it's official, the old flat is vacant and I'm homeless. spent all of yesterday directing movers, then partied with Allison and new pal Robin at the W and some Market St. loft. thanks San Francisco for showing me great fun the last couple of weeks.

flying today through Denver to Charlotte, thence to Rock Hill to chill with family and high school buddies until next week, when I drive to New York to couch surf until my shit shows up at the new place. on the move once again, living in hotels and in other peoples' homes feels natural and correct. have been settled for too long, travel and upheaval are the prescription for a healthy me.

decision: Europe this summer!

Xmas eve, home alone on couch with laptop. spent the day throwing out things I don't want anymore. no TV or stereo- they're all packed up. guess I'll spend the evening reading about the California gold rush.

tomorrow: movies and Chinese food with old pal Anjuna.

our power was restored at 10:55 PM, after approximately 29 hours. I missed my Audrey Hepburn TV special. much gnashing of teeth.

lazy Saturday afternoon! most moving tasks are complete, so I've nothing to occupy my time besides a half-dozen tivoed movies. I keep looking through my email and in my calendar for things to accomplish, but nothing ever appears. i always feel nervous whenever I've nothing to do, like I'm forgetting something very important. then, when I'm the most busy, I think of a dozen things I'd do if only I had the time. course I can't remember any of them now.

yesterday was my last day in the Covalent office. the company has placed all staff on mandatory vacation until 1/2, at which point I'll be in New York. bailed early as usual, without any sort of farewell. a few folks caught me sneaking out and managed to holler goodbyes before the door closed behind me. I loathe farewells from coworkers, because they obligate me to smile and be polite to people with whom I have only one thing in common - the source of our paychecks. similarly for most friends. it's not that I dislike these people, just that I am frustrated by the requirement of sociality. I only want to be effusive on my own terms, when I choose the circumstances of battle and the defensible ground. it is for this same reason that when I have a party at my house, I tend to plant myself in one room and never leave. I figure the people that I care about will pass through the room at some point in the evening, and if they don't come looking for me, they weren't worth seeing anyway. just call me Mr. Comfort Zone, I guess.

WHAT: rock show! The Lovemakers, Dealership and some other band
WHEN: tonight! Thursday 12/18 (9pm, doors at 8.30pm)
WHY: cos these bands kick ass, and also i'm moving away again

This whole weekend's all full of events already, so there's no room for a Tuggy's-gettin-the-fuck-outta-here party. Plus I've already had a couple of those in the last few years, and they're getting pretty old. So instead, why don't you come to the Bottom of the Hill on Thursday (12/18) to say bye without having to trash my place? Stay for the rock show, or just have a beer with me. Either way, I will be happy to hang with you one last time (until I inevitably move back yet again, that is).

More info on the wonderful entertainment:

http://thelovemakers.com/
http://dealerkids.com/

The cold finally went away, but stomach flu showed up in its place. Lots of vomiting, shitting water, and sleeping. Sickness disrupting an otherwise full calendar. Didn't stop me from rugging up to see Return of the King tho, which had me weeping more than most of the girls (side note: I have never seen so much alterna-hair in one place before).

Most of the work of moving is complete. The task I'm dreading is labeling the ends of each of the home theater system cables. There are dozens of them, and I can't tell by looking at any given one what it connects to, so I have to label. And there will be no electronics geek friends in Brooklyn to help me put the system back together. *chews fingers nervously*

I've begun to imagine what it will be like to live in New York. Once the last box is unpacked, what will I do next? I have been hooking up with the folks at Neutral Ground who run a lot of RPGA games; am quite excited to storm the east coast gaming scene. Guess I have to change my shipping address for Netflix too. If anybody knows of a good metal club in the city, let me know!

Why does iTunes play Madder Rose whenever I'm bah-logging?

Gen Con Day 2: yesterday the throat was just a little ticklish, but after a night of Jack & Cokes too little sleep, it was like sandpaper this morning. hacking coughs and shredded vocal cords makes for a poor D&D experience. ran an early game for my friends and then headed back to the hotel to sleep. luckily I dragged myself out of the bed for True Dungeon, a life sized dungeon expedition with full on props and shit. my team was apparently the first this weekend to make it all the way through. our skills are legendary.

Gen Con Day 1: Anaheim is dead. the con is weaksauce. the exhibit hall today was full of dealer booths with no patrons. i hope the dealers don't lose money on their rigs. there's a definite upside to the lack of attendance tho. will-call pickup and refunds took about 3 minutes total. I don't have to pick my way through crowds of tards. the restaurant is not crowded in the morning. we have way more space for gaming than is needed, so nobody has to shout over four surrounding tables full of smelly fat bald guys.

played some Spycraft this morning, napped in the afternoon to get energized for the Dragonstar game I was supposed to run tonight, but no players showed, so I was released. now I'm waiting for DML to arrive from Oakland so we can have a drink or two in the Hilton bar. Lauri (my RPGA pal from Kansas) tried to get me to go have dinner with her and some game company folks, but I was not up for industry socializing.

last night I walked over to the House of Blues to see Lacuna Coil. misjudged their start time- thought they had three opening bands and wouldn't go on til after 11, but in fact they went on at 10, so I only saw the last two songs and the encore. such a great band, all dressed in black robes and boots, they had the crowd in a tizzy, singing along.

have been eating like crap. hot fudge sundaes both yesterday and today, burgers with buns. willpower eludes me when i'm on the road. looking forward to settling into my new place and re-establishing food and workout routine. goal for March 2004: hit the century club (100# weight loss).

wintry wonderland here in Brooklyn. found an apartment this afternoon, pending successful credit check I'll be moving into my new Park Slope pad on Jan 1. huzzah!

just got home from Bad Santa at the Metreon. enjoyed seeing a movie with such foul language. those characters talked more like me and my friends than any I can remember since what, Platoon?

still trying to catch my boss to figure out what I'm going to do about working in New York. would love to work for Covalent remotely, but I'm not sure it's realistic. might be difficult to have much responsibility on our main product (wait, our *only* product) unless I'm in the office; people in my company don't seem to be comfortable having long discussions on chat or in email. well, we'll see. if it doesn't work out, I don't know what will happen. I really need health insurance, and proof of employment in order to get an apartment. I guess I can imagine living here for another year.

speaking of health insurance: I have a lump on my face, just to the left of and below my bottom lip. a hard little nugget, which I first noticed last Friday. hoped it was a zit and would go away over the weekend. alas. made a doctor's appointment for Thursday. wouldn't it be ironic if I wound up with lip cancer. would be a big ol sign for my entire community, I think- we're getting old enough for that sort of shit to happen to us. bodies falling apart.