hello 4 o'clock

i, unfortunately, am able to say this all too often. it's a cyclic problem i've developed. occasionally i'll joke that i'm inertial. i'm not sure that's ever been an adjective anyone has applied to one's self. by this i mean that whatever state i'm in, i want to be there perpetually. if i'm awake, i find no desire to go to sleep. if i'm sleeping, i abhor the idea of waking. the worst part of this vicious cycle is that if i've had a few drinks my mind slows down enough to let me go to bed, but those same drinks are the reason waking up is even harder. i'm sure many would argue that exercise and a good diet, as well as forcing one's body to bed early would cure me of this disease. well, for one, this may be a possibility for some. for two, i've actually tried all of these things both in conjunction with each other, and independently. the success was fair at best. and three, the life i lead is not terribly conducive to any of these things. what i mean is that regular, consistent exercise is not as easy to come by in my days as it may for someone with a standard schedule as well as a place to perform said exercise. sure, there's running that can be done and morning stretches, but i find when i'm staying on someone's floor/couch, i want to put them out the least amount possible. sometimes these people leave before me, thereby allowing me to do some p-ups and s-ups without the fear of looking like an idiot, but the whole going for a run thing is a bit harder as they've asked me to, "lock the door when (you) leave," and i feel odd running while leaving their house unlocked for a half hour or so. then there's the whole, "run before the show" idea, but that always strikes me as a good way to get gross right before i meet people and precisely when i want to be in a relaxed mood. as far as the regular sleeping times, well, when you stay with other people and don't want to be a wet blanket, that's often dictated by their sleeping schedule. and often people want to hang later than they might normally, as their newfound, wonderful traveler friend is visiting for just one night. the issue is, i'm somewhere every night. please let me clarify though, i think this is an amazing and wonderful problem to have. i'm by no means complaining, just trying to explain my situation. i'm most definitely one of the luckiest kids on the planet to be able to travel and have people who actually want to stay up late with me. and that's the issue, is that i never want to turn that down. so almost every night i stay up late, share stories, a drink, a meal, laughs, whatever the night allows. again, let me reiterate, i'm incredibly lucky, blessed and happy about this situation. it can just be a bit exhausting at times. i'm burning the candle at both ends, but at least my hands are warm.

sometimes though, i keep myself up. like last night. two nights ago buddy brian and i went to get mexican food and out to the local watering holes. it was a sunday, and therefore was dead. it's really quite a waste of money to pay bar prices and hang out with only each other while five or so locals sip their bud heavies and their whisky rocks. so, yesterday we decided to make the night worth it, and when brian got home from work i stopped sending out emails and we went to the store to purchase our evening's fare. the liquor store got us white wine and some summer beers. whole foods provided us with mussels, clams, garlic, shallots, parsley, lemon, broccoli rahb and a sourdough baguette.

mince the garlic and shallots, cook in a little butter and olive oil. add parsley. add mussels and clams, then white wine to almost cover. cover pan with lid. steam until all shellfish are open. as for the broccoli rhab, blanch in boiling water to free it of some of its bitterness, then saute in olive oil (perhaps a little butter) with some of the garlic. the baguette, cut on a bias, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with garlic, salt, pepper and rosemary. bake at 375 until crunchy. reserve part of the baguette for soft dipping. while all this is cooking, drink a beer with a friend. when the shellfish open, dump into a big bowl with the liquid, plate broccoli and baquette croutons along with some lemon wedges, extra parsley (and optionally, tomatoes, which would probably work best is thrown in the sauce right before dumping in the bowl). serve this along with some beers or more wine, a good friend and a lovable but nosy puppy. enjoy.







by the way, this was delicious, the mussels were perfect and it was way more food than i would've thought. for about 20 bucks, you could feed yourself and someone you love a fancy, delicious meal. that's pretty sweet.

after the meal we cleaned up, hung out and then brian went to bed, while i proceeded to stay up way later than makes any reasonable sense. did you know emeril has a new show on the "green" network? he must really be losing footing over at the food network. anyway, these are the things i find out at 3 am. i went to bed and woke up this morning to a text from a great friend who's been living in the UK for the last 6 months or so, and we're going to hang out tomorrow. i'm incredibly excited to see him and can't wait to catch up and just see a dude who i've spent many great times with. when i finally rolled my lazy bones out of bed i tried to do some exercising while loki ran in and around me (have you ever seen a dog do the "downward facing dog" position on a yoga mat? it's fucking hilarious.) then worked on figuring out some guitar parts for a band i'll be playing with and rediscovered some old songs i'd written. i'm quite proud of myself for writing all the parts down in these old notebooks because once i start fumbling through them, i actually remember how they go and it's as if the song wrote itself, as i barely remember doing so, or thought i'd lost the song forever. not to shabby. tonight i'm going to try and go see my brother at his new place again, hopefully drink some home brewed beers or eat some homemade pickles. well done warren.

three more days and then i'm back on the road. hope it's ready for me.

(48/365)