SUNDAY DECEMBER 3RD 2000
Mom got me LIONS TICKETS!!! Bears! Christmas Eve! Last game of the season! End zone seats! Kevin, Nick and Chris are going! Well we decided to go with Josh on lead guitar and a guy named Kelly on rhythm/vocals. Dan was amazing…too amazing. We still need a bass player. I’m still tired. Work all day tomorrow.
TUESDAY DECEMBER 5TH 2000
Off today. Practiced drums, slept, did laundry and set up a Christmas tree with Heather. I must be on time for work tomorrow! I practically cut my thumb off a couple days ago. It’s healing pretty quickly. I guess we have a band job next week. Josh and Kelly won’t be ready.
THURSDAY DECEMBER 7TH 2000
Josh is an amazing guitarist! After work on Wednesday we played with a bass player! It made all the difference! Jay is his name but, like every other bass player in this town, he is very busy. There ya have it…a band. But as I said, they won’t be ready to play out by next weekend so…Duane is coming down to play with us! I look forward. Heather leaves for NY in the morning. Oh, I was off today but I worked anyway. I reopened my wounded thumb on the way home and bled profusely. It’s better now. I talked to Ashley tonight. I wouldn’t mind doing that more often. I played drums till I could play no more today.
FRIDAY DECEMBER 8TH 2000
I am so glad that I’ve decided to write down the events of my life over the past year…and I’m so glad that I’m almost done writing them. It is early this evening. I got off at 5pm and have nothing to do. I went and played my drums but there was a group of ladies practicing across the hall and I didn’t want to disturb them. As I was leaving they told me that they heard us practicing a few days ago and were very impressed. Smile! I wanted to call Ty tonight but the batteries in my calculator containing all of my phone numbers died. When I got it working again the numbers were gone. Frown! Five years worth of phone numbers never to be remembered by me. Oh well. I read what I wrote in New York before writing this. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I have no real insights to offer…I just write some things that happen so I can read them later and smile. I like my job. I seem to make people happy everyday. Not once has someone left angry with me…KNOCK ON WOOD! Hey! I went to lunch with Wayne and Duane today. He’s in town to get his hair done. He’ll be back next week for the “Graham Central Station” show. Matt’s agent guy, Tom, will be there so we must impress. I’ve been eager for Ashley to call but who am I kidding? I don’t have the balls to call her and I don’t really mind. Joani is really nice and pretty but seems to be complicated. What do I know? All I know is that she’s another girl I don’t want to go out of my way to get to want me. It’s just not natural for me to come on to girls. My van eats gas quickly. Oh! I’ve been laughing to myself often about a comment I made to David (long-haired framer…very cool dude). He said (about a comic book) “It came with children’s underwear and I needed it for my collection.” I interrupted, “You collect children’s underwear?”
MONDAY DECEMBER 11TH 2000
The Lions played Green Bay yesterday. DAMN IT! 8-6! The weekend passed and there is no news of the band. No news of anything really. I make people happy a lot at Michael’s and David doesn’t seem to like me doing that too much. He and Rhonda really have their system down and there isn’t much room for customer service…which is what is natural in me. I know, I’ve said the opposite before but look how negative I was being. Don’t get me wrong, I still despise “customers”. I like to help people. Show Friday. The agent man will be there to judge us! Oh, what else did I do this weekend? Duane and I hung out at Wayne’s and we jammed at the rehearsal room. We played the NY stuff and other jams. The cut on my thumb is weird. It is turning black. I have to make a confession. I’m a bit confused. I don’t know what to think about Ashley. I just know that I don’t know what to think about her very often. Too often. The funny thing is that she probably only thinks about me when she is reading my email. I guess she’s kinda seeing some guy so why do I even concern myself? How awkward would it be (here I go building this up again) if…if what? If I asked her out on a date? It feels like my days have been revolving around that concept for months now. Heather avoids the topic whenever I mention it. It’s not like I want to jump into a serious relationship. I just want to see more of her.
TUESDAY DECEMBER 12TH 2000
I’m sorry for complaining so much and then apologizing about it. Wah, wah. I’m so lonely. Wah, wah. I’m sorry. I got off at 5pm today, slept till 9pm, ate pizza, did dishes (turned on washer), read through the framing manual and now I’m going to bed at 12:30am. Oh, I got the finger at work today. The district manager was in yesterday and he liked how I worked so he gave me a gold finger. Oh, I should be certified by next week and my raise should be significant…I hope. I hope I don’t get fired when the band starts traveling a lot. I hope the band starts traveling a lot. Oh, it looks like George W. Bush is the next President of this country. The media are doing their best to make it a conspiracy for the purpose of entertaining America…and to get ratings. They keep talking about the votes Gore may have lost. If people didn’t follow such stupid, stubborn, set belief systems, none of this drama would be going on. I’m going back to the woods.
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 13TH 2000
Today SUCKED! Rain, cold, traffic, broken plans. I ended up playing drums by myself all night. That was enjoyable. I was supposed to pick up Heather at the airport but the flight was cancelled then Matt was supposed to show up at the rehearsal space but sold me out for a chick. There were quite a few “customers” today.
SUNDAY DECEMBER 17TH 2000
AH! The weekend is over. My right calf muscle hurts…but not as bad as it did last night. The “Graham Central Station” gigs went good. I don’t think I’m going to go into detail…there’s too much. I’ll just say that on Thursday Matt, Josh and I got the new PA system to the rehearsal space by 8pm after spending four hours at Mars Music. The floor model mixing board was defective so on Friday morning Matt and Josh switched it for another while I went to Michael’s to get my paycheck that wasn’t there. It was in Toledo! Oh well, I bought a $200 microphone anyway…actually Josh paid for it and I paid him back yesterday. Josh is absolutely great! He took charge of getting the PA set up and got it working perfectly. The weather SUCKED this weekend! It poured on us the first night and snowed the second. The result was a small audience. Dude at the bar was pretty cool. The agent man saw our first set and seemed to dig it. I was Emmitt Bumms…coat and all. Before last night’s show I fell backward off a chair and slammed my leg on the seat bringing severe pain to myself. I nearly called off work today because I can’t walk but I’m glad I didn’t because everyone else did. I got things done today. I like my job. If I were to comment on one thing about the gigs this weekend I would mention that I had quite an experience limping from Second Ave down to the river in the freezing cold and blowing snow to get the van to load up all of the equipment after last night’s show. Then I drove through a blizzard with Matt and Duane to unload the shit in the rehearsal space where Duane accidentally dropped a mic stand on my injured leg. I held back tears. Another thing I would mention…and I already have…is that Josh is very reliable. He worked harder than any of us but Matt wasn’t paying him so I gave him $50 of my earnings. Oh, Joani in the frame shop is engaged. That’s nice. I must now walk through the freezing cold to put my clothes in the dryer.
MONDAY DECEMBER 18TH 2000
The first thing I heard today was Heather say, “Were you supposed to be to work at nine?” I didn’t know that that irritating buzzing sound that I kept smacking to make stop was my alarm. I called to say I was on my way but David informed me that I wasn’t scheduled until 5pm! Whew! I went to Krispy Kreme and watched donuts being born and to the Library with Heather. I went back to bed and could fly until 3pm. Just before I left for work the apartment office called and said that my van will be towed if I didn’t get new tags…so I went and picked up my license plate that I’ve been forgetting to pick up for a week now. Shana at Michael’s gave me a huge Hershey’s Kiss for Christmas! What a surprise! I haven’t gotten anything for anyone. When I got home from work tonight Ashley and Gigi were over. I watched the Bucs beat the Rams as I was unable to flirt with Ashley…who is sleeping in Heather’s room tonight. I even walked directly past her directly under the mistletoe and couldn’t take advantage of it. She got bored of me quickly and went to bed. I learned tonight that I’ll be alone forever. Oh, I don’t know if the Lions won yesterday. All I know is that they must beat the Bears to make the playoffs. I’ll be there to see it in person! Oh, the van has a name: “The Booty Wagon”. Good name…not true.
THURSDAY DECEMBER 21ST 2000
The word “pocket” will be written on this page a few times. The last two days were hectic in the frame shop. I’m not limping anymore but the pain in my calf is still irritating. There was an incident at work where a dude went crazy because I didn’t have his stuff fit when I said I would. We were just way too busy. Anyway, I had to stand between him and Lisa or else they would’ve killed each other. She stood up for me and he hated her for it. He apologized before he left. Ashley indeed has a boyfriend. Not a concern of mine…I just thought I would give all that nonsense a proper ending in this book. Now, about “pocket”. Wait, wait, I’ll mention a few more things about the past couple days first. I went Christmas shopping at Opry Mills but found only a boomerang helicopter for Kevin. I had dinner at Cracker Barrel with Heather’s fam last night. Nice people. I talked to Ross. I guess his dog ran away today. This morning I got a call from Tom, Matt’s agent. He was very forward with me. He wasn’t impressed with my playing. I don’t feel the “pocket”. I lack soul. I’m all over the place. I’ve heard it all before…but now I have to do something about it. No more do I try to impress myself. I must sit in a pocket till I’m so bored I can’t stand it. I will show Tom how steady and boring I can be. He wants me to take lessons from a “professional” drummer who can show me how to be typical. Brad will soon receive a Waynderful Christmas card.
THURSDAY DECEMBER 28TH 2000
A week later. Friday night I closed the frame shop and went directly to Opry Mills to see Tom Hanks’ new movie “Cast Away” on the giant IMAX screen with Matt and Marty. Marty paid! Decent movie…my leg ached the whole time. After that Matt and I decided to make the drive to Toledo overnight. There are many things to mention about the past week but I have to be to work in a half hour so…so what? I can finish writing later. [later] Well, I’ll start with Matt’s situation with Wayne. We all know (though I don’t know who “we all” are) that Wayne is gay and snoops through Matt’s belongings. Matt put a lock on his door but he still suspected Wayne of snooping. So, before we left for Toledo, Matt hid a video camera in his room to see if Wayne also picks locks. We arrived in Toledo without incident at about 11am eastern time. Chris, cousin Brian and I listened to Mr. Bungle at high volume as we did last minute Christmas shopping. The lines at Media Play were long and patient. I saw 4 new Star Wars dudes at Target but didn’t indulge. We laughed at “Bibleman” then I slept until the big gift exchange at the Nowak’s. Thanks to Chris my next reading adventure is to be Ender’s Shadow by Orson Scott Card. He also got me Star Wars Trivial Pursuit! All I got for him was a “Bibleman” placemat. Oh, I was late for work today. Traffic. Earlier today I went with Heather to get a dryer. She’s so excited to have purchased her first major appliance. I’m too tired to write anymore tonight. I’ll just calmly write that the Lions…LOST THE DAMN GAME!!! Batch was injured when we arrived at halftime.
FRIDAY DECEMBER 29TH 2000
That’s right. Halftime! We got there an hour before the game started but because of poor direction of traffic, we sat at the Silverdome exit ramp until the end of the second quarter. I bumped the car in front of me because I was determined not to let anyone in. The people cutting in were the reason for the slow traffic. I had many a gesture for the cutters (all in good fun) causing Nick to call me a “Grade A Jack Ass”. Anyway, Batch reinjured his broken ribs a few plays after we sat down. Stoney Case came in and was sacked again and again the same way Batch was. Hopefully next year Batch will be 100% healthy and the offensive line will be 100% new. I set up my AmSouth bank account today. My paycheck was actually sent to the right store this time. Marty came in to Michael’s today to drop off the rehearsal schedules that I have to distribute to the other guys because Matt is in South Carolina playing country music. I was offered the gig but declined. Back to Christmas Eve in Toledo: I almost passed out at the wheel driving from Pontiac to Aunt Claude and Uncle Fred’s house. Nice time, good food. Then I went to church with Mom and Kevin to worship Jesus but I mainly worshiped the hot chick in front of me. I couldn’t help it! I felt more in touch with my faith up on the ski hill than I did in the “house of God”. Kevin liked the helicopter then we played 21 Questions like we used to do. More like 201 Questions! Where did the magic of Christmas morning go? My main present was in my bass drum at the gig a few weeks back. The first flight of Kevin’s chopper ended in destruction. The ceiling is high but not high enough. Oops. Dad had to work. He got home just in time to go to Aunt Debbie and Uncle Hal’s. After we opened gifts and I beat Zach 2-0 at Ping Pong (Kevin beat me 80-71) I slept upstairs while everyone else carried on merrily. I spoke with Scott about drumming and he had a few pointers. I’ve been practicing at least an hour everyday. Grandma gave all of the grand kids framed photos of her and Grandpa. Mine is next to my clock that will sound in a few hours. Christmas night was spent at the Nowak’s playing Star Wars Trivial Pursuit. Matt and Vice played too. Wayne emailed Matt telling him that he checked Matt’s room for “fire hazards”. BUSTED! Wayne the lock picker. It took 13 hours to get back to Nashville! Changing a tire in the snow is not too fun. Framing has slowed down these days. I may have to work out on the floor to pick up hours. No!!! The plan for tonight (Saturday the 30th) was to go out to a Mexican restaurant with Heather. Ashley drove. She didn’t talk much about her boyfriend. I’m convinced that I don’t have much of an interest anymore and I think she can tell. When I got back from practicing there was a note on my pillow saying that she had a good time.
SUNDAY DECEMBER 31ST 2000
What do I write first? Hmmm? Well, now that I wrote that it seems as if I have numerous things to write about but the truth is there is very little. I spent New Years Eve alone with Ender’s Shadow. Heather went out with Ashley and her man. Ross just called. We had a good chat. He’s getting close to being bad enough for the transplant. I spent the last day of this year in the frame shop talking with Lisa. She believes that my New Year’s Resolution should be: no more infatuations! But what if the infatuation is mutual? I ate too many oatmeal raisin cookies today! If I were to make a New Year’s Resolution it would be to gain some weight and get toned. But I’ll just stay skinny and sloppy. I like the way the book is starting. It is a parallel novel with the original Ender’s Game based around the character Bean. I saw a picture of Orson Scott Card for the first time tonight. It’s nuts how the way someone looks alters the way their writing is perceived. It’s even more nuts that the year 2000 is in the PAST!!!
