LauraCatoe.com

I was waiting for Jaimie to address it first, since it was her idea. She told me at the art show that she’d read online about a a guy covering his sister’s room in foil. I said I’d read about the guy who foiled his friend’s apartment.

“Why,” she asked me “Have we not done this? We must do this the next time someone goes out of town.”

“Liz and Chris leave tomorrow to go camping.”

Her eyes alight. “When do they get back?”

“I’m not sure, but you can totally ask. You’re their neighbor.”

And then she proceeded to find out how long they would be gone and I went to tell Zach and Kristie because I knew that if we tin-foiled the Woodlaysons and didn’t let them in on it, we would be in trouble. (As it was, we still got in trouble for not telling LeNola…)

Guys, it really was a thing of beauty. And, with seven people, really didn’t take that long. Freaked Nibbler the hell out, though. She peed on K-ris.

As this was the Abercrombies’ first foray into violating Liz’s personal abode while she was away, they wondered “might she be mad?” Jaimie and I paused our foiling to consider. “Nah. She knows it just means we love her.”

Reefer log:
fish+eulogy
nathaniel penland I was looking for him, too!
bangs for rectangular faces
lunapar
anita blake’s closet
andrew aka scabie poor guy
mi casita gadsden al not anymore
emily hello kitty tattoo
does the sandman exist only in your dreams

The art opening was a success. In attendance, we had some regular faces (Jill, Les), some old faces (Andrew, Matt) and some new faces (the Howells, the Trussells). Besides the art on the walls, everyone seemed equally taken with the art that is the walls. Decades of decay in the officespaces that time forgot has yielded an interesting array of peeling paint, wallpaper and pencilled graffiti. I really need to take some pictures just to preserve the nuance of it all.

We had the usual amount of hoo-ha as well: fear that we had an artist’s last name wrong*, uncertainty as to how to hang pieces of paper art without marring it, a lost sister-in-law and a tiredness that makes one go “eh, this is the last time we’re doing this.” But in the end, it was all good.

On a plus side of having to attend the reunion meeting this weekend, at least it gives me an excuse to take the roll of film I shot at the art show to Wolf Camera. With all the new development going on in Trussville, could they please get a Wolf?

*Turns out we got her last name right, but all the titles wrong. I didn’t have a list, so I didn’t realize there were titles, resulting in five “Untitled” placards. Jaimie had a chat with the artist and informed me later that we’d have had to leave at least one of the pieces untitled anyway given the nature of its true name and the art show being hosted at the church. Oh, scandal!

Kris did his first iTunesing last night. He’s making a mix with an as-yet-unspecified theme. In trying to make song suggestions, I had to call Liz and ask her what song played at The Rocket on Sunday causing us to comment it should be on a “caught in your head” mix. I couldn’t think of the song myself, cause my mind was too busy singing Seal’s “Crazy” (cause you’re never gonna survive UNless you get a little CRAY-ayayayzay). Liz was able to answer almost immediately: “That’s just the way it is, baby.”

As he continued to search, we ended up looking for songs from the Jane’s Addiction album Strays since we both enjoyed that cd so much. When we tried to search by band and album, we got no results. Whaaat??? Oh, that must be because the name of the band isn’t Jane’s Addition. Oopsie.

I just realized today that for over a year I have been reading the title of the upcoming Neil Gaiman project Anansi Boys as Anasazi Boys. My bad.

Today I also learned that:

* When my new computer at work is installed, I will probably get a new scanner but lose my color printer. (Roger, come back!)

* That though my last name begins with a C, which should mean my car tag should be renewed in March that it was actually supposed to be renewed in February because my last name began with a B when I bought the car. So I was fined.

* My new pointy-toed shoes hurt my feet when I have to stand in line for over half an hour.

* It’s Alyson Hannigan’s 31st birthday, and she’ll be guest-starring in another Veronica Mars ep next month.

In case any of you don’t know, let me tell you: AOL is the Devil. Stay away from them. There are a lot of internet providers out there, and you will have no trouble AVOIDING GIVING ANY INFORMATION OF A FINANCIAL MATTER TO THE AOL MAFIOSO.

If maybe you couldn’t tell by the all-caps, AOL ignites a fire within me that burns, burns, burns.

I’m gonna skip my personal story of being done wrong by AOL, because it was almost a decade ago and I naively got myself into it. Kris’ story, however (though stemming from his own sort of naivete � not knowing that AOL is the Devil), unfolds like this:

Last week, we finally had the last bits of financial info we needed to begin computing tax numbers. It involes a lot of going through his bank statements and tallying how much rent money he paid to the salon, how many times he paid the shampoo assitant, how much in “little boxes of hair color,” etc. Somewhere in reading these out, he mentions AOL.

As is my habit with mention of that phrase in conjunction with personal finances, I immediately went ballistic.

“Why is there anything about AOL on your bank statements? You got that ill-advised account when you were in Oneonta.”

So as to not get derailed from his task-at-hand (since you can’t very well claim non-existent AOL service on your taxes), he wouldn’t answer me at the moment (he didn’t know why it was there, anyway) and we moved on and I forgot.

Until last night when he opened his new bank statement and there’s a $23.96 charge from AO-hell in mid-February and ANOTHER FARKING CHARGE in early March.

“Didn’t you have the bank stop payments on those?”

“Yeah, it cost me $25. But the stop payment only lasts for 6 months.”

I abandoned what I was doing and went fuming up the stairs. I huffily jabbed at the computer to turn it on. I did some angry Googling on “cancel AOL service” to find the 1-800 number. (1-888-265-8008, btw) I stomped back down the stairs and angrily held the post-it note to him.

He called while we ate dinner. When he got put on hold, he told me the guy he was talking to said the account was still active.

“The one you used to sign on with twice on the computer you gave away using a phone line that has been disconnected in a house you no longer own? That account is still active? The only thing still ‘active’ is the number of your bank account which they waited SIX MONTHS TO HIT AGAIN over a year AFTER YOU CANCELED THE ACCOUNT…”

He gave me one of those looks.

“…AND I’M SORRY. I’M NOT REALLY YELLING AT YOU. IT’S JUST THAT AOL FILLS ME WITH AN INSANE RAGE.“

We got a cancellation confirmation number, but I still asked Kris to take the coupon for a free stop-payment that came in his last bank statement.

So, word to the wise, in case you didn’t know: stay away from AOL. Those “free” trials they send you? Are. Not. Free. Ever.

I love Anne Lamott’s non-fiction. Jaimie let me have Plan B before it is due back at the library.

Lamott is very honest and transparent. I value those things, but stop short of even attempting to be as forthcoming as her because there are a great many people I care about that I don’t wish to offend. (Whether this desire springs from mutual respect, do-unto-othersness or an underlying Southern gentility, I do not know. But I sure hope it isn’t the latter.)

Let’s be real. Let’s be compassionate and understaning as others try to do the same.

P.S. Wear green tomorrow, folks.