April 28 - Shove On

Somebody wanted a twelve-foot long roll of wallpaper delivered to a McMansion far, far away. I drove through the tiny village of Cuba, passing eateries with names like Kooker's, and road houses that looked like all of the fun. It turns out that the pride of Barrington is a gas station.

I don't mind these road trip runs too much, even though I don't get home until 7.

Rest hasn't been happening. Sunday we mixed until 2am, Monday I taught and went out for drinks with my class, last night was Bitter Tears practice. I try to catch a nap in the van between runs when I can. But there remains a line of Z's waiting to be helped, growing impatient and angry.

While I made guess what for dinner, Lauren and I chatted on our cellphones. Speakerphone is so cool. It enables us to step on each other, mishear things, and repeat full sentences.

LAUREN: Am I on speakerphone?

TONY: Yeah, I'm making dinner.

LAUREN: It's hard to hear you.

Pause.

TONY: Wh-

LAUREN: So-

Pause.

LAUREN: You go.

TONY: Um, I don't remember what I was going to ask you. What were you going to say?

LAUREN: So what are you doing?

TONY: I'm making dinner.

LAUREN: Oh, I thought you said you were on your computer-

TONY: No!

LAUREN: -I was...

Pause.

TONY: Go ahead.

We ended up just taking turns talking in paragraphs. She's in Phoenix now and they'll be opening that version of the show soon. We're a little disconnected right now, so I've been sending her a song for each day in an email. I like doing this.

After we got off the phone, I noticed my Mom had called and left a voicemail. Before relaxing with that night's DVR'ed American Idol, I listened to her message.

"Hey Ton, I guess they kicked off Siobhan. I don't know. I fell asleep, but I woke up and she was singing her farewell song..."

Ugh. Thanks, Mom.

Then I got really bummed out. I liked Siobhan. I thought she was kooky. So of course America rejected her before some less talented but more boring contestants (Big Mike, Elf kid). I don't know. There's been a lot of coffee house talent being inflated to ridiculous proportions. I thought Siobhan was at least a little bit original. But America doesn't necessarily go for original. Well, I guess I don't need to watch American Idol anymore. That's a good thing.

This is stupid.

Verdict: Loss