You want a post? Well here we go!

I'm mostly just posting to catch up on the random things floating around in my brain and because I have been chastised by a reader for not posting anything new to entertain him during his long, slow work days. So if the post ends up chaotic and non-sensical - blame Will.

First and foremost I would like to thank any reader that attended my housewarming party this past weekend and make a formal apology for my horrendous introduction skills. Turns out I need to keep the frat-party sized cup of gin away from me until all people are accounted for. I have been "yelled" at (or at least nicely reminded) that while the party was fun, I sucked as a host. Sorry about that everyone. I promise to do better next time.

Speaking of next times, I'm thinking about starting up a "First Friday's" party at the new apartment. Idea being that the first Friday of each month I have an open invitation to anyone that wants to stop by for drinks and snacks from 7-9. There could even be monthly themes...I was really proud of myself for coming up with this until I was informed that while I thought I was being extremely creative, it turns out I just yanked the idea out of my unconscious memory as art gallery's do this all the time. Ah well, I still think I might give it a try...

Kudos go out to my guest Alyssa who introduced me to the following fantastic websites. For all your t-shirt needs try BustedTees - the site that just reminds me I have to find a way to work from home. And a new addition to the blogroll comes in the form of Violent Acres. I don't always agree with everything she says, and even at times am offended, but she does have a fantastic way about her which you have to respect. Her guest blogger today is also pretty entertaining. Check it out if you have half an hour or so to kill.

On a completely different note I just want to make it clear that there are rules regarding who can lecture me about smoking. I get that it's a nasty fucking habit so the field of folks that can harass me about it is pretty wide open. I won't promise that I'll always listen but for the most part I won't get in the way of your concern. With that said, I need to make it absolutely clear there is one category of individuals who under no circumstances are allowed to harass me about my smoking. If you are a smoker yourself and snort fucking cocaine up your nose you have no right to tell me that the brand of cigarette that I smoke is going to kill me one day*. Sorry, but since I don't harrass you about your nose candy habit, leave me the hell alone about my Marb Reds**.

I could go on and on with random thoughts flying around my brain, but if I don't get this posted it will sit in draft form forever (it's already been in here a day and a half) that and my spell checker isn't working so please forgive my typing errors. I promise to be back up and running with more coherent posts by next week...just in time for Super Tuesday!



*The individual to which this pertains has no way of actually coming across this (he doesn't know I blog) so sorry to all my actual readers, sometimes you just have to say/write it out loud to get it out of your head.


**The really sad part about this rant is that since the incident that prompted me to rant in the first place I have sort of switched brands to Winstons...I acutally like them and they are less harsh than the Marbs. Plus there was a pic of Britney all strung out and crazy looking and in her hand was that infamous red pack with the marb triangle, after that I had to give em up.

East Coast Tales

Washington DC. The land of taxation with no representation. The top of the pyramid of our national politics. The city of movers and shakers. The arena in which laws are made and torn down (or simply ignored). Some of the most powerful people in this country wield their influence in our nations capital daily, changing the lives of all those underneath them. And what did I do when faced with this greatness of power, this stadium of opportunity and change? I got drunk for 4 straight days. And it was great.

I've been going to DC about twice a year for 6 years now to visit my older, wiser (though not always), and more social brother. It's quite ironic actually if you had known us when we were younger. We hated each other, like sane people nationwide hate the president. Like oil and water, we could not even be in the same house with each other most of our lives when we were younger. Than a miracle happened. We grew the fuck up. Now, with 2,000 miles separating us we actually get along quite well for brief moments of time. 7 days is probably our maximum shelf life before we start to want to kill each other again. Another shift happened between us as we aged. I became more of a recluse and he became a social magnet. Being a bartender probably helps him in that regard. And I have to admit, he's a damn good one. Friendly, with the right dose of flirty, and can be imposing as hell if he needs to calm people down or throw drunk asses out.

So as we became friends I have made a bi-yearly...semi-annual...I never remember which one of those means twice a year...trip out to visit him. It's great. I get to play the role of little sister, getting spoiled and taken out to all the fantastic clubs and bars of DC while barely spending a dime. He gets to show me off, play the protector role, and revel in his popularity. I think it works nicely for both of us.

My most recent trip was last weekend, and while I won't bore you or embarrass anyone with the nitty gritty details, I should provide some sort of brief summary of the weekend for a historical record keeping prospective.

Flew in after work Thursday night and cabbed it straight to the Rock-n-Roll Hotel (bar). Watched a band called the Rosebuds, figured out the lingering question of whether or not my sometime hook up in DC was still valid (turns out it is), and closed out the bar around 3 with the staff. Headed to a friends house to continue the festivities until around 5 where my brother and I parted company and I got into things better left untyped. All in all, a pretty successful evening.

Friday, lounged around the day, hit up the Portrait Gallery with the brother - which was awesome. Went to a late late dinner, started at 9:30, that lasted till midnight. 5 courses, so rich I didn't want to think about food for days. Eventually ended up with two of his friends at DC9's Liberation party (the Friday night Brit pop dance party that is always dead when I'm there over thanksgiving) and it was hoppin'. Had a great time, danced my ass off in 3 inch heels. Again, a successful evening.

Saturday - the day from hell. Well the day was alright, don't think we did anything spectacular but then the night came. In case you ever wanted to know, hanging out with two cranky depressed men when you are trying to be on vacation is not fun. At all. In fact, it pretty much sucks and often will lead you to drink way more than is necessary. That drinking will then probably lead to you passing out as soon as you are within sight of a bed. To be fair (since they were incapable of making decisions) I ended up leading them into Georgetown, which from all apparent appearances is much like our own Lincoln Park....which I usually avoid like the plague and strongly discourage any visitors I have from entering. This may have heightened the bitchy factor emanating from at least one of them, but you know what if he didn't want to go he should have fucking said something before we got in the cab.

Sunday - the lost day. Spent all day trying to track down my missing brother. Ended up missing out on brunch (which is all I really wanted to do) and watching football all day (2 games was more than I have watched all season). The Patriots game while satisfying to see them win their 18th game in a row seemed like kind of a lame game. The Packer game on the other hand was way more interesting. Negative 24 degrees! And while I have never been a Packer fan regardless of my Wisconsin roots, it would have been nice to see Favre make it to a Superbowl before he's done. In football years, that guy is like a hundred, and I'm not sure how much time he has left on the field.

Monday - finally got a chance to talk about some stuff with my brother which was good but I wish we could of done it earlier. Headed to National airport around 1:30 and got back to the windy city around 4 pm.

So I've written this in bits and pieces at work so am completely unaware if it is coherent at all. Trying to read more than one or two paragraphs in the Blogger typing box is next to impossible. Overall the weekend can probably be counted as a success, though there are a few elements I would change if I ever finish building my time machine. And now that my liver is starting to heal, I am off to prepare for my housewarming. Cheers!

Coming at you live from the East coast

I'm in DC for the weekend, hanging out with my brother and I don't really have much to say other than the usual for a DC trip which means I'm already hung over and I've been here less than 24 hours. If this is the way the weekend starts, I'm afraid it's going to be one hell of a ride.

I got in around 9:30 which was only about 45 minutes late and considering I was flying United out of O'Hare that is actually probably considered early. Took a cab to the Rock n Roll Hotel (actually a bar, no sleeping quarters involved) and we saw a show and closed down the bar around 3 a.m. Now, when one wakes up at 6 a.m. every day, 3 a.m. is ridiculously late. Came back and stayed up till 5...6...I don't know really. I think the sun was starting to come up when I eventually passed out.

Now it's Friday, 1 p.m and I'm waiting for the sleeping dogs around me to wake up so we can go get food and maybe catch a photography exhibit. Tonight's plans include a fancy dinner out with the brother at 9:30 and then to the Liberation party at DC9 (a club that is supposedly hopping but every time we go is dead mostly because I'm usually here on Thanksgiving weekend when the city is a ghost town)....yeah it's gonna be another late one. Cross your fingers for me, think happy thoughts for my liver and have a great weekend!

Pictures....and really that's all.

Things are rocking along in the windy city for me these days. I'm still rocketing through books, though I did slow down a bit this past week and will probably increase the decrease over the next two weeks. Work meanwhile is speeding up which makes the days full and often quick, but alas leaves little time for blogging. So today I will leave you with the charming visual of the i-Google desktops I see each day since I changed over to the large lizard monster thingy (if you click on the individual pic you can see the screen size version)....they are fantastic, Enjoy!

What Have You Read Lately?

I am a ridiculous reader. To give you an idea of the insanity level, it's January 11th and I just started my sixth book of 2008. It's almost like a disease, but there are worse things to be addicted to and I don't think any of the living, breathing people in my life are too horribly neglected so I'm okay with it. So it is with this in mind that I share with you this post. A fellow blogger is struggling with trying to figure out if he should continue on through a book and is looking for a little advice from someone who may have read the series. I've read a lot, but not this one so I'm handing it out to any of my readers who are not Schmidlap readers to see if they can help.

I know the pain of being stuck in a book you really want to get better and fearing it just never will. It's not a fun place to be, and I wish I could do more to help. Hopefully one of you all has come across a series called "The Baroque Cycle" by Neal Stephenson and can help out Schmidlap with his dilemma, I'm sure he would be appreciative. So if you've read it, again check out his post, and see what you can do.
Thanks!

The Ants Go Marching Two by Two...

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of
the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
government for a redress of grievances. Courtesy of the Cornell Law School Website

There you have it folks, the first amendment to the United States Constitution, the first section of the infamous Bill of Rights. We are all familiar with it either in theory or practice. It's thrown around a lot in arguments when people feel the man encroaching upon their lives...My first amendment right!, the bill of rights, freedom of speech, freedom from religion, right to assemble, right to bear arms (ugh), protection against unreasonable search and seizure....you know how the list goes. You've said them, you've heard them, you've stood up and righteously protested those that stomp upon them.

But Why you ask is this dear writer suddenly so wrapped up in the details of the constitution? Why is she looking up the exact wording of this beloved text? Because I came across this article today in the Chicago Tribune. 8 paragraphs long, I probably would of missed it in the actual paper but thanks to the joys of the Internet, the headline was on the front page. I think it was paragraph 7 that really caught my attention.

The proposal would ban indecent, profane or obscene language, songs,
entertainment and literature at bars.

Literature? First of all, the words literature and bar usually don't go in the same sentence for my brain. Secondly there is no reference point for who will deem what indecent, profane and obscene. This blogger is scared.

And the explanation for the post title...well there is none really except for some reason the song popped into my head after reading the article. Something about marching towards a dictatorship slowly and unknowingly while watching our freedoms slip away one by one, two by two...

From Caucus to Catalogue

And so it begins. Since it is now officially 2008 I can begin to pay attention to the insanity that surrounds presidential politics and start to really look at the contenders. In the earliest primary in my living/voting memory Iowa will start the nation on the roller coaster that is election season tonight. I have to admit I'm slightly intrigued by what will happen (though not intrigued enough to skip my dinner plans this evening) and am secretly harboring the feeling that it's all worthless since I live in Illinois, aka Obama Territory, and it kind of feels like no matter what I do I am throwing my vote out the window like a smoked to the filter cigarette. The dichotomy of this gives me a headache.

So to prepare (also known as avoid) for the upcoming 11 months of political subterfuge and dirty politicking I did the only thing I could imagine. I catalogued my movies. One must be prepared after all when one does not have cable and all that is on is loud mouth after loud mouth spouting off on how they and only they will make the country a better place. I got the idea from Robguy's blog yesterday and just had to try it for myself. Discovered some interesting things about myself via the movies I own....

The top three actors are Sandra Bullock in 7 of my movies and Johnny Depp and Ian McKellen tying at 6 for second place (Depp would of been tied for first if I had bought Edward Scissorhands this past weekend, Damn my frugalness!) It also makes entertains me that my second top sub genre is movies based on books or plays. For a full breakdown check out the full list here and please note that it is still very much a work in progress and half of those movies aren't even opened.

A Day Late

I thought about trying to get a post up on day one of 2008, in fact my computer was on most of the day and I was home and not hung over so it would have been totally feasible...but alas as you can see it just didn't happen. So here is my belated "Welcome to 2008" post.

I do hope that everyone out there had a good, safe and satisfying evening. I personally rang in the new year on my newly created couch with a glass of Bailey's in one hand, a cigarette in the other, watching the battle for Helm's Deep. It was perfect, just what I wanted to do and I loved every minute of it.

The pic above, if it ends up being big enough to see, if from my new Google homepage. Last year I had the bus stop that replicated the weather outside...but there is only so long I can look at little cartoon characters bundled up against imaginary snow before I realize that the window really does the same thing. So this year I am opting for sea monsters playing with submarines....I love it.

And finally, because there is always someone out there that can say it better, I am stealing Neil Gaiman's new years blog post word for word! He first wrote it in 2001, re-posted it in 2004 and again this year. It really does sum up all I want to say nicely, so here it goes...

May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope
you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't
forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you
can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.

Cheers to 2008!