February 2006

One of my biggest pet peeves is being pigeon holed. I don’t like to be perceived as predictable. When I move on from this life, I want to be remembered as spontaneous. “I wanna be impulse. Reckless.” (When’s the last time someone quoted a Wilson Phillips song in a blog?) “That J.P., he was zany. Zany, I say.”

As I’m sitting here eating lunch, I’m realizing that I’ve adopted a routine that may border on mundane. I come home, lunch pail in tow and lay out my lunch. I pet the cat on the top of the head and then let him out the back door. I then eat my lunch and surf the same pages, every day, in the same order. I have a handful of blogs that I read, and I always read them in order, regardless of who has posted the latest entry. I check a few usenet discussions and then I read a few message boards about various, often entertainment, interests. Then I write in my blog. As I letting Tom out before settling down to eat, I realized he was waiting by the door because he knew what was to happen next.

I think this routine is a product of the time of year. I imagine once the weather breaks and really means it this time that I’ll walk or sit on the back deck or run around the house with my hands in the air going “Let the sunshine, let the sunshine, let the sunshine in!” I don’t think the neighbors would mind, they often do the same thing. Except crazy cat lady. She just calls neighborhood cats by banging an iron skillet on a cow bell. She’s whacky like that.

Long ago I was told by an ex-fling that I was very predictable and I worked in a three-week cycle. I had my high points, I had my low points and you could set a calendar by the schedule. “J.P.’s giddy, time to pay the electric bill!” Unpredictably, I hung up the phone while he was telling me what my problem was and predictably I dumped him in a curt, yet colorfully worded e-mail. Mind you, back in 1989, dumping people over e-mail was rare so maybe that wasn’t so predictable after all.

I think I’m going to do something very spontaneous this weekend. On purpose. I don’t know what it’ll be, I don’t know when it’ll be. I have a five day weekend ahead, this is the perfect opportunity to be zany.

I have to think about the details.

I was going through some of the stuff in the “wreck room” closet this evening looking for the documentation for the video camera when I came across a box of old photos. I hadn’t seen these in quite a few years, I thought I’d drag them out and share them.

Up first, my publicity shot from 1997. This is from when I worked at the radio station as a Program Director. It’s important to have a snazzy publicity shot in case your peers shower you with acolades in a trade magazine. I can’t even type that sentence without gagging.

And the second little gem I found was from July 1994 when I worked at a station called Hot 107. We all got together and hung out with the Fly 92 crew in neighboring (and much bigger) Albany at their summer jam. Here I am with Sherman Hemsley, Brian Cody and Matt Hubbell from Fly 92 and my co-worker from Hot 107, Becky Myers. I don’t know who the woman in shocking pink is, she just sort of jumped in the picture. Must be she wanted to be in a trade magazine too.

I wonder if being pictured with George Jefferson made me Weezy for a day.

I am desperately trying to be in a good mood this morning as I get ready for work. I am not an early riser. I don’t even pretend to be. But occasionally I have to bite the bullet and get up before the sun rises so I can work the early shift at work.

I can be very cranky in the morning, but that’s a habit that I’m trying to break. So far, so good.

As I look out towards the east, I can see the beginnings of a beautiful sunrise. There’s no sign of red, so the sailors needn’t take warning today. The sky has a few puffs of clouds scattered amongst the deep, dark blue giving way to brilliant sun.

As I look at the weather forecast, I notice that it’s going to be near 50 for the next couple of days. That news just perked me up a little bit. My crankiness is now officially gone. It’s going to be a lovely day.