Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
So I am working on catching up to the present in PHP-ing the posts, but I have stuff I want to write before I will catch up, so here is another one for me to convert. One of the main things I wanted to write is that I am PHP-ing old posts, so the archive may be a bit wonky for a while.
In other news, whatever happened with that party I was going to crash? Well, Brian and I played Go (not that he taught me how first or anything), which led to me leaving later than I intended. Then I wrote down the address wrong. I am not completely sure how I did that, since the street I wrote down, while incorrect, existed a few blocks away from the actual address, leading me to not realize my error for some time. As luck would have it, I actually stumbled upon another party, and managed to crash that one instead. As it was getting late, however, it soon began to clear out, and I went home to sleep on the couch.
The rest of the week went roughly as follows. At church, I met the rector, and also some young women who I arranged to meet up with at the Monday night contra dance. On Monday, Brian and I retrieved my bed, and due to his strong but inexplicable desire to hang out in Hyde Park I missed the dance and instead pulled a Rage-to-Falcon with him and Jamie, where I bet him six dollars that I could win a Pulitzer. I do not know what you win the Pulitzer for, though, so I may not win this bet. On Tuesday, fuelled by my five tall glasses of Mercury Cafe iced tea in the afternoon, Brian and I went to the new Harry Potter movie, which would have been incomprehensible without knowledge of the book. Wednesday I attempted to fix Laurie's computer and concluded that it was probably overheating. Then I went out to dinner with Stan and Alice at Cedars, and had good conversation and food.
Wednesday was the night of a huge thunderstorm, and it started up just as I got on my bike downtown. Soon it was a downpour, and by the time I got home, I was soaked through my socks. My shoes and jeans did not dry out for a day and a half. Brian decides that the best time to ask me if I want to go back into the downpour is after I have stripped off my sodden clothes and dried off somewhat, to which I said, the first time, that he should have asked earlier, and subsequent times in a somewhat, I must confess, surly manner. Due to my last clean clothes having been soaked, I essentially went to work the next day in pyjamas; that is, shorts, flip-flops, and a T-shirt instead of jeans, loafers, and a tie. Friday I had gelato with Ruthie to celebrate her achievement of the interview stage of the application process for a full-time schoolyear position at the Lab School.
"He was drunk and exhausted and he was critically acclaimed and respected." At some point, I stole The Hold Steady's Boys and Girls in America from Brian, and I have been listening to it a lot ever since.
So, Friday night. I had been planning to go see J+J+J at the Double Door (which is within walking distance - awesome) with a bunch of people. Many of them ended up having other plans, however, so it was down to Jamie, Geoff, and myself. Shortly after, Geoff quite graciously dropped out of the expedition, and Jamie made plans to just stay on the couch rather than return all the way to Hyde Park alone.
As I walked (oh, so nice to walk) to the Double Door, Jamie calls and says that Nancy signed on at the last minute and that they will be a bit late. I was not worried, as Jamie has a knack, or possibly a curse, that ensures she will always arrive two songs away from the end of the set of the band she came to see. Sure enough, after most of a fantastic set by Aleks and the Drummer (hot Polish warbling over keyboard and drums!) had passed, they arrived. One rock-out set to J+J+J and one half-set of boredom from the headlining Arks later, we headed out. As Nancy and Jamie were now planning to head downtown, pick up a Harry Potter at the Borders midnight party, and head home, I accompanied them to the Loop via Blue Line shuttle. Borders, however, was far from welcoming to us latecomers, and so it was while debating the merits of mugging someone for their book that we hit on a new plan: my goal of many years, breaking into the Art Institute dorms. And let me tell you, they had nice dorms. We met some nice RA's, toured a couple rooms, and put some consideration towards just camping in an empty room for the night. We did not though, and the girls went home on the last number six. I decided to walk up and catch the sixty-six. Along the way, distracted by hunger, I wandered into a Walgreens, where the cashier's very convincing salespitch led me to buy a copy of The Deathly Hallows in addition to my turkey sandwich. She seemed to find it hilarious that people waited in line at bookstores when they could have just gone to an omnipresent drugstore. I called the bookless Nancy and told her the good news, came home, and fell asleep.
Then I read the book. Then I fell asleep again and had dreams about teaching.
And then I wrote this terribly long post. I am sorry.
Saturday
"Apparently, even a girl can be taken out by a ninja." -Brian, 07/14/2007
Furniture is expensive! Good thing all of mine so far has been free. Desk, chair, couch, television stand, and I'm working on the bed right now. Need to find my allen keys, though.
Ninja Gaiden is even cooler than Brian remembers. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is exactly as cool as I remember (id est, totally awesome). Why play Wii when we could just play NES games on the virtual console? Indeed.
Plans for the evening are to crash a party! Let's see how that goes.
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
So I found what appears to be a very nice parish about a shady mile's walk away. The church building is huge and grand, and about halfway through being renovated. The people are very friendly, use the Book of Common Prayer, and have excellent taste in 'coffee hour' fare: namely, iced tea and fresh fruit. I'm probably not going to bother czeching out any other parishes.
As a testament to how much I've let my Spanish disintegrate, I saw a flier on the walk back advertising, I thought at first, free llamas. It was surrounded by pictures of telephones, and it still took me a minute. How am I supposed to ridicule/teach Spanish to Brian if I cannot even understand it myself?
And speaking of the writing on the wall, as it were, one of the things that has never failed, when I am in funk, to cheer me up is Hyde Park graffiti. The small (and fairly one-sided) turf wars of Azote and the Lizards against Ghost, the independent carvers and scrawlers, and the omnipresent sticker art, I love it all. So imagine my delight when I discovered that The Viking, my favorite new addition to the Hyde Park scene, has stuff all over my new neighborhood. Is it just one man, or a collective? Who cares, as long as he keeps up the good work.
Friday, fifth week after Pentecost
Hooray! As of Monday, I will need to get up every day by at least six in the morning, but I will also be earning enough to pay rent! Now that's good news.
Moving in continues apace. With Brian gone, none remain to stop my totalitarian regime of ruthless decrees (exempli gratia: which cupboard the pots go in). Sadly, there are no scurrying minions to, say, wash all the dishes, either. If only I had a gold robotics badge!
Yeah, I went there.
Sadly, our delicious pirated Internet is on the fritz. Should this remain the case, I may have to take drastic measures, id est pay for our own subscription. It is my hope that service will soon resume pro bono publica, whereupon I can arrange and furnish Smallhouse, and not just the apartment, as I see fit once more.
Independence Day
Yesterday morning I took the best shower of my life. I like this apartment more every day (nb: three days so far, not actually that impressive).
But, yes, all my gallons of possessions are now in the Village, and so am I. Spent this delightful day off watching the second-best action movie of the year, then raving about it to anyone who would listen. Brian's off to go camping and return his parents' van, Leah's roof caught a-fire, and I still don't have any furniture. Well, a desk, a chair, and a couch (thanks to Neil, Neil, and Jamie, respectively), but I need more. Namely, a TV stand, shelves, and a bed, in that order.
See, I orginally wanted the couch to use as a bed on, but then we discovered -stay with me here- that it was a hide-a-bed couch, and therefore decided that instead of putting it in my room for me to sleep on, we would put it in the living room to use as a couch. I slept on the floor until the state of unpackery prevented it, and now I'll sleep on the couch. In the living room.
I hope to be sleeping on the floor again soon.
Friday
Last night I missed the movie, but managed to meet up at St. James with a certain atheistic ward of that illustrious Doctor of Aquino for bar food and conversation. After a series of discussions featuring choice passages from that other revered Doctor, we played a round of "Old Janx Spirit". Sadly, I lost. The night ended shortly after a tableful of hot girls, the very same we had been about to charm, flatter, and otherwise woo, vanished abruptly while our attentions were otherwise occupied.
And, though I am sure that ethereal book which is the medium of much modern gossip has distributed this same datum faithfully, I nevertheless feel that I should openly disclose the following: that darling young woman who has, in recent years, occupied my attentions has now spurned them, and I am once more adrift in this cold world with only the clothes on my back, the grace of the good Lord above, and my two-hundred-plus gallons of personal belongings. Interested parties may inquire into the matter privately and personally.
Wednesday, fourth week after Pentecost
Hoo-ray! I now have both an apartment and a job. Sadly, the job doesn't keep pace financially with the apartment right now, but it's nice to know I'm employable. I'm also very, very tired. I hope to rally in time to move into the apartment promptly. That will be much easier if I can gain the favor of Weath-Orr, of course. And borrow a car or something. A truck would be better. Anyone have a truck I can borrow?
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