I'm FINALLY a TWAT!

Only took me 38 days to finally "follow" someone after setting up a Twitter account. And it happened mere hours after I got MY first kinda-legit followER. Glad these explosive developments happened in the waning hours of July. I sense a nautical/beach theme. And I like it.

Um....

Yeah, i've really got nothing. Which means two things...1) I'll ramble anyway because 2) I actually have TOO much to say, but i'm just in SUPER unfocused ADD mode.

It was a glorious day weatherwise. Went out and about 3 times, including just before at 10:30ish for about an hour-long walk. Good to get out and savor a day like this. Actually FEELS like the middle of summer.

I've been in a great mood all day...wide awake...rarin to go...yet have done NOTHING really productive. What the fuck? Well, OK, those 3 times I went out and about. And worked out a bit. And the usual stupid stuff. Nothing substantial, though. Aggravates me. In and of itself, and also because I have no way to explain it. Then again, i've been doin a lot of shit lately and maybe just needed a zone-out day. Who the fuck knows. I just know I feel the ticking of the clock and HATE when I feel like nothing major got accomplished on another day I was lucky to be drawing breath. I don't want July to end.

Epic STORM!!

I was witness today to the most crazy violent storm I may have ever seen in my hometown. Large branches down, peas-sized hail, lightning that sounded like it was hitting right out front, a RIVER of water flowing down the main drag. And, of course, my camera's still broken. Sigh. Thank Christ for the bro having his cell phone camera. Very, VERY fun/scary to watch. I'd be more flowery in my descriptions of the day if not for the fact that i'm exhausted. LONG, interesting weekend.

GOODBYE, Windows 98!!!!!

That's right...I used Windows 98 until today. It's almost 3 in the morning and my eyes are getting heavy, so I won't bore you with too many specifics here. But, inexplicably, it JUST dawned on me this week to seek out someone who may have a newer Windows disc I could use to install. And I found that magical disc pretty quickly. Installed it this evening. Presto! Suddenly, out of nowhere, my computer screen actually resembles 2009. And it only gets better! The new XP I installed today allows -- for the first time!!!! -- a printer and speakers to work out of this still archaic '98 hard drive. It's all more than you could ever imagine. TRULY life altering. Seriously. Quite a computer week Gary's having!

*PS, the faster computer and fact that sites actually look like they SHOULD only means I'll be MORE inspired to sit in front of my computer and...WRITE!! YAY!! OK, 3am...damn red wine always knocks me out....

Big ass monitor's on the CURB!

I figured it'd be a tad melodramatic and potentially disturbing to the neighbors if I took an ax or hammer to it. Ahh, so cathartic, though! SO, SO CATHARTIC!! I will glance at it ONE last time from the window before I turn my back on it and walk toward my future! Or, um, just go to bed....

So i'm back on AOL....

Today was the PERFECT rainy day. I haven't done a damn thing except tinker on my computer. Swiped mom & dad's 2003 monitor, keyboard & mouse after they got a new computer. Sure, I'm still stuck with the 1998 hard drive...complete with Windows 98 software...but i'm GETTIN there! *I fully realize most reading this are reeling in shock at my archaic computer.

My POINT is that today was all about trying to delete a lot of the shit left on the hard drive...from TWO roomies, including Dipshit. If you can believe it, I actually hate the OTHER one more. I can't even stomach to speak of him; it's just endlessly hammered back home to me how he was perhaps the worst choice in friends I've ever made. And YET...last night, I found myself thinking of his grandmother on the Jersey shore...a wonderful woman I had the pleasure of spending a lot of time with in the summers of '94, '95 and a reunion in '01. For her alone, I can't regret being Roomie #1's friend at one point in time. But even beyond her, I have very fond memories of summer days & nights spent with a lot of people in Ocean City, NJ during those years. It's funny -- and sad -- how things change.

I just never should've lived with the guy...it's that simple. If I never had, the memories wouldn't be so mixed. Living with someone is SO different than just being their friend. Oh, this complicated life! To be sure, Roomie #1 is absolutely a douchebag. It's just that at one time, he was merely annoying. And he has an AWESOME grandmother, whom I miss. Sigh.

So it was actually a double cleansing...of actual files AND the past. This computer is my LAST remnant of Roomie #1...it's his, technically left to Dipshit when he moved out, but Dipshit hasn't used it since...well, I ascertained that it's been at least FOUR years since anyone but me has been on this computer...likely closer to five. The last file I found was from July 2004. Tomorrow, the big ass monitor goes to the curb. I may sob with joy...or pain, if carrying it down 3 flights causes my hernia to rupture.

Oh, the AOL reference? Sorry...there's been too many personal computer storylines the past 24 hours, I couldn't begin to fully explain them all. But in tinkering today, I clicked on an old AOL icon buried deep in the folders within folders...and, presto, it still came up. It was BEYOND surreal...like it was early 2007 again, the last I'd belonged to AOL. But that was only half the story. If I used the AOL browser, the internet came up super quick and without the viruses/spam that using Internet Explorer on my Verizon broadband gives me. Does any of this make sense? It's crazy ridiculous complicated and technical, but the main point is that my online home experience is suddenly VASTLY better.

Whew, i'm exhausted by this post. Likely a post only I'LL enjoy looking back on and reading. I've had great fun today, though, with all this internet/computer/reflecting on my roomies shit. A LOT accomplished...and on a "perfect" rainy, 65-degree July day.

Oh, deer....

Continued communing with nature today. Went to Rifle Camp Park to hike around. Only been there once before...last summer right around the same time...but I didn't roam as extensively then. I was delighted to find these random exercise pit-stops along the trail...ANOTHER way to work out for FREE!

So a bit into my walk, I came across like 5 deer. RIGHT. THERE. Not remotely phased by me. LOOKING at me, though. I've never been in such a situation before. What if they attacked me?!?! Would they try to ram me? I must research "deer attacks" online. I hesitated a bit, but finally -- slowly -- proceeded down the path. WithOUT incident. Whew! I'd been imagining my bloody end and the ensuing media coverage....

Adirondack chair high in Hoboken....

Found a GREAT spot in Hoboken to get away from it all. I'd been there before, but not in a while...and I'm pretty sure the adirondack chairs are new. From this perch, one can watch the NYC skyline and the boats on the Hudson while sitting high above the rest of Hoboken under a couple oak trees. The view is rather magnificent, but the SOLITUDE even more so, especially considering that you're in Hoboken. The loudest sound was the rustling of the leaves above me on this breezy evening. Completely soothing. I need to get there to watch the sun rise this summer. An absolute delight.

THE middle of summer!

OH, how I loathe straddling this dividing line! Looking back at the first half...assessing. Looking forward to the 2nd half...TELLING myself (as always) that it'll be The Better Half. It usually is...I ain't really delusional. Combination of happy luck & sheer force of will...but the 2nd half of summer is ALWAYS better in my life. Doesn't change the fact that I HATE how swiftly it always goes.

And this summer seems EXTRA strange...partly due to the obscenely cool, rainy weather. Finally super muggy right now...balmy...after a glorious daytime with wall-to-wall blue and low humidity. Perfect afternoon for yet another long walk, which I vastly enjoyed. Finding $2 at the start of it helped set the tone. I've done MORE bloody walking the past 3 weeks or so.

DESPERATELY trying to focus and accomplish things, yet these days just seem to go by in a blink. But no crying. I'm alive and well in the middle of summer '09. Things NEED to get done. FOCUS, Gary, FOCUS. No, SERIOUSLY!

What to write...on this beautiful night?

2:27am...catching the final "Roseanne" on TV Land...don't know i've seen this since the first, original time. Odd. This show was SO great, but lost its way. Decent final scene, though. Hard to hate it based on the genius that was so much of this show's run. Oh, wow...NOW the pilot's on! And there's a different DJ!?

Hmm, so ROSEANNE is what i've decided to write about? Eh, not so much. Been a very strange Sunday. Walked briefly...too briefly...through Brooklyn. Borough Park. Lots of Jews...and me. Gorgeous afternoon. Eventually I kinda got annoyed doin a lot of running around. But I came home to an empty house and all was well. Instantaneously soothed me. Getting more into being alone by the day. And I pondered life. And drank red wine. And all the windows are open as wide as can be to allow in this INCREDIBLE mid-July air (65, breezy and low humidity now). And that's it. Just wanted to write SOMEthing. A good Sunday. I mean, I'm alive.

This is my 1,205th posting

Thank you for your support. I was pretty impressed when I saw I shot past the 1,200 mark. I dunno, over 3.5 years, is 1,205 postings a lot? It ALMOST averages to one a day, actually...not so shabby. I should really get on the ball and try to do something with all these musings of mine....

Independence Day!

And the Heart of Summer begins! I had a lovely 4th of July...hope you did, too. A most pleasant day, weatherwise...almost Labor Day-esque. Partly sunny, around 80. We're all still waiting on summer in the Northeast, though at least the monsoons have stopped. Anxious to retire to bed with a refreshing, low humidity breeze wafting through the house!

Lost track of the number of people amazed at how much I was eating. When I got home, I weighed myself...was like FIVE pounds heavier! I can't recall that EVER happening before. Am I about to hit the wall and lose my svelte figure?!?!

That's all I got. 3am. Bring on the summer fun!

My classic night with Brian...and Milan...and Aaron...and Lucas...and James...and...

One HELL of a way to usher in July! An absolutely CLASSIC night in NYC with BKT. I hope to hell it's a harbinger of the rest of the summer. I still can't even process all of it. Just amazing on so many levels.

Facebook is to thanks for my phone ringing during dinner...Milan! Haven't seen him in like a decade. I'd left my number on my status message if "anyone from college wanted to drink"...totally mainly thinking of him. Brian also ran into a friend from Maine on Bleecker Street. !?!?! Can you imagine? I was like "who the fuck are you talking to?!" So. Fucking. Surreal. Said run-in resulted in a late night trip to a hootenanny gathering of awesome Appalachian-like music at the Grisly Pear on MacDougall.

Before all that, there was Times Square roaming...visiting the new High Line Park...Hogs and Heifers...dinner OUTSIDE (!!) at Veselka...being carted off by Milan and his two work buds in a cab to Loreley on Rivington. Even supposed to hang out with his one London friend this weekend. And, miraculously, the rain held off ALL night...it was beautiful...PERFECT walking weather! It began to rain JUST as we walked from Brian's car to my house at almost 3am. Too many angles to cover here. And I now sit completely bored to tears and in a shitty mood a day later...the "coming down" after the high. Dammit.