The second time I tried to give blood I passed out. Set the table a little bit more....I think I was 18 years old, newly graduated, and having a summer of concerts preparing to move to Eugene. I'd given blood once in high school and had been recruited to go to a Mormon church and let the life juices flow for the Red Cross. Oddly, I was out pretty quickly. They made me eat some cookies and gave me a sticker that said "I tried." I still proudly display that sticker on a guitar case even though it has seen better days. Today is one of those days where I need an "I tried" sticker to cheer myself up.
     I left work today stating that I was gonna go see "Hell" and was excited to see the Salem, Oregon doom band play really loud. In the meantime I was coming home, listening to records, and trying to catch up on weeks of comic books. First, I notice that my roommate is officially getting all his stuff out and leaving. I proceed to have a non verbal existential crisis based on needing a new roommate and not having friends, and dreading the Craigslist experience again. Then I get a weird phone call uninviting me from band practice tomorrow. Finally, I get the gumption to leave the house.
    Please understand that this is a very new occurance for me. For years now my social life has consisted of going to the bar a block from my house and drinking beers, and maybe (just maybe) actually talking to a real person. My yearlong relationship has recently ended, and a major cause of local traumatic stress has moved away. So, I oddly have been experimenting with leaving the house and going to shows more often. This has mostly consisted of going to random metal shows and usually lasting a band or two before I either get bored, anxiety filled, or I just plain can't stand the music.
    So tonight I went to see "Hell." In the end, I'm pretty sure I didn't see "Hell" at all. Or maybe I just saw my own personal Hell. Apparently, Hobo Chic is a fashion style. Look kind of dirty and unbathed, and then have short skirts and garters or the like. Also, as someone that quit smoking a year and 3 months ago, everyone was sucking down and looked extremely unhappy about and it made me really sad to remember how happy smoking made me until I realized how much better I feel without them. Then some band started doing some uneventful grind music that caused me to turn around some 3 minutes later and wander back to my car listening to a favorite professional wrestling podcast.
    Driving home I considered going somewhere else, but by then the anxiety had taken over and coming home to watch Wrestling and drink some riesling was about the only option. I really feel sad about all of this, mostly because "I tried."

I had planned to make a bunch of Where Is Kobe Bryant's Head Today? posts...but my camera on my phone just died. More Owl photos soon.

Where is Kobe Bryant's Head Today?

Kobe's head is being stabbed by a scuba diver!

Big Show posing in front of our handiwork. This is how it stands as of today. We need more plywood for the walls. Plywood for the wings. Shingles for the outside. What do you think?

In all the plywood we had sitting around...we only had one piece big enough to cover one wall. We were joking about how usually you cover the side where you can look into other people's backyard first. Wouldn't want to see sunbathing we aren't supposed to see. We didn't worry much about it.

Big Show and I had a big discussion about how big the third section should be. It is going to be the head of the owl. We finally decided to just double the height of the first floor with the second two sections. When we did that. We just decided to make it so the third "floor" would just be another box on top.

We totally Water Sealed the top. Screw Tarps! We'll have to come up with a good way to get the water not to just sit on the parts that are not covered. Maybe by now you're saying...."hmmm...I can actually see that turning into a giant owl."