Things that Fall

• Work is good
• Weather is nice
• Going to stay here for a month, even without a room mate and then try to formulate a plan
• Very tired. Been a long month
• But it's almost Nov. So hurray for that
• Here's a shout out to Mr. LeBeau, Jan's dad, who passed away this weekend. Mr. LB was a good guy. I went to a baseball game with he and Mel and Janet. He and i had a good time together.
• Memories. They are priceless, aren't they?
• Forward. It's the only path that's cleared

Reap what you Sow

And the meek shall inherit the earth

-Rush (and possibly the New Testament)

Time goes by. I guess it's better than being stuck in the same moment until your ass falls asleep.

I am tired. Looking forward to some stability. It'll come - sometime in the next few weeks.

Spain went standard time last night - I had no idea (i'm used to Halloween like in the US) but luckily my Mac told me the right time. I was like, "No....it's 11:30." And then i figured it out.

So much for the theory of my "Big Brain."

Life's a bitch.

But it's life. And that's always good.

When things are tuff i think of Annie. And Colin. And Kate. Because, kids are not only incredible, they are our future. And they carry the things we teach them thru their lives. When i see Annie make a face sometimes - I can utterly remember the same face on Sue. That's a very significant thing.

We are what we are. Sometimes we make mistakes. Sometimes our lives go thru rough patches (See: El Dude, 2009). But, mostly, we come out the other end and get thru it.

October

Now it's come to this
It's like we're back in the Dark Ages
From the Middle East to the Middle West
It's a world of superstition

Now it's come to this
Wide-eyed armies of the faithful
From the Middle East to the Middle West
Pray, and pass the ammunition

-Rush

Still no one for the flat. I've had like one call. Stressful. If i can't find anyone i'll move Dec 1. And then I found out yesterday after class that my Debit, not credit card - Debit was compromised! Good thing i don't keep much in checking. I can dispute it. I can prove i was not in Mexico buying furniture! Citibank sucks. They approved 3 purchases of the same price, and it's in Mexico. And i never overdraw. Didn't know i could. Idiots! So i had to take out money and they are overnighting a new card. The old number is cancelled. I was a half an hour late to band practice. This has been a bad run of luck. I need to a change. Truly, nothing has gone well this month. So all you can do is put on your gas mask and look as sexy as possible!

forward motion

Some of you are going to die

Martyrs, of course

For the freedom i shall provide

-Genesis

Someone's coming to see the flat manana. Hasn't been a whole lot of calls. We'll see what happens. I just keep moving forward. Stay positive. Deep breathes. BREATHE.

Work is fine.

Chema sucks. Can't wait for him to be gone.

It's a lot cooler the last few days. And rainy. What the hell is rain? It hasn't rained here since April.

Sometimes people ask me if i'm going crazy. The answer is that i lost my mind a few years ago, November 22, 2006. The day before Thanksgiving. I was in Los Angeles. I fucking hate LA. That was the day i found out i might be Annie's father. That was a rough five months that followed.

SO this room mate thing - it'll all work out. Or it won't. Either way - i'll survive.

Atletico got crushed by Chelsea last night. They'll never get out of the group phase. They haven't scored a single goal in 3 games!

And the Seahawks? Well, you know you're frakked when you look to a bye week with relief!

Night Sky

Tuesday...4 classes today. All is well at Merck and the Ministry of Science. Looking for a house mate. At least i don't work at The Ministry of Love (See: Orwell's 1984)!

The future is neither here nor now -El Dude

Time to sleep. More classes at 8:00 am. It's inhuman really. But it's living. Nighty night, Rabbit.

Looking at you

Big Brother is watching

-George Orwell

No rest for the wicked.

Only the good die young

-Billy Joel

I'm gonna be here for centuries!

Back to work today. I enjoy it.

Now you know what i would look like bald!

Things either work out, or they don't

Most times you still live through it

-El Dude

The Waiting Game

I am putting advertisements for the flat on the web everyday to keep them at the tops of the listings. It's annoying. Now i just wait for someone to call.

Now we play a little thing we call 'the waiting game.' (2 seconds later) Aw, the waiting game sucks! Let's play Hungry Hungry Hippos!

-Homer Simpson

73 and sunny. The weather has been fantastic. Winter will get here sooner or later though, i'm sure.

20:51

The Giants are getting dismantled by the Saints. The Vikes and the Ravens are playing in an all-purple competition. The game tonight for the Seahawks vs. Arizona is huge. They already have a division loss to SF. Another one to the Cardinals would be bad.

21:21

I went for an English 'Fry Up' at Triskell's with Pete. It was full of heart stopping goodness; eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, beans, toast and English Premiership football. It was lovely. For 6E, i should do it every Domingo.

What an ass kicking. I did not thinks New Orleans were that good. I though they were over-hyped. But the Giants played a lot of bad teams of recent.

22:20

Asses of fire! Arizona just took the kickoff 80 yards in 8 minutes. Joder! They looked great. But i hear the problem is their defense. All will be revealed. But they pass and pass and pass some more.

People have been telling me i look like i lost some weight. "Yeah, it's this new fad diet, called a nasal infection." It doesn't matter either way, because i lost about 10 pounds after the incidents of May. But i feel good.

The Cardinals just recovered an onside kick. Fucking hell!

This game is going bad quickly. Death and destruction.

14-0. This kind of seems like the exact opposite of last week, that 41-0 shellacking of Jacksonville.

The Bud Light commercials are moronic. "Tailgate tested, Tailgate Approved!" If Bud Light has to teach you how to party, you probably shouldn't drink alcohol. And "drinkability." What does that mean? It's a beverage. What are you going to do,make a soup with it? Even if you use one to cook (i have), it's only one. I figure a person would drink the other 5.

Hawks in a bit of a hurry-up offense. Hasselbeck is sacked and he fumbles. Arizona recovers. Seattle has had 3 plays in the 1st quarter.

I liked last week better.

Kurt Warner is 11 for 11.

I love Sundays. I like feeling healthy!

They sacked Warner, but it's now 17-0. Ouchy ouchy.

17-3. Miserable first half.

Miserable 2nd half. Good night everybody!

An insult to stupid people

Can i play with madness? -Iron Maiden

So i have decided to stay in this flat and look for a roommate. Jihad girl (Chema's dim witted girlfriend) put a cutting board that i had cut raw chicken on away without washing it. I was still barbecuing it and hadn't had a chance to wash it. Then she used a dirty stinking towel to wipe it and the stove off with. I told her not to do that. She said "you're so clean!" I told her chicken was dangerous and that she was stupid. She just walked away without saying another thing. Just two more weeks. I don't know if they will survive that long.

Two sisters called to ask if they could live here. It's not big enough and she said their mother wanted to see it. Are you kidding me! Then she said they wanted to move in Monday! I said goodbye and hung up.

Where are all the normal people? To call Chema and Jihad Girl stupoid would be insulting to stupid people. Hmmm...they will probably take a siesta soon, even though all they did was cook and watch TV. And sleep til 14:00. Think it's time to clean the house to ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE. It's impossible to sleep to live Rush cerca 1976. "El Dude, ...super genius." But seriously, i'm Dr. Stephen Hawken compared to these 2.

Shut up brain or i'll stab you with a Q-Tip!

-Homer Simpson

Playlist

Eurythmics-1984

Genesis - Live in Zurch '77
Pink Floyd - Live at Pompeii (That pissed them off i'm sure!)

Rush - All the World's a Stage

Pink Floyd - BBC Archives '70-'71

18:16

It worked. They left during In The End. Victory is mine!!!

Now I go to rub peeled onion on his pillow case. Adios Eyeballs!

Monkey Bars

The monkey sat on a pile of stones
And stared at the broken bone in his hand
And the stains of a Viennese quartet
Rang out across the land
The monkey looked up at the stars
And thought to himself
Memory is a stranger
History is for fools
And he cleaned his hands
In a pool of holy writing
Turned his back on the garden
And set out for the nearest town
-Roger Waters

I was teaching a low level class the other day for Merck. It was fill-in-the-blank with prepositions. The answer was 'the children played on the monkey bars.' My student Ana was like, "Monkey bar? Is that the name of the bar?"

I explained it was not a bar where monkeys could drink alcoholic beverages. Although, now i want to own a bar where the bartender is a chimpanzee that wears a fez and shakes margaritas. I think it would be a big hit.

One more class tomorrow. And it looks like i picked up my first private class that is a business (several students instead of one), which means i asked for a better hourly rate. Woo hoo!

We'll have a sleepy time time
-Cream

Big Noggin

• things that happen, happen often or not at all
• there is no fate, just destiny
• you can't feel your feet if they're touching ground
• she's a superfreak, superfreak, she's super freaky- owww!

Mum called today, all concerned about me. It's always nice to know your Mum loves you. I mean, i know she does, but reinforcement rocks. I never really had a Dad, and i'm okay with that. But no Mum? That would be inconceivable!

You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want You can't always get what you want
But if you find sometime. you might find
you get what you need
-The Rolling Stones

I am listneing to 461 Ocean Boulevard, by Clapton. Susan first bought it for me on cassette years ago. I forget why. But Pat O'Neill used to always borrow it from me. Good memories. Without a doubt, our brains are the greatest asset we have. For me, it's kind of the only one i have, all be it a formidable one. Teaching- creativity; they all come from my over sized noggin. Seriously. Have you ever really looked at my head? It is grotesquely abnormally large. Every time i go to a baseball hat giveaway for hockey or baseball, one size fits most, it fits me like a Yamica.

Someday, i hope a cool chick wil love me for my brain and not just my hot bod.

Look into the eye of the storm

Did anyone see my last marble
I swear that I had it before
Sometimes I think I should go see a shrink
In case he can find me some more
-Marillion

Looking for flats. Ugh! I'm fairly certain the guy who had the single flat was an Internet scam. He was suppsoed to send me the key thru DHL, but he sent me the email and there was no tracking number. DHL was supposed to hold the money for two days to see if i wanted it and then release it. And the name I was supposed to make the money order out to was just a name. I had no proof it was a DHL agent. The email he sent me had graphics and said DHL, but i never heard from them directly and the email didn't show a forwarding address. Anyone can make graphics (excepting me). The guy had an English name but spoke shitty English. So i sent him an email telling him what i needed and haven't heard back. I'm not sending a deposit of 880 E unless i am sure. I wasn't born today.

So, with the gun in my mouth, back to the drawing board. I am so angry at Chema for doing this to me. I am really thinking of breaking his arm when i leave. At least i know it's something i know how to do. One of his friends, of which he has very few, told me he knew he was leaving. Plus i found paperwork proving it. He's not only a dirty scumbag, but he's stupid. I didn't think there could be a worse year than 2006/2007, but things can always get worse, i guess.

But i will figure something out. Some way. Some how. At least I am feeling better.

I know when it rains it pours, but you're in the middle of a hurricane
-Mum

Well, someday i'll be dead and then i won't have to worry about a thing! Until then, i'll just carry on. Schemers, liers, heartless folk. It just wears on you after a while.

Okay- going to look at a single today. More E's than i had hoped, but can't hurt to look. Can it?

Dismantled

I lay here in this hole
Playing poker with my soul
-Big Country

And the flat comes apart Playlist:

• Oakland '77 live (Animals set) - Pink Floyd
• Housewives Hooked on Heroine - No-Man
  
• Insurgentes - Steven Wilson
• Alone With a Storm (live '72) - Genesis

Saw Italy draw with Ireland last night with my friend Bryan (Irish). Ireland is going to have to win a home and home play-off with another 2nd place group winner to get into the World Cup. Italy qualified last night. So did the USA with a huge win in Honduras. Spain is already in. So if Ireland gets in, those are the 4 teams i root for.

The Drawers of Death are clean. No small victory. And the laundry washing continues. Unfortunately we don't get as much sun now, so stuff dries slower on the line. I have too many clothes. How in the hell did i accumulate so much stuff?Probably because i am a good American consumer. And consume i do!

Chema just got in. He was out most of the day. A miracle! The temptation to push him off the terrace is almost impossible to resist.

21:21

The Cowboys are AWFUL. They are losing to KC! The real crime is that I have Tony Romo in my fantasy league. I picked up Hasselbeck off waivers this week. The Giants look like they are in complete control of the NFC East. They haven't play many good teams, but you can only play who's on the schedule.

00:17

The Seahawks are dismantling Jacksonville. Hasselbeck looks great. I I am getting better, but still very tired. After the game i shall sleep and sleep and sleep.

From Lost to the River

not even housewives hooked on heroin
could understand the awful mess I'm in.
I don't know where my real life begins,
but I'm sure that I'll be there.
-No-Man

Everything is surreal. I still have crap in my chest, but it's very loose.

Band practice was great last night. Tamara's voice is awesome. And i really like the new guitarist, Steve. And he can play! We are really focusing on new material now. One set of my lyrics, Degrees of Freedom, is turning into a sweet number.

And we now have a name - From Lost to the River.It's translated from a Spanish phrase, and they say it when you are in a no-win situation, like between a rock and a hard place. I suggested it a while back and we agreed on it last night. Finally!

Time to really start dismantling my room now. Maybe i will get the keys to my hopeful new flat on Martes (Tues.)

I saw Lee from the old band to give him his guitar tuner, which i was using as a metronome when we were doing one of Juan's crazy Edge-like riffs with the digital delay. He said, "We were talking that maybe you can guys can do some gig's with us," which was unexpected and i'm not really into, i don't think."

"Thanks," I said, "We'll see."

"Yeah," he said, "We can share equipment."

And that's when i sussed what he was on to. "Does Will have a drum kit," i asked.

"Only electronic, which the rest of us are not really into."

And there you have it. The only reason they want to play with us. I've never met such a bunch of users and takers in my life. Slime balls. I really think the only reason he came to the hospital so much was to see if i would be able to play again. He actually told me he had asked the doctor and the doc said i'd never play again.

Wrong! Thankfully. (See; Rock and Roll Rage 10, Smithfest '09, From Lost to the River)

As for playing with them, I'd rather watch a Thompson Twins show than listen to those guys play. The door has shut behind me and i have no regrets. No, i'm taking my drum kit and going home.

Maybe we'll play with them once, just to blow them away and have them have to follow us!

Time to make a sandwich and clean out the night table, aka. The Drawers of the Damned!

"....We have assumed control."

Cylon, cerca 2005 - 2009

Sadly now your thoughts turn to the stars

Where we have gone you know you never can go.

Watcher of the skies watcher of all

This is your fate alone, this fate is your own.

-Genesis

Jueves

The first work week has come to an end. And guess what? Monday is a holiday. Imagine! I need to move to a country next year where i get paid for holidays or they don't have as many. I just had 3 months off! Do i really need a holiday? Well, i'm still under the weather, so i guess i do.

Dodgers/Cardinals starts in half an hour. I shall fall asleep to it. I hate the Cards and Tony LaRussa. Go Joey Jo Jo Torre!

I have a couple of leads on flats. We'll see what pans out. I am unearthly tired still. The snot is leaving my body (good!) but it wasn't pretty (bad). I was sicker than i have been in quite a while.

Confusion reigns with trying to put together classes. And the move. I need more sleep.

Viernes

Today has been like the Cylons have landed. Chaos. Death. Mayhem. Sleepiness.

Today was supposed to be relaxing. Instead PLT called and said they need reams of program content material by 2 o'clock. My new boss Sol is not half as together as Lyndsay Buckingham. Come back Lyndsay! We can jam Fleetwood Mac's I'm so afraid after work! Then there were more offers of classes (good) and wondering how i can adjust my crazy schedule (bad.

And i have the possibility of some very good paying private classes, but i will have to quit or change some classes i already have. We'll see how it goes.

Next week i will look at an affordable single place on Calle del Prado, a bit closer to the center. The guy is sending me the key by DHL from London. If it's at all acceptable, i'll take it.I'm getting too old to live with anyone but a hot chick. And there's an extra bedroom for my drums! We'll see.

Gravity Eyelids

October 7

Tired. Can't stop sleeping. Starting to turn the corner and feel a wee bit better. A little improvement today. But it was a long day. I will fall asleep now listening to the Yankees. I guess Bon Jovi is the official playoff music this year. Budd Slugg, the commissioner, should be ashamed. TNT sucks. So does Chip Carey. He's an annoying little dweeb.

The Yankees are going to win the World Series. I will say Yankees over the Dodgers. Joe Girardi vs. Joe Torre. That would be sweet.

Everything else is..... chaotic.

Give me a smile please
Count the calm and watch my breathing slow
Winding me up tease
Get inside my head and make it show
Gravity eyelids come down

-Porcupine Tree

Flats of the Damned

The open road is infinitely hopeful

Take all those memories and throw them in the fire

-Marillion

Now i am fumigating myself with expectorants. I feel terrible. No energy at all. Cleaning the house so i can put pics on the web. I need to decide by next Jueves to stay or go. I hope this Amoxicillin starts kicking in quick, because this nasal thing has kicked my ass. I am normally high energy. So to have none and start work is really pissing me off.

And of course i have spent the last 2 days searching for buildings. The Spanish are very bad with directions. The street i was looking for today wasn't even on Mappy, the best European map website. It took directions from four people and twenty minutes to find MoneyGram today. I am also teaching at Liberty Securities. Next week I start at Merck. Oh,and I have morning classes at THE SUPREME COUNCIL OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. Hard to believe but i'm totally serious. It's the Spanish Council of scientific research. That's right.I work for Dr. Zaius.

Dead, Dead, Dead, someday you'll be dead
Dead, Dead, Dead, someday we'll all be dead.

-Juan Schwartz and the South Park Children's Christmas Choir

Maelstrom

People! We're going back to work!

-Homer Simpson

Well, I got an antibiotic today at the farmacia. You're supposed to have prescription but when i told her that i had "Mucosa amarilla (yellow snot)" and she went "ugh!" and said she'd give it to me as long as i didn't tell anyone. Like who would i tell? So she saved me from waiting in the clinic. It's nice to have a pharmacy where they all know me.

I forgot what a toll a nasal infection takes on you. All i have been doing is sleeping and drinking water by the liter. I'm drier than bone.

Work started today. Of course i was sick. And i have to deal with getting a new roommate or moving. After three months of not working, everything hits at once. Welcome to my life. Booh Yeah!

But this, like everything, shall pass.

At a Loss

The Seahawks looked awful today. They couldn't score til the end nor could they stop Peyton Manning. It was just plain ugly. Seneca Wallace looks like he knows nothing about being a QB. This could be a long season. And Atletico Madrid has been horrible so far as well. This just isn't my year.

So it goes

-Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five

home

Roger Dean - Skeleton

The new band is staring to gel. The originals we are working on are very progressive. I feel like i am finally home with this new band. The new guitarist is working out very well. He's like my age from San Fran. Steve and i talked for a while after practice, having drinks and just comparing notes. He really likes our experimental bent. We hope to be gigging by Nov/Dec.

I'm just happy to be in a band who doesn't poop their pants when i play something besides 4/4!

My room mates poisoning is going well. He's down to slimming 285 pounds. Oh arsenic, do the wonders ever cease?

I saw Juan from the old band last night at a party at a bar. He didn't say anything more than "Hola." I'm really glad to have moved on. Those guys suck. I tried to keep it friendly.

Some elephants, like people, are just jerks

-The Simpsons

New songs we're working on that i penned;

Let it go

Pefectly something

Kentucky Fried Panda

To add to my already long list of woes, i am sick. I'll try and get some amoxicillin tomorrow. I am pretty sure it's a nasal infection. Just in time for work, starting tomorrow. Fucking hell!

When your snot is yellow

you're an unlucky fellow

takes some drugs!!!!

-El Dude

Elephant Man

Oct 2

Letting the days go by/let the water hold me down Letting the days go by/water flowing underground Into the blue again/after the money's gone Once in a lifetime/water flowing underground.

-The Talking Heads

Most of clothes my are washed now - there was a ton of stuff i left unwashed as i wasn't really up to it before i left, so the spring stuff got left behind as it turned to eternal, sweat your nads off, summer.

Beginning to decide what to take and what to chuck. Many shirts need to be discarded. Some are still okay to donate to folks. There is a way to do that here, i just need to ask someone who to contact. The room is getting cleaner.

There's one thing you know about human beings with certainty-

They are masters of self destruction

-Number Six, Battlestar Galactica

The Seahawks play the Colts in Indy this weekend. That could be really really bad.

I had an orientation meeting today with PLT, my main academy. Celia gave me the biggest hug and said she was so happy that i am okay. She said that i look great. And i feel great, except for the Fall allergies that hit yesterday, right in sync with the calendar. Stupid Spanish seasons. Post nasal drip- uck! So much mucous, so little time.

Hejira

He⋅ji⋅ra

  [hi-jahy-ruh, hej-er-uh]

–noun

1.	Islam. Hijra.

2.	(lowercase) Also, hejira. any flight or journey to a more desirable or congenial place.

Welcome to gas mask week on the blog! Look familiar?

The Hejira has begun. I called a few ads but no places of interest yet.

No matter that the blog site and name have changed, i am still the Spanish Exile. And it's time for yet another change. Packed up books to sell back to J&J's bookstore. Rolled over 250E in coins i had sitting around. That's a blessing.

I love my new Mac. It's great. It's like a PC is a toaster and a Mac is a Cylon.

Thanks to my friend Ashley, I have watched a few episodes of the new Battlestar Galactica and it's really amazing. So much better than that sack of shit in the late 70's staring Lorne Greene and Dirk Benedict. Oy!! If you dig sci-fi rent it. If you don't like it i'll gladly pay for the rental. If you can find me. Hell, i don't even now where i'll be. Which is good as i believe the CIA has been looking for me since the late 80's.

Playlist

Insurgentes - Steven Wilson

The Incident - Porcupine Tree

One Night in Chicago - Cygnus and the Sea Monsters

David Gilmour - Live in Gdansk

Wolfmother - Wolfmother

Primus - They Can't all be Zingers

Live '84 "Grace Under Pressure Tour" - Rush

Things are getting cleaner and more organized (for the big pack), but still a long way to go. I'm sweating como un pero!

NHL starts tonight!

I'm traveling in some vehicle

I'm sitting in some cafe

A defector from the petty wars

Until love sucks me back that way

-Joni Mitchell