Entre Noel et la Nouvelle Année

I turn on the TV tonight, and Carrie has financial woes. Charlotte tells her "You're a 35-year-old woman. You have to learn to stand on your own." (Or something extremely close to that.)

Oh lord. I KNOW, God. OK?

So, ROCK. That was sort of supposed to be the point of this blog, or at least what would be printed on a banner over my closet-turned-office as I got into pro writing but with integrity dammit.

Anyway. I went to Courtside for karaoke with Subrina Friday, and I guess I generally feel compelled to do punk there. It was actually the other girls, Carrie and Robin, who put in the Ramones request there the first time I went. But I was the loudest girl-Ramone. I wasn't audible enough in a low register so I'd gotten all Sleater-Kinney, high and loud, on I Wanna Be Sedated. This time I did New Rose at the beginning of the night. The early time is the best time to try out anything you're unsure about 'cause the house is emptier. Ian'll do Britney, I'll do Brenda Lee, or whatever. So why not the Damned? When I sat down, Subrina demanded to know "What the hell was THAT?!" I'd told her I was gonna punk it up, and this was significantly less crazy than my act with Sedated, but I don't expect most people to grasp punk too much. The MIT people'd eaten it up, tho. Especially Peter F, who I haven't seen in too long. This time, I eventually got to do two other tunes, Magic by Olivia (I realize we could have a whole "Magic" medley including Pilot and the Cars) and at the end the Concrete Blonde version of Leonard Cohen's Everybody Knows. That reminds me of the "boyfriend" in New York who loved Cohen and the time we went to Moose Lodge, I think it's called, the UES location 'cause Zack didn't leave his damn neighborhood when he could help it. That time, happened to be Valentine's I think, I picked I Don't Like Mondays 'cause I thought it might appeal to a folkie. I was doing my schtick quipping with the folks by the stage before the DJ started the song, and a guy came up like drunk and 50 years old and ogled me really weirdly for not the first time of the night. So I flipped him off. When I got off stage, Zack said he liked the song, then warily asked me if somebody'd said something that bothered me. It took me a minute to understand, then I laughed and explained what that was, and asked if he was concerned that I'd done that. He said in his goofy Maine accent "Oh no, I liked it." Sure. But he wouldn't do it, he needed someone to do it for him. I don't like to have guts or attitude for people. None of this surrogate stuff.

After I sung Everybody Knows, Subrina commented that I'd been putting everyone to sleep, then she handed me over to her boyfriend in Seattle who I didn't realize had been listening to our Cambridge karaoke session over the cell phone. He said it wasn't soporific, then he went off on a long tangent about the Captain and Tenille. We were like "No man, we're into the eighties. EIGH-ties!" Actually that was later. He didn't admit to me he'd had to ask Subrina if I was a guy while listening to me singing the Concrete Blonde song. It's pitched really low, which I think enhances the darkness of it, the blithely biting Cohen lyrics. God, I'd once actually thought it was interesting to get involved with a man who hung a pair of handcuffs on a portrait of Cohen, and explained "It represents a sense of being bound that Leonard and I share." Now I just say "What a loony!"

Hung out with Robin west of town today, explored Harvard/Maynard/Lincoln a bit, and commented to her that it felt like a road trip. She said all we needed was tunes, so I punched the radio on, and it was Ringo so instantly our road trip was complete. All you need is the fabulous Reen-go.

I am a TOTAL loser at knitting. I've taken apart my stitches probably 16 times today and started cutting the yarn to start over when it got completely tangled. It's terrible, but things get knotted. It's 1:45 already, and I'll probably be up trying til 3:45 or so. I have a good sense of time, I think that's accurate.

It's snowing a lot now, but seems to be too warm for a serious freeze. There wasn't much accumulation on the cars when I came in which was admittedly a little over two hours ago.

I've been compulsively trying to get all kinds of food ingredients to make a great South American/Italian meal and my own gelato. I was hoping to get Subrina and some neighbors to come for food, festive hot drinks and a great video. The alternatives I have in mind are to work for a small amount at Leon de Juda or go to a rock show, like the one with Lyres at Midway, amidst people I don't know. It seems like Subrina wants to stay at home in Newton. I can't fathom someone being socially lamer than me. This is massive. I can't decide which idea will work. If I can't even manage the logistics to get the video tomorrow what with the weather and limited store hours on holidays, that shoots down the most promising possibility.