You know, I walk around in this constant state of confusion, based on the conflict between contradictory compulsions. Was that cutesy? Fuck it, it was also funny and groovy. I'm torn between not wanting to do anything, and wanting to do a whole bunch of things at the same time. I feel like I'm king of the world and a complete shithead almost but not quite simultaneously. It is a rapid flutter, like movie film slowed down so you can almost see that it is a series of still images.
Talked to my shrink yesterday. I'm doing "well" in that I'm managing to not spaz out about being a grade-grubbing perfectionist at school. I took a test Friday, and no big deal... I did OK, probably got a low A or a high B, but I didn't spend a sleepless night worrying about it. That's a plus, I guess. I'm going to have to start making up problems for my shrink to deal with... my insurance has a $1800 deductible for mental health, so I guess I just got charged $150 for 15 minutes. In that case, from now on I'm using the whole goddamned hour, even if we only talk about recipes and reality shows.
Then, on to the Guitar Center, to put some money down on a new guitar. Lucky for me I did this instead of ordering online, since the color that looks so good online turns out to have a decidedly strawberry-pink cast to it in real life. I picked out an extremely classic guitar, a sunburst Fender Stratocaster. Ran into a strange sort of situation though: the guitar and case come together, but are rung up separately, I guess for people who want a different case or something. They had a sale on cases, but the sale price doesn't ring up if you combine it with the guitar. So I have a guitar on layaway, and an empty case in my office.
Otherwise, it was a good experience in Guitar Center, the Walmart of music stores. I got help from the manager and his #1 flunky, got to set up in the "vault" where they keep the really expensive gear, and overall got the sort of customer service that you should get when potentially spending $1500. The motivation for this is that I'm trying to lose a million pounds in like six weeks. I'm socking away $10 a pound that I lose, and I still owe like $600 on the guitar. Do the math. This is going to be a very hungry springtime for Joe. Wonderful.
Speaking of wonderful, it is "speed week" in Daytona, more or less across the street from school. I'm so looking forward to dealing with traffic and parking. Parking is the real fun part: all of the parking lots become $40-a-day rental lots for the week, for the billion idiot tourists who show up to see cars painted to look like toys going around in a circle. This is at the mall, Target, pretty much every place with more than 20 parking spaces. So every time I want to shop anywhere, I have to explain to some asshole guarding the parking lot entrance that I'm local, and I am not paying $40 to park so I can do some shopping. Speed week is so much fun, between the parking, traffic, and trying not to run over morons standing almost in the street with giant signs trying to buy or sell tickets to the races.
Well, enough posting to my blog. I need to see about walking the dog before it starts raining. Gotta walk, gotta lose the pounds, gotta make sure the pooch doesn't poop in the house while I'm gone all day...
