Old King Cole Was A Jolly Old Soul

While my son Cole is generally a happy kid like the fairy tale that he wasn't named after, he is turning out to be quite the mischievous lad.

I've caught him wrapping the living room in toilet paper and I've stopped him from pulling wine bottles out of the wine rack. Just two days ago, I went into the kitchen to make lunch for us and when I was finished preparing it and came back to get him, I noticed the sliding door to the deck in our back yard was open. I dashed outside, yelled his name, and saw him standing in the middle of my neighbor's back yard sticking his finger in what appeared to be a mud puddle.

You can't turn your head for a second with this boy.

No sir.

As a matter of fact, I'm going to check and see if he's still napping.

Just because the house is quiet doesn't mean he's not trying to bring on the ruckus.

We Are The Chestpains

It's downright odd that my band has its first gig almost a year to the day of my sudafed O.D., which happened April 19 of last year.

Ironic in that it was because of that health scare that I got off my ass and decided to start a punk rock band; ironic in that it's how the band got our name.

So the band has buckled down.

We've scheduled two extra practices into the next two weeks - Sunday and Wednesdays respectively - to tighten up our 10-songs-in-25 minutes set. Two of them are covers: "Beverly Hills" off of the Circle Jerks' seminal Group Sex album and "Hall Of Fame" from Joyride-era Goverment Issue. Again you can find irony: we only added the covers as a way to pad our set, yet each song barely clocks in at 60 seconds.

It's Snowing Out

But the flakes are not frozen water, rather a fine yellow mist of pine pollen.

This is the time of year I dread: sinus hell.

Despite the fact that the weather is beautiful - mid-70s with a gentle breeze - you cannot open the windows to your house or car because it will be covered in a fine yellow film of pine pollen.

When the wind blows, little mini tornados - dust devils - whirl about in all their yellow glory and I have to be on my best behavior or else I will be crushed by it all; the whirling devils a constant reminder of the evil that lurks outside my closed windows.

I've been vigilant in taking my Zyrtec and even got a prescription to Flonase filled just as an extra percaution to ward off the rhinitis and sinusitis that I'm prone to get this time of year. My head is still mad congested - and I can hear my sinuses whistle and squeak when I blow my nose - but at least I can function and don't feel like total horseshit.

It's important that I keep my wits about it all right now as:

a.) it's the busiest time of the year for the catering world of which is my sole means of income
b.) my band - the Chestpains (www.thechestpains.com) - have our debut gig April 23 at Kings in Raleigh (www.kingsbarcade.com)