NP: Fishbone, The Reality of my Surroundings (CD)

An oddly appropriate soundtrack. The reality of my surroundings are dictating that I adopt some new rituals. These are things that I probably should have been doing all along, but didn't possess the requisite amount of discipline to maintain. Discipline can be funny like that. Saying you're going to eat healthier food sounds all well and good, but a lot of times, it takes some outside factor to get you to actually do it. Whether that be as severe as a medical condition, or as shallow as bathing suit season, it provides the "pointed stick" that I borrowed in an earlier passage.

So, now, I must be a slave to certain rituals. The drums will not stay in the car overnight. The faceplate on the stereo will not stay on the stereo overnight. These are not entirely difficult to implement, but a change in behavior is a change in behavior, and maybe it can serve as a springboard to other completely unrelated behaviors that might benefit from the rigor with which these first two have to be followed.

I say all this knowing full well that I'll get home from a gig at 3am some morning and totally wuss out on unloading the drums. Or maybe I won't. There may be acceptable half-measures somewhere, but with the scar from my most recent personal violation still fresh, I'm still going to err on the side of not leaving anything in an obvious position to be ripped off from my car again.

Thanksgiving was alright. Spent it mostly with the roommate's family, out in Indiana. I don't know if I'm just too wrapped up in my own deal to notice these things anymore, but I didn't get much of the familial tension she keeps telling me about. Could have been the food coma. It dawned on me during the ceremonial call to the homestead in NJ that I might be the only sibling not bringing a significant other to Christmas next month. Not that I needed any extra pressure to completely ignore.

Tomorrow we host. There's maybe some potential for drama, but hopefully not the kind that leads to thrown breakable objects. And potential for potential (isn't there always?), but as per the earlier ignored pressure, I'm not really concerned about that. I am a bit worried about letting Amanda control the music.