Jefke.com

and what a weekend it was.

so i skipped out of work around 1 on friday to go back to the tattooist and have the rest of the fill work done and the shading. i know-i’m naughty aren’t i?

i arrived a bit early, and was recognized by one of the owners, we were talking briefly the previous week, b/c he actually lives a couple blocks away from us, they dont’ call it smallitmore for nothing.

it’s worth taking a moment to describe the set up of the place, there is a counter which is staffed by usually 2 guys, i assume they’re apprentices or something, then there are little rooms where the work is done. they’re pretty big on their music there, so there’s usually something playing. so last time as i was waiting they were playing queens of the stone age, this time as i walked in they were playing soul coughing. they then played some hawaiian music and finally busted in to far beyond driven by pantera. it all caught me a bit off guard-firstly i thought i am the only person in the world that could like soul coughing in and pantera, and then 2ndly that jesus, perhaps i’m not as out of it as i thought. then again, the artists seem to be in my age bracket, and the counter staff seems younger, but not like teenagers. i dunno. it was pretty cool to have music i like on whilst i got the work done.

for the most part the tat is complete. as i mentioned before, my original intent was for a true ‘quarter sleeve’ meaning work all away around the arm. but the artist modified the design a bit to make it look better. i now totally understand how people end up getting tons of tattoos–it really is sort of addictive. other than that, i hemmed and hawwed on whether to have the knot work shaded/wickered. i had it done on my ankle band back in the 90’s and while that one is much smaller, it has blurred (and these things tend to do) and well i’m not super happy with it. my arm piece is much bigger, so the shading would work better in the long run, but it might make the whole thing too busy.

so that’s that.

i don’t think i’ve announced it officially, but natty now has a few night shifts on her rotation. she usually works 7 am-7 pm, which is a pain-but every 3rd and 4th weekend she has to work 7pm-7am on friday the first week, and then friday and saturday nights the next week.

so this week was that week. our neighbor had suggested, earlier in the week, that we go to the white sox/oriels game friday night. i thought it might be good, if for nothing else to wear the little guy out.

so after i got back from my appointment, we scurred to get the animals fed and such, and natty went to work, and we went downtown for the game. all in all the boy was not impressed with the whole sporting event gig. in his defense it was very loud, and we had a drunk red neck behind us yelling the whole time. that sorta threw the capt off a bit. i was sorta interesting overall, drunk guy would yell, his hugely breasteded girlfriend would giggle, the capt would start asking to get up and walk around.

(quick aside, is it me or are young women developing bigger boobs earlier in life? is it the hormones in beef? is it superior bra technology? all the transfats? youtube? myspace?  implants? is the government breeding a master race? am i  just going insane? chicks didn’t look like this  when i was 20, have you noticed this?)

all in all it was a good time, the capt eventually found the jungle jim and bounce house and had a great time going down a slide. he actually interacted with other kids and didn’t push them around nor was he pushed around by him (brought a tear to my eye).

after the game there were fireworks which freaked him out at first but he settled in and enjoyed them. then we headed home, and i started the “lets try to go to sleep routine”. naturally that didn’t work, so i had to walk him in the stroller at midnight. it’s funny how the neighborhood changes when it’s late. prolly the worst thing is all the cockroaches. nowi thought they lived IN peoples houses, but around here the fuckers scurry on the sidewalks. it’s pretty gross. after about 15 mins the capt was asleep and i headed home. i was able to transfer him out of the stroller and he slept about an hour before he woke up screaming for his mom. 30 mins of calming and i got him back to sleep, 3 hrs pass, repeat.

what’s interesting is that inspite of not going to bed remotely near on time, and sleeping poorly, he always wakes up and stays awake the next morning. which is not so happy for natty. so i took him on our usual homedepot saturday run. which always ends with a hotdog from the hot dog cart and tailgating a bit in the parking lot. then off to the garden center to see the fish pond and then back home. man this is boring.

sat night went a bit worse than friday.

sunday was pretty tough for everyone, but i was able to get the lawn mowed and some things planted.

well there you have it, just like the old recaps i’ve peetered out at the end.

blah.