Category Archives: These Are the People In Your Neighborhood

I’ve been biking by this all semester, and just had to share:

If you notice, there is a blind guy entangled in those vertical shades. Tasteless or hilarous? I think we can take a page out of the “Family Guy” book. Here, let me show you:

It’s the greased up naked blind guy!

“You’re never gonna catch me! You’re wasting your time. Go do something else!”

Better than any Clif Bar or can of beans, this souped up Rice Crispies bar has been my savior (as a cranky hypoglycemic). Made with love, these things can fuel you through a day of hiking (lovely with a few slices of yard-o’-beef and some Tang).

Made with spite, they’ll tear you apart from the inside. Kidding.

I’ve just had the weirdest hour. My friend Kevin is dead. I found this out via a third-wave forward through the AmeriCorps crew.

Not only that, but he died in JUNE.

WTF? This explains why I couldn’t get ahold of him to dish about Noah. Huh.

I’m wrecked, but I can’t talk to my shared friends about it, because
1. It’s been three months. Obviously the communication lines are down.
2. Noah and Dan are closest friends I had, and they either don’t know about it, or don’t have my contact info (ahem, ex boyfriend, ahem), because I heard about it THREE MONTHS LATE.
3. AmeriCorps is like the Army in that I have these buddies spread across the world, and I don’t talk to them that often, so I can’t just get a hug.

I need to find a picture of Kevin, and do this up right, so you know who I’m talking about.

Thank you, Disc Golf Atlanta. I can’t believe how cheesy this picture is. Squinty was way more rad than that.

On the outside, he looks like a chill, inside cat kind of guy. On the inside, he’s a wild game-playing, hat-wearing horseshoe aficionada.

I was listening to NPR on the drive to Champaign on Sunday, and on The Next Big Thing, Dean interviewed Regina Spektor and she played some new songs. My socks were knocked so far off, they cracked the windshield.

The song I liked the most is really new, and didn’t have a name. I couldn’t find it on Acquisition when I went to illegally download everything else I could find on her.

Sometimes she sounds too much like Fiona Apple, but when she doesn’t, she makes me really happy. Go, listen. The audio of the interview is on the Next Big Thing website, although I have to use stupid Real Player, and the file it downloads is a .py or something random, and I renamed it .ra. Just so you know.

Last night I got together with my new friend Jenny and her husband Spencer, and played dominos at a chocolatier cafe until late. We played a version of dominos I’m not familiar with, called Mexican Train. It looks like this:

Now I have just one session left – and I’m done. Then I get to drive to Chicago into Friday traffic. It will all be worth it. Plus, I’m listening to Edenborn, by Nick Sagan, on the old iPod.

I guess when you go on vacation with your webserver administrator, and shit breaks, you’re kind of stuck until he has time to fix it.

Yo! We’re in Philadelphia! Thus far, we’ve had no major or minor mishaps. We safely navigated our way from NYC to Philly. We’ve not gotten major-lost (only one wrong turn) and now we’re ready to rocket off to DC.

In New York, we stayed with the lovely Chris K, who lives not two blocks from Allison Darling Lyman. So I got to see her. In fact, I got to accompany her to a job interview, which she totally got.

At a bar, I played Sopranos pinball, and it was excellent. Win has shaved off the crazy date-rape ‘stash he had been sporting for the Grinnell reunion. I was relieved.

So, now we’ve seen Philly, thanks to Meg and Hannah. We got too drunk, we slept on various states of floor, we walked around, we ate gelato, we sat in the park, we went to Whole Foods and then made the most delicious sit-around-an-outside-table ever.

No word from Angela, so I will just assume that my cat is both alive and well.

Today, we’re off to D.C. My plan is to track down my cousin Kathleen and her amazing, fun family. I’m not going to lie. I cannot wait to see the unsinkable Molly Vu. I miss having cool kids around.

I have to go pack up the car now. Bye.

Belo nebulo (that’s phonetic Czech for “once upon a time”), there once was a princess named Al.

Al, that bitch, had everything she could possibly want. A pony, a Murphy bed, and a great taste in aesthetics. Fortunate for her, she was one of those Iowa girls who grew up knowing that they were going to move to New York. She left home for the bright lights, the big city, and a cute little tin of strawberry-flavored snuff.

Her dream was to be a Rockette. She had the legs, God knows. She auditioned, and found that Kyle MacLachlan not only corrected her pronunciation of “Versace”, but also would only offer her the job if she performed the dance of the seven veils for him. If you know what I mean.

She gave him the backhand finger as she stomped out the door of Radio City Music Hall (she stomped a lot, because her cowboy boots were a size too big).

“I only show my tits if you ask me NOT to,” Al said to herself.

Using only a little bit of moxie, she wrangled herself a spot in this year’s Chashama Oasis festival.

“I’ve only been here two weeks. If everything goes according to plan, I should either be hosting the MTV Movie Awards, or showing folks how to make their own shoes, by fall,” Al said, as she ate another handful of edamame.