Post Happy V Day

I am a firm believer in avoiding at all costs the hallmark created culture of Valentine's Day. I find it obtrusive when I am in a relationship to have the outside world tell me (or my partner) how exactly we should love each other and when I'm single it's just fucking depressing to have it constantly thrown in my face. My one caveat is that while I do not expect or want flowers, chocolate, or gifts of any kind on February 14th, if you are dating me I do want it at some point. Preferably a random Tuesday at least 3 weeks away from any significant event. Just because I don't like V day doesn't mean I don't like being loved.

Lucky for me this year, I passed this past Saturday with someone who may dislike the holiday even more than me. We found this out about each other awhile ago which led to a nice stress free weekend. It also led to a conversation a while back about Horny Werewolf Day. One of his favorite writers, Warren Ellis, said at some point "Always remember: Valentine's Day is a Christian corruption of a pagan festival involving werewolves, blood and fucking. So wish people a happy Horny Werewolf Day and see what happens." I don't know the back story, or if there is much more, but after finding this out I struck a deal with the boy. No V Day acknowledgement from me but I definitely wanted a card that wished me a Happy Horny Werewolf Day!

So I reminded him every few weeks until the fateful night rolled around. Turns out he "commissioned" an artist friend of his and said friend liked it so much he used the idea for a flyer for his own website. I couldn't be mad. It was a kick ass flyer. And as soon as I get the images emailed to me I will post them here.

In true celebration of the day I went to a hardcore punk show Saturday night. By a band called Fucked Up. Yup. It's all about pushing your boundaries apparently. Did I love it? No. Did I hate it? No. So I guess that's something. I can say it got a whole hell of a lot better once I bought the earplugs for $1 from the bar.

Hope you and yours celebrated in whatever way you saw fit. Or didn't celebrate. Whichever works for you.

Might as well still be up north

With the weather the way it is in Chicago today, I feel as though I might as well of stayed in the north woods of Wisconsin. But alas, all vacations must come to an end at some point - unless you're one of those people whose whole lives are wonderful and every day feels like a vacation, in that case you can go "bleep" yourselves (trying to do a little self censoring, not sure how it's working so far).

The trip was great. Relaxing and filled with beer and whiskey, just the way camping is supposed to be in my humble opinion. The only thing I regret is racing back to the city (though sitting out the hail storm protected by my mothers mini van as opposed to a tarp Sunday afternoon was well worth it). I scored more points than ever in the horseshoe tournament on Sunday - I think next year I will have to schedule a departure date of Monday so I can stay and see how far my luck can take me. I brought 4 books, of which I read none (though I did pick up one my brother brought and paged through that for a bit). I got a bit of a t-shirt burn pattern going on, but nothing that won't fade in a few days time. All in all, well worth it.

Now I'm back, wandering around my apartment while the rest of the world works around me. I may have to finally do those dishes that are still staring at me from before my departure but not before I sneak in an afternoon showing tomorrow of Indiana Jones.

Hope everyone had a nice, warm, holiday weekend.

Not doing the dishes

I'm headed out for a much needed vacation that includes the ancient art of cleansing the mind, body, and soul through whiskey and camping. It's going to be great. I postponed my departure date thinking I could squeeze in a few more tasks before I settled into my oh so comfortable bus seat to home. I'm almost finished packing. I've had a nice little dance party while flattening my hair and listening to Ani, Panic at the Disco, Elvis, and Tufts Beeelzebubs. I watched some Oprah. I am embracing the vacation spirit. I am not doing the dishes in my sink. Not making the bed. Not picking up the clothes that didn't make the cut. My one resignation? I will try and take the garbage out as I head for the train (though this week it's mostly empty beer bottles).

Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend doing whatever it is they do to celebrate whatever the reason is we always get this Monday off in May. I'm going to go get flung.

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!

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!

Just a quick post holiday update

It's my first day back in the office after an extended holiday weekend and since it's a short week (two days only for me) and most of my coworkers are out lets just be honest with each other and understand I'm not doing much today in regards to actual work. Now I have checked my personal email that went ignored for 5 days, updated my Facebook status, and caught up on my book blog. I also read up on my favorite blogs, sent some information to a cousin that might be crashing at my house this weekend, and dealt with a random cryptic text message from a man that lives in anther time zone, literally, figuratively and any other "ally" you can throw in there to make sure it's understood that the situation is totally fucked up. I also earned 15 cents in a long forgotten mturk account and now find myself staring aimlessly at the blank wall in front of me.... and there is still 2 hours to go till I can legitimately walk out the door, so what better to do than blog!



My holidays were actually quite wonderful this year. I saw almost all the people I wanted to, avoided the one I didn't want to see (tactfully and guilt free!) and had a delightful time visiting with Zappa and Juneau. The big family gathering that took place on Christmas Day initially had me dreading Tuesday afternoon yet turned out to be quite fun. I scored cookware for my new apartment (though have not yet found the ability or knowledge of how to actually cook), a new larger Sigg water bottle, and a host of new books from my mom. The Nintendo DS gift from the brother and I went over well. At first I could tell she was apprehensive ("You got me a Gameboy???") but as soon as the New York Times Crossword puzzle went in it was all over. She even took it with to the family gathering and I caught her with it open every time she found herself alone for 2 minutes (which with a group of over 25 is tough to do, I'm impressed she managed to find time to play at all).



I was able to ring in a belated Solstice celebration Saturday night with a dear friend and overall think that the weekend was quite nice (though the snowstorm back home could of waited a few days). Everyone around me is/was sick but so far I've held out, cross your fingers for me that I haven't just totally jinxed it.



Now back in the windy city, I am settled into a dog sitting gig that will run through new years eve and then it's off to 2008! No plans as of yet, but I think I'm okay with that....I'll let you know if any neurotic activities start to appear closer to the calendar turnover, but I don't think they will. I hope all my readers (what is there...3 or 4 of you? :) had a wonderful holiday whatever they may have been celebrating - I hope the consumerism of the season skipped by your homes and instead they were filled with love, companionship, good food and great memories.

If I had a million dollars....

Well, $10,000 is actually all I'd need, plus probably 3-4K for extras....

Tis the Season...

....that all the cool toys come out to play. As a closet geek, I love this stuff and while Christmas and I aren't exactly on speaking terms most years, I am secretly excited to see the new techno toys that will be bombarding us. First up is Kindle from Amazon. I haven't looked too much into it (it's still $400 and bound to be bug filled) but first got wind of it through Gaiman's blog (November 20th entry). Opening general gist - it's a portable, reloadable, downloadable book. Which means I'm probably gonna love it. Though there is no way to infuse the plastic with the smell of an actual book (which is one of my most favorite smells), I hope I know someone that gets one so I can play with it.

Today I came across a random "What to buy the techno geek in your life" list that are always so popular at this time of year. This list ranged from $100 - $140,000 so I guess it's something for everyone. My favorites were the $7500 digital, personal soda/booze fountain, and the magic card that allows me to download pics from my camera to the net wirelessly whenever I walk by a wi-fi spot (which I think I should of known about before now, I guess I just haven't paid that much attention to my own camera).

Also intriguing was the Les Paul Robot Guitar. I know the name Les Paul, I dated the "guitar ex" for long enough to know that one, but that is about the extent of it. I defer to all my more well versed musicians out there to tell me if this thing is neat or just a sham to allow unknowledgeable impostors behind the curtain, cause if that's the case I take back my support.

And finally, the be all end all toy that if I had $300, to casually throw away that is, cause I might have $300 if I thought about it but it should probably go towards student loan payments (wow, I digress), I would have to have. First of all because I would use it not only on airplanes but on the El. And secondly because the two paragraph promo references X-Men, so you know the product has to be cool. No hints, check out the link and see for yourselves. Ah, the joys of the holiday seasons!