My new coat!

Remember when I said that I had lost the pad to my earphones when I was at the pub back in early March? Well the other day when I was looking for my replacement set, I found the pad that I had thought I had left at the pub in the couch cushion. Still I haven't found what I did with that wily old replacement set. Now they're probably at the pub!

Today I bought an olive green herringbone parka/overcoat that I have had my eye on since Christmas vacation. I've been waiting patiently for it to go on sale and today it was 25% off, which was good enough for me! I paid the kind of price that I wanted to but forget to take into consideration the thirteen dollars of tax I had to pay on top of it. Oh well!

The other day my Mom sent me a bag of nuts and some spare headphones.

Not only that but shortbread cookies and the Fall Peel sessions box set. Who, Nelly! Have ye heard rebellious jukebox? Me neither until the other day and now I am quite familiar with it because I cannot stop playing it.

I took my coat for a walk tonight and part way into it, I smelt something horrid which could only mean one thing: there's a skunk about.

The thing about Flagstaff neighborhoods: they're awfully dark. The reason for this has to do with the stars. An ordination was passed some time ago that limits any light source that could be a hindrance to stargazers. What this means for me on my walk in my new coat is that the chances of me seeing the skunk sneak up and attack and ruin my new coat is not very likely. Don't the stars look pretty though!

Here's a picture of my new coat that survived a skunk attack!

Almost, but not quite

Today would have been perfect had I not lost another headphone pad at the pub. I know I shouldn't have taken them there last night, but I would have lost them some other way, some other time anyway. I go through more of these rubber headphone covers. It actually degrades my quality of life in a sick way when this happens.

It's Spring Break and the weather has gotten really nice for it. It's supposed to be 75 on Tuesday, which is a good excuse for everyone to go outside and get drunk. I wore my straw hat to the supermarket, listening to Hawkwind on my underperforming headphones.

Only a few pages into D.H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers, but I'm sincerely gagging for more. I will report if these feelings of mine change any time soon. On deck is Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi, Mcguane's pick for the one book he'd wished he'd written.

Apparently there are black widow spiders living in older homes. The reason I say this is because I haven't seen a spider here, nor any insects whatsoever. Possible reasons for this is one, the house is new-ish; two, a lot of bugs probably can't be bothered getting up to this elevation; and three is that they are just avoiding me, in which case that just makes me feel unwanted. In other news, I heard a woodpecker pecking a tree in our backyard this morning.

I did well at the supermarket spending less than ten dollars on milk and bread and fruit, yogurt and I forget what else. I did a lot better a few days earlier, claiming a bottle of Chivas Regal 18 from a discount shopping trolley. Of course I hadn't planned on buying booze and thus didn't have my passport. The store manager Tim with the silver goatee didn't accept my Australian driver's license but said he would keep the bottle on his desk for when I returned with proof that I was as old as he suspected.

Best Dressed – Adams, Worst – Bigelow, and much more

A lot of JC Penney during the ad breaks, the reliance on their women's line was not encouraging for guys like me who dress exclusively in menswear. Deduct two points.

ABC put the freakishly tall Robin Roberts on the red carpet, making actors such as Mark Ruffalo look freakishly small when she chatted to them.

The Mistress was acutely pithy in her observations:

* gwyneth paltrow is looking like marcia brady circa Hawaii episode.
* Mila Kunis looks like she's had some hooch.
* Marisa Tomei is puffy and menopausal.


A good year for dresses, mostly. Oprah was wearing water wings. Amy Adams looked the most beautiful in a dress that matched her eyes. Kathyrn Bigelow looked like an unshapely man trapped in a Christmas stocking.

The guy who won best director stole part of his speech from the woman who won best foreign film.

Earlobes jangled on Natalie Portman from the weight of her earrings as she collected her well-deserved win for Black Swan. Sitting behind her, Darren Aronofsky's World War I fighter pilot moustache twinkled charismatically.

Scarlet Johannson and Matthew McConaughey have never looked more clapped-out. A guest I had over, Jon felt that he should have at least washed his greasy hair. His wife Emily thought that maybe Scarlet experienced some haggard sex prior to the get-together.

New Hollywood trend identified: British and American men collaborations, they were everywhere yesterday.

“This is hurting my ears,” said I during the Mandy Moore song.

I give this mediocre awards show 10/10