Wednesday, October 11, 2006

I'm tired.

Work is getting in the way of the blues.

That's because I'm old. Too old to play music at night and come in the next morning as perky as a sorority pledge on Dexedrine. Caffeine, the dark fuel of American corporate culture, does nothing on days like this. I'm the elastic on an old pair of boxers; I just don't snap back like I used to.

Back in the day, I could carouse until morning and still walk through work without looking like an extra from a George Romero movie.

I am the undead.

I would write "I'm too old for this shit" but then one of you would give me a virtual dope slap and remind me what a cliche that line is. Danny Glover delivered it in every Lethal Weapon movie, all sixteen of them, and in the last two I think "this shit" referred to the movie itself.

Since then, I've heard it all over the place - bad movies, bad TV shows, conversations with people who watch too many bad movies and TV shows, I think Bush even said it during a press conference last week.

So, that's my cliche for the day. How about you? Any that get under your skin, or worse, any that you keep having to strip out of your rewrites?

I need to lie down.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I too am not 100% today. I closed the Blue Bayou last night. It was fun. I got to play behind Butch, Becca Jean, a new lady singing Summertime, etc. Lots of fun. I just go there for the hugs! Good luck with the hangover! Enjoyed your playing as always!

Christa M. Miller said...

I hate hearing "a perfect storm of..." to indicate a confluence of events, and "thinking out of the box," which is a serious irony.

Can't think of any in my own writing - I avoid them like the plague. ;>

I didn't know you play blues, by the way. My husband got me into the genre (wasn't hard because I've always loved jazz). What do you play?

David Terrenoire said...

Christa,

I play harp. It's great therapy to get on stage and blow my brains out.

I also play guitar, but never ever in public. There are some things best left to the privacy of one's own home.

(Actually, that's not quite true. I do play rhythm on a few numbers with the band, but it's pretty rudimentary.)

Christa M. Miller said...

Of course, with Bush, it probably sounded like a two-year-old who didn't get what he wanted.

That explains why my son likes the Social Distortion song "Ball and Chain" so much. That whole thing about "I'm lonely and I'm tired and I can't take any more pain." Because life as a 3-year-old may as well put him on Skid Row.

David, that's really cool. I always wanted to sing, but never found a decent opportunity. You're very fortunate!

JD Rhoades said...

I feel your pain, dude (hey, there's a cliched right there)!

That whole thing about "I'm lonely and I'm tired and I can't take any more pain." Because life as a 3-year-old may as well put him on Skid Row.

HAHAHAAA! Wait 'til he's a teenager. I can't help it...when my 12 year old daughter starts moaning and groaning about how hard her life is and how no one understands her, I keep telling her, "oh, it gets worse. Much much worse."

Daniel Hatadi said...

As Jon Spencer would say, "THE BLUES IS NUMBER ONE!" and that would have to be his biggest cliche.

One I'd like to see more of is:

"Colder than a gut-shot bitch wolf dog pullin' nine sucking pups up a hill in the dead of winter in the middle of a snowstorm with a mouth full of porcupine quills."