Strange dreams, strange day. Juan came over last night. Today he heads back to college. Bill, Juan and I hung out and watched ‘The Illusionist’ followed by the news and then Saturday Night Live which was pretty funny. It was all good and relatively subdued. Some jazziness informed the evening so that was nice. Juan left around 1:00 and I soon went to bed. While I slept I had a dream where I inhaled a word, and I think it was ‘reformation’ and it went up my nostril. In real time it was then followed by an allergy attack, causing me to scramble, looking for tissues.

That was annoying. And also with all the water and juices I’ve been drinking, I wore out quite a groove on the cold tiled floor from the bedroom to the bathroom and back again. It was odd. Why that word, ‘Reformation’? It could be because while surfing though the Wikipedia seas, I came upon the Wannsee Conference, and one of the participants was a Martin Luther. The Wannssee Conference was when the plans for the final solution were agreed upon. So there’s the link. Martin Luther + Reformation = Allergy attack. It all makes sense now.

Got an email from president Naomi:
Thinking about you and hope you are feeling better today and maybe even well tomorrow. We definitely missed you at the front desk end of week.

Once again, thank you for the effort on Thursday of coming into work, but please rest assured that should you need to call in sick again, please do so…we will take you at your word and will not need to see you as proof.

All the best and hope to see you on Monday.

That was nice and left me feeling ok. I responded,
Hi Naomi,
I am feeling a lot better, sleeping a lot. The past few days saw my temperature all over the place, but it seems to be normal now. I called and left a Voice mail on Friday morning on yr phone, but no one seemed to have gotten it. Wally called and told me next time to leave a voice mail on his phone. Sorry about that. Obviously I wasn’t in the right frame of mind.
I know better now and will stay home if I’m sick.
I fully expect to be in the office tomorrow. Thanks for thinking about me.
I hope you are well.

I was sincere, I think. Fresh start tomorrow. Having just written that I felt better about the whole ting. I was sick and suffering from the guilt that I used to have when I would lie to get away from McMann and Tate by feigning sickness, or as the Brits called it, being ‘unwell’. Pointless.

So I’ve been basically cooped up in this apartment since Thursday morning, excepting small runs to the store for bagels and whatnot. Back into the rat race tomorrow. Perhaps the illness was a final purging of the toxins from the Wolffmen.

Been surfing the iPod in my mind, looking at various top hits of the past, back to 1964 and trying to figure out when and where I heard the first song I ever heard. Interesting for me, tedious for you.

It’s a nothing Saturday. Not doing much of anything. Watching Chappelle Show DVDs. Very funny mostly, and what’s not is just a button away on the remote. It’s bitter cold and windy outside so there’s no need to go out. And since I’m not 100% better yet, it’s a good idea to stay in and do nothing, just rest. Okay, I did laundry too and in that sense it’s just another friggin’ Saturday. Just keepin it real. Catching up on a lot of reading as well but I am also climbing the wall. I’m also not looking forward to work on Monday since my faux pas with the voice mail.

But enough about that. I’ll deal with that if it happens. Let’s shuffle the iPod. I once again tried to download the latest version of iTunes but nothing came of it. It just kept telling me that I need to have QuickTime while I sat there looking at a QuickTime window. After a few times of that I couldn’t be bothered anymore. I still had the older version of iTunes so I will have to make do with that. Ho fucking hum. I can be happy with that. I didn’t lose anything like I had in the past.

And now, the shuffle.

Wholly Holy- Marvin Gaye
Great song from What’s Going On, but oddly enough, or perhaps so oddly enough, I actually prefer Aretha Franklin’s live version on some of her Greatest Hits and also on the Amazing Grace CD. But that’s just me, and this blog is me so there you go.

Why Can’t He Be You- Patsy Cline
A tune from her Greatest Hits. For some reason, most everyone loves Patsy Cline. I first got into her when my parents were away and I rented Coal Miner’s Daughter starring Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn and Beverly De Angelo as Patsy Cline who helped Loretta out before Patsy’s final plane ride. And there was always a Patsy Cline song on the jukebox at McSwells.

Apocalypso- Mew
Danish rock and roll. Julio and Stine went to see them early last summer. I was invited but declined since at that time I usually went home to lick my wounds after work. Julio burned the cd for me. It’s good. A Danish take on Brit Pop with an early eighties Manchester vibe.

#1 Hit Song- Minutemen
One of the best bands I ever saw at McSwells. Rocking and funky and definitely underground. The records are great but nothing could top the grooves of the live show. We Jam Econo is a great DVD of Minutemen and I highly recommend it.

Caballo Viejo- Ry Cooder and Manuel Galaban
The last of the Buena Vista Social Club cd’s I purchased, featuring a great guitarist as well as Ry Cooder. But it didn’t grab me as much as the previous collections I had purchased. I play rarely, yet more than Don Ruben Gonzalez. I believe Manuel Galaban, Orlando Cachaito Lopez and Eliades Ochoa are the only ones still vertical.

You’ll Lose a Good Thing- Barbara Lynn
From the excellent movie soundtrack for the original movie, Hairspray by John Waters. Really great songs I had never heard before. I once worked at People Magazine and came across his agent’s info so I took upon myself to send a suggestion in about how it might be cheap to put the show on Broadway and have the actors sing the songs from the movie, much like what was being done with Saturday Night Fever. They didn’t listen and now they have a hit show on Broadway, winning Tony awards and soon to star John Travolta in the role originated by Divine on screen and Harvey Fierstein on Broadway.