Been home two days and

May 09, 2002

Been home two days and not for R&R. We’re doing a Pay Per View taping of the show when we get to Vancouver so I came home on the two days off between Winnipeg & Edmonton to rerecord a bunch of the musical bits that we can’t use in the show. Had about 9 hours of sleep over the last three days and things are taking on new shapes and sounds. When people talk it seems like they are underwater and sunlight gives all living things a glowing pink aura. The edges of my eyes can feel the air in a way that they couldn’t before and I am using my throat as an involuntary percussion instrument. At times my hair is a sculpture. I have slept so intensely in the few hours I have crashed that afterward my hair rises on one side like the Greek Island of Santorini. The remnants of an extinct vocanic crater jutting sharply up on one side from the flat blue sea of my blank face. When loved ones spot me for the first time they usually say, “my God man would you like some more coffee”. I’ve been away long enough that each journey inside the house to go to the bathroom or grab a snack I know will be followed by a torturous goodbye when I have to go back to the studio. Fifteen goodbyes a day. Building healthy separation complexes for the future. Back to work.
I guess I should never call it work because its what I love. I think the word work does not exclude the concept of enjoyment but it has taken on that tone for some people. I must play upon my strengths and remind myself each minute that I am extremely fortunate to have put myself in a position to experience both sides of the word. The day jobs I had in the past may one day return. The list I remember: green chain in a sawmill, shipping and receiving, gas jockey, customer service, tilt hoist operator, loading boxcars, construction labourer. There is a good “image life” and solid grounding in physical strain that I can use to remind me how free I’ve been for the last 15 years. When somebody tells me I’m late I actually have the option to tell them to fuck off. I fear that one day this will be my reaction if I’m ever placed back into the general employment cycle. Solution? Never be late.
Now its 6:00am and I’m done. I don’t mean I’m completely finished I mean...I’m done like dinner.
Now its 9:30am and I’m calling a cab to the airport.
Now its noon and I’m typing on the plane while we wait at the jetway to taxi to the runway. Did it actually snow while I was home? Yes it did. Trouble in the middle east? Stanley Cup playoffs?
I had too much gear for a taxi so I had to take this vintage 80’s white limo to the hotel. It says "Prestige Limousine" in italics on the glass of the back window. I feel like its grad night all over again. I think I still have that bad suit somewhere. Wish I could arrive at the hotel in it. Once got in hell at my day job because of that suit. I was transferred into menswear at the Bay and I wore that same suit constantly. I figured I hated suits and I wouldn’t buy another one. My parents paid for the grad suit and that was going to be the last. Wish I was hip to sharkskin at the time.

Now I'm in the Edmonton hotel room working some more on the pieces of music I recorded for the show.
Now I'm waking up 14 hours later.
Whoa look at my hair sculpture.