spotted on JMG.

These items were found in my wallet:

• TriMet bus transfer (from Portland, Oregon)
• DC Metrorail receipt for $4.00 purchased on 11/19/09 at 22:47:13 at 7th & S St, NW (Shaw/Howard University stop)
• Wetzel’s Pretzels Frequent Buyer Card, punched six times therefore receiving a free pretzel (free spot also punched)
• Handwritten banking routing numbers and account numbers, which after a quick search, point to Bank of America routing numbers.

How did these items get into my wallet you ask? I’m not really sure, as I’ve never been to Portland, don’t get receipts for Metro tickets (much less buy one for only $4.00) and don’t even know what a Wetzel’s Pretzels shop is. Another search reveals there are no shops in DC. Then I remembered the other night at the movies,making my way through the concession line when someone said I had dropped something out of the my wallet and I gathered up the pieces of paper on the floor and shoved them into my wallet. It turns out, they weren’t really mine. Maybe I had dropped a receipt of sorts and it fell upon these already lost pieces of information and I hastily scooped everything up without even looking at what it was.

I’m biking home at midnight. It’s raining. This is typical for the way things are going now. My breath is hammering in my left ear, just like Dave as he goes on his mission to rescue Frank. Huuhh. Wuuuw. Huuuhh. Wuuuuw. Huuuuw. Wuuuuw. This continutes for blocks.

Tomorrow (Thursday) I have an appointing with an otolaryngologist who will either tell me that I’m permanently deaf in one ear or that he will be able to flush out the goo that’s been hanging out in there for the last two weeks.

I know I’ve written about this minor fact before, but know it’s hitting me with reality right now. It’s minor, no need to worry, no need to be upset.

Six years ago, when I accepted a new contract assignment with an old company, when I went to a newly reunited Duran Duran concert wearing the most makeup I had worn since 1985, when I put my much-historied VW out to pasture, when I was dating the Millionaire, I thought it in my best interest to redirect my Netflix delivery address to a different address.

I had just embarked on a new contract with Gee, where you probably already know was where I always was meant to be. I was determined to become a full-time employee again, and one of the things I purposefully did was to immerse myself back in to the company’s culture. It wasn’t difficult since I still pretty much knew everybody that worked there still. But I did take it to an extreme by fully decorating my office with plants, posters and mementos both current and reminiscent of my past tenure.

One of my infiltration secrets was to have my Neflix discs sent to my workplace, both to extablish rapport with the new admin staff and to give me reasons for circulating throughout the studio (checking for my discs in the mailroom).

Now, I’m finding myself running (not really) across Horseshoe Park at 2:45am just to get a disc put in tomorrow’s mailbox in order to get another one kicked back to me before the weekend. I’ll bet Netflix is making a killing in today’s “economic crisis” because it’s easier to rent instead of paying $15 for a seeing a movie in a theater.

After going to bed around 12:30 last night, I woke up at 3:00am and couldn’t get back to sleep. It is now 7:40 and I’ve given up on falling back asleep so I’ve gotten up and made coffee. But I still feel tired.

Last night I was giddy with the prospect of going to La Lomita with Melba, my first dining-out experience in the last two months. I had a $25 gift card which paid for most of my portion so I was able to rationalize the expense of going out. It was a great meal, with great conversation, and I practically licked my plate clean. Hopefully it won’t be another two months until I can return.

Usually after our nights at LL I would wake up at some point in the night, smacking my lips together and needing to hydrate from the split pitcher of margaritas earlier in the evening. Maybe that’s what woke me up last night, maybe not. For when I did wake up, it was with the abruptness of what’s-her-name in Pulp Fiction when she gets the adrenalin styringed straight into her heart. I wasn’t having a dream, at least not one that I can recall, that shocked me awake. Then I just couldn’t get back to sleep.

Now I’m counting down (and hoping I can stay awake until) brunch today. A good friend from NYC, Nancy, is down this weekend and offered to take me to brunch. See how the love is flowin’ y’all? We’re meeting up at Rosemary’s Thyme which I have never been to. Oh! Let’s check out their brunch menu. I think egg’s benedict (always a favorite) or maybe the cured salmon. Or maybe the spinach ravioli from the lunch menu?

I went with the eggs benedict. They were good, but not as good as the eggs neptune at Busboys & Poets that I had a couple of weeks ago. Also joining for brunch was Glen, and also down from New York. He’s a freelance web designer and combined with Nancy’s ad agency experience they really sparked me up on the New York job market and are going to return home and see if they can dig up any contacts or job opportunities up there in the Big Apple.

They had a couple of hours before their train left so we scooted over to the National Building Museum. We visited the Detour exhibit: new and unique rest stops and pit stops along Norway’s National tourist Routes; and Green Community: pollution-contaminated urban spaces and their steps towards turnaround to a viable, livable and public-transit-friendly communities. The Detour exhibit had great models and photography and we discussed how great it would be if our government’s “stimulus package” would incorporate some clever, unique designs instead of awarding the contract to the lowest bidding contractor. Probability factor: not likely. The Green Community exhibit had some really cool electronics in it, including traffic lane entrances that while you walked forward, the vehicle you were standing over (I ended up in the bike lane) would move with you and give you information on that mode of travel. At the end of the exhibit was this wonderfully animated touch-screen of an evolving community and the choices that can be made to improve it and why those options are beneficial. Fun stuff.

I haven’t been outside since Wednesday evening. What’s going on out there in the world? Anything I should know about?

I woke up Thursday morning feeling congested and with a pinched nerve down the back of my right leg. Coughing spasms (which were becoming more and more frequent) would send bolts of pain down my entire leg so I tried to remain as still as possible but even rolling over in bed was a chore.

Friday I felt even worse, still with a pinched nerve but even more congestion, coughing and sneezing. With the nasty cold wet weather I couldn’t even muster energy to go outside for medications. Luckily I was scheduled for a Peapod delivery on Saturday so I hastily added $30 worth of flu, cough and cold meds to that order.

Saturday the pinched nerve had mostly subsided so at least I was able to have a sneezing fit without wincing in pain. Putting away the groceries exhausted me though; I chomped meds and collapsed in the couch.

Today I’m feeling better but still have some head congestion. I’m setting a 4-hour alarm to not forget my next dose so hopefully tomorrow I’ll feel back to normal, just in time to go back to work! Nothing says wasted vacation days like Thursday and Friday by spending them sick in bed.

List of tv/movie watching over the last four days: countless cooking shows, five episodes of The Office, the awesomely hot Ryan Bader win the light heavyweight UFC championship, The Fury, I Think I Do, The Empire Strikes Back, THX 1138, Die Mommy Die, Ed Wood. Number of parties not attended: four.

iTunes has posted the Season Pass for Mad Men, Season 2. Dang if I wasn’t too busy burning through three seasons of Strangers With Candy to have been refreshed on MM, S1 already. I think I can probably skip the recap and dive straight into S2. Like, tonight.

Vanity Fair has posted their full May 2008 interview with Madonna. They’ve also posted a slideshow retrospective of her photoshoots beginning from 1986.

Music video for Tears for Fears Mad World is here. The video for the cover by Gary Jules, taken from the Donnie Darko soundtrack, is here.

Dadgonemad.com Just what it says.