:: My Reality ::

:: Saturday, January 18, 2003 ::

Mike's (my son) girlfriend rolled his pick-up last night. Noone hurt, thank God, but now things are a mess. He called at 3:00AM with the news, woke us up. Between that and the cats crawling on our heads and backs to sleep kept us up most the night.

Medication Update:
I am pretty much off the amphetimines now. Biggest side effect coming off was that I felt like I had the flu all week. Achy muscles, tense neck and shoulders. I had a lesion on the roof of my mouth (from cotton mouth") which is now getting better. Now looking at the world through Celexa glasses alone which is fine. It well come as news to the good doctor, (who reads my blog) but I have been off Stelazine for about 2 weeks now and find little difference in My Reality compared to when I was on it. I always considered it to be a poison in my system, dulling my sensitivity to colors and sounds. The only reason I took Adderall was to counteract the side effects of the Stela. I always harbored the opinion that Adderall was responsible for its share of delusional thinking, not to mention the self medication and attempts to get high by taking a handful of the stuff. I know longer want to get "high." I like it just fine right here, the way things are.

Wearing: Olive cotton slacks from Tar Gai' with wheat cotton knit shirt.

Reading: 'David Levy's Guide to the Night Sky.' David Levy is the Levy of the Levy-Shoemaker Comet which crashed into Jupiter a few years back, a spectacular astronomical phenomenon.

:: Tom 9:26 AM [+] ::
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Lord of the Dance

Real foggy this am. Took a lorazapam to get to sleep last night...not good to go up and and down and then up again...Judy Garland sybdrome. Like Neely in Valley of the Dolls a blockbuster of a book by Jaqualine Suzzane back in the 60's and a super soap opra-ish movie with Patty Duke Austin as the pill popping lead. Also catch 'The Group' by Mary McCarthy, a sizzler of a book and movie from the same era.
What is this, movie trivia from the 60's? I also know alot about pop music from the 60's...Strawberry Alarm Clock ("Incense and Pepperment") Lemon Pipers (Green Tamborine), but there's one that excapes me...the group...that did 'Ichycoo Park' and of course theirs 'Indian Lake.' I get them confused. Probably more popular is 'Cherry Hill Park' which I think was Bobby Sherman in the early 70's. Brain cells are squirming, moving in deliberate patterns, like thick mollasses, like slow lava. Geysers of fire shoot out such gems as Feranti and Teischer playing duelling pianos on 'The Theme from Exodus,' my favorite slow dance song of 1963. They also did 'Tara's Theme' from Gone with the Wind another slow dance piece where my sweaty face got stuck to her hair because of too much hairspray. Now here's my Dad (died in 1981) playing records at our sock-hops in high school. He always had the greatest 45's! He knew a guy (the father of the cousin of the girl I went steady with in Senior year) who distributed records to juke boxes, and he gave dad all the best, newest records. Dad showed up at a Jr. High dance and was so disgusted with the sound of the PA system that he volunteered to bring in his own Hi Fi Stereo with these gigantic speakers, for the next dance. He continued to do that for 10 years, long after I graduated. Every high school dance. All the kids loved him. He controlled the tempo of the party, would get everyone going with something like 'Rockin' Robin' , keep it moving with some fast Elvis, then slow it down with the Fleetwoods doing "I'm Mr. Blue," Then to the delight of absolutely everyone he would play "The Mexican Hat Dance!" And everyone, I mean all those people who were sad because they were too shy to ask someone or were just plain afraid, would get up and do the Mexican Hat Dance. My father was truely The Lord of the Dance.

:: Tom 10:01 AM [+] ::
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Wearing: Olive drab colored Sateen shirt and gold colored tie w/green geometric pattern. Matches shirt nicely. Also khaki cotton pants

Listening: To myself talk most of the day

Funny How: A half hour mistake last night, has led to so much hurt and pain for two people

Feeling: OK, considering what's been going on

:: Tom 8:27 PM [+] ::
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Thanks to Princess Roo, I'm under construction, She suggested an "About Tom" and I think it's "About Time." I will copy her "100 things to know about me" format and link to her. She has a delightful site with links to some equally interesting sites of her friends. She tells me there's a webring for blogs with "100 things" so I'll link to that.

For the next couple of days the template may go all out of whack "...and I'll never have that recipe again," (from the late but powerful Richard Harris singing 'McArthur's Park,' a somewhat confusing love anthem of the late 60's filled with psychedellic imagery).

:: Tom 4:52 PM [+] ::
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Wearing: White dress shirt with blue and red tattersal check, red tie, navy cotton slacks, black New Balance sneakers

People who I encountered today:
My wife,
the clerk at the Circle K convenience store,
Benjamin Eubanks, MD (Board Certified in Psychiatric Pharmacology),
Sarah (the building Security Guard who calls me "Dr. Love"),
my boss,
Leonard (blind snack bar person),
Milton (also known as Thunder),
Dee,
Rozita (in charge of everything that needs to get done),
Lawrence,
Lance (Division Director who gave me a tip to follow up on)
Rick, (Lance is Rick's boss),
Andrea (I think...maybe not... I don't know),
Scott (the A/V technowhiz),
John (the computer guy who is the butt of lots of good natured practical jokes),
annonymous pretty women at Lennox,
Alan (branch bank manager),
Clinique representative at Rich's Dept. Store. (Great eye shadow!),
Alex (food prep guy at the grocery store...from Russia),
big tall Daniella (check-out girl at the grocery store),
check out girl at Eckerd's,
Joy (MLS at the Library),
Kay (Library Circ. Asst., recent UGA graduate),
various students,
and then my wife again.Put your arms around me like a circle round the sun, love me pretty mama like your easy rider done, I can't believe I love you, what a fool I been, can't believe I'm sinkin' look at the hole I'm in, I'm stealin', stealin', pretty mama don't you tell on me, I'm stealin' back to my same ole' use to be.

Our Library staff is dedicated to making the Student Experience an exciting one, introducing concepts such as "Copier Catch 22," wherein the photocopiers are not equipped with money acceptors but take only ID cards with money in the student's account and the office which puts money on the card is closed at night that's when a lot of students use the lib. There's a machine in the lobby of this building which will put money on the card, however it doesn't work at all! So a student can do research, successfully find a reserve copy of the solutions key to Friday's Physics 1102 test and still not be able to make photocopies, and not from a lack of will or funds. College life is like that...everywhere. It was like that 40 years ago when I was a Freshman at USC and things continue not to change in the Student's favor.

Monday night at the Library. Quiet as usual. A slight breeze drifts through, chilling the students as they pour over books and notes, a few more than last week as school is now getting underway. Posters announce MLK Day celebrations with Civil Rights Icon (and US Congressman) John Lewis and Actress Phylecia Rashad. The Library is crescent shaped covering two floors. The upper reaches are for Reference help, here on the first level is the main collection. We have 30 computers with plasma screens for student use, mostly internet searches and searching the collective calalog of the four campuses of Georgia Perimeter College. We also tie into the University of Georgia statewide system of partner shcools. Interlibrary loan requests are a quick two day wait away.

:: Tom 6:23 PM [+] ::
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