M E M O R Y L E S S N E S S

yo.

i was a little busy in november, what with the holiday and the anniversary and the funeral and the novel, plus there was that whole work thing. now for a recap of each of those…

the holiday - thanksgiving (duh): i got off work thurs. and fri. went to lunch with my boss’s boss and other folx on wed., after which the boss’s boss said we could go home. so i went home, helped liz clean the apartment, and then watched the end of Ju-On (the japanese movie on which The Grudge is based; it’s a lot better than the grudge, though it makes a whole lot less sense). after that, we ran various errands, then set out for the l-b-k. it took about an hour to get out of houston (we live right on the edge of town), since the traffic was so effin’ bad. we made it as far as abilene that night, so we stayed at a days inn. on thanksgiving, we went drove the rest of the way to lubbock, then went and ate with liz’s mom. after that, we went for a walk in the park, then went to eat with my parents. after that, we went to bash riprock’s with our friends amy and justin and drank several pitchers of dos equis.

the next day, we got up and went to the store where we used to work to see old friends who are still there. unfortunately, they had to work that day, the crappiest (or second crappiest, depending on the year) day of the year to work in retail. yeah. after that, we ate lunch with liz’s mom, then took a nice 3 hour nap. we got up and ate dinner with my parents, then helped them take their oodles of xmas decorations (seriously, oodles, man) down from their attic. then it was off to whiskey dix to see the incomparable icarus fixed (formerly known as nosmo king), who we used to see all the time when we lived there. good show, good show. after they played, i had nice chats with trevor and noel. torrie atchison played also, as did unspoken levels, which impressed me enough for me to shell out $5 for their CD. after the show, liz and i went to eat at “lone wolf express,” which is a decent (not too great, but not too bad) cheap all night mexican food place near my parents’ house. then it was sleep time.

saturday, we got up, chatted with my parents, then went to liz’s mom’s house to eat brunch. after that, we headed back to screwston. made it back here at about 1:00am sunday morning.

sunday, didn’t do too much, just worked on the novel (see below).

the anniversary - 5 years: 11/23 (the day before we left town for thanksgiving) was the 5 year anniversary of my first date with liz. that’s right, she’s put up with me for five years now. crazy! it seems like we’ve been together forever, but at the same time, it doesn’t seem like it could have possible been 5 years. thanks for everything, liz.

we went to din-din at a place called BJ’s (haha) Brewhouse. the pizza is better there than that at the hub city brewery in l-town, and the beer is almost as good. after that, we started watching that movie (see above). it was a good anniversary; the best one yet. and we get to do it all again in six months on our wedding anniversary. aww yeah!

the funeral - trip to st. louis: as i said, my uncle died on 11/12. we flew to st. louis (on 11/15) for the funeral (on 11/16), in which i was a pallbearer. not a fun job, but i had promised my aunt years ago that i’d do it for her husband. aside from the actual funeral, the trip was okay. really fast. we stayed at my cousin bob’s house, along with my mom and my brother (and bob’s wife brenda and their daughter kirsten). it was cool to see all of my cousins, and all but two of my aunts and uncles. liz got to meet everybody, and they all seemed to like her and she seemed to like them, so that’s cool. some of my cousins talked about how we should get together sometime aside from weddings and funerals, which would be nice. i don’t know if it will happen, but it would be nice. got back to houston really late at night on 11/16.

the novel - i finished it:

check it out. i finished my 50000 word novel (with 177 words to spare) in just the 30 days of november. (actually, i finished it in around 19-20 days. i took off 4 days around thanksgiving, 2 days for the trip to st. louis, and approximately 5 other days throughout the month). it’s about 50% based on my actual experiences as a boy scout and about 50% shit i made up. i’m not saying it’s good by any means, but it is done. so, i won. along with almost 6000 other people (including liz! way to go!).

no, you can’t read my novel.

work: still working. it’s going well. word.

…we finally got around to getting the car inspected, since the inspection was up in november. oh well.

today has been cool. got the car inspected, ate at taco cabana. went to the mall, bought this (for ourselves, as a late anniversary / early x-mas present) at the comic book store. we also bought some xmas presents and cards.

at the mall we ran into lynsey and her husband michael. i went to grad school with lynsey, but i don’t know her very well. she has one of my textbooks, though, dammit. she’d better give that shit back. anyway, i was tactful and didn’t mention it when we ran into her and michael at the mall. all was well.

at the hallmark store, we got xmas ornaments. liz got this really cute winnie the pooh and piglet ornament, and i got this star wars ornament, featuring chewbacca and c-3po.

‘twas a good day, yes indeedy. going to double dave’s for din-din in a little while, then we’ll probably put Mr. Hankey’s Christmas Classics on the stereo and put up the tree.

(quotes are from this CNN.com story, though it’s almost exactly the same story that can be found here, here, and basically everywhere else.)

as you may or may not have heard, “Dimebag” (formerly “Diamond”) Darrell Abbott, guitarist of Damageplan (and formerly of Pantera), was killed at a show last night in a club in columbus, ohio.

apparently, some crazy asshole climbed up on stage and shot the guitarist.

“Columbus police identified the suspect as Nathan Gale, 25, of nearby Marysville but said they had no information about a motive or possible connection to the band.

…

The man was ‘targeting members in the band,’ Columbus police Sgt. Brent Mull said.”

the gunman then killed three others before a cop shot and killed him.

oh, and here’s the craziest part: “Mull did not identify the remaining fatality. Abbott was the only band member confirmed dead ‘at this point,’ he said.”

to this i say, “what the fuck?”

first: why wasn’t there better security at the venue? arena shows usually have guards patting you down as you enter. some even have metal detectors. club shows usually have neither. sure, going through security seems like a hassle. sure, it wouldn’t even guarantee safety. but it would make it a lot harder to kill 4 people at a show. but this could happen anywhere at anytime; you’d think that venues would want to make things as safe as possible. if nothing else, dead patrons = bad for business, right?

second: “the only band member confirmed dead ‘at this point’?” what the hell? i’m sure it was a pretty chaotic scene when it happened, but it’s been hours. how long does it take to account for 4 members of a band? there is supposedly an unidentified victim still, which would probably make sense if it was an audience member. but a band member? what the fuck?

third: why do people kill their idols? true, since the cop shot the gunman before he could be questioned about his motives, we’ll probably never know if he was a crazed fan or if he was jealous of the band or if he was mad that they broke Pantera up (Phil Anselmo should actually be credited with/blamed for that, in my understanding). we’ll probably never know what exactly went on in his nutjob-head. earlier this morning in an e-mail discussion with my friend steven, i said, “this is like john lennon getting shot, though i’m sure lots of people would argue with my comparing dimebag darrell to john lennon.” sure, that’s true, Pantera <> the Beatles. but dimebag darrell = metal icon. (see below for my lennon/dimebag darrell comparison…in no way meant to offend Beatles fans, as i am a fan myself). i suppose it’s a good thing that i don’t understand what goes on in the mind of someone who kills another.

on a selfish note: i wish we would have stayed through Damageplan’s set when we saw them last may. alas. at least we got to see a little bit of their set. i did see Pantera several times, too, so that’s cool.

this made me sad at first. now, though, i’m more mad than anything else. Dimebag Darrell still had a lot of music to give the world, i’m sure. sure, Pantera was probably the biggest band he’d ever be in. but we’ll never know, thanks to some fucking nutcase. i also feel really bad for Darrell’s family and friends. having someone you know die is always hard; it’s harder still when that person is taken from you. i’ve never known anyone who was shot to death (except that chick in high school who i vaguely knew who shot herself, but that’s different), but i can imagine that it’s immensely harder to cope knowing that someone else intentionally caused the death of the person you care about.

god damn. what the fuck is wrong with some people?

—–

i figured that the following comparison would be an interesting exercise. i know John Lennon’s impact far outreaches Dimebag Darrell’s. the deaths of both are horribly tragic. i’ll add to this list, if i feel like it.

John Lennon	vs.	“Dimebag” Darrell Abbott
1950s/1960s musical icon as part of the Beatles	vs.	1980s/1990s metal icon as part of Pantera
toiled in an unknown band (the Quarrymen, later renamed “the Beatles”, founded mid-1950s; “British Invasion” began in 1964) for years before “making it”	vs.	toiled in an unknown band (Pantera) for years before “making it” (Pantera formed 1983; Cowboys from Hell released 1990)
most famous for work that essentially rips off Buddy Holly	vs.	most famous for work that essentially rips off Metallica/Megadeth
married Yoko Ono	vs.	uhh…
successful post-Beatles career	vs.	semi-successful post-Pantera career
shot to death by lunatic/fan (Mark David Chapman) on 8 December 1980	vs.	shot to death by lunatic/concert attendee (fan?) (Nathan Gale) on 8 December 2004