Little triggers

Tonight I was set to see The Boy one last time before he headed up to MN for the summer, but due to a delay in closing their house, he is going to see through to the end of this school year in Illinois and possible another 1-2 weeks while his stepdad waits on their buyer to get all cleared up. Stoked. Speaking of financial snafus, I have some of my own to contend with based on the credit report I've read. With any luck I can work on getting some of this crap cleared in the next several weeks. What's galling to me is a delinquent child support payment from years ago. YEARS! Now I may not be the most frugal of folks, but barring any periods of unemployment I always made sure to send money (I paid cash for a time there; that's what may be slapping me now). I'll get there...

I've been asked to dog/house sit for Precision while he takes his girlfriend and her kids to FL for ten days next month. Since I owe the man big time, I figured it was the least I could do, even if it does mean staying in River Grove. I'll have a bitchin' plasma tv and a jacuzzi which seem to make up for the out of the way commute into work during that period.

Tonight is D.'s last night here, so I'm heading out to Lincoln Square for dinner and a movie. Maybe I should bring some mace in case we get jumped?

Getting the love...I mean property...you want

For the past few weeks, I've been attempting to get my finances (read: credit) on the right track in order to qualify for a decent mortgage. We know the city we want (Park Ridge); it's also a matter of finding a property in the price range I've set up. Thankfully, there are a few that look good and are fairly centrally located (close to school and the Blue Line-with gas as high as it's been, I plan on commuting at least half the work week). I've begun work with a recommended mortgage broker and hopefully will have a plan of action in place this week. I hope to be in some new digs come mid July, in order to meet the residency requirement needed to enroll The Boy in school. If need be, I'm told that as long as I have the contracts signed for the condo, I can legally use Mom's address as temporary residence at the time of school registration. Whew.

My ex-wife has seemingly turned the past 5-6 years of "friendly civility" on its head, resorting to the same immaturity that colored the first few years after the divorce. She seems to be punishing The Boy for his decision to come live with me and continues to make veiled threats if things concerning his schooling and living arrangements are not done to her liking. While we initially agreed to a one year trial in regards to The Boy's living arrangements, I've started to think that I'll need to file for full custody sooner than that. Throughout all this, I can't help but think of all the times no one looked at my son's schoolwork because my ex was too "wiped out" (from cutting hair), and had enough on her plate with her younger daughter. Virtually any suggestion I made was met with "I don't need you to tell me how to parent my children". Okay...

D.'s been in town since early last week and in the midst of all the back and forth to see family (scattered all over, from Chicago to Elburn to Winfield to New Lenox), we've managed to use our time rather...creatively. In addition to seeing me onstage for the first time in over 10 years, D. and I spent some time with her siblings in Lincoln Square (no, the irony was not lost on me, especially considering the proximity) this past weekend. While stuck here at work today, she's in Elburn for her sister's baby shower. Talking about the shower itself, in addition to her brother's newborn son, we realized there's a little bit of "baby fever" in the air. We'd certainly want to plan for a baby very carefully (2-3 years minimum), and I love knowing that I can potentially conceive with someone I know shares the same values I do. She is an amazing mother and I very much look forward to taking that journey with her.

Monday-the new Sunday

For the month of May (and possibly longer), I've gone back to working two Saturdays a month and gave myself Mondays off during such work weeks. I've also interviewed for the Lead Rep position in a department I'll be heading shortly which, among other things, has me making schedules for myself and those underneath me. The months of hammering the point home that my present manager has no fucking concept of what I do have finally paid off.

Yesterday, The Boy and I headed down to Wicker Park for lunch at Earwax, followed by a performance by Paul Green's School Of Rock playing classic metal. Wouldn't you know it-their cover of "Raining Blood" by Slayer got the most response. Ran into V., who was there with her teenage son. I hadn't seen her in a few years and oddly enough, she...er, smelled the same (she's been wearing the same perfume for 15 years or so now). JB was there as well, as he is now working for the talent company who books at the Subterranean as well as the Beat Kitchen.

Just under a month to go before The Boy heads to MN for the summer. Although I will have him for 1-1/2 weeks come late June and then from August onwards, I am gonna miss him like crazy and plan on making every minute count with the remaining weekends we have left.

I had debated on telling him about the wedding this soon, but seeing a how...er, not so smooth my telling his mom went (I'm sure I'll blog about this soon enough), I figured I'd better tell him before he "accidentally" overhears it coming from her. His first reaction upon learning the news Friday night was that of disbelief; I wasn't wearing my ring as it was getting re-sized (got it back Saturday afternoon-yes!), but when he realized I wasn't joking he really did seem genuinely happy. He repeated what so many other of my close friends and family members have told me the past few years: that I was never happier than I was when I was with D. Hearing that coming from friends and family, sure-it's nice to hear, but from your own son? Whoa. It's no secret that I could have used a bit more discretion in introducing him to some of my exes. Not that there was a revolving door or anything like that-I just knew there were some women that I had no business being with, but in my quest to find...stability or whatever you can call it, I did things that I wouldn't normally have done.

Thinking about getting the car detailed today. It's sorely needed, especially after the boot. The last thing I want to do is to roll up to my aunt's next Sunday with marker written all over my car.

So it begins...

This week's Early Warnings in the Chicago Reader alerted me to more Spring/Summer Chicago festivals. First up is the Do-Division Festival May 31st-June 1st, featuring Lucero, Ted Leo and Frightened Rabbit; June 28th and 29th is the Belmont Arts & Music Festival featuring Cursive, Maritime and American Music Club. This one will be the first one to skip as I will have The Boy that week. Finally, there's this year's Wicker Park Fest with Isis, Red Sparowes and Film School. This one makes me very happy, though it is the week after the Pitchfork Music Festival.

Speaking of Pitchfork, they've revealed the rest of their lineup and with Sebadoh added as the 3rd band on the Friday, it looks like I'll be getting a 3 day pass after all.

Somewhere in the midst of all this rock n' roll I'll be scheduling a return trip to Las Vegas. Whew.

Plenty of rest for the wicked

After a late night catching a highly energetic set by Foals at Subterranean and an even later Friday night playing in River Grove (note to self: some folks of Polish descent do not take kindly to being made fun of), I was all too relieved to have nothing to do today but laundry, sleep, and talk to my wife. Wow. My wife. I guess I'm still getting used to that.

K. got into town a few days ago and we were able to meet for dinner last night at Earwax Cafe before heading over to see Foals. Though I am far from vegetarian, nothing beats Earwax's sloppy seitan. Ran into some old friends after K. took off who were stoked to hear the big news and was introduced to some of Foals' road crew by my (soon-to-be former?) drummer.

While at the show last night, I caught a flyer for next weekend's two shows featuring The Paul Green School Of Rock Music tribute to Classic Metal. The Boy and I are so there.

Ugh. Bed time.

Grrr...

Woke up this morning with all the typical flu symptoms: stuffy head, aching all over, basically feeling hungover without drinking. Calling in to work might have been ok if I hadn't already taken Monday and Tuesday off to be in Vegas. Earlier tonight I walked downstairs to head to therapy, only to find "the boot" on my car. Months ago I would've no doubt blew a gasket over this, and looking online to verify the timeline of these tickets reminded me that I have come a long way in regards to my emotional reactions. Tomorrow, Precision has graciously agreed to take me to one of the payment centers and hopefully my car will not be towed on top of this in my absence.

Precision-related, the decision has been made to let our drummer go. He's just not dependable enough and while drummers do have a tendency to be rather flaky, he managed to take flaky up a notch. We have a show Friday night in River Grove which will most likely be his last, hoping to have a replacement set in time for our May 23rd show at the Beat Kitchen.

Ugh...I need to sleep.

4/21/2008

On April 21st, 2008 at 12:30pm Pacific Time, I married the woman of my dreams in a brief but beautiful ceremony. From the moment we stepped out of the chapel as husband and wife through the stroke of midnight later that evening/morning, every step we took together was more amazing and more romantic than the last. Dinner that night at Il Fornaio was simply stunning and the walks along The Strip felt exhilarating to say the least. Nauseous yet? Tough shit.

Some of you are no doubt wondering just how impulsively I/we acted on the decision to get married; the fact is, we planned to go through with it a few weeks back, realizing that after all this time apart, the fact that we came back together and never fell out of love (if anything, the love this time around is even more intense) was all we needed to make it official. My wife was with me at the lowest point of my life (the death of my father) and weathered the grief, the anger and frustration the best that she could. When we split in 2005, we always said if this was meant to be then we'd find our way back together. She never left my heart or my thoughts, try as hard as I did to move on without her.

We've talked about what this marriage will have to endure-namely, the distance for the next several months as she finishes up school out in Las Vegas and continues to save up for the move back home. She knows how important my role in The Boy's life is and understands that we may not actually move in together until Spring/Summer 2009 to give father and son a full year of living together. The two of them do get along rather famously and though it's been some time since either myself or The Boy have spent time with her daughter (The Bean), we've had some great moments together; I do not see that changing once we are reintroduced.

Little by little we are announcing the marriage to friends and family. I spoke to my mom earlier tonight and though she found the logic behind this all unconventional, she did let me know that both her and my stepfather think the world of Vegas and The Bean (they always have) and gave the marriage their blessing (not that it really mattered, mind you, but it certainly didn't hurt).

Countdown to our reunion: just under 4 weeks.