Wasteland

For the first time in 27 years, the building that was my life looks different. I have never seen the parts room, shop office, drivers lounge and machine shop completely empty. The parts room (with the exception of changing inventory) looked EXACTLY on the day of the sale, as it had when I first saw it in 1980 and everyday since then. Now it is totally empty. It is like seeing your spouse of 27 years come home with plastic surgery, a new hairstyle and a change of wardrobe all in the same day. The familiarity is gone in a second...replaced by someone you struggle to accept

An old friend whose familiar smell and sounds now stands completely lifeless, has finally succumbed to the withering disease that has been our last years. In some ways, it is the saddest part of the whole damn thing. This place used to pulse with life and activity...filled with the oddest mix of characters you would ever want to meet. Someday I may bore you with some of the more interesting ones, but for now, I sit in solemn silence surrounded by the memories and material of what once was flowing lifeblood.

Another Saturday

So now I guess the real crap starts, because I am sitting here on a Saturday morning waiting for people to show up and start picking things up. There was to be a man here at 7 AM, so I was here at 6:30 and I have not seen hide nor hair of him yet at 7:45.

I have better things to do with my time now than sit here like a dumbshit.

It's amazing how trusting people still are in this day and age. Once bought, the objects from yesterday became immediate property...and responsibility...of the highest bidder. All participants were instructed to secure acquisitions right away, as we held no responsibility for lost or stolen items. This morning there are things laying all over. Several people asked me yesterday if they could come back later next week to pickup things...things that were and are still..sitting OUTSIDE! I personally know of one theft yesterday, as a friend of mine bought a couple of things that were "missing" when he went to load them up. Every time I have bought at an auction, it gets loaded immediately before I start shopping again. Thieves are everywhere, and very opportunistic. Trust NO ONE!

The situation of the body laid out in our former drivers lounge still has me shaken up. I will never forget the sight of it, nor the sheer sense of panic I felt due to my already considerable stress at the time.

Real Time Auction Report

The sale is happening, and for the most part, it's going well except for one thing...

A man keeled over dead. No shit. A guy had what everyone guesses was a massive coronary and dropped dead where he stood. Some first responder trained auction bidders started CPR right away, with my wife doing the breathing part. They continued until the EMTs came, but it ultimately proved fruitless. The med-flight helicopter was onsite when the ambulance EMTs waved him off and pronounced the man dead. Then we had to wait for the Medical Examiner and Coroner to remove the body. All this while hundereds of agitated bidders looked on and waited.

All this time the sale is trying to go forward. I feel very bad for the family of the deceased man, and my wife was very shook up that a man died right under her, but the disruption to the sale may prove the biggest fatality of all. Some people left, others got mad. Mass confusion reigned for about an hour, and then a general malaise for another two.

Just now I hear the auctioneers entering the part of the facility to continue the sale in the area just cleared of the body. Whaddya gonna do? The sale HAS to continue. I just hope people are not too freaked out. I'm a fricken wreck.

I can't fucking believe someone died at my auction. Of all the things you plan for, this aint one of them.

Well...It's Here

The night before the last day of the first part of my life. All the ducks are in a row, and the last minute prep has been completed. All that is really left to do is nurse the ulcer with a stiff drink...and wait. Friday, December 8th will dawn just as any other day always has. The sun will rise and set, people will come and go, and I will watch in slow motion view the dismantling process around me.

It will be frantic and depressing (not to mention damned cold), but I am ready. We are ready. We have to be, because the sun is predicted to rise.

I am either strangely calm or dead fricken tired, I can't quite place the feeling.

Is there anybody out there?

Where the hell is everyone?

The big auction sale is just around the corner. It's going to be so big they have to bring in porta-potties to handle the crowd.

You KNOW you have made the big time when something you put on requires porta-potties. What a scene it will be, 300-400 people dismantling my life piece by $10 piece.

...and then stopping by the lunch wagon for a hot dog before leaving a deposit in the porta-pottie. When it's done, all I will have left is a bucket full of piss, and I will have to pay someone to dispose of that as well.

Current Music

I picked up the latest Deftones release "Saturday Night Wrist" at Censorship-Mart the other day, and all I can say is "WOW". Even the edited version still gave me goose-bumps.

The Deftones have always been great in my opinion, but with SNW, they finally come of age. I've been a fan since day one...and SNW is their best effort to date. It is absolutely stunning. Chino's vocals are as haunting and melodic as I have ever heard, and the arrangements shatter the Nu-Metal moniker that has dragged the band down since "Around the Fur". With SNW, the Deftones pay homage to their traditions while taking the music to a higher...and nearly perfect level.

HIGHLY Recommended.