slightest offense, the references to Nascar's early history*, etc.

*Gary Cole's car has to be a reference to Smokey Yunick, the legendary Nascar designer and mechanic. And cheater. Cheating was pretty much par for the course in early Nascar but he made it into an art. My favorite Smokey story:

Another Yunick innovation was getting around the regulations specifying a maximum size for the fuel tank, by using coils of eleven feet of two inch diameter tubing for the fuel line to add about 5 gallons to the car's fuel capacity. Once, NASCAR officials came up with a list of nine items for Yunick to fix before the car would be allowed on the track. The suspicious NASCAR officials had removed the tank for inspection. Yunick started the car with no gas tank and said "Better make it ten," and drove it back to the pits.

Sunday was a fairly lazy day. We watched the Braves and just for synchronicity, one of my favorite X-Files episodes--"The Unnatural." I think that one's really underrated--I see something different in it every time I watch it. *Sniff* I ended up spending the night Sunday, too.

Today has been fairly sedate barring the worst chore ever, which was too horrifying to relate right now. Laziness is okay, though, since I'll be busy again soon enough. I am looking forward to that. I am also looking forward to indulging in retail therapy, visiting NYC (and LA and everywhere else I wanna go), and Tinkerbelling my musical Lost Boys in this, the year of my ten year SomeBandiversary. Now if only mercury retrograde would stop kicking my ass.

Tonight has been...the kind of night I would find unbelievable if I didn't have the photos to prove it. And my girls are coming to NYC!

So today I texted one of the musos--

Me: I've been thinking of my time with [Some Band] as something with an end, the beginning of which is approaching. I now think this incorrect. If anything, this is the end of the beginning.
Muso: You can check out but you can never leave.
Me: I'm Tinkerbell to a bunch of musical Lost Boys.
Muso: I'm clapping my hands!

So that made me feel all squishy. Then one of the aestheticians came into the break room. "I was just on al.com and The Strokes are coming."

"Buh? They're coming where?"
"Here!"
"Where here?"
"Sloss!"
"OMG!"

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG. I'm going to see the Strokes next month! I'm also going to see Rose Hill Drive this month and 30 Seconds to Mars next month. And I might go to the Crawfish Boil. And Alabama is finally getting a Sephora next month. Whee!

After all that and four massages, I decided to go get a membership at the video store a few blocks down from work since driving to my home video store is sometimes a journey I don't feel up to taking after work (it's +20 minutes onto my regular drive). I got the distinct impression that the guy at the store was flirting with me and I was pleased to hear that he thinks that Wolf Creek sucked beyond the telling. Finding people that think that is becoming a surprisingly efficient way to make friends. That's how I found the lovely sarahofthedead, after all. Then, he gave me my rental for free. Sweet! So now I have unrated Hostel-y goodness and oh my gosh, I'd forgotten how pretty Barbara Nedeljakova is. Also, after last month, the lines about the fannypack are infinitely funnier.

I finished Charmed Thirds today and I have to say, I don't get the bad reviews. I didn't really read the bad reviews before--I skimmed since they tend to be spoilery--but reading them now, it's seems they fall into a few categories: people who didn't want Jessica to grow up (read: have sex and/or use the f-word), girls that seem to be under the impression that Marcus is the protagonist and not J, Republicans who are emo because Jessica doesn't like them, people who think every college experience is just like theirs or who have never been to college, and the most popular, people who failed reading comprehension. "I can't believe [something that didn't actually happen in the book but thanks for playing]." It's not perfect--I don't think McCafferty should have tried to do all four years in one book, for one thing. But overall, I enjoyed it.

So in summary, hooray! Today was a good day. And now I'm going to stay in (sleeeepy) and watch horror movies!