A little breathing waiting room

So I got the plague on Wednesday and woke up some time this past weekend. Wasn't quite the best time to start working on a take-home test. Getting really excited for this Wednesday what with the Hummingbiird bottle show. Lets see, little excuse for a miniweekend, I'll take it, I need it, its a tiny clearing until the test next Tuesday, just a little rock to hold onto before doing the backstroke. Plus this Taiwanese(is that even close?) surf rock band, Red Chamber, are playing and they have masks, smoke, and movies. Kind of reminds me of the movie 3 ningas which I remember seeing with Pip in sixth grade. That is a totally useless piece of information and hilarious all in the same gasp. We had our parents drive us to see this movie. It starts to get strange the memories we decide to keep with us. Along those lines I have been keeping mementos from each transition I've made since leaving the nesting grounds. I have a lunchbox full of stuff from the transition from Western Springs to Champaign, from Champaign to Verona, from Verona to Champaign, and from Champaign back to Western Springs. Even further I have mementos from the desk transition school at champaign, to work at UofC, to school at UofC. When does it start to become unhealthy? Certain things like a wooden african hammer I found in the parking lot next to UofC at the DuSable African-American History Museum or the Erasmus boozy buses around milan drink ticket. Some things not even scrap books can handle like headbands. Does everyone have a burgeoning supply of crap or do people just throw this stuff away? I find it strange when people are too clean though. After reading Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim I've looked at people who keep an immaculate den a little bit differently and wonder where this time comes. Then I realize this is self-reflection time. Whats the best way of getting away from that place, cleaning til your hands hurt. Sometimes it puts you in a zone where your on the seattle needle and all your problems have fallen down off each side of you and you can finally focus on one thing, a plate that shines. Of course the book can also make you over-analyze yourself. Time to clean!

from the summer of 99'

Walking in a winter wonderland and then I decided to start a snowball fight

Started the night out with an anti-bosconian battitude and started a group of girls conversation. If only I had my knitting needles I would have been complete. It wasn't so bad as usually when you're in a group of girls and the only guy the conversation goes straight to fashion,babies,and cramps. I had a heineken oil can to grease the wheels and by the end I was fit for the Indy-500.

Once we made it out of the apartment the air had a feeling that said the snow was at its perfect formation temperature. I liked the part where pip was in the crows nest until he hit me in the face and almost broke my glasses. About that time I thought it might be a good time to stop but then it dawned on me we were in a really great snowball fight. We had three teams all the while screaming in every direction that there are no teams. I wish I captured a few shots but you'll just have to imagine these pictures from damen as snowball fight pictures each with its story. There were three teams:

blue team-jason, jessyln, will (2 girls and a scaby baby)
red team-Nick, Boomsa, kato, and me (we hid behind a car
gold team-Ben, Erich, and Pip (had dumpsters to hide behind and clearly held court)

I made one last gettysburg charge got hit by six snowballs and ran to rainbo.


Once I got into rainbo I felt like a yetti. I was covered in what was now water, my glasses were about as fogged as a dentine ice commercial(if the breath didn't freeze up), and my hands lost complete feeling with the last operating nerve at my wrist. Be it as it may I was still able to hold a pint against my breast and sip until the booze shot life into my fingers.


We hung out with Owen and the guys from the Record Low. We actually hung out with the guys from the record low, we were merely proximal to owen.


Rudy finally made it to Rainbo in time for a few drinks before lights out and he sent good vibes at every elvis in the club(did you know that each one was made in a different year? yaooooo!). That was good because we lost nick and katyln to cookies and jason and jesssyln to bedtime. After getting kicked out of the rainbo we sloshed down Damen to a long line at Estelles but b-lined for a short line at Nicks.



At this point I was about ready to throw in the towel but then Rudy turns his head and says this line is 5 minutes tops and guess what we are going to live it up tonight. He may or may not have said that but he did say something along those lines that hypnotized me into making it a neocks night.


Spirit was high last night although I gave it my best to clear any drama that was in the air. That ones going to need to be a verbal apology. I don't care which one of you guys do it. In fact I will think highly of the person that has the guts to say they're sorry. I'll even buy you an oilcan the next time I see you.

I am free to arrange meetings of people who want to be friends again. I've been organizing uncomfortable groupings of people since I put together volunteer weekends in highschool.

I even arranged the Lagrange Theatre blind date of nick and mike when they were going through tense times together. That was a great one I think we may have seen jumangi or something. I wish...

Alright thats all I have but as I was sitting at the blue line stop snapping pictures like the paparazzi I thought of a wonderful show that had two hosts at a make shift blue line stop and talking to people and the destinations they were going. Man that avenue has an endless amount of turns. I got the idea when I saw a man with a Saskatchewan hat and a labtop backpack walk up the stairs just as a train was coming in and he said, "yeah!".

13 minutes

In the library at a computer console and its 10:47am. I've budgeted myself 13 minutes to explain the recent lull in posts. There actually is no reason, much like kit, not much has been happening and its quite an excuse cause things happen everyday. 10:49 and I'm thinking about the progression it took me to get from class to home yesterday and scanning for funny cultural commentary. There we go I was driving home through a bad neighborhood and turn left on to a street where to street walkers were loitering and they yelled at me for driving around them. That wasn't quite anger-inducing and actually made me laugh. That was pretty week as well. 10:52 and I dig a little deeper enjoying a fun bears loss with friends, 7layerdip, chili, and as nick pointed a 12er a person. I was thinking that everyone knew the bears were going to win which is why they didn't. I guess we were all riding the south side double decker into this winter season. I must say it did warm things up. 10:55 and scrambling for substance and actual useful knowledge to convey, boom, easy target, movies and music. The Corporation is a movie that makes me wanted to run away put a bandana on my head and hold signs around places that need a change. Much like Fahrenheit 911 it got me to a fervor point and I get the boiling sweat thing going but then it sits in a emotional retirement camp in my head. I've plans to smoke them out soon but in an organized manner. I also saw La Dolce Vita by Fellini and he's never made more sense than he does now. Backwards dialogue about a man who's in a loveless marriage and progresses from a good man into a total bastardo in the course of 2 hours and 47 minutes. 10:59 what do I have left but music and the latest obsession being Andrew Birds Bowl of Fire with the Mysterious Production of Eggs. The nervous tic motion of the head to the left makes me turn my head just a slight bit every time I hear the chorus. Alright times up

Enough shameless self-promotion and on to the news

Looking back on my past few blogs and it has been entirely self-serving so I
will take a break from myself and begin the social commentary swing my blog
tends to take. First off its nice to see Chicago turning around to slap the
cancer cloud out of its bars/restaurants. Even if its a slap that takes 3
years, thats a well meant slap and not just playing around like that slap that caused Morris Peterson to get ejected from the game. The show was fun and we sold 7 shirts and 0 cds. Thank you to Ruby for the hot-tub party to celebrate munchies birthday. Jason loves baseball and there was no shortage of throwing the old orange around. It should be fun tomorrow night as well seeing Ruby and Brett off with a good damen crawl starting at the lovers lounge/sangria and ending up at anywhereland. Then theres the part V at gunther murphies but thats looking a little too far down the line. Here is an itmized list of things about the last month.


MOVIES: King Kong was great even though when he was punching godzilla I almost laughed, but pure jackson beyond that. Walk the Line made me want to buy a cabin in the woods and never look back. That meant I liked it.

FOOD: I made my own chili tonight for the first time in my life. I didn't have a recipe so I made it up. I added 2 big cans of crushed tomato, 2 cans of kidney beans, 2 cans of chili beans, 2 bell papers(one red and one green), 1 zucchini, 2 small tomatoes cut into eighth's, 2 cups of soy crumbles(browned), 2 tablespoons of cumin, and 2 tablespoons of chili powder. Steps include putting chopped tomatoes and beans together and heating followed by cooking all the veggies over the stove and adding them slowly. Season to taste.

BOOZE: Never drink the seasonal Budweiser drink called winters bourbon ale as it tastes like your taking a shot really slowly and after you put the pint down you get that queasy feeling like your attempting to kill a bottle of hard liquor(and I don't touch the stuff).

SCHOOL: Straight B's, time to stop freaking out.

HOMESTEAD: As clean as an apartment can be 2 weeks before an art show. A couple of 3 week old net-flax laughing at me from atop the coffee table. La Dolce Vita and the corporation. Fixing to throw the christmas tree out Possibility of getting a couple more fish. This time they'll survive I swear. At least we can keep the cat alive. It looks like an ewok and that makes me happy.

TELEVISION: Sad that Arrested development is gone but happy there is only one night of TV to watch(thursday office/oc combo).

NEW YEARS RESOLUTION: Keep a real budget and cut out soda pop. So far so good.

something's smoking

Adam smiles

Matt and Nick at the prom

pedals for all

Darling is playing at the subterranean tonight at 9pm. The locale is 2011 W. North Ave and Mark Villalobos band LMNOP is opening. As opposed to the earlier shows, tonights will only be 5 bucks to get in and as an added bonus we'll be dressed up as daises on stage complete with stalk. Thats worth five bucks alone especially since I made them from a hot glue gun and lots and lots of velcro. Yeah the head pieces have velcro chin straps with three sizes. I'm rapidly falling out of music as the quarter started back so this will serve as a last hurrah of sorts, a battle of the bulge in which I will turn the tide of the war.