Still here!

(No thanks to Michael Chabon.) So in the interest of trying to continue my catchup, here are a few more items:
Two weeks ago, a bird flew into the house. (In continuing my tradition of talking about pictures I can't show you, I will tell you that we have several. And he was cute.) He came right in the kitchen door, which was very easy because I have yet to fix the screen that came off just before the Bird Incident. Luckily for the bird, the dogs were outside. And lucky for us, he flew upstairs into our bedroom, which has a balcony door. So we shut the door to the rest of the house and proceeded to hop up and down alternately on the bed, the dresser, and a lovely antique trunk (which I will also not be posting photos of), waving our arms and trying to gently get him out to freedom. This went on for some time. Remarkably, he managed not to poop on the bed, the furniture, or either of us. He kept landing up high and almost getting out the door, perching just above the frame or hanging jauntily from the portable screen, as if mocking us. The only thing better than photos of said bird would be video of myself and the b.h. trying to shoo him outside. Alas, you have neither, which makes this story a lot less interesting.
On the garden front, my peppers are taking for-fucking-ever to get going. This is intensely frustrating as I have spent much time and energy (and money, which I don't even want to think about at the moment) growing the little buggers from seed, dragging them in and out of the house to protect them from the elements, finally forming actual beds with actual soil, planting them in nutrient rich soil, only to find them crawling along. Ugh. This is largely due to the insane drought our state is currently experiencing, (which is also fueling the now famous wildfires, which span both Georgia and Florida, and are damaging my lungs on a daily basis), as the plants are not fond ( I only recently learned) of our incredibly chlorinated tap water. So short of buying an expensive filtration sysytem for the garden spigot, i am relegated to watering, mulching, and feeding (the organic fertilizer I bought smells like a corpse. Come to think of it, there's probably a reason for that...)the little buggers, all I can do is hope that the rain eventually comes, and that when it does it doesn't wash them away. Mostly this is frustrating me because it is preventing me from participating in the Farmer's Market, and I really, really want to be involved.
On a better note, the rock has continued to roll here in our fair city. The fabulous Fleshtones graced the stage at tasty World last week. I had missed them the last time around, and when I asked Murphy (the owner of said establishment) why the lead singer looked so familiar, he said, "Well, he did host 120 Minutes for a long time." No shit? Wow! So the show that was arguably the most responsible for broadening my musical horizons and making me the woman I am today was hosted by that guy? Awesome. They were really great- lively and loud, and dancing on the bar (in the good way, not in the Will-fucking-Hogue, pretend spontineity way (Have I mentioned how much that guy sucks? Well he does. Stay away.) So yeah. I look forward to their return.
The real surprise came the next night. J. Roddy Walston and the Business opened a show and completely blew me away. I was ecstatic. They were so good that my friend K, who is a sound guy (which means he's more jaded about bands than I am), even liked it. I bought a shirt and a CD, and I have not stopped talking about them since. Wow. In my job, that's the best thing you can hope for, really. Having a band you have never heard of or heard anything about just come in and kick your ass is about the best feeling there is. I can't wait until they come back.
I had another interview with the National Coffee Chain. Lots of people have been aghast when i mentioned seeking employment there, but I have to say that insurance is sounding pretty attractive to me right now. I haven't seen a doctor (aside from the the ones at the Emergency Room) in eight years, and I think the dentist has been nine. And I probably need glasses at this point, too. So yeah, I can froth milk for full coverage. The guy that I had the second interview with was particularly cool. He has visions of community involvement for the NCC, geared mostly toward local and organic food and education, which are two things that I (obviously) care deeply about. He is looking for somebody to help him institute(word choice?) some programs. And sling coffee. Cross your fingers kids. Momma needs a new pair of glasses.
I still haven't decided whether or not I want to apply to the Organic F@rming Certificate program. It's not that I don't feel like it would be useful. It's just that i can't decide if it is $5,000 useful. We'll see.
Okay, so that's it for now. A.J. is in town, so I suspect that this may be my last chance to sit on my ass and read for awhile.