To quote Dorothy Parker, "I deserve this."

I woke up early - for me - about 9am and fiddled around online. Two of my friends from Charleston, Heather and Nick, decided to visit Fayetteville today and do some hiking and when they got done I was gonna meet them for lunch. The hiking didn't happen but we met up for lunch at Pies & Pints. It's a very yummy place. We had the rosemary and garlic flatbread to start and then a Mediterranean Pie. That was my first time trying goat cheese. It was okay, I didn't hate it but I prolly won't make it a habit either. Oh, and Heather made muffins and brought me a few. SCORE!

After lunch we went over to Beckley and hit Cheap Thrills Records. Today was National Independent Record Store Day so i thought it would be cool to check out. Nick and Heather haven't been in a real record store in ages, because Charleston is lame, so they were psyched. While we were there a local bluegrass band, the Poor Taters, was playing because they were releasing their CD. They were really good, did unexpected stuff like the Beatles "Get Back" and Stray Cats' "Stray Cat Strut". One of my good buddies from high school plays with them sometimes but he was just watching this afternoon. He'll join in when they have their gig over in Fayetteville later tonight.

Anyrockintunes, Heather and Nick made some good purchases and I got Sonic Youth's newest, The Eternal. We also picked up a bunch of free samplers from Astralwerks, Last Gang Records, the Cochella festival, and a mix of awesome Motown, R&B and funk. After all that strenuous cool we moseyed over to a nearby Starbucks for refreshment. It was a chilly afternoon so I had one of those hot apple caramel drinks. After that I took them down to Thurmond 'cause they've never been. It's a funky little ghost town in the middle of some gorgeous nature.

I was planning on hanging out with a new friend tonight but he had to cancel 'cause he's feeling under the weather. It's prolly just allergies but I gotta be cautious after that last flu nearly derailed my job. My allergies have been in high gear the past week. The OTC meds make me wired so I haven't been getting much sleep, plus they kinda do a number on my tummy. And my eyes have been really itchy to boot. It's prolly best if I lay low this evening and get rested up. I'll just stay in and listen to my new tunes and when he's feeling better maybe we can go see Kick Ass. Plus, I had a good visit with another old friend last night at Diogi's so I think I can slow down on the social whirlwind. For now, my cabin fever and wanderlust have been abated.

I'm gonna go have a muffin now.