oneirophrenia | A much more substantial update

Wow. It's really been a while since I posted anything whatsoever of actual import, interest, or character here, huh? That's what being up to your neck in papers will do to a person....Anyway, here goes something:

The weekend that just past was the first weekend that I actually managed to relax enough to truly enjoy myself in some time...mainly because the semester officially ended last Friday and I had NOTHING MORE TO WORRY ABOUT classwise. I slept a great deal, hung out with Vanessa and

siliconedreamer, and just generally had a good time doing everyday things. Saturday night, though, I went to a Solstice feast at a friend's house and, man, that was a great time! First of all, the food was wonderful, especially the ham (which was encrusted in red, black, and green peppercorns) and the creme-de-menthe-chip/pecan cookies that Vanessa made. I met a great many of

chaoticheaven's friends, as well, which is always a cool thing, and ended up in a very deep conversation concerning transhumanist technologies and sci-fi movies with a few of them...in between the drinks, of course. I actually got pretty damned hammered, too, which is a very surprising thing considering how much my body dislikes alcohol anymore. Perhaps it is overcoming this limitation, however, because I put away a goodly amount of Parrot Bay rum and Southern Comfort and did not feel particularly awful afterwards. In fact, I didn't feel bad at all...though I did stop just as I was beginning to feel the Good Buzz tilt toward the Roaring Drunk. All things in moderation, it would seem. All in all, a grand ol' time!

Sunday, I ended up getting stuck in Pittsburgh until the next day due to the horrendous weather. When I woke up at Vanessa's around 2pm on Sunday, I glanced outside and saw a brisk wind skirling about a thin, dandruffy snowfall that was sort of dusting the roads but really didn't amount to much. A few hours later, I decided to roll out to the Papa John's in Brentwood for some pizza before packing up my stuff and heading home...but the second I stepped out the door, I realized that in the intervening time the weather had turned Evil. And I do mean Evil. The wind slapped the side of my head like a sandbag full of subzero-temperature gravel. The roads were caked in filthy snow and you could barely see ten feet in front of you. My car, which was parked around the corner of Vanessa's, was completely encrusted in an inch-thick rind of ice and wind-pounded snow. What a fuckarow this was...but, I figured, I might as well thaw out my car and at least try to get to the pizza place since, if the snow stopped later and the roads cleared, I would have to just thaw the car out then before going home. It took me nearly half an hour to uncrust my car between chopping at the ice with my scraper and letting my defroster slowly melt it...but, christ, it was like trying to peel my car out of a mass of slippery concrete. Damnear got frostbite doing it, too. I finally made it to the pizza place but the roads were so bad I figured it wasn't worth the chance trying to make it home. Ohwell, it was all for the best: got to spend another day with Vanessa (always a great thing) and watched some movies, played with the bunnymen, and slept more.

In addition to all this...the new Nyarlathotep EP, A self-contemplating shadow, is DONE! Not only is it done, but the CDs are currently chilling at my house! I've tested them out and they're all fine. Now, I just need to get them into the mail to Bill at Subterranean Press and all will be well. It's pretty damned amazing, I'll tell you....I'll write more about the CDs tomorrow, once I get them mailed, but right now I'm just going to tie this one off now and go to bed to continue working my way through Godel, Escher, Bach for, like, the ninetheenth time.