Profit & Loss
This morning I ran a coupla’ miles to the start of the Gridiron Classic with my brother and Jennifer, then ran the 5k race with Jonathan and Fran, then — my celly blowin’ up with multiple calls from my boss — ran some seventy blocks home.
A small change had to be made to MTVNews.com, but he couldn’t reach anyone. Which isn’t a good thing, as we’re always on call. It is the news business, after all. So he was — rightfully — pretty torqued. I took some (well-deserved) heat, and got my as into the office where I found the story we’d been expecting had been canned. So here I am at 1515 Broadway, still sweating, with nothing to do. Except feel like an ass for failing The Man.
The run, though, was a blast. I wore my iPod for the first time in a race. I was crankin’ Rage Against The Machine, Soundgarden, and similarly motivating tunes. I felt like I could run forever, which was fortuitous since I had to keep running home anyhow (at which point I didn’t feel like I could run forever anymore).
Moving on, thanks to all of you for emailing your well wishes for my father. Last I heard, his appendix is in a jar somewhere, he has a four inch incision in his side, is in a lot of pain, but is recovering well. He’ll be skipping the guacamole and Super Bowl hoopla tonight, but that’s probably best.
I, in contrast, will be party hopping on the L, but all in time to catch ‘Sex In The City’ and ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm.’ The fact is, I’m not a fan of watching football (or watching any team sport, really), but I am a fan any chance to share beers with friends. Keep that in mind.
Final note: I prepped my taxes last night, which required me to run through the Benjamin Wagner Deluxe, LLC, profit and loss. It’s not a pretty picture. I rarely is. I mean, I don’t do the rocknroll thing for profit, I do it because I have to, and because I love to. But the loss is just getting way too large year after year to keep this up.
Take 2003, for example. I spent six thousand dollars (it’s less painful to write the number out) on recording ‘Almost Home,’ mastering it, duplicating it, and touring behind it. I made two thousand on CD and t-shirt sales, plus the one gig I played at Sin-e. So, looks like this year’s release will be an unmastered solo acoustic album duplicated by hand with art from Kinko’s. Which’ll be fine. (Meanwhile, how about picking up a copy of ‘Almost Home’?)
The best bit of current events, though (‘cuz the BWD, LLC P&L certainly isn’t good news), is that I got an email from Mrs. Rogers’ assistant over at Family Communications, Inc. She kindly wrote to tell me she’d received my letter, that Mrs. Rogers is out of town through February 15th, and that be sure to get it to her safe and sound. Which was really sweet of her to take the time to tell me. And while it isn’t a major development, it’s nice to know the proposal made it, and that it’s in good hands. So I remain hopeful about ‘Mister Rogers & Me.’
Heck, I remain hopeful about everything. I mean, what else is there?
