I got home late last night. I didn’t so much unpack as I did take
everything out of the suitcase and spread it out all over.
And that would be why Stella’s sleeping on my wedding dress.
Monthly Archives: June 2008
Reasons to be cheerful
I’ve found myself once again stuck at O’Hare airport. Luckily, my
flight is only delayed, not cancelled. And even if it were, I would
then go stay with some of the many friends I happen to have in
Chicago. I’m not sure what all is going on, that would require cots.
The long road home.
What’s the upside of detouring I80? My pit stop included gas from Kum-
N-Go and dinner at Culvers. More details later, but my 2.5 hour drive
got turned into a … I don’t know yet – maybe 5 hours.
And it begins
Thank you, Stephanie!
Bachelorette time!
I’m eating bananas foster and you’re not.
Thank you, Stephanie!
Dad and Aunt Lois
This how I’m spending the 4 hours in O’hare, waiting for my flight to
Moline: Sam Adams, buffalo wings, and el chips.
Antron, DNR, and I are heading to Sabula.
Looking at a photo of Little League from 1955.
Heading to Sabula
This how I’m spending the 4 hours in O’hare, waiting for my flight to
Moline: Sam Adams, buffalo wings, and el chips.
Antron, DNR, and I are heading to Sabula.
Whiling away the hours
This how I’m spending the 4 hours in O’hare, waiting for my flight to
Moline: Sam Adams, buffalo wings, and el chips.
Not nostalgic for film anymore.
I’m heading out for Iowa tomorrow, and decided to develop the last of the photos I took from when my friend Stephanie was pregnant (now several years ago). I had shot in black and white, and have everything I need to develop the film.
I was feeling nostalgic as I pulled out the chemicals, the tank, and the measuring cup. I loved that I still knew the steps by heart. I even went so far as to develop the two rolls I had just like every other roll I’ve ever developed – listening to Weezer.
When you’re developing film, you don’t get to see how the film turned out until it’s been in the fixer for a bit – so you know it won’t degrade. This step comes after about 20 minutes of sloshing chemical around.
When I opened up the tank, I found that the rolls were blank. I think my chemicals had gone bad. They looked all right when I inspected them before using them.
Beautiful photographs of a photogenic and glowingly pregnant friend – gone. My heart hurts.
Poker night
This weekend, my friend Amber came to visit from Davenport. Among other things, she’s incredibly intelligent, perky as hell, easy to please, and cute to boot. We’re very similar.
Amber is a sign language interpreter. For the past year or so, I’ve been teaching myself signs, and using her as my mentor. We’ve gone so far as to post videos on Youtube so she can critique me.
This weekend was fantastic for a buncha buncha reasons, including tromping around Boston and a quick trip into NYC. I don’t think we stopped talking the entire time (and I think Jason will attest to that). When we weren’t talking, we were signing. By the end of the weekend, we were having conversations using sign, which is incredibly satisfying to me.
One of the things Amber showed me was a Youtube video of someone interpreting a song. As you can imagine, someone deaf wouldn’t be able to hear the words, the tune, the beat, the pattern of chorus, verse, chorus, verse, etc.
I’ve watched this particular video a dozen times now. I’m impressed with the genre expression, the use of multiple backgrounds/costumes to indicate different parts of the song, and the type of signing I think Marilyn Manson would appreciate. (Note the word ‘No’ gets nibbled at a bit.) One cool thing about ASL is when you’re talking about someone saying something to you, you present the sign to yourself. So, in the song, when the crowd shouts ‘No!’ or ‘Yes!’, the guy signs it to himself, if that makes sense. Its these little details that helps really interpret the song. It’s this fantastic combination of performance, and the better you do it, the more homage you give to the original.
Without further ado, may I graciously present Marilyn Manson’s This Is the New Shit.
To be honest, I like this better than the original. I don’t know if that’s because I’m so interested in ASL, or if it’s just that good. Somewhere in the middle, prolly.
