Been feeling irritable all day. A came back from grad school and we spent Saturday and Sunday together. Without anything planned on the latter we spent the day sleeping and having sex. She slept most of the day away, having been tired from her exams. I spent the day reading and watching a new movie I found called Hitler- The Rise of Evil, a documentary starring Robert Carlyle (Begbie from Trainspotting). It's a miniseries about Hitler's ascendency before WWII that aired a few years ago. Very well acted, well written and a good idea but people don't like things about Hitler in prime time unless it's the History Channel. They'd rather watch Everybody Loves Raymond.

Saturday we went to see a friend of mine do stand up and, save for him and one other guy, every other comic was terrible. Not just unfunny but obnoxious and just miserable. One guy even made me angry. A and I both zoned out and afterwards couldn't recall a thing he said. He was that bad. I've decided to get back into standup. I've been holding off on it for a while so I could get other things going but I've been writing new stuff pretty regularly. Whenever I tell someone I did stand up before I always get the "Tell me a joke then" line. I use a couple of the mainstays and everyone thinks I should do it so I am.

Also, one guy- the headliner- used a joke I had written a couple months ago. No one ever saw it but me so he thought of it as well but his delivery was terrible. Just shows how a bad comic can ruin a good joke. The headliner wasn't the worst, but he was pretty close to it.

C was at the show, the comic was a mutual friend so I had her meet A. Neither of them particularly hit it off though they both want to get together again. A was too tired and getting ready to sleep all Sunday, C wanted to go out to some more bars.

Construction continues in my kitchen. While I don't need anything else in my kitchen, my landlord decides to put in a dishwasher and a whole new set of cabinets. It should only take a couple of days. Fine, I wake up early and let the guys in. For the next few days, what should have only taken a couple is now stretching into its second week, with some work done this weekend too. I got a call late last night to be sure I would be up to let them in so they could get one more day in. I wake up, still groggy, open the door and they show up hours later. A good amount of work was done but it's still not finished. Around two o clock power was turned off without any warning, causing me to fry a program I was working on. I was able to get most of it back after a couple hours but it's still slowed down what I was working on. In the middle of everything, when I'm at my most pissed and just counting the minutes until they get the fuck out so I can be alone and get some work done I get a call from someone I sent a resume out to. They want to interview me right then and there and, despite the buzzsaw going just a few feet away, I nailed it. It's for a fitness company too.

Since I didn't have a lot of plans last week and A was gone, I kept my foot taped up and did a lot of stretches and exercises while the workmen were here. Last weekend I got fed up with always being in pain constantly and, though I tried similar things in the past, the tendons on my foot never healed from a strain I received years ago. I couldn't see myself running or being on my feet a lot or, at least, not unless I really needed to, so I stayed off it. I kept it wrapped most of the day in uncomfortable positions and whenever I could, kept it flexed and stretched to allow the tendon to heal. It's been years and the podiatrists I've been to never gave me a clear answer on relieving it I decided to just go with what feels best. I wrap it up it positions that kept the foot flexed for hours as a last ditch effort to try to walk normally. I tried a similar pattern years ago, stretching it a lot to ease the pain and it got slightly better then came back almost as bad.

I can still feel a very faint pain but for the most part it's gone. I'm not done yet, it will be a while before it's gone but this is the best it's felt since I got injured. This sounds very unimportant I know, but if it goes away it will be the best thing that's happened to me all year. It's been a constant problem since around 1998 and if it's gone permanently it will make me very, very happy, not to mention put me in a considerably better mood.

My Boston playlist:

Dirty Water- The Standells

For Boston- Dropkick Murphys

I'm Shipping Up to Boston- Dropkick Murphys

They Came to Boston- Mighty Mighty Bosstones

Borstal Breakout (Boston Version)- Street Dogs

Everett- Tree

Victory Over Horseshit- Scissorfight

Hanging on the Corner- Blood for Blood

Bruce Lee- Honkeyball

Hotwire- Lamont

Pipebomb on Lansdowne- Dropkick Murphys

Romeo Delight- Sam Black Church

Planet of Ass- Scissorfight

Rock and Roll Band- Boston

Tessie- Dropkick Murphys

Mother Mother- Tracy Bonham

Universal Heartbeat- Juliana Hatfield

Please Come to Boston- Dave Loggins

Dream On- Aerosmith

Where'd You Go?- Mighty Mighty Bosstones

Vehicle- Roadsaw

So Called Friends- Honkeyball

Never Alone- Dropkick Murphys

You Never Miss the Water Till the Well Runs Dry- Give

Lunatic Yankee Spectre- Scissorfight

This is the best of the three. I'm not yet done with Chicago but I doubt it will be better than this one.