I hope your apple pie is freakin' worth it!

Supernatural is back.
This makes me very happy.

The Summer Ends

So, there's this boy.

Well, no. That's a misleading way to put it, really.

There's a guy I see on my morning commute. A new guy. And I just want to cut him off on my bike and ask if he's aware of the legal ramifications of accidental drug trafficking because I'd guess they're still pretty severe. I'd like to give him the business card of a local lawyer (which would probably take some research and I don't actually care that much) and wish him a nice day.

But I don't want him to think I'm odd.

I'm like, 82% sure he's a bike messenger. At least, he sort of looks like a bike messenger.



More or less. My Google Ninja skills sort of failed me so this was the best mental image I could come up with. Actually he sort of looks like A-ron but less social and with a chest length beard. Anyway. So obviously it's not like that. Also a bright yellow bike and yellow sunglasses. Standard bike messenger attire, no?

I don't believe there are any bike messenger offices near our place and this guy always goes into a building across from the grocery store. Thus I assume he works out of that office building. And since it's clearly not an actual bike messenger dispatch place and equally obvious that most businesses in the neighborhood are actually drug fronts (except possibly the library) he must clearly be delivering illicit packages. Clearly. And that sort of makes me feel bad for him. And then I remember where I'm going (work, at least for the next few days) and suddenly it looks like he got the better end of the stick.

And as I was recounting this tale of woe to an anonymous coworker, it struck me that I think I remember reading about some bike messengers who did deliver drugs. So case closed.

Tomorrow, a New Point of View

Unlike most of my peers, I never took photography in high school. I think I was too busy treking off campus for Spanish class. Not a high priority in any event. I took an intro art class instead that involved fewer paint smudges than I had secretly hoped for. Truth be told, I'm not great at creating art. A class about photo composition and film development techniques would not have helped much. However, in an attempt to fill college credits with something fun (and cut down on book expenses since my roommate had already taken it), I ended up in a history of photography class my last year at the UW.

In theory there are many topics on which I could wax poetic after four years of higher learning. Mexican agrarian reform, cellular mitosis, comma splicing, the moral ramifications of surrogacy, etc., etc. Seriously, I would love to see exactly how much information I've committed to memory only to forget shortly afterward. Preferably the data could be bound in encyclopedic form. I digress. So the point is I don't remember everything I learned in History of Photography but on occasion I do feel I am able to appreciate pictures on a deeper level.



However, usually I just get stuck in awe.

I've been here.
I can't remember which airport it is.
I think it's O'Hare. I really want it to be O'Hare. The other option is LAX and I was through that airport enough as a kid for it to be plausible. Additionally, I've been through various hallways and corridors in O'Hare and haven't seen these lights recently. But. I remember this as O'Hare. There also used to be one of those huge coin tornadoes at O'Hare. Seriously, these were the sorts of things that remain the highlights of past vacations regardless of destination.

Anyway, that's a photograph by Thomas Conrad. Everything else aside, he takes some really awesome pictures. They remind me of Azure Ray songs, cigarettes, and sea salt.

They Can't All Be Ballads, Julian

Does anyone remember when the song 7 by Prince was big? I think I was in elementary school but that may not be accurate. At the time my best friend was obsessed with the song. She used to sing it all the time. I miss that. They're playing it at Dollop right now where I am, attempting to apply for jobs and being foiled by cover letter composition issues. Life was a lot more simple when Prince controlled the radio waves and my friend's music preferences.

I have said it before and it's sure to be my motto for the foreseeable future but applying for jobs is hell. In fact, if there is a hell I bet that all you do there is browse job postings, write resumes and cover letters, go to interviews and repeat the whole process (forEVER).

So, alright, Dollop doesn't actually qualify as hell because at least there's coffee and internet to balance out my arduous task. Additionally and oddly, the back bathroom has acquired a washer and dryer. Logically I'd assume they're for the tenants who live upstairs (as apparently the barristas are wont to do) but I really want an alternative explanation. And free laundry.

Meanwhile, back on the infamous velvet sofa my shoes are damp because it's been Mary Poppins raining all day. It's the sort of gloomy weather that precedes the arrival of something awesome and easily blows away mean nannies. I can't explain the urge to watch random movie clips on youtube. Procrastination of some sort, I guess.



The best thing about Mary Poppins was her luggage. Forget laughing on the ceiling, jumping into chalk drawings or cleaning a room with a snap of your fingers (all awesome abilities, I'll grant). A bag you can fit an upright coat tree in? Heck yeah! I tend to over-pack for most situations so I was envious for a long time. Then I found an acceptable substitute at Savers in Madison. Ok, it's not actually bottomless like Mary's but it sure seems like it.

In any event, I've applied for four more jobs, reworked my monster resume and drunk two lattes in the past four hours. I think it's time to go home.

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Milk Thistle, Milk Thistle

After two guitar lessons I can awkwardly fumble my way through several songs including "I Walk the Line" by Johnny Cash. I feel ridiculously proud of my limited musical skill and painful fingertips. The instructor has promised that by the third week we should have callouses. I'm very, very hopeful.

This is basically the guitar I ended up renting from the school:

but mine is more banged up (that's what she said...?)

I don't know. I feel like this is the best thing I've done recently. I've been meaning to sign up and learn something for awhile but this is the first time I was actually organized to register before classes started (I even got an early registration discount). I had a short internal debate, banjo? guitar? banjo? HARMONICA! guitar?, but guitar won in the end. Maybe if I ever conquer this I can try another instrument.

My teacher is really awesome too. She's hilarious and makes us sing. Most of the songs we've learned so far are folk/alt-country so it's generally in my limited range and enjoyable. I try not to deafen others but singing makes the experience even more fun. I know it sounds cheesy but for that hour or so I feel free. Incredibly awkward, self-conscious and self-critical but lighter too.

After class everyone reconvenes in the music hall and all the guitar classes play a few songs together. I haven't been able to participate much yet since I only know five chords but it's still neat. And I get to practice my right hand technique (a fancy way to say muting all the strings and strumming along).

I've also been enjoying watching movie previews online. Of all the movies coming out soon (and there's a lot of garbage) I want to see this most.



It's called Nights and Weekends. It reminds me a lot of Quiet City which I loved.

Apparently the kids are calling this "Mumblecore" cinema. Per le infamous Wikipedia, Mumblecore "is primarily characterized by ultra-low budget production (often employing digital video cameras), focus on personal relationships between twenty-somethings, improvised scripts, and non-professional actors." It sounds kind of pretentious but Quiet City at least was really beautiful.



This is the sort of experience that I will never, ever have even were I to be set down in an identical situation. Which is regrettable.

Holy terribleness, Batman!

Guess what I have in my bedroom right now.

It's a bat!



This is not the sort of nighttime visitor I would want, given the option. I'm just saying.

Mostly because this is a massive fucking inconvenience.

Seriously.

So a few nights ago I got up for a drink of water and noticed something swooping around in the dark apartment. But it was late, my vision was blurry and so I hoped I was freaking myself out given no evidence of a bat in the morning light. This seemed logical at the time because immediately after thinking "there's a bat in our apartment" I thought "it's probably a vampire."

All was forgotten until it came flopping out of my closet around 10:00 pm.

In case you were wondering, bats are not cute.

Thank goodness for roommates who can keep their head. Because, seriously, I never learned how to handle a bat invasion while growing up. So Sarah-Sarah called Animal Control who directed her to the city who promised to call the CDC for us. The CDC did not show up. So eventually we called back. Turns out the CDC is not coming out until tomorrow.

WHAT THE FUCK?
There is a BAT trapped in my room.
BATS are RESERVOIRS for DISEASE.

True story.

Couldn't they have at least called back to let us know we were on our own until morning (any time from 7am-9:30pm). Worse, both Sarah-Sarah and I have to work. And if the CDC shows up and we're not here, they will close our request ticket. Grr.

So now the bat is hypothetically trapped in my room. My cat is sequestered in the kitchen. And I am on the sofa for the night.

Except when I crept back into my room to get a few essentials there was no bat to be seen.

When I've Got the Music...

So I've started doing a radio show again. It's 2-4am Monday mornings. We'll see how long I can keep it up. So far two weeks and counting. It's really awesome to be on the air again. I have missed it. What isn't so awesome is the format clock the station uses. I was very, very spoiled at WSUM. Anyway. I'm archiving set lists here: Wombat, Indeed (I couldn't think of a new marsupial name for the show). Hopefully I'll also remember to bring CDRs in the coming weeks so I can archive it online for those of you who are not insomniacs.