This day was pretty much spent tearfully trying to say goodbye. It was difficult, really difficult. He took me to the airport and I guess I was pretty much ok for that night, probably because I was travelling and doing stuff.
Since then I have pretty much been a constant, more volatile by the second train wreck. God. I had no earthly idea that I was going to be so absolutely devastated by leaving him. I am a total mess. I can't remember many times when I have felt this upset so constantly. I don't know how long it's going to last, but I hope it gets slightly better really soon because I think it's starting to really annoy him. Frankly, it's annoying me too. I'm really trying hard. And it has lightened up a little. But there was just such an extreme shock that happened when I came back. It threw me into a neverending abyss of terrible ridiculosity. I'm going to be ok, but I'm not yet.
Stuff also decided to happen with work and my mom directly after I returned, which didn't help matters. It was a triple blow. Work has improved slightly. No change with my mom.
I experienced true and unconditional happiness with Thomas. I love him. So, that is my story.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Philadelphia: Nov. 14
This day we decided to go to Eastern State Penitentiary. It is (obviously) a jail that opened in 1829. There is a lot of weird historical and otherwise interesting stuff there. It was really run down for the most part. Here are some highlights.
- The audio tour was mostly narrated by Steve Buscemi, for some reason.
- A lot of the movie "12 Monkeys" was filmed there (and other spots in Philadelphia).
- There were two dogs that were "inmates". One was named Pep:
Pennsylvania Governor Gifford Pinchot allegedly sentenced Pep "The Cat-Murdering Dog" to a life sentence at Eastern State. Pep allegedly murdered the governor’s wife’s cherished cat. Prison records reflect that Pep was assigned an inmate number (no. C2559), which is seen in his mug shot. However, the reason for Pep’s incarceration remains a subject of some debate. A newspaper article reported that the governor donated his own dog to the prison to increase inmate morale.
- A cell which housed Al Capone was there. It was pretty damn nice (in Tom's words: "This is better than some dorm rooms!"
Chicago gangster Al Capone spends eight months at Eastern State Penitentiary. The Philadelphia Bulletin snapped this photo (left) as Capone was led away.
An article in the Philadelphia Public Ledger, August 20, 1929, describes Capone's cell: "The whole room was suffused in the glow of a desk lamp which stood on a polished desk.... On the once-grim walls of the penal chamber hung tasteful paintings, and the strains of a waltz were being emitted by a powerful cabinet radio receiver of handsome design and fine finish..." (See 2000 for a picture of the restored cell).
- There were some art installations there. One was sound-related, but it was broken because "it got wet." One was a greenhouse with plant images painted on the glass panes:
Another one consisted of plaster cats placed around the premises, in honor of the many cats that resided there after it was closed to people. Here are two.
Here you can see a cat in the background of the exercise area.
- There was a chapel that we could look into, and it was pretty interesting and creepy. There was a mural of Jesus that someone painted and an old wheelchair.
- Here is a door. It has a cross on it which I believe is supposed to be a red cross because it entered into the medical wing. I'm not sure about that, though, because it was in a different location than the one that was mentioned on the audio tour. However, how many doors had crosses on them like that? Answer: not all of them.
- The part I was probably most looking forward to was the part where a ghost was seen on Ghost Hunters. Below is my picture of the area where it was seen as well as a video of the ghost they saw. I'm not totally sure it's the exact same spot (not to mention angle), but this is the only area like this that we could actually go in. This is also the area where the sound-art thing (called "Pandemonium") was supposed to be, and that was "ghost"-type sounds.
After that I was (as usual) really tired. We went to this place called Spaghetti Warehouse for a late lunch. The name of that place makes me laugh. We both had lasagna. There were approximately 2 people in there eating, and they were me and Tom. It was good and extremely filling. Then we went home.
I then fell asleep for a couple of hours. Then after I woke up I asked Tom something and he said, "Nope, can't answer. I'm too busy falling asleep for two hours on our last day together." That was simultaneously hilarious and sad. So I felt sort of bad. But I was tired.
Then we decided to go to this place called Copa Banana. It's impossible to talk about that without getting a certain song in your head. I got what was proclaimed to be the Best! or BEST margarita ever. It was pretty good. And $9. Tom had some beer. And we had food. It was good. Then we went home.
- The audio tour was mostly narrated by Steve Buscemi, for some reason.
- A lot of the movie "12 Monkeys" was filmed there (and other spots in Philadelphia).
- There were two dogs that were "inmates". One was named Pep:
Pennsylvania Governor Gifford Pinchot allegedly sentenced Pep "The Cat-Murdering Dog" to a life sentence at Eastern State. Pep allegedly murdered the governor’s wife’s cherished cat. Prison records reflect that Pep was assigned an inmate number (no. C2559), which is seen in his mug shot. However, the reason for Pep’s incarceration remains a subject of some debate. A newspaper article reported that the governor donated his own dog to the prison to increase inmate morale.
- A cell which housed Al Capone was there. It was pretty damn nice (in Tom's words: "This is better than some dorm rooms!"
Chicago gangster Al Capone spends eight months at Eastern State Penitentiary. The Philadelphia Bulletin snapped this photo (left) as Capone was led away.
An article in the Philadelphia Public Ledger, August 20, 1929, describes Capone's cell: "The whole room was suffused in the glow of a desk lamp which stood on a polished desk.... On the once-grim walls of the penal chamber hung tasteful paintings, and the strains of a waltz were being emitted by a powerful cabinet radio receiver of handsome design and fine finish..." (See 2000 for a picture of the restored cell).
- There were some art installations there. One was sound-related, but it was broken because "it got wet." One was a greenhouse with plant images painted on the glass panes:
Another one consisted of plaster cats placed around the premises, in honor of the many cats that resided there after it was closed to people. Here are two.
Here you can see a cat in the background of the exercise area.
- There was a chapel that we could look into, and it was pretty interesting and creepy. There was a mural of Jesus that someone painted and an old wheelchair.
- Here is a door. It has a cross on it which I believe is supposed to be a red cross because it entered into the medical wing. I'm not sure about that, though, because it was in a different location than the one that was mentioned on the audio tour. However, how many doors had crosses on them like that? Answer: not all of them.
- The part I was probably most looking forward to was the part where a ghost was seen on Ghost Hunters. Below is my picture of the area where it was seen as well as a video of the ghost they saw. I'm not totally sure it's the exact same spot (not to mention angle), but this is the only area like this that we could actually go in. This is also the area where the sound-art thing (called "Pandemonium") was supposed to be, and that was "ghost"-type sounds.
After that I was (as usual) really tired. We went to this place called Spaghetti Warehouse for a late lunch. The name of that place makes me laugh. We both had lasagna. There were approximately 2 people in there eating, and they were me and Tom. It was good and extremely filling. Then we went home.
I then fell asleep for a couple of hours. Then after I woke up I asked Tom something and he said, "Nope, can't answer. I'm too busy falling asleep for two hours on our last day together." That was simultaneously hilarious and sad. So I felt sort of bad. But I was tired.
Then we decided to go to this place called Copa Banana. It's impossible to talk about that without getting a certain song in your head. I got what was proclaimed to be the Best! or BEST margarita ever. It was pretty good. And $9. Tom had some beer. And we had food. It was good. Then we went home.
Philadelphia: Nov. 12 and 13
November 12 was a Sunday. We did not do too much. We slept late and then watched the Eagles game. I will say that I learned more about the Eagles, which is easy, since I knew basically nothing before.
Later at night we decided to go back to South Street for a tiny bit of shopping. We took the bus. It was rainy and a Sunday night, so it was pretty deserted. We decided to go to a place called Ludwig's, a beer garden. I had a kind that Tom recommended (and ordered, which I thought was extremely gentlemanly). I don't remember what it was called, but it was pretty good as far as beer goes. We also had some onion rings (also good).
On Monday during the day we went grocery shopping. Their chain there is called Pathmark. I thought that was humorous. I don't remember what else we did that day. Probably watched a movie or something. It was pretty low-key.
Later at night we decided to go back to South Street for a tiny bit of shopping. We took the bus. It was rainy and a Sunday night, so it was pretty deserted. We decided to go to a place called Ludwig's, a beer garden. I had a kind that Tom recommended (and ordered, which I thought was extremely gentlemanly). I don't remember what it was called, but it was pretty good as far as beer goes. We also had some onion rings (also good).
On Monday during the day we went grocery shopping. Their chain there is called Pathmark. I thought that was humorous. I don't remember what else we did that day. Probably watched a movie or something. It was pretty low-key.
In regards to updates
Here are my excuses:
1) I was in Rochester over the weekend.
2) I have not been feeling well for a while.
I hope that is satisfectellent.
Until soon.
Friday, November 24, 2006
The weirdest day ever
I awoke at 6 am to-day (in Rochester) and commuted all the way up to St. Paul, where I worked a 9 HOUR DAY. And now I am driving back to Rochester. I have to say it wasn't bad at all.
I need to go.
I need to go.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Philadelphia: Nov. 11
I decided that I would try to finish this entry anyway. Nov. 11 was a Saturday. Tom decided that before we set out for the more time-consuming parts of the day, he would take me to his favorite view of the city. It was at the top of a hill in a park. I forgot the name of the park. Here we go, "Fairmount Park." Correct me if I am wrong, Tom. Here are some pictures of that view.
After that, we drove to the art museum (or, more accurately, a residential area near the art museum which we walked through to get to the museum). The steps in front are famous from Rocky and we stood and laughed at the people who decided to re-enact the scene they are in. There were two people within about 3 minutes. Tom says he has a whole roll of film of different people who re-enacted the scene, just from one day. Funnily enough, when I got back to work the most frequent question I was asked was, "Did you go to the Rocky steps?" Here is a picture taken from the top of the Rocky steps.
I think that my favorite stuff in the museum was the modern stuff. I also thoroughly enjoyed the first section we went to, which was old armor and weapons. They had some halberds there and I was pleased to finally see what a halberd is. Some of that stuff was really pretty. The museum was gigantic and I think I got too tired before I should have or wanted to. I think we were only there for a couple of hours.
Near the museum is the Schuylkill River. We sat down by it and I took some pictures.
In the distance in this picture is an area called Boathouse Row, which is pretty but too far away to enjoy in this particular photo. Somebody was having a wedding in that gazebo slightly to the right of center.
After that we walked back to the car, and then went a little further to a small deli/grocery store type place where we bought hoagies to eat. I have to admit that at that point I was ridiculously tired and exhausted for some reason. When we got home, I simultaneously fell asleep and devoured my food.
We sat around for a while and then Tom noticed that a band was playing that he really wanted to see (Fern Knight). So we drove to the place (called Johnny Brenda's). There were like...40 people there or so. Tom was really happy because a bunch of people from his favorite band Espers were there. The first opening band was called Woodwose. I don't remember what the second guy's name was, but he had the lights turned down until they were almost completely off. Fern Knight was good. I couldn't believe how many people were crammed on the stage. If you look at the myspace page I linked to above, I believe the main picture they have is from that night. My favorite song was Marble Grey. It had a very rich string arrangement and was beautiful. I am incapable of saying much more about that show, really. I will say that seeing Tom in that element, so excited and happy, was so sweet. I loved him so intensely the whole evening because of that.
That's it for that day. I think the next two days will probably be combined into one entry, maybe, because they were pretty low key.
After that, we drove to the art museum (or, more accurately, a residential area near the art museum which we walked through to get to the museum). The steps in front are famous from Rocky and we stood and laughed at the people who decided to re-enact the scene they are in. There were two people within about 3 minutes. Tom says he has a whole roll of film of different people who re-enacted the scene, just from one day. Funnily enough, when I got back to work the most frequent question I was asked was, "Did you go to the Rocky steps?" Here is a picture taken from the top of the Rocky steps.
I think that my favorite stuff in the museum was the modern stuff. I also thoroughly enjoyed the first section we went to, which was old armor and weapons. They had some halberds there and I was pleased to finally see what a halberd is. Some of that stuff was really pretty. The museum was gigantic and I think I got too tired before I should have or wanted to. I think we were only there for a couple of hours.
Near the museum is the Schuylkill River. We sat down by it and I took some pictures.
In the distance in this picture is an area called Boathouse Row, which is pretty but too far away to enjoy in this particular photo. Somebody was having a wedding in that gazebo slightly to the right of center.
After that we walked back to the car, and then went a little further to a small deli/grocery store type place where we bought hoagies to eat. I have to admit that at that point I was ridiculously tired and exhausted for some reason. When we got home, I simultaneously fell asleep and devoured my food.
We sat around for a while and then Tom noticed that a band was playing that he really wanted to see (Fern Knight). So we drove to the place (called Johnny Brenda's). There were like...40 people there or so. Tom was really happy because a bunch of people from his favorite band Espers were there. The first opening band was called Woodwose. I don't remember what the second guy's name was, but he had the lights turned down until they were almost completely off. Fern Knight was good. I couldn't believe how many people were crammed on the stage. If you look at the myspace page I linked to above, I believe the main picture they have is from that night. My favorite song was Marble Grey. It had a very rich string arrangement and was beautiful. I am incapable of saying much more about that show, really. I will say that seeing Tom in that element, so excited and happy, was so sweet. I loved him so intensely the whole evening because of that.
That's it for that day. I think the next two days will probably be combined into one entry, maybe, because they were pretty low key.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Philadelphia: Nov. 10
On Friday we woke up and tried to figure out what to do during the day. We decided to go to Center City (which is what those high-fallutin' people call downtown). Here is where I have to do 8 tons of research to figure out where the hell we went exactly. I have the general gist, but I still have to look at a map. (And ask Tom.)
We took the trolley and the subway to our destination. It was pretty much like other poob-lick transportation systems, I guess. We got yelled at for making the driver wait 0.005 seconds for us to put in our $2. The trolleys go on tracks on the road (which sucks if some asshole gets in the way, because they can't go around). They also go underground, like the el in Chicago.
First we went to the Liberty Bell. They have a security checkpoint there and the guard stationed outside seemed as bored and annoyed with his job as humanly possible. "LIKE I SAID...take everything out of your pockets! Everything!"
Next we walked around the area a little bit. We passed over a sidewalk which had historical people's names engraved in it. Here is a sampling. I am making up the names, but see if you see anything funny.
George W. Roberts, Gentleman
Franklin A. Smith, Lawyer
John M. Percival, Gentleman
Thomas J. Wilson, Book-Binder
Dr. Andrew J. Thompson
There were a couple of things about that which we found hilarious. 1) That they titled multiple people "Gentleman." 2) That Dr. Andrew J. Thompson wasn't good enough to get a title (or that they considered "Dr." his title).
We passed by Benjamin Franklin's grave which was hilarious because you have to pay to get in, but it's right next to a giant opening in the wall, so you can see it well from outside the wall. So, there was a gathering around it inside the wall and another gathering outside. I found it funny and slightly awkward.
We went to a place called Elfreth's Alley, which is (somehow) the oldest residential street in the country. We discussed how that happened (i.e. when did they start deciding to preserve the houses?) but couldn't come up with anything. It's completely surrounded by a dense commercial and industrial area. Right around the corner was some company which said "Established in 929" because the 1 had fallen off. We joked that that modern-looking building had been there for over 1000 years and Native Americans had started the company.
Here is a picture of the oldest residential street in the country. There is a union jack hanging off one of the buildings. I believe people still live in some of the houses, and there also seemed to be a museum of some sort.
Here is a picture of one of the doors. It really bothered me because the residents are obviously trying way too hard to be 18th century, or something. There is no way "Letters" was ever spelled like that.
We went to a record store near there which reminded me of Electric Fetus here in Mpls.
We then walked a little more and sat down by the Delaware River. For your information, it separates Philadelphia from Camden, NJ. (From what I gather, Camden is every Pennsylvanian's favorite city.) Here is a photo taken from our resting spot of the Ben Franklin Bridge.
Another one of some boats.
Here is another one of Camden.
After that we walked some more to a nearby area (South Street) which is pretty much a bigger version of State Street in Madison. We went to Tower Records to see if they had any cheap stuff, since they are going out of business. They didn't have anything good.
At that point I was getting ridiculously tired so we went back closer to Tom's abode to a restaurant. The restaurant we patronised was called New Deck Tavern. We had to wait a while, but it was worth it I think. Yum. It was extremely loud in there.
After that we went home and pretty much watched some screen-related entertainment and went to sleep.
We took the trolley and the subway to our destination. It was pretty much like other poob-lick transportation systems, I guess. We got yelled at for making the driver wait 0.005 seconds for us to put in our $2. The trolleys go on tracks on the road (which sucks if some asshole gets in the way, because they can't go around). They also go underground, like the el in Chicago.
First we went to the Liberty Bell. They have a security checkpoint there and the guard stationed outside seemed as bored and annoyed with his job as humanly possible. "LIKE I SAID...take everything out of your pockets! Everything!"
The Bell was sort of anti-climactic, I guess. The funniest thing was that we briefly named everything in the "museum" its name with "Freedom" in front of it, such as Freedom Bell, Freedom Chair, Freedom Document, Freedom Jefferson Davis, etc. By the way, the picture of him that was posted looks EXACTLY like Abraham Lincoln, so I unthinkingly said "Freedom Abraham Lincoln" and then felt really dumb.
Here is a picture of the bell showing the misspelling of Pennsylvania (it says "Pensylvania"). I don't know if there is a reason for that or if it's a total mistake. I'm inclined to think there is a reason. I also made sure to have part of a guy's legs and arm and a lady's hand in the picture. That is always a priority for me.
Next we walked around the area a little bit. We passed over a sidewalk which had historical people's names engraved in it. Here is a sampling. I am making up the names, but see if you see anything funny.
George W. Roberts, Gentleman
Franklin A. Smith, Lawyer
John M. Percival, Gentleman
Thomas J. Wilson, Book-Binder
Dr. Andrew J. Thompson
There were a couple of things about that which we found hilarious. 1) That they titled multiple people "Gentleman." 2) That Dr. Andrew J. Thompson wasn't good enough to get a title (or that they considered "Dr." his title).
We passed by Benjamin Franklin's grave which was hilarious because you have to pay to get in, but it's right next to a giant opening in the wall, so you can see it well from outside the wall. So, there was a gathering around it inside the wall and another gathering outside. I found it funny and slightly awkward.
We went to a place called Elfreth's Alley, which is (somehow) the oldest residential street in the country. We discussed how that happened (i.e. when did they start deciding to preserve the houses?) but couldn't come up with anything. It's completely surrounded by a dense commercial and industrial area. Right around the corner was some company which said "Established in 929" because the 1 had fallen off. We joked that that modern-looking building had been there for over 1000 years and Native Americans had started the company.
Here is a picture of the oldest residential street in the country. There is a union jack hanging off one of the buildings. I believe people still live in some of the houses, and there also seemed to be a museum of some sort.
Here is a picture of one of the doors. It really bothered me because the residents are obviously trying way too hard to be 18th century, or something. There is no way "Letters" was ever spelled like that.
We went to a record store near there which reminded me of Electric Fetus here in Mpls.
We then walked a little more and sat down by the Delaware River. For your information, it separates Philadelphia from Camden, NJ. (From what I gather, Camden is every Pennsylvanian's favorite city.) Here is a photo taken from our resting spot of the Ben Franklin Bridge.
Another one of some boats.
Here is another one of Camden.
After that we walked some more to a nearby area (South Street) which is pretty much a bigger version of State Street in Madison. We went to Tower Records to see if they had any cheap stuff, since they are going out of business. They didn't have anything good.
At that point I was getting ridiculously tired so we went back closer to Tom's abode to a restaurant. The restaurant we patronised was called New Deck Tavern. We had to wait a while, but it was worth it I think. Yum. It was extremely loud in there.
After that we went home and pretty much watched some screen-related entertainment and went to sleep.
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Philadelphia: Nov. 9
Man, this is going to be difficult to write about. I've sort of been dreading it. But I'll do my best. So, as many of you know, I went to Philadelphia to visit Tom. The trip was from November 9-15. I was very lucky to be able to take a week off from work.
November 9 started out very early for me. I actually woke up at 2:30am because of a mistake in alarm-setting. Tom works until 2-3 my time, so I had requested that he call me to make sure I was up. But, he didn't have to. I let him know I was awake and then he went to sleep and I got ready. I rode in a taxi to the airport. It's a good thing I knew how to get there, because he didn't. (I thought I called the "Airport Taxi" for a reason.)
So, I got to the Port of Airplanes WAY too early. Then the flight was delayed by an hour. So I ended up waiting at the gate for probably about 3 hours? The flight was pretty good. I got the 3-seat row to myself (yay). I didn't sleep at all.
Then I arrived at the airport and needed to use the bathroom extremely badly. The only one I found was being cleaned (convenient). So I just went to get my bags and called Tom. While I was waiting for him to pick me up, a lady started talking to me and using my phone because hers was dead and such. She was interesting.
Well, Tom came shortly thereafter and we drove back to his apartment. Meanwhile we met some traffic. Some guys had decided that noon on a Thursday was the best time to replace some wires in the middle of a street. We laughed at some signs that were around.
I was just going to pinpoint where he lives, but a) that's not safe and b) does anyone really care?
We hung around the apartment for a couple of hours trying not to fall asleep and then decided to go for a walk. We walked around the area (West Philadelphia - damn you, song that inevitably gets in your head). We went through part of the University of Pennsylvania campus and I think part of Drexel (where Tom goes). We walked by what I believe is one of the oldest football stadiums in the US, and where Invincible with Mark Wahlberg was filmed.
A running joke that we kept having was overexaggerating how many important things happened in Philadelphia and how many important people were from there. Finally we decided that everyone is from Philadelphia except me and James Carville (who is from Louisiana). Also, basically every movie in existence was filmed there (we didn't discuss this as much as the important people, but it was implied).
During our walk we stopped at a pond next to "an architecturally important building" of some sort. There were toitles in the pond that were unbelievably cute. One was half wet from dipping itself into the pond. Two of them were on this log thing in the middle of the pond and didn't move the entire time we sat there. A guy took our picture for some local newspaper, so now there is a random picture floating around in some paper of Tom and me looking at some toitles.
There were a bunch of birds hopping around, and we discussed how males are usually the prettier of the genders, bird-wise. Tom called them "men" and I laughed for about 5 minutes. "Yeah, generally the men are prettier." HAHA.
Then we saw a guy peeing by a tree and we left. We walked back home and laughed at one stop light which has that alarm noise so blind people can know when to cross. Every time we went past it from then on we faked being completely confused about what to do.
We had pizza for dinner and it was yummy. Then we just hung around Tom's apartment for the rest of the night, probably watching "Curb Your Enthusiasm," which is my new favorite show.
I don't have any pictures from this day, but here is a picture of me and THOMAS, where he looks handsome and I look like a dead body.
November 9 started out very early for me. I actually woke up at 2:30am because of a mistake in alarm-setting. Tom works until 2-3 my time, so I had requested that he call me to make sure I was up. But, he didn't have to. I let him know I was awake and then he went to sleep and I got ready. I rode in a taxi to the airport. It's a good thing I knew how to get there, because he didn't. (I thought I called the "Airport Taxi" for a reason.)
So, I got to the Port of Airplanes WAY too early. Then the flight was delayed by an hour. So I ended up waiting at the gate for probably about 3 hours? The flight was pretty good. I got the 3-seat row to myself (yay). I didn't sleep at all.
Then I arrived at the airport and needed to use the bathroom extremely badly. The only one I found was being cleaned (convenient). So I just went to get my bags and called Tom. While I was waiting for him to pick me up, a lady started talking to me and using my phone because hers was dead and such. She was interesting.
Well, Tom came shortly thereafter and we drove back to his apartment. Meanwhile we met some traffic. Some guys had decided that noon on a Thursday was the best time to replace some wires in the middle of a street. We laughed at some signs that were around.
I was just going to pinpoint where he lives, but a) that's not safe and b) does anyone really care?
We hung around the apartment for a couple of hours trying not to fall asleep and then decided to go for a walk. We walked around the area (West Philadelphia - damn you, song that inevitably gets in your head). We went through part of the University of Pennsylvania campus and I think part of Drexel (where Tom goes). We walked by what I believe is one of the oldest football stadiums in the US, and where Invincible with Mark Wahlberg was filmed.
A running joke that we kept having was overexaggerating how many important things happened in Philadelphia and how many important people were from there. Finally we decided that everyone is from Philadelphia except me and James Carville (who is from Louisiana). Also, basically every movie in existence was filmed there (we didn't discuss this as much as the important people, but it was implied).
During our walk we stopped at a pond next to "an architecturally important building" of some sort. There were toitles in the pond that were unbelievably cute. One was half wet from dipping itself into the pond. Two of them were on this log thing in the middle of the pond and didn't move the entire time we sat there. A guy took our picture for some local newspaper, so now there is a random picture floating around in some paper of Tom and me looking at some toitles.
There were a bunch of birds hopping around, and we discussed how males are usually the prettier of the genders, bird-wise. Tom called them "men" and I laughed for about 5 minutes. "Yeah, generally the men are prettier." HAHA.
Then we saw a guy peeing by a tree and we left. We walked back home and laughed at one stop light which has that alarm noise so blind people can know when to cross. Every time we went past it from then on we faked being completely confused about what to do.
We had pizza for dinner and it was yummy. Then we just hung around Tom's apartment for the rest of the night, probably watching "Curb Your Enthusiasm," which is my new favorite show.
I don't have any pictures from this day, but here is a picture of me and THOMAS, where he looks handsome and I look like a dead body.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Read this thing I just found on myspace
Isn't it sweet?
Hello, everyone -
It's Chris Walla from Death Cab for Cutie. We hope this message
finds you healthy and well. Things are nice out on the road - the
shows have been amazing thus far, and it's exciting to get to all the
towns we've never been to.
As you probably know, tomorrow - that is, Tuesday, November 7 -
is election day in our fair country, the USA. Whatever your
political leanings, be they left, right or center, make the effort to
get out and vote. There is certainly some combination of national
seats (some combination of house and / or senate positions) to be
decided in your state. And all the things that affect your town -
school and library levies, civic seats, ballot measures and other
referenda - will be decided as well. Voting is one of the few
chances we Americans have to put aside the static of the radio,
Internet and television and to speak decisively about the things that
affect us all. It's vital that we all do so in such a time of
transition and turmoil.
We're a very lucky band to have such committed and sweet fans. Thank
you for everything you give to us, and for allowing us to
occasionally say something unrelated to music, tickets, concerts or
commerce. Please VOTE on Tuesday, November 7.
On behalf of DCfC, thank you, and take care of one another -
Chris
Hello, everyone -
It's Chris Walla from Death Cab for Cutie. We hope this message
finds you healthy and well. Things are nice out on the road - the
shows have been amazing thus far, and it's exciting to get to all the
towns we've never been to.
As you probably know, tomorrow - that is, Tuesday, November 7 -
is election day in our fair country, the USA. Whatever your
political leanings, be they left, right or center, make the effort to
get out and vote. There is certainly some combination of national
seats (some combination of house and / or senate positions) to be
decided in your state. And all the things that affect your town -
school and library levies, civic seats, ballot measures and other
referenda - will be decided as well. Voting is one of the few
chances we Americans have to put aside the static of the radio,
Internet and television and to speak decisively about the things that
affect us all. It's vital that we all do so in such a time of
transition and turmoil.
We're a very lucky band to have such committed and sweet fans. Thank
you for everything you give to us, and for allowing us to
occasionally say something unrelated to music, tickets, concerts or
commerce. Please VOTE on Tuesday, November 7.
On behalf of DCfC, thank you, and take care of one another -
Chris
Monday, November 06, 2006
Some information
I got some new shampoo and I love it.
I love Arcade Fire. Sorry, Tom.
My head kind of hurts.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Ugh
Yesterday at work (where, incidentally, I am now) my former boss decided that she would give me this giant project. It's possibly the most confusing thing that exists on earth. And nobody has been able to figure it out. So, she gave it to me and was like "Here. Thanks." Also, oh, she failed to mention that a bunch of orders are waiting on me figuring this out, because the store pretty much shut down this week because of shittiness in setup. I am so frustrated I'm almost crying.
The problem here is that I almost never work in the store that the problem is in, and I'm petrified of doing something wrong. I really want to go in and clean it up, but I just have no idea what's going on. I'm so angry at the whole situation.
The plus side is that I was able to get almost all of the orders to go through, but the main thing she wants me to do is still looming out there like a black hole. AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH. How does this happen? It's just month after month after month of carelessness and laziness on the part of everyone. After a while your store ends up a complete piece of shit and forces orders to fail because it's so incredibly crapped up. You need to keep on top of things like this so that gigantic problems don't happen.
You can't even imagine how messed up this is. I mean, think about it. I'm a smart person and I'm at a complete loss. Anyway..........I'm just going to leave it because if I look at it anymore I'll burn my own skin off with my new office heater.
My sister sprained her ankle the other night and I had to take her to the emergency room.
My cable went out again.
I am angry. I am going to stop writing now.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Long time, no "blog"
Not much has been going on around here, really. I've been immensely enjoying the weather, which has been mostly cloudy and below 40 (aka my favorite weather). I absolutely love November and I can't wait for it to get here. It even snowed a couple of times.
Um...I've been reading Catch-22?
I watched a few movies this weekend, none of which were really good enough to even mention right now. I actually really want to watch a movie I just saw over on my shelf. It's on VHS. I haven't watched a VHS movie in a long time, which is kind of sad.
I went to Kohl's today and was extremely annoyed at almost everything they had. I did manage to find a coat, which is what I went there for. I am kind of annoyed with the two coats I have because one of them is extremely noisy and the other is a little too...really, really wintry. The coat was "55% off." I say that in quotes because who knows how much it's "supposed" to be? I have a feeling Kohl's really marks up their retail prices so that their own prices look better. Alls I knows is I am very happy with the price I paid and that's all. Kohl's has some really weird stuff. I can't even believe some of the stuff they have.
I watched a pretty boring movie this morning that had Blythe Danner in it when she was younger, and I couldn't believe how much she looks like the current Gwyneth Paltrow. I wonder how the Paltrow-Martins are doing. I do not wonder enough to actually go look.
Jesus Christ, I just remembered my website. I'm going to make a conscious choice to re-forget about that now.
I'm really pissed off that I have to go to work tomorrow. I am going to Philadelphia in two and a half weeks. Thank god for that thought...I think if I had to go to work tomorrow without some kind of thought like that I'd saw both my hands off.
Um...I've been reading Catch-22?
I watched a few movies this weekend, none of which were really good enough to even mention right now. I actually really want to watch a movie I just saw over on my shelf. It's on VHS. I haven't watched a VHS movie in a long time, which is kind of sad.
I went to Kohl's today and was extremely annoyed at almost everything they had. I did manage to find a coat, which is what I went there for. I am kind of annoyed with the two coats I have because one of them is extremely noisy and the other is a little too...really, really wintry. The coat was "55% off." I say that in quotes because who knows how much it's "supposed" to be? I have a feeling Kohl's really marks up their retail prices so that their own prices look better. Alls I knows is I am very happy with the price I paid and that's all. Kohl's has some really weird stuff. I can't even believe some of the stuff they have.
I watched a pretty boring movie this morning that had Blythe Danner in it when she was younger, and I couldn't believe how much she looks like the current Gwyneth Paltrow. I wonder how the Paltrow-Martins are doing. I do not wonder enough to actually go look.
Jesus Christ, I just remembered my website. I'm going to make a conscious choice to re-forget about that now.
I'm really pissed off that I have to go to work tomorrow. I am going to Philadelphia in two and a half weeks. Thank god for that thought...I think if I had to go to work tomorrow without some kind of thought like that I'd saw both my hands off.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Genius
I can't believe my genius in making one of my cell phone ringtones be "Calling You" (the Jeff Buckley version). It is great because the lyrics are "I am calling you." WHAT? JEFF BUCKLEY IS CALLING ME? FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE?
I went to a coworker's wedding yesterday. It was hysterical to talk to my coworkers who were there, because we were absolutely ripping on everyone else who wasn't there. It is the most interesting thing to work in an office sometimes. Everyone secretly hates everyone else. I wonder if anyone hates me. I bet there are times when ipod guy hates me. Hopefully not all the time. I'm a pretty mellow person, and many of the people I work with are not. For instance, I know a lot of people don't like Dan or ipod guy. Anyway, it's just a hilarious, confusing, and frustrating web of relationships. I am lucky enough to be on a "side" where I can pretty much see everything. Ah, office politics.
I just ate 5 sausages in about 20 seconds. That has to be a record.
Sigh.
The wedding otherwise was ok. It was pretty small. I can't say it was the best wedding I have ever been to, but at least it gave me ideas to put in my ever-growing collection of wedding ideas. And yes, I have one. I wonder if I even have it right here. Hmmmm...no, I don't think I do. I wonder why it is that girls plan their weddings for their entire lives. It's some kind of weird instinct. I know it's not a human instinct because weddings are not something that humans need to survive. It must be one that we gradually evolved into. Haha, it's funny imagining if throughout time wedding planning was a naturally selected trait. Anyway, alls I knows is that I definitely have my ideas and have even gone so far as writing them down in a notebook somewhere, which is conveniently lost. One of them from yesterday is having a buffet instead of a served meal. I think that's an excellent idea. You'd waste so much less food. Or at least, the food you'd "waste" would be salvageable as leftovers because it would have never been served as opposed to coming from someone's plate. Plus, guests wouldn't have to worry about making anyone feel bad by not eating anything. SOOOOO. Next subject.
It's nice out today. Next subject.
Nothing left to say. Goodbye.
I went to a coworker's wedding yesterday. It was hysterical to talk to my coworkers who were there, because we were absolutely ripping on everyone else who wasn't there. It is the most interesting thing to work in an office sometimes. Everyone secretly hates everyone else. I wonder if anyone hates me. I bet there are times when ipod guy hates me. Hopefully not all the time. I'm a pretty mellow person, and many of the people I work with are not. For instance, I know a lot of people don't like Dan or ipod guy. Anyway, it's just a hilarious, confusing, and frustrating web of relationships. I am lucky enough to be on a "side" where I can pretty much see everything. Ah, office politics.
I just ate 5 sausages in about 20 seconds. That has to be a record.
Sigh.
The wedding otherwise was ok. It was pretty small. I can't say it was the best wedding I have ever been to, but at least it gave me ideas to put in my ever-growing collection of wedding ideas. And yes, I have one. I wonder if I even have it right here. Hmmmm...no, I don't think I do. I wonder why it is that girls plan their weddings for their entire lives. It's some kind of weird instinct. I know it's not a human instinct because weddings are not something that humans need to survive. It must be one that we gradually evolved into. Haha, it's funny imagining if throughout time wedding planning was a naturally selected trait. Anyway, alls I knows is that I definitely have my ideas and have even gone so far as writing them down in a notebook somewhere, which is conveniently lost. One of them from yesterday is having a buffet instead of a served meal. I think that's an excellent idea. You'd waste so much less food. Or at least, the food you'd "waste" would be salvageable as leftovers because it would have never been served as opposed to coming from someone's plate. Plus, guests wouldn't have to worry about making anyone feel bad by not eating anything. SOOOOO. Next subject.
It's nice out today. Next subject.
Nothing left to say. Goodbye.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
St. Louis Part VI: Zoo
I really need to just finish this. It is the #1 thing that is bothering me in my life right now. This is probably going to be not interesting at all, but at least I have pictures and maybe like 2 stories. We really enjoyed anthropomorphizing the animals. Too bad you can't hear the voices we gave them, but you can see what we said.
"God, it's hot."
"Doo doo doo...just walkin' around...doo doo doo"
"Hey! Where are those goats! We can't let them see us!"
"Man, check out this stick. This is the best tasting stick ever."
This giraffe was getting quite a bit of attention because it was eating leaves out of people's hands. I fed it one myself.
This ostrich yelled at that gazelle a couple of times because it got in its way. Hehe.
"Hey! I'm a bear!" (You REALLY need to hear my voice for that one).
"Whatcha doin'?" Man this is a hysterical picture. I got an extremely close picture of the penguin that's pointing, because it walked over to the side and was staring at me, but I seem to have misplaced it.
"Check me out, I'm a polar bear" (another one where you have to hear the voice). This polar bear was also doing the model walk. We also decided it was way, way smarter than the other bears, especially the "spectacled bears."
I don't know what else I can write. I don't think I can physically say any more. The St. Louis airport really threw me off. Parking at the airport was $36 for 3 days and 2 nights. It was a good trip, but way too short.
"God, it's hot."
"Doo doo doo...just walkin' around...doo doo doo"
"Hey! Where are those goats! We can't let them see us!"
"Man, check out this stick. This is the best tasting stick ever."
This giraffe was getting quite a bit of attention because it was eating leaves out of people's hands. I fed it one myself.
This ostrich yelled at that gazelle a couple of times because it got in its way. Hehe.
"Hey! I'm a bear!" (You REALLY need to hear my voice for that one).
"Whatcha doin'?" Man this is a hysterical picture. I got an extremely close picture of the penguin that's pointing, because it walked over to the side and was staring at me, but I seem to have misplaced it.
"Check me out, I'm a polar bear" (another one where you have to hear the voice). This polar bear was also doing the model walk. We also decided it was way, way smarter than the other bears, especially the "spectacled bears."
I don't know what else I can write. I don't think I can physically say any more. The St. Louis airport really threw me off. Parking at the airport was $36 for 3 days and 2 nights. It was a good trip, but way too short.
Whiteboard
God, it feels like I haven't been on my own computer in ages. I am killing some time because these jerks have started using the "fitness center" during "my" time. It's too bad it isn't more normal to have more than one person in there.
Here is a picture of the whiteboard in the office ipod guy and I share. There's my nametag above it and my desk is behind that wall. I've been wanting to share this for a while because it is so interesting to me. It became really popular recently to come and draw on it. If the office looks dark, it is because we keep the lights off and use lamps. Here are some highlights of our whiteboard.
- Monkey Dance Party by Dan
- Cave drawings and Loch Ness Monster by myself and ipod guy
- MST3K stuff by me
- Sideshow Bob (bottom left) by ipod guy
- The title of our office, "The Cave of 55°" which was later changed to 62°-65.5° when I brought a thermometer in. Today it topped out at 68, and I hear it'll get much warmer over the winter.
Here is a picture of the whiteboard in the office ipod guy and I share. There's my nametag above it and my desk is behind that wall. I've been wanting to share this for a while because it is so interesting to me. It became really popular recently to come and draw on it. If the office looks dark, it is because we keep the lights off and use lamps. Here are some highlights of our whiteboard.
- Monkey Dance Party by Dan
- Cave drawings and Loch Ness Monster by myself and ipod guy
- MST3K stuff by me
- Sideshow Bob (bottom left) by ipod guy
- The title of our office, "The Cave of 55°" which was later changed to 62°-65.5° when I brought a thermometer in. Today it topped out at 68, and I hear it'll get much warmer over the winter.
Monday, October 09, 2006
grumble x 5
here is something that will really get a person on my bad side. do this in order, as a guy i know, and i'll probably dislike you for a long time.
1) come in my office and start blabbing about television shows
2) discuss how great magnum p.i. was
3) in the same breath, rip down all science fiction shows
4) after hearing that stargate sg-i is my favorite show, continue to protest that it's a horrible show
5) stick around for a long time blabbing even more about how much you know about stuff
seriously, that's what he did. he went off on how bad all science fiction shows are. now, ok. i understand that some people don't like science fiction at all, but that's a lot different than saying it's "all shit." i'd like to see him watch battlestar galactica and say that's shit. seriously. that's one of the best shows i've ever seen in any genre, bar none. and picking on a show that i JUST said was my favorite? that's just mean-spirited. i wanted to argue more, but he's the type of person that can't be argued with.
also, according to him, if it's not on a mac, it might as well be blown to smithereens because it's completely and utterly useless. not only useless, but total shit as well and the scum of the earth and evil. etc...you get my gist.
1) come in my office and start blabbing about television shows
2) discuss how great magnum p.i. was
3) in the same breath, rip down all science fiction shows
4) after hearing that stargate sg-i is my favorite show, continue to protest that it's a horrible show
5) stick around for a long time blabbing even more about how much you know about stuff
seriously, that's what he did. he went off on how bad all science fiction shows are. now, ok. i understand that some people don't like science fiction at all, but that's a lot different than saying it's "all shit." i'd like to see him watch battlestar galactica and say that's shit. seriously. that's one of the best shows i've ever seen in any genre, bar none. and picking on a show that i JUST said was my favorite? that's just mean-spirited. i wanted to argue more, but he's the type of person that can't be argued with.
also, according to him, if it's not on a mac, it might as well be blown to smithereens because it's completely and utterly useless. not only useless, but total shit as well and the scum of the earth and evil. etc...you get my gist.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
St. Louis Part V: Sufjan Stevens (and My Brightest Diamond)
I don't know how I managed to get Brighton and Emily to go with me to this, but I am glad they did. Maybe it was simply asking. Who knows? Anyway, St. Louis, much like Chicago, has a thing called "The Loop" which is where this show was. The Loop in St. Louis is, I believe, in the midst of Washington University. Once we got there we tried to find a restaurant and finally settled on a Mexican restaurant. I am still not sure what it's called, because the storefront said one thing, the menu said another, and the check said yet another. That was funny.
The show was at a place called The Pageant:
I really enjoyed our seats. The only thing blocking my view was a railing. The gradation of the seats was pretty good. B and E may have had head blockage, but I was on the aisle, I was on the ava-aisle. (A little Avalanche humour). The merchandise table was hidden and we only found it thanks to Emily's new-found Korean boldness. All three of us bought a shirt (they only had one available). It was $10 and that's why we all bought one. It has a very comic-book looking picture of a sky blue Avalanche (the truck, of course, not the Colorado hockey team or the natural disaster) and it says "Ride the hatch!" I was hoping they would have more choices, but OH WELL.
My Brightest Diamond consisted of a girl who sang and played various instruments, two violins, a viola, and a cello. Occasionally other instrumentalists would come in as well. All of the people in the band also performed with Sufjan the entire time. I thought the main girl was very talented. B and E did not like her at all. They thought the music was a little weird. Actually, that band reminded me a little bit of Amiina, or Amína, or whatever they are now called. The girl sounds like a combo between Bjork and Tori Amos.
Sufjan was so good and SO adorable. My favorite thing of all was that he always clapped with everyone else when he was finished with a song. His voice is so pretty. Everyone in the band was wearing butterfly wings, and Sufjan wore hawk wings. He commented that in this tour they were called "His Majesty Hawk and the Chinese Butterfly Band" or something like that. I know for sure the band is called the Chinese Butterfly Band because I later saw it online. He said that the theme of a lot of the songs he had decided to play was flight and flying and stuff. The most interesting thing was that when he was playing guitar he would sort of rock back and forth so his wings would go back and forth. It was actually very mesmerizing and beautiful in a way that only Sufjan Stevens could pull off.
Here are songs he played, in no order. I am sure I missed a couple, but that is ok.
Jacksonville (the crowd loved this one)
Chicago (if he seriously did not play that it would have to be because of a David Bowie-China Girl type situation).
Casimir Pulaski Day (which was extremely different than the album version, which I expected. It was pretty upbeat, considering it's a song about death. P.S. Missouri has a Pulaski County. Yay, my favorite Revolutionary War era historical figure!)
Predatory Wasp (etc etc etc, whatever the entire title is)
They Are Night Zombies! Aaahh! (etc etc etc) (That was like a karaoke thing where the words were on the screen. It bothered be because they were WAY off).
Detroit
All The Trees (etc etc)
A Good Man Is Hard To Find
Transfiguration
The Dress Looks Nice On You (which Emily liked. I would like to clarify to Emily that this song is probably not about Jesus, as I said it was, but it might as well be because 90% of that album is).
Abraham
Mr. Supercomputer (which was abbreviated because he "couldn't remember the words")
A new song called Lord God Bird or something like that (I thought it was very, very pretty)
I don't know, I wished he'd have done more from The Avalanche (and less from Seven Swans) because The Avalanche is (weirdly) my favorite of his and it's also his newest. But that's ok. As long as he did CP Day. I was actually really pleased with Detroit, and Predatory Wasp (etc etc etc) was REALLY good. Before that song he told a story that apparently gave him the idea for the song, which may or may not have been true. The story was pretty much the story in the song, except that it was him and not a fictional song character.
Here are some pictures of the adorable, lovable, and sweet Sufjan Stevens, which I took with Brightons much-better-than-mine camera (thanks so much, B!).
This next one is my masterpiece. See if you can tell why. I hope not, but you probably will be able to tell. If you click on it, you will be taken to a larger, crappier looking version.
Well, the deal with that is that I Photoshopped about 10 pictures together. I couldn't get a photo of the entire stage because of the railings. I think it turned out ok. If I remember correctly, the thing on the screen is supposed to be a butterfly.
I guess that's it for that. The three of us really enjoyed it. I am so very happy we were able to go. It was one of the best shows I've ever seen, probably because of the non-blocked vision, the fact that I love him so much, and the fact that he just seems so sweet. Hope you enjoyed. Up next is the zoo.
The show was at a place called The Pageant:
I really enjoyed our seats. The only thing blocking my view was a railing. The gradation of the seats was pretty good. B and E may have had head blockage, but I was on the aisle, I was on the ava-aisle. (A little Avalanche humour). The merchandise table was hidden and we only found it thanks to Emily's new-found Korean boldness. All three of us bought a shirt (they only had one available). It was $10 and that's why we all bought one. It has a very comic-book looking picture of a sky blue Avalanche (the truck, of course, not the Colorado hockey team or the natural disaster) and it says "Ride the hatch!" I was hoping they would have more choices, but OH WELL.
My Brightest Diamond consisted of a girl who sang and played various instruments, two violins, a viola, and a cello. Occasionally other instrumentalists would come in as well. All of the people in the band also performed with Sufjan the entire time. I thought the main girl was very talented. B and E did not like her at all. They thought the music was a little weird. Actually, that band reminded me a little bit of Amiina, or Amína, or whatever they are now called. The girl sounds like a combo between Bjork and Tori Amos.
Sufjan was so good and SO adorable. My favorite thing of all was that he always clapped with everyone else when he was finished with a song. His voice is so pretty. Everyone in the band was wearing butterfly wings, and Sufjan wore hawk wings. He commented that in this tour they were called "His Majesty Hawk and the Chinese Butterfly Band" or something like that. I know for sure the band is called the Chinese Butterfly Band because I later saw it online. He said that the theme of a lot of the songs he had decided to play was flight and flying and stuff. The most interesting thing was that when he was playing guitar he would sort of rock back and forth so his wings would go back and forth. It was actually very mesmerizing and beautiful in a way that only Sufjan Stevens could pull off.
Here are songs he played, in no order. I am sure I missed a couple, but that is ok.
Jacksonville (the crowd loved this one)
Chicago (if he seriously did not play that it would have to be because of a David Bowie-China Girl type situation).
Casimir Pulaski Day (which was extremely different than the album version, which I expected. It was pretty upbeat, considering it's a song about death. P.S. Missouri has a Pulaski County. Yay, my favorite Revolutionary War era historical figure!)
Predatory Wasp (etc etc etc, whatever the entire title is)
They Are Night Zombies! Aaahh! (etc etc etc) (That was like a karaoke thing where the words were on the screen. It bothered be because they were WAY off).
Detroit
All The Trees (etc etc)
A Good Man Is Hard To Find
Transfiguration
The Dress Looks Nice On You (which Emily liked. I would like to clarify to Emily that this song is probably not about Jesus, as I said it was, but it might as well be because 90% of that album is).
Abraham
Mr. Supercomputer (which was abbreviated because he "couldn't remember the words")
A new song called Lord God Bird or something like that (I thought it was very, very pretty)
I don't know, I wished he'd have done more from The Avalanche (and less from Seven Swans) because The Avalanche is (weirdly) my favorite of his and it's also his newest. But that's ok. As long as he did CP Day. I was actually really pleased with Detroit, and Predatory Wasp (etc etc etc) was REALLY good. Before that song he told a story that apparently gave him the idea for the song, which may or may not have been true. The story was pretty much the story in the song, except that it was him and not a fictional song character.
Here are some pictures of the adorable, lovable, and sweet Sufjan Stevens, which I took with Brightons much-better-than-mine camera (thanks so much, B!).
This next one is my masterpiece. See if you can tell why. I hope not, but you probably will be able to tell. If you click on it, you will be taken to a larger, crappier looking version.
Well, the deal with that is that I Photoshopped about 10 pictures together. I couldn't get a photo of the entire stage because of the railings. I think it turned out ok. If I remember correctly, the thing on the screen is supposed to be a butterfly.
I guess that's it for that. The three of us really enjoyed it. I am so very happy we were able to go. It was one of the best shows I've ever seen, probably because of the non-blocked vision, the fact that I love him so much, and the fact that he just seems so sweet. Hope you enjoyed. Up next is the zoo.
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