walls are props

The great thing about the Avian Flu scare is how well it has made us forget diseases that are actually killing people right now all over the world.

Happy World AIDS Day.

It’s going to be sort of a holiday party wedged firmly between Thanksgiving and Christmas. And pretty much nowhere near Easter.

Saturday, December 10th, come to my apartment at 2404 Forest Dr. Google Maps has old data on MLK, but it won’t matter since it goes under Grand, anyway.

2404 Forest Dr. is on the corner like the map says. My apartment is on the top floor of the house that sits above and behind the vacant Medicap on that corner. Look for the turret, that’s mine. Some of the spots on the street might be reserved for State Patrol, but otherwise you can park just about anywhere. Stairs are around back.

The thing about the Pink Panther Punk LP that always strikes me as fascinating is how very little punk was on the record. Before I even knew what punk was, I knew that it was not a cover of Billy Joel’s “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me.” The closest the record came was a Blondie song, “Call Me.” It pleases my grown-up self to note that even as a child I prefered “Another Brick in the Wall” to “What a Fool Believes.” I’m sorry, Maggie. That song just pisses me off.

But what really bothered me as a child, before I learned to resent the appropriation of the punk label, was a totally different sort of exploitation. Punk was not the only thing missing from the Pink Panther Punk record. There is no Pink Panther, either. I guess maybe the Pink Panther is a cartoon character who never talks, but as a child it bothered me that I was strung along until the very last song on the album only to be seriously let down by a few helicopter noises and some crowd screaming.

[I would really love to have a link to show people this gem I’m talking about, but I haven’t really found anything, yet. If you find a link to this childhood wonder, please post.]

What’s with the weather forecast this morning? Since when does the first snow of the year create hazardous driving conditions? And why do we even have winter, anyway? Useless freaking season.

All I want when I wake up in the morning is a really hot shower. I live in a building full of offices. No one is downstairs when I wake up. So where is my hot water? Is there some sort of hot water stealing machine downstairs – STEALING MY HOT WATER? I mean, come on.