My mom’s worried about me because I haven’t posted to my blog since Tuesday. I’m OK Mom!

Last night I had my birthday auction – it was lots of fun, lots of people came, including (in order of appearance) Stuey (well he lives here), Yvonne, Don, Tim, Carina, Anghold, Chris Woods, Angie, Tasha, Jon, Pauline, Denzil, Neal, Raymond, Rowan, Adrian, Stephane, Sheri, Kathryn, Chris Slater, Marlo, Norm, Jenn, Theo, Kate, Chris Gibbins, Lynn, James, ummmm…others. The only things I kept were a little garbage can, two sound effects CDs, a VHS copy of La Femme Nakita, and Mike Nelson’s book “Mind Over Matters.” Oh I look forward to that one, although I am still slogging through Kavalier and Clay. I left my pocketbook copy of The Big Sleep at the Railway Club when we played there last month. It’s going to cost me $30 to pick it up as I said I would pay for a mic stand somebody broke (that somebody might be me). More hassle than the $30 is that I’ll probably never be by the Railway Club during its business hours until the next time we play there (which, if tradition holds, will be another 9 years – 1994:2003:2012?)
Also Chris ‘n’ Angie gave me a gift card for Futureshop! Perhaps I’ll spend it on a DVD of Miller’s Crossing or Spirited Away (or both). I don’t know if the Futureshop near here actually sells DVDs – but I’ll find a way.

Just in case you don’t know, a birthday auction is something that I came up with a few years ago (I think this was my 3rd), and it works like this:

Instead of the regular boring “a party is thrown and people bring gifts”, a party is thrown, and people bring crap from around the house that they’ve been looking to get rid of: books, toys, CDs, lampshades, video games, gewgaws, white elephants–these items they donate to the pile (auction block). Party-goers also bring a bit of jack (bread, as Harvey Pekar would say). You can guess what happens then, but if you can’t, I’ll type it out: Everything gets auctioned off and the birthday star gets all the cash, to do with what he/she/it will. Bills may be paid, habits may be supported, fine dining may be had, who’s to say? It’s actually a lot of fun, as I’m sure you can attest if you were there. Highlights include fine catering by Anghold, the six dollar monkey, filthy-sounding Disney song titles, and…what else?