Sonya and I went to Six One Six Friday night to see Better Than Ezra. For my out of town readers, Six One Six (or just plain Six to us locals) is a longtime alternaclub here in Memphis. It was open when I was in high school, and it was the first bar I ever went to. It used to be pretty darn hip, too. All the freaky-freaks would go there late-night to be seen. It's a big place, too. There's a gameroom, dance floor, concert area and cellar. Even up to a few years ago it was still a pretty happening place, but now...well, it's pretty damn sad. A lot of eighteen year-old girls and guys with Skoal-lip and cowboy hats.

But Sonya and I weren't going to be ubertrendies, we were going to hear some tunes. I'd never been to the "live side," as the propaganda refers to it, before Friday, so I was impressed. It's a pretty big room ringed with balconies. We got there, grabbed a beer and waded into the crowd.

The opening band was called Possum Dixon, and apparently consisted of just a drummer and singer/guitarist. Not a terribly full sound, really. They did do a Modern Lovers song, though, the one about Pablo Picasso never being called an asshole, and that scored some points with me.

Between the opener and the headliner we hung out, watched Heavy Metal on a screen they lowered in front of the stage and just generally gawked at the youth of the crowd. I suppose it was an all-ages thing, 'cause there was a crew behind me that couldn't have been more than fifteen. They were all very cute, trying to look tough and hanging on to their dates defensively. Sonya and I just smoked and laughed at them.

Better Than Ezra was very good, by the way. They seemed to be having lots of fun. They played all their hits. They also wrote their name on a football and tossed it into the audience. I took it home with me. Got a t-shirt, too.

Saturday was move the fishtank day. James and I last cleaned the fishtank in February. It had stayed pretty damned clean since then.

But when we went on vacation to Daytona I left the blinds open in the living room. Angie, during her stay, didn't close them. So when we came back there was a lovely green scum all over the tank, strung from plant to plant, clinging to the glass and rolling, tumbleweed-style, along the bottom. With the recent death of Suckfish (a surprisingly inefficient and lazy algae-eater) a lot of the entertainment value had gone from the fishtank. We were down to four striped fish of indeterminate breed. All we knew was that they were damned tough to live on the steady diet of neglect we gave them.

Kathy, Sonya's boss, said she wanted a fishtank for her son. This was our big chance - clean the fishtank and get rid of it. All in one day.

Sonya netted the fish and put 'em all in a cup. Then we cleaned that sucker out. Threw away the old gravel, scrubbed the tank, rinsed off the plants. Put the whole mess in the back of the truck and headed for West Memphis.

We had the water hose filling up the tank when I asked Kathy where she wanted the stand - which she didn't need.

"Put it in the storage room," Kathy said.

"With the dog?" I asked. I am not scared of dogs, as a rule...but Kathy's dog, Skipper, is the size of a pony and always barks ferociously at me when I pull in the driveway. "Will he eat me?"

"He may slobber on you."

So I got to meet Skipper, who is huge. After living with Roxy, who fits comfortably in your lap, big dogs seem really big. Skipper is sweet, though. Even though he has teeth and claws like a bear. Pet him on the head for a few seconds and he flops over on his side, exposing his belly for a rubbin'.

Then Sonya and I had a festive Halloween of computer desk shopping. I honestly don't think I'm getting older, just more boring.

We also went in CompUSA, ostensibly to see if they had any desks. I had a hidden agenda, though...

I wanted to see an iMac.

So we wander in and get pretty deep into the store, checking out peripherals and games as we went.

"Where are the iMacs?" I asked Sonya. We both peered around carefully...and then Sonya gasped, pointing behind me. There it was, a wall of neatly boxed iMacs.

I hugged it.

Then we strolled around and found one on display. I petted it and fondled its handle. Sonya tickled it under its chin and stroked its mouse.

"I want one," she cooed.

Then we went and saw John Carpenter's Vampires. Pretty cool stuff. If anybody were going to kill vampires for a living, it would have to be James Woods. John Carpenter, I think, is a Robert Rodriguez fan. Several scenes were lifted whole from Desperado and From Dusk 'til Dawn. That's fine with me, 'cause I like those movies. I don't know how Mr. Rodriguez feels about it, though.

I can fast-forward to yesterday here, 'cause nothing of interest happened on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday. Not that I can remember, anyway. If I recall something I'll let you know.

Godawful early yesterday morning Sonya and I went to the racquet club. The Chamber was having a breakfast and an internet lecture and my boss wanted me to go. Sonya was working, I was attending.

Honestly, I'm no good at networking. And I was terribly underdressed. I had on a gray sleeveless sweater over a white t-shirt and some black pants. Every other guy there? Suit and tie. Screw 'em - is it my fault I dress comfy for work? And at seven-fifteen in the morning folks were chatting each other up, fake-laughing and swapping business cards. I couldn't see it - I was incapable of such gladhandedness. I grabbed some coffee and sat in a corner until it was time to get food.

[Interesting side-note to this story: the breakfast was held in the same room where my junior-senior banquet was my junior year of high school. I took Lauren Bradshaw and the band sucked. I still don't understand why we felt like it was necessary to have a band, since we couldn't dance. Afterwards a group of us went to Shoney's and saw two men kissing in the parking lot - a fairly shocking and noteworthy event for a bunch of high school kids from West Memphis. After that I went to a party at Jon Mayberry's house and got massively drunk. It was a nice night.

And no, this little bout of remember-when doesn't make me feel old at all, even though it was ten years ago. Just a little amused...if you'd told me then that I'd be back in ten years having breakfast with the Chamber of Commerce...well, I wouldn't have believed you. At the time I meant to move to London and join a rock band.]

On the way back downtown we drove by Seessel's. The sign out front said

"Damn," Sonya said, "that's a lot of bananas."

"Yup," I agreed.

"You'd have to have a pet monkey to need that many bananas."

I thought that was the funniest thing I'd heard in months.

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