the other weekend i was having a few beers here by myself and i decided that i hadn't worked with paper mache' for awhile. i found out years ago that i could make a mask simply by putting all the strips of flour pasted paper directly onto my face, letting it dry then peeling it off. after that i could add to the rest of the head just by building onto the face.

so, i began the process which involved putting the wetted paper strips everywhere on my face except for one eye and my nostrils. i filled out all the open spaces then sat down to let it dry. after about 20 minutes i carefully peeled it off and hung it on my microphone stand to dry all the way out.

at this point i realized that i was out of beer. i threw on my army jacket and put on my slippers and walked the 36 feet across the street to the ex 7-Eleven. as i came up to the counter on this Saturday night i noticed that i was drawing attention from the other patrons. then it became quite clear that something was up.

of course, i had forgotten that my face was covered with big globs of crusty white flour sauce. then the Asian lady behind the counter laughed and asked if i was all right. i tried to explain about the paper mache' and i noticed that as i talked pieces were falling off of my face. it was no use. i just took the beer and left.

i've since seen the counter lady many times and it seems as if the incident was totally forgotten. i imagine she sees a lot of weird suff on a Saturday night.