Travelling to the Walls and Benson Wedding: Day 0

Victoria and I went to Ohio for Benson's wedding.  Going to multi-part it because I'm lazy and I did something to my back over the weekend.  It hurts to sit up for too long.

We made reservations for a hotel and a car.

We packed.  Here's a bit of what I brought.  In total ~40 rolls of film of which I shot about 10... but after the Cinco de Mayo debacle where I burned through all my film in about an hour, I didn't want to come up short handed.  Not pictured is the SRT-101 I brought as a backup to the 500's.

We packed a bag full of snacks, some sandwiches, beverages, and travelling music; loaded it up and we were on our way.

Belonging

I'm getting old.  My friends are all having kids and moving away and their parents look like what I imagine my grandparents looked like when I was younger.  I can accept this, though, I think.  Maybe.

Went to a party gathering at Kelly and Dave's new house.  It was a group of old, old friends; people I've known the better part of my life.  Kelly brought out a box of photos and started tossing pictures onto the table. The faces I saw were all of us... but we looked like children.  "Jesus," I thought, "this was so long ago."  Some of it I didn't recognize, but it was surely me in the images.

Such as this one... where I'm in a kiddy pool, fully clothed, drenched, with Ian... I don't remember this at all.

I didn't drink then.  I blame my poor memory.

So, here we are the table, formerly a field for a competitive round of Euchre; now, a container for images of the past.  I remember that I, too, have my own box of memories that I left at my father's house.  Maybe I'll go back and poke through them to see what's contained therein.

But, belonging.  Sometimes, as others do I'm sure, I wonder where I belong.  Call it identity or identifying.  Call it what you want.  But, today I found myself feeling like I really belonged.  Last weekend I purchased a pair of pink sunglasses.  I was replacing the cheap pair that I'd gotten at Goodwill to wear to work in the field.  These were cheapies from Walmart.  At work, there were lots of jabs at whether or not they were gotten from the ladies' section or perhaps they were children's glasses, etc.  I have no qualms with this, it's all in good fun and I understand this.

At our get together, I decided to wear these glasses with my straw fedora... you know, summer and all.  Perfect acceptance.  They were just a pair of glasses that Rob would wear.  For some reason that told me a lot about my relationship with these people.  Even after all these years this dynamic that we shared as teens and 20somethings still persists.  At that point I felt like I belonged there - with them -  not that I didn't feel that way prior to this, but it just reminded me.  And that was kind of nice.

Best. Show. Ever.

I'll start by saying that it's been over a decade since I got caught out in the rain while in line to a concert.  The first time was in 1999 when I went to see the Deftones at the now defunct America Theater.  We showed up at 3pm.  Doors at 6pm.  It started raining at about 3:11pm.  It didn't stop raining for about an hour and a half.  The pit was slippery and humid.

Last night, Victoria and I went to see Social Distortion at Pops in Sauget.  We got there about 6pm with doors at 7pm.  It started raining at about 6:15pm.  We got soaked.  But, around 6:20pm I got a text from Benson informing us that all hell was breaking loose in St. Louis.  Then the sky went black.  Then the sirens from the nearby industrial complex started going off.  Then security freaked the fuck out and let us in early.  10 minutes later bedlam ensued, I drank a beer, and we were both cold because the air was on.

This adventure leads to, probably, the best show I've seen in forever.

Lindi Ortega led it off.  She's got a very June Carter-esque sound in the 3 piece she had on stage.  The guitarist was ridiculous good and she, herself, had a set of pipes on her...  She could just wail.

They closed the show with this Johnny Cash cover.  Think they should have opened with it, but hey... that's just me.

Next up:  The Toadies.  When I was in a band in the early 2000's we used to cover Tyler.  I first saw The Toadies in 2001 at Pointfest 13.  When we saw them tonight they looked old.  I was afraid it would be a disappointment and that my memories of this band would be tarnished by this self serving reunion of the forty-some-things trying to relive former glory.  I was so wrong and so happy about it.  Watching them play was like time travelling back to the 90's.  And when they played Tyler (second to last which was nerve wracking) I felt this epiphany and knew why I played music in the first place and wanted to go home and just write and write.

Finally:  Social Distortion.  Mike Ness and the boys came out hard, churned up a hell of a pit, and left everybody tired and sweaty.  From classics to new stuff they represented their 30 year catalog well.  Their backdrop was meticulously put together with what looked like antique mall finds:  5 foot statue of a dog, blue electro-light cross, lit pinwheel, etc.  And Ness spoke more than I remember him doing before.  Which wasn't a bad thing.  They closed with covers of Let the Jukebox Keep on Playing  (Carl Perkins) and Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash).  It was awesome.

Afterward we hit Taco Bell as we hadn't eaten supper and called it a night.

What a Shitty Week.

All I can say is that I'm just glad it's the weekend.  This week hasn't been the best and the cherry on top was dealing with Charter for the better part of the day on Friday.  However, we ended up getting a new modem and after they couldn't find the power cable that I returned with our modem back we decided to just get a new router (this one has wireless, so there's that).

Everest Cafe today with some people from work.  Snapped shots down in The Grove and played pool at the Handlebar.  Met a nice wandering gentleman who stopped at HB for a beer and left his dog outside with his pack.  Asked to take his picture, as I'm kind of into the street portrait (proper portrait, not just sneaking a street shot like I like to do).  He acquiesced, but asked why.  I had to think about that.  I assured him it was not for any monetary reasons, just art for the sake of art.  When he went back to his pack I saw he had a jar of instant coffee in it.  Coincidentally, it was the same brand that I use when I develop black and white film.  We had a talk about that.  His jar happened to be given to him by somebody.

Then the grocery.  Oh, the grocery.  Victoria and I had previously vowed to never, ever, ever under any circumstance to go to the grocery store on Saturday anymore.  Since we were in the city we figured it would be more fuel efficient to.  I now remember why we don't go on Saturdays.  I nearly had a nervous breakdown.  Not sure why, really, probably the abundance of people and that terrible feeling of being in the way or inconveniencing someone else... I came home and took a nap because I was exhausted.  Not sure what I actually did, but I was exhausted.

Developed the film out of the Fed3b and it came out great.  Even as old as it is, the rangefinder still focuses perfectly.  Found an adapter to use my m42 lenses on it so I can put off investing in a 28mm m39 lens for a bit. Looking more closely at street shooting with a TLR.

Have been looking at pictures by Vivian Maier.  Really enjoy her street shots of Chicago.  Her story is really interesting in that she was a nanny and had no close friends or family.  So, nobody knew she took pictures.  Some historian researching the neighborhood he lived in (coincidentally hers as well) found a bunch of boxes of pictures and recordings she'd left behind when she died.  Pretty interesting.

Got Camera Review of the Week at lomo this week.  Once I get all those piggies in, the LC-a will be just a few more articles away.  Still need to put together stuff for the series I'm supposed to be writing for them.

Scanning more film, drinking more wine, developing more film, scanning more film.  Sounds like a Sunday.

We Now Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Lethargy For This New Post

So, I'm going to pretend that there wasn't almost a year hiatus between these last two posts. We'll just seamlessly flow from that one to this one with a "mid-season-break" style montage of shit Victoria and I did over the last year and run right into this post... ok?

 And here we go: took a bunch of pictures, made some great food, went to some great restaurants, ate some great food, spent time with some wonderful friends, quit wow, started playing wow again, watched a bunch of tv shows and movies, took more pictures, learned how to develop black and white film at home, got offered a show at a hodge-podge gallery that ended up closing a month after the offer, drank a bit too much, wrote some music, recorded some music, vowed to write and record more music, and that about covers it.

 So, here we are, the weekend of 24March2012.

 Friday I got to cook. I love cooking. Victoria and I are working on putting together yet another blog that will tentatively be called "Dinner for Two" and just be discussions of what was made at home (probably a recipe or something that will get the meal made) or a review of one of the places we go to. Friday, I made shrimp adobo with a saute of spinach, onions, and portabella mushrooms, and steamed rice.

First, let me say that this picture does not do the meal justice at all.  Victoria has a better picture and when we start that new blog I'll let you know.  But, adobo is basically something cooked in a mixture of garlic, vinegar, soy sauce, and black pepper.  Lots of black pepper.  (When I was a kid my mother used to make pork and chicken adobo that would cook in a big pot for about three or four hours and if you weren't careful you'd get a bite with un-cracked pepper corn which was decidedly unpleasant.  I used my pepper grinder to avoid that nonsense.)  Needless to say, the meal was delicious.  As I am apt to do, I ate too much.

Saturday we went to the Loop and ate at Pi.  I'd eaten pizza from Pi before with Benson and Mat when we were extras for that online sci-fi show.  The catering style precooked and rewarmed Pi pizza was pretty good.  Fresh from the oven in the restaurant was phenomenal.  We went for the Western Addition (veggie pizza with... well it's the veggie one with no olives, if you ever make your way out there) in a deep dish (kind of Chicago style).  I didn't realize it would take about 20 minutes when I ordered the beer I thought I'd be drinking with my meal, so it was a two Schlafly Kolsch night.  But, it was so damn good.  Their outdoor patio seating was full up, so we opted to sit in.  Next time we'll sit outside and enjoy the Spring.  After that, we killed some time on Delmar by wandering about and taking pictures.  I should say that I took pictures and Victoria followed.  She did let me take a picture of her near some hanging wisteria.  (Victoria recently cut off all her hair... that is to say, cut it wicked short.  Ok, not that short, more like there.  It looks awesome.)   After pictures we got in line at The Pageant and waited to see Henry Rollins do some spoken word.

Rollins hit the stage at full speed.  He sprinted to the mic and in one fluent motion from charge he leaned into the audience with his fist wrapped in the mic chord (much like I'd imagine he did in the 80's when he sang for Black Flag) and began to speak.  And he spoke fast.  It was a veritable tirade of any and every topic he could think of concerning his previous year bounding around the world having adventures, current events, and anecdotes from his younger days.  It was exhausting.  He spoke non-stop for almost 3 hours and then it was done.  It felt like I'd been put through a wringer and my ass fell asleep.  I mean really, sitting for 3 hours on those hard chairs was rough.  But his stories were like the ebb and flow of the tide.  Uplifting stories about distributing soap and soccer balls to tent cities in Haiti to a story about a woman who wrote him after her son was killed in Iraq because they found some of Rollins' dvds amongst his belongings and she remembered how her son had said how his unit shared the recordings and laughed and she wanted to thank him for that.  Now, it's not that I didn't expect this.  I've listened to a number of his recordings and this is all par for the course.  But, to experience it live was something else all together.

Sunday, botanical gardens taking pictures.  Made pineapple fried rice for supper.  And wrote this.  Will probably develop some film.  Maybe shave the beard.

We started watching Running Wilde (from one Mitch Hurwitz of Arrested Development fame).  It tanked 13 episodes in... but I'm not sure what people didn't see in it.  Sure, it's Arrested Development with Will Arnett, David Cross, and none of the rest of the cast.  Sure, it has a narrator.  Sure, it utilizes a lot of the inside jokes from Arrested Development ("Come on."  "Don't say that." "I'm freezing my Blue Man Group off." etc.) as well as nods to shows some of the actors were in.  Some reviewers think that it's too much Will Arnett.  It's not all bad.  Maybe I'm just pretending that Michael and George Michael and Lucille and all the rest are just patiently waiting off screen for their parts.  

Meh, either way, new episodes of Arrested in 2013.  I'll drink to that.

BTW.  Thanks for the kick in the ass, Benson.  

Salsa and Whales

Mmmmm it's salsa time. I'd initially intended to make a roasted peach, poblano, pineapple salsa but it's not so much peach time. So, decided to forgo the peach and sweet corn and went with just roasted poblano and pineapple.

There isn't much better than a really good salsa. It wasn't too hot. It wasn't too bland. It came out just right.

Got fitted for a tux today. Did not make an appointment. Also, the mall was really busy. I know now why I stay at home. I just can't stand being around so many people. Did find some more work pants and a shirt, though, so it wasn't a total bust.

We went to the grocery store tonight and got fixings for smoothies for breakfast. We were making our way to the yogurt when my wife tugged on my arm to get my attention. I looked at her and she nodded her head to the side. There was a young lady wearing a see-through lace shirt bent over to grab something from the cold case. Lo and behold, there's a triangular colored something on her lower back as her shirt rides up. We chuckle and continue walking closer to get our yogurt. However, she bends over further and her shirt exposes not a "whale tail" as it is sometimes called... but a tramp stamp. A butterfly to be exact.

After some hushed conversation in the cat food aisle and awkward run ins with our mystery girl we made our way to the car and headed home. During the ride we came to the conclusion that that tattoo must be multipurpose for the aforementioned reasons (tramp stamp/whale tail combo). But why? It took me a minute to conjure some logic for it, but it came to me: it saves on undergarment cost. If you have a tattoo that looks like a thong, you don't have to wear any. If only all life's problems were so easily answered.

Distractions or Outlets

Watched a shit ton of movies this weekend: Donnie Brasco, Casino, Goodfellas, Secretariat, The Fighter, and Jurassic Park 3 (will get those back to you this week, Benson). After all that, watched the two episodes of Bones we'd missed, some 30 Rock, and a couple episodes of Tosh.0. Netflix? No. On Demand and Hulu.

With my visual stimulus in check, I then focused on other endeavors. Wrote a letter, put together an outline, bitched about the f'ing snow, and knitted.

Finally finished the recycled handbag I'd been working on. It really shouldn't have taken so long, but I've been lazing about it. Started working with real yarn again (the recycled is old grocery bags I "spun" into yarn). Now, "spinning" more plastic yarn.

Took the cat to the vet on Saturday. She was less than pleased. Made some tattoo decisions and overall enjoyed not being at work (despite the outline) for two days.

Really can't wait for the weather to warm back up. Need to put the new radiator into the Jeep and would like to knap some more. Doing some side drywall work that will fund more rock. What I need to do is get down to SoIll and get more regional rock. The mill creek is just about used up. Need to haft the hoe yet.

Looks like more snow tonight, maybe. Guess I'll be sporting the bibs tomorrow.