fyi, all is ok...

last night i went to see the detholz. you can see photos here. awesome as expected! those boys are so RAWK...

i was gonna go see pinback tonight but the premier episode of black sash was on the WB tonight...yeah, yeah, i know...skipping a show for TV? like since when does sarah watch TV? well, since she realized they have shows like the very best of the world's worst drivers2. oh and black sash...it's a new kung fu show w/ russell wong. the acting was so so and the writing was mediocre but there were some fight scenes, which is all i was after...kung fu is so beautiful...and it takes place in san francisco, which is where bruce lee had his martial arts school. bruce lee is THE master. no question about that.

today's music: rt's welcome home mix & some vigilantes of looooooooove, yeah.

last night was the first night i spent in a hospital since the night before my dad died now almost 11 months ago...the whole experience brought back so many memories...there were a couple times when i couldn't keep the tears from forming...and it was like i didn't skip a beat...i automatically went into caretaker mode...wake up at any little stir...always ready w/ ice water...feed patiently and coaxingly...track down nurses and doctors...adjust temperature...adjust bed...monitor fever...stare for hours at a fitfully sleeping body while wearing a knitted brow on my forehead...

i began to see my dad...the agonizing look of pain...the weak, barely audible voice...the childlike simple and confused answers to questions...

you think you're okay and then you find out you're not...

oh, i missed the watchers show for the 3rd time this year...but i had more important things to attend to, like keeping someone alive...

it's funny how the first few bars of a song from way back when can flood the entire car your'e driving in with memories and warm fuzzy feelings...today as i was driving to work, i heard new order's version of 'ceremony' and i'm reminded of just how much i love the old new order stuff...songs like bizzare love triangle (the korean american national anthem of the late 80s & 90s)...temptation...subculture...blue monday...it reminded me of something my friend matt said a long time ago when i was in college...how he was driving to church w/ a couple girls and they were listening to temptation and one of them said if the songs we sang at church were like that, how great that would be...yeah...i haven't heard of a church that plays music along those lines yet...man, old new order or joy division or old r.e.m. would be so sweet...

anyways...watchers are headlining at the fireside tonight...rt & i will be going if he's feeling up to it...maybe mj will go too...i want to hear their new songs...should be a rocking show...we regazzi and xiu xiu are opening...oh...and taking pictures too...

i started planning my trip to seattle for early june today...i just hope ian's in town when i go...i missed him the last time i was there, and i'd hate to miss him again...it's been almost 4 months since i've seen him, and it's been over 4 months since i've seen jesse...way too long...

i had a glimpse into a side of health care that i have never seen before...i spent close to 10 hours yesterday at the cook county hospital ER with a friend...most of that time was in this big waiting room...this is the hospital where the show ER was supposed to take place and it is the city's "free hospital" where they treat you regardless of your ability to pay...now let me tell you that in real life, an episode of ER would take approximately 18 hours because that's about how long some of these folks wait to just see a doctor, and that's excluding seeing reception, getting vitals taken, getting preregistered and then registered...i have never seen so many gates to get to a doctor...i saw folks w/ quarter size gashes in their leg seeping blood through the bandage who'd been waiting all day to be examined by a doctor...those who were experienced showed up with luggage on wheels filled w/ food and other amenities...

i have to say though that the staff showed a lot of patience and were nice for the most part...it cannot be easy working there when the patients are ready to revolt various times throughout the day...

this experience definitely was a contrast to all my previous experiences w/ the ER, all of which took place at the glenbrook hospital in glenview, where the entire emergency room department is probably the size of the waiting room @ cook county...

this stuff makes you think about things like affordable health care and access to health insurance and all that jazz...

if you wanna see the photos from the demonstration, click here.

i got to the demonstration at around 1:30pm today...there were two demonstrations going on simultaneously, one prowar and one antiwar...the prowar demonstrators were allotted pretty much the entire plaza in front of the orange picasso in front of the federal building on dearborn between jackson and adams...the antiwar demonstrators were restricted to the smaller space southeast of the sculpture in the same plaza...they were separated by police and metal horse obstacles...since i was coming from the north, i encountered the prowar demonstrators first...there were a lot of u.s. flags being waved, and a lot of "U.S.A.!" being chanted...a lot of the support was for the troops, and maybe (hopefully) not so much bush and the administration...

i was disturbed by some of the signs and things being said...things like "let's roll..." like what the hell does that mean? do these people think this war is a night out on the town??? and people shouting "if you don't like america, i'll buy you a one way ticket to baghdad!" i almost took the guy up on his offer...like why do people think that folks who're not happy w/ america should go "back where they came from?" i mean, this country was founded by folks who did not like the way they were being governed...so should they have gotten back on their ships and sailed back to the motherland? the reason a lot of us are here in america is because this is where we are supposed to have the freedom to dissent and to openly voice our dissension...and then i saw this sign that said "france, you're next!" great...let's forget all the french blood spilt on behalf of the united states before there even was a united states, and because our longtime european ally disagrees with our plans to bully iraq to its knees, let's just bomb them...that mentality of "if they're not on our side, let's blow them to smithereens" is what scares me...

don't get me wrong...i think the prowar folks have every right to demonstrate and express their opinion...i just don't agree with their stance on the war...and i can think that and i can say that because we have this thing called freedom of speech in this country...actually, i ran into an old friend alex who was going around videotaping the demonstrations and interviewing folks...he and i have very different views politically, and he teased me, but i teased him back and it was all friendly...see, people who disagree can talk about it and still be friends...crimeny, if we all believed the same things in this country, we'd just be a bunch of automatons and boring as plaster. voltaire (who was french, by the way) said, "i may hate what you say, but i will defend to the death your right to say it."

and that's all i have to say about that...

listened to legend by bob marley & the wailers...

yesterday, my colleagues andrei, allison & i had friday spring fever and they indulged me on a miniphotoshoot at a forest preserve on the way to lunch up near hawthorn mall...the day was nicer than we'd thought it would be, with a little lovely gentle drizzle here and periods of sunshine there...i have been keeping a photojournal (a physical one) for rt during his absence, and the weather's been so bad that i haven't had much chance for photos...so this was a good one. really, i wish all i had to do every day when i got up was go on photoshoots...there's gotta be somebody out there who would pay me enough money to scrape by so i could do this...

i've been eyeing this bridge for years as i drove by it off of route 60, and now i've finally captured it on photo...it's such a lovely site from the road...this little red idyllic bridge peeping through the trees, enticing the viewer to meander off the highway and come see its little world...it's actually a nice little forest preserve...there's a canoe launch there which feeds into the des plaines river...you could canoe from here into downtown chicago if you wanted to...

so last night, i forewent (is that a word? what's the past tense of forego?) the idlewild concert...i know, i know...i'm gonna be kicking myself for it...the next time they're in town, they'll be playing some stadium opening up for pearl jam...sheesh...but i was dogtired, and i've been doing some spring cleaning...

so there i am 7:30 pm, slaving over my bathtub when josh calls me...he's in edwards, colorado w/ his fiance staying at the winter home of some millionaire from peru who's a friend of her dad's...he's telling me they're out in the middle of nowhere, and you can see the stars, and he's going on and on, and they have a butler and a cook, blah blah blah, and there i am scrubbing my tub...josh thought that was funny...i don't know...so anyways, he's there until next friday, and he's gonna get snowboarding lessons...i'm kinda worried about his knee...he tore the acl back in fall of '01, and it hasn't been repaired yet...if he'd just waited for me to come out to cali to go riding in the desert, his knee would be fine, but that's another story...

today, i am going to take the train downtown for the antiwar demonstrations...since i seem to be unable to click on the tv even though i have digital cable and all, i have no idea what the demonstrations look like except for what i can gather off the web...543 arrested thursday night and 69 arrested yesterday...i told rt when he called me at 4am this morning that i was going to the demonstrations, and that i was worried if i got arrested because i have to pick him up at the airport on monday...i highly doubt i would do anything that would get me arrested, but if i do, i think my one phone call may be to my friend chris in the CPD...really, guys, i'm just a photojournalist...but if i see any unsavory activity going on, believe me, i'll be capturing it on my compact flash card for the world to see...

all seemed so peaceful at a quarter to 2am from one of the drawbridges in the loop...it was a damp but warm night, and it felt good to be outside without hat and scarf and still not be shivering to death...i love walking around the loop when it's quiet and mostly deserted...there were a few workers fixing stuff here and there, a few people walking from union station...a security guard staring out the window in the bank building...but for the most part, it was me and my city...

last night, i went to penny's noodles & to the eternals show @ the hideout w/ mj...we talked a lot about the war, about dissension, about protests, about blind uninformed misguided patriotism...it was depressing...mj told me about an interview w/ newt gingrich in which he was asked his opinion on the 1000+ protestors who were arrested in san francisco and other cities...he said something to the effect that if a small minority of the population was causing trouble for their beliefs, they should be arrested...

i just don't understand why people get so threatened by dissension...we are a nation founded upon revolution...our right to dissent is something so many of us take for granted...bush says we're fighting this war to free the iraqis and the world of this evil a.k.a. saddam hussein...well, what good is it if they and we are freed from this man if we are still slave to a groupthink, follow the crowd, keep up w/ the joneses mentality even here in the united states where we are supposedly free from physical, intellectual, and religious oppression? do those people who accuse the antiwar demonstrators of being unpatriotic unamerican thugs realize that these very demonstrators are probably being truer to real american principles than those who are just going along w/ the war?

and again, i'm not saying don't support our troops or point fingers at them or anything like that...they're doing the duty they signed up for, and god be w/ 'em...and w/ all the other soldiers, american, british, iraqi and otherwise...i don't envy them their current situations...

and i am not any less guilty than the next person...how easily i have taken my freedoms for granted...how lazy i've become and only attended to my own immediate comforts and cares...i've cheapened freedom to the freedom of lifestyle and economic choices...there's so much more to real freedom than whether to shop at trader joes or whole foods or whether to go see cursive or the eternals or whether to drink pbr or rolling rock...we as americans have more access to freedom than most people in the world dream of, and yet i bet there are those who have lived all their lives under tyranny who know better the meaning and value of freedom than we do...the u.s. may think that it's freeing the iraqis from a tyrant, but will we recognize that there is a more insidious tyrant out on the loose here in our own country? the tyrant of intellectual, social, philosophical and spiritual lethargy and apathy...the tyrant that makes us not care...the tyrant that makes us immobile...the tyrant that makes us not think for ourselves...how do we fight a war against this tyrant?

alright...savor some freedom y'all and think about something other than what to eat for lunch...

last night mj & i listened to my bloody valentine's loveless...

some reading for the interested--

there will be absolutely no dissension by stanley i. kutler

just war--or a just war by jimmy carter (from whom my dad took his english name when we moved to the states...i love jimmy carter)

my friend who will go unnamed at this time but whose initials are T.L and whose legal initials are A.L accidentally called my cell phone at 2:37am from some noisy establishment and proceeded to keep the phone on unbeknownst to him/her despite my yelling his/her name into the phone...considering i was expecting a call from rt about this time, i was a tad disappointed...

so here i am awake at 3:18 am...oh, wait...there's rt...brb...

ok, i'm back...

i wasn't going to discuss iraq, but...i've been like reading about this whole bombing iraq thing, and i don't really know all the details or anything, and i don't want to oversimplify, but it just feels like let's say the big bad wolf lives in sherwood forest, and that for the good of sherwood forest and its residents and those surrounding sherwood forest and all the counties in the known world everywhere, we've given him (the big bad wolf) 48 hours to come out with his paws up or else...and when the 48 hours are up, we of acme county (which is 30 counties away from sherwood county but we're the biggest and baddest county in all of christendom) set fire to the whole fucking forest despite the protests of sherwood and its surrounding counties...

ok. i understand that saddam may not be comparable to the big bad wolf whose only crimes have been mauling and eating innocent local chickens and grannies, but still...i'm trying to make a point here...i believe that war agains iraq is wrong...i'm not saying don't pray for our soldiers blah blah blah...shit, pray for ALL the soldiers everywhere...the iraqis probably need more prayer than our soldiers do considering what we're capable of doing to them...

here's something of note, a blogger from an iraqi in baghdad...

and if you normally get your news from yahoo or some other mainstream source, try these other sites that you're not gonna find on yahoo:

http://www.commondreams.org (common dreams news center)
http://www.alternet.org, a project of the independent media institute
http://www.villagevoice.com
http://www.indymedia.org
http://www.motherjones.com/

yes, i realize they're all pretty liberal...i make no apology...read the stuff you get on yahoo and then read this stuff and make your own decisions.

how about some iraqi sources?

http://www.uruklink.net/iraqdaily/
http://www.uruklink.net/iraqnews/eindex.htm

if that's not enough, try this list...it's pretty comprehensive...

i'm going back to bed...there are some folks in the world who don't have the luxury of such an opportunity...

yesterday i listened to the cure's greatest hits and bill mallonee's locket full of moonlight and beatnik filmstars' laid back and english...

would you believe i woke up at 6am again? this time it was to call rt in germany...goodness gracious...i can't tell you what a relief it is to be able to finally get a hold of that boy...and now i must sleep because i'm getting up at 3am or whenever rt calls me germany time when he wakes up, which could be as early as 2am...

and i don't even want to discuss iraq right now...

it is 6 am and i have been rudely awakened by a car alarm...not my own, thank goodness, although i have to admit i ran to the window just to make sure it wasn't my red hottie that was creating 20 bucktown enemies with every obnoxious honk...nope, my red hottie would've let out a most sirenic whirl had her alarm been tripped...it was a rather interesting discovery, however, that there WAS an alarm that could actually get me out of bed at 5:54 am...

ok...can somebody please tell me what the hell the POSTAL POLICE do all day? i mean, is this like along the lines of the CTA police? i've just never seen one of these vehicles, and from the looks of that bumper, they've either been around for a while or someone's a really bad driver.

oh, i just remembered that i didn't blog as to my whereabouts on sunday...that gorgious day that it was in the 70s in the chicagoland area, right? well, that's cuz i spent the entire frickin' day in bed, thank you very much...i woke up after that joan of arc concert w/ a killer hangover which makes absolutely no sense considering i had had one shot of jack daniels w/ mj @ a bar/cafe down the street from the fireside bowl and then a rolling rock later @ the show (which by the way went until 2am...since when does the fireside, chicago's only all-ages club have a 2am liquor license? and since when are we allowed to take one beer out of the bar into the music room?? have i only been going to the kiddie shows all this time??and why in the world would a band play AFTER joan of arc???)...i understand that i am a lightweight, but josh had always taught me in my liquid studies "beer before liquor, never sicker; liquor before beer, never fear..." which is why i try to start my night w/ a shot of something, yukon jack or blackhaus preferred...so what did i do wrong??? i had a superliner running through the middle of my head all day long sunday, and a siphon in my gut apparently...i didn't even have any food in my stomach to throw up and i puked up water all day long, which meant i couldn't keep any drugs down, which meant my headache didn't go away which meant i kept puking which meant i couldn't keep any food down which meant i couldn't take any drugs which meant my headache didn't go away which meant....you get the picture...that's how the most beautiful day so far in chicago snuck by me as i lay in bed, miserable as a drenched cat...

by 7pm, after the sun had set, i was finally able to keep down 3 bites of an english muffin, which i decided was enough to take some pain killers, and then i went back to sleep before i had the chance to puke again...by the time i woke up at 8:30pm, i was well enough to get out of bed, make a bowl of popcorn and watch office space for the first time, which ws enough to put a smile on my face...although it's probably not the best movie to see on a sunday night before you're expected at work on a monday morning...i ended up lollygagging like crazy monday morning..."i think i'd like some fresh fruit and cottage cheese...let's slice some fresh pineapple and fresh honeydew..." and before you know it, it's already 10am and i haven't even started my engine....

and in light of our president's little speech yesterday, i believe it's time to relink the following which will explain all...or not...god bless the solar system...

leroy bach* said "pardon me" to me tonight and brushed my arm as he passed by..."are you in heaven, sarah?" says my friend pete..."i wish caleb & pierre were here..." i says to pete...

that's it...good night and happy st. patrick's day...god bless the universe...

*leroy is wilco's (very handsome in my opinion) talented multi-instrumentalist. oh and this event transpired at the hideout where leroy & edward burch (who collaborated w/ jay bennett on his recent album) have been playing every monday for the month of march. and they weren't playing in the main room, just in the bar where we all sat or stood around in a circle as they jammed...they'll be there again next monday...i'm hoping rt will be up for it but i doubt it as his flight from germany gets in that evening...oh well...i'm glad i saw a couple songs tonight...pete & i should've skipped dinner & tea @ bourgeois pig...

been listening to happy/sad by tim buckley & le tigre's s/t and a bunch of built to spill god bless doug marsch.

like i said, i went to see the detholz @ the beat kitchen last night, and they were so TIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHTTTTTTT!!!!!! oh, it's TRUE...these guys are so worth my money...and they're all so sweet too...i saw them for the first time back in september or october or something @ gunther murphy's with derek & tony. i thought they were tight then, but i was really tired that night and i wasn't paying attention too much...last night though it sunk in just how great they are...and then i was listening to their cd all afternoon, and man oh man, i can't wait to play it for rt! lovely pop hooks...total RAWKIN' guitar licks...really tight vocals & harmonies...unique and thoughtprovoking lyrics...sometimes i think of blur sometimes i think fugazi...really great stuff...they're playing @ schubas on saturday 3.29, and that's promised to be a really tight show...here are the photos i took of them @ the beat kitchen...

so here's that picture of my new red hottie that i've been meaning to take for 2 weeks...ain't she lovely? she's got a real tight ass too, which doesn't show in this photo, but i really like it...

so yeah, it was a lovely beautiful day, and i went to wicker park and journaled for an hour...i love going there when the neighborhood sheds layers of winter and put on a happy face for friends and strangers and canines alike...they all congregate at that fountain and sit in the sun for hours, chatting, smoking, reading, writing, napping, peoplewatching...

today, what really stood out were the little kids and their dads...here's something from my journal...

...there is a father with his little tike of a boy and the dad is doing a portrait photoshoot of his son..."ok...look over here...look at me..."

what a lovely scene to be witnessing...

"can i take your picture?" boy looks away coyly...dad brushes hair out of boy's face...boy still looks away..."too shy? ok..." boy looks towards me. dad taps boy on shoulder..."one shot..." boy covers face with fingers...dad snaps a shot and chuckles...

i love seeing little kids with their dads...

the boy stomps around as little boys are known to do...dad kneels close by and shoots a couple shots...boy looks into the distance, interested for the moment by the crowd of men & boys playing hoops..."what are they doing with that ball?" dad says...boy continues to stare..."are they chasing it?" boy stomps some more..."c'mon, let's go over here..." dad leads boy by the hand to the north side of the fountain. dad has boy lean against the fountain...boy raises his arms like wings like an aeroplane...dad kneels on one knee, props his elbow on the other knee and shoots away...boy possesses the universal adorable cuteness of a child beloved by his dad...

end transmission...

...i miss my dad...

i'm going to pick up mj now and we're gonna go see joan of arc @ the fireside...i should eat something so i don't throw up tonight...the fireside restrooms suck...

at this time i would like to extol the virtues of the PLUNGER...

let me back it up a bit...my hair is as long as my legs, right? well, as you can imagine, hair that long can do a number on your tub drain, and believe me, i did a number on mine...and then i made it worse by putting all these different drain openers in there, and my drain just got stubboner and stubboner...so i take to the plunger thursday night, not really knowing what the hell i was doing, and the water starts backing up...yuck...and then if i use the bathroom sink, water backs up even more into the tub...i don't know what to do...i showered at my mom's, and after the detholz concert, i went to home depot and had a long chat w/ anyone who would talk to me about the science of bathtub drains...when i mentioned to one dude that i took to the plunger but the water backed up, he explained to me that this was normal, and that i just needed to keep plunging away...so i picked up a different clog remover that's supposed to melt my hand into oblivion if i come into contact w/ it and went home determined to plunge away again...well, the dude was right...several minutes more of plunging and voila, drain opens up and down goes the dirty water...i spent all that money on drain openers, and all i needed the whole time was a PLUNGER...sheesh...

i am happy to say that i can now take a shower in my tub...god bless the plungers...

yes, i did a photoshoot of my cat aberdeen with our teddy bears. that's brown bear and red teddy. it was thursday afternoon, i was bored, there were the teddy bears, and there was my abby...he is such a sweet cat...don't tell my landlord i have him...although i don't think brant would mind...i still need to tell him...one of these days...


so this is from a photoshoot i did yesterday while my car was being worked on @ the best buy getting a security/keyless entry system installed. oh, it's TRUE...i can click my way into my little outback now...which i still need to take a picture of, don't i? i will tomorrow when it's nice and sunny. i think i caught a cold doing my photoshoot...i don't know what it is about being underdressed and feeling the urge to do outdoor photoshoots...i went over to the old navy to buy a scarf because i was sooooooooooooo cold, but would ya know, they've got only spring items out now...so i froze my ass off shooting photos during the gloaming...

so i went to see folk implosion last night at the abbey pub...it was a treat of a show...the opening band was called alaska!, a collaboration of russell pollard of sebadoh & the new folk implosion and imaad of the new folk implosion. so it was a family affair. leslie, the drummer for the red aunts is drumming on this tour. i always like watching girl drummers. a lot of them look like they're dancing when they drum. anyways, i bought their debut album and listened to it on the way to work today, and it's really really good...one of the best debut albums i've heard in a while...imaad, the lead singer, has a really lovely voice...

the 2nd act was a girl named MIA DOI TODD. now PAY ATTENTION...she was like nothing i've ever heard...i kept asking mj "is she an alien? she's not from this world!" i'm serious...her songs were sooooooooo simple on one level, just her voice and acoustic guitar, sometimes just 3 notes played over and over again...and yet these same songs capture the multifaceted essence of life...she had a lot of technical difficulties (she couldn't hear herself through the monitor at all) and the crowd was fucking rude and talked throughout, despite her repeated requests for them to quiet down...i was really annoyed w/ that crowd...

and yet there's something to be said about hearing otherworldly music that you know is gold over the din of bar noise...knowing that those people who were not listening are missing out on something absolutely gorgeous...the irony of it all...the juxtaposition of something so beautiful with something so crass...on the surface, she seems so fragile, this mia doi todd, but listen to her lyrics and you will know that she has an inner strength that matches her inner and outer beauty...

and it hit me...during her last song called sunday afternoon, it hit me...and my eyes were filled with tears...i wish that i could take photographs that are exactly what my eyes see...then i could capture what the world looks like through eyes full of my salty tears...

ah, lou barlow...how lovely it is to see him live...he has these magical pop hooks that place a spell on me...i love it that he plays bass...a big ass bass at that...i just really love lou's voice...it's like a lullabye voice...gentle...calm...but he totally can rock out too ya know...that's the best...

anyways...it's the weekend...going to see detholz tonight @ the beat kitchen, then joan of arc w/ mj and hopefully john tomorrow...been listening to mia doi todd's golden state & alaska!'s emotions cds...

rt left for germany today. he'll be gone for 12 days. i am going to fit in as many shows as i can in those 12 days. and i will start off tonight by going to see lou barlow in folk implosion @ the abbey. god bless lou barlow. i just KNOW the angels love his songwriting. how could you not? well, i suppose you could not like it, but i fruckin' love his stuff, sebadoh and otherwise.

rt going to germany...it's all madness, i tell ya...MADNESS...well, only because we didn't really do any planning whatsoever which meant that i was picking up his germany rail pass YESTERDAY EVENING 20 hours prior to his departure today and that we have absolutely no idea what he's gonna do when he gets to germany except that he's gonna ride the damn trains cuz i went through the trouble of driving all the way to rosemont to get that rail pass...

it hasn't really hit me yet that rt has left the building, let alone the COUNTRY...but i'm sure it'll hit me soon...

i did experience the fun of paging a passenger when i had rt paged in atlanta during his layover to tell him i FINALLY got in contact w/ his best friend over in germany, which is the whole point of this trip in the first place. i was driving the delta folks crazy cuz i kept calling back w/ a different paging message, and i finally told them to page for RED TED, that would get his attention.

i'm going to folk implosion tonight w/ rt's roommate mj. i haven't spent too much time w/ mj since the tweedy concert, so i'm happy about that. mj will always be near and dear to my heart because we both share a love of coupland's life after god.

today i listened to audible sigh (VoL)...and believe me, there was a lot of audible sighing going on as i drove rt to the airport...nothing like a train is our song cuz he's gonna ride trains and my camera never lies...

now to go pick up mj for some LOU BARLOW!!!!

i fulfilled a goal of mine this weekend by going to iowa city...oh, it's true...i FINALLY went to see my partner in crime the megster in her playground...rt & i drove there straight from his bday dinner w/ his family...i had megs to see & he had john to see in iowa city...the drive wasn't bad...3.5 hours or so w/ a little time for getting lost...

sunday morning, we had breakfast at a really great irish pub called mickey's...then we went over to western world!! where they had stuff you wouldn't believe...like them ostrich skin boots...they had elephant skin boots too...and various reptiles...kinda weird...i'm not into that stuff...john & rt tried some on, but uhm, can you seem them price tags? they're kinda pricey...you could get like 10 pairs of boots from payless for the price of one pair of ostrich skin boots...

rt bought a pair of mighty fine looking wranglers, and megs & i were tempted to get some cowgirl shirts, but we resisted the urge...i wanted a cowgirl hat, but the only one they had that i liked came only in kids sizes...it's a red one, like the one the girl doll in toystory 2 wears...oh well...maybe the next time i'm in texas...

it was a really cold day in iowa city, so we pretty much stayed indoors...we went to this coffeeshop that rt had sketched in when ALPP played a show in iowa city years ago...we hung out and talked for most of the afternoon...rt & i wrote a poem on the spot for john, who's a poet & in the writing program @ iowa, which is the best writing program in the country. i can't really remember the poem, but it was called six seconds and was inspired by a bit of conversation in which john told us that folks who go and to missions in outer space come back younger by like six seconds or something when they return to earth...i wrote the basic poem, and then rt inserted words like "red" and "caffeine" and "cocoa" and "crustacean"...it was like tag team magnetic poetry...

that night we went to this bar/restaurant called sanctuary that was really nice and cozy...they had this drink called a tira misu that smelled just like a tira misu and tasted absolutely divine...we also introduced john and his girlfriend bree to the joys of yukon jack...yum...

it was really nice to hang out w/ megan in her neck of the woods, even though she's coming home this week for spring break...and i think rt totally loved seeing john, since he'll be gone when john comes home for break...the drive back was tiring, but i survived...i think i'm gonna have to go to sleep early tonight to catch up on sleep...

i am seriously considering going to florida for the weekend....this cold is KILLING me...

i made a kickass veggie chili last night...yep...sarah's back in the kitchen, y'all! i know some of you are wondering when i was EVER in the kitchen...well, there's a lot you don't know about me...just ask bruce how i can be in the kitchen...there was a time in my life when i cooked authentic indian food from scratch...i didn't even use curry powder...

last night i watched a biography movie on bruce lee which had a bunch of previously missing footage from the game of death, the movie he was working on when he died...i have to say...bruce lee is KICKASS!!! he is so sizzling hot...he was smart too...the next time i go to seattle, i think i'm going to go visit his grave site...i just think it would be interesting...he was SOOOOOOOO intense...i love seeing footage on him...it reminds me of marshall law on tekken...i ALWAYS chose marshall law's character when i played tekken...reminds me of the time bruce & i were @ gameworks out in schaumburg, and bruce was playing tekken and just playing against the machine and doing fine, then this burly cocky korean dude cuts in on the game and kicks his ass and pisses bruce off...so i cut in on the dude and play as marshall law and kick HIS ass, which he did not expect from the little korean girl...he should've looked me in the eye...then he would've seen the fire there...

i'm listening to VoL's audible sigh...i know it's totally off the subject, but this thing is not meant for staying on the subject...i just wanna say how much i love this album...it makes me want to cry...

there is snow galore in the good ol' windy city now...

rt came home after work last night around midnight all excited about giving me my all-wheel drive driving lesson in the snow, so i threw on some clothes and off we went in my little red hottie to the target parking lot on elston & logan which we went round and round in, putting in grooves like we were pressing a vinyl. it was fun, and i learned something new...brake early and accelerate into a turn...yeah...

i didn't have an excuse to stay home from work today...now that i've got a car that can handle the snow...i had no problem getting out of my snowbank of a parking spot this morning...i still don't really quite enjoy driving in weather like this, but i sure do feel safer in the car now than before.

talk about a bad day...

i mean things started good enough...it was sunny, i'd had a lovely weekend w/ my buddy, i was driving to work in my lovely new red hottie...what could possibly go wrong?

well, it started snowing in the afternoon...that's fine...i've got all wheel drive now...i needed to stop by the dealer to take care of some business, so i left the office early, probably a little before 4pm to beat the rush...i got off the edens at dempster going east, and right as i was going up the hump over the edens, it happened...i ran out of gas...i managed to get over the hump and pulled over to the right out the traffic's way...i didn't expect to run out of gas so soon after the light turning on...it's a new car and i just didn't know...

i won't go into all the details, but suffice it to say, that i ran out of gas at 4:20pm...i was extremely flammable by 5:30pm...and i didn't start back on the road until close to 6pm...trust me...it was ALL my own stupid fault that a) i ran out of gas and b) it took so damn long to get some gas in my tank...

i was planning on going to the hot hot heat show @ the fireside, which was an early show w/ doors at 6pm. i also wanted to see the openers lying in states, who are a band that shares the rehearsal space w/ watchers, and michael makeout & his bedfellows (a.k.a. watchers) were playing before hot hot heat. i figured i could at least make it for watchers if i made it to the venue by 7pm...i got home at around 6:45, quickly ate & changed and braved the snow yet again...i got to the fireside, parked far far away, and i make it to the door where the dude proceeds to tell me they're sold out. shit. all that work for nada. i was pissed. i could hear watchers playing in the background, and i stuck around in the entryway for a bit, making calls to pete & amy to tell them the show was sold out...the dude collecting money at the door who was actually NOT collecting money since the only people now being let in were those on the guest list, kept coming in and out as people showed up to tell them it was sold out...i politely suggested to him that maybe he should make a sign and post it on the door instead of coming in and out. then he tells me 'maybe you should just leave' like w/ this really snotty attitude. boy, did that piss me off...there was another guy waiting in the entryway w/ me, and he told the dude off, saying i was just being nice and there was no reason to be rude to me...the dude told us to both vacate the premises. boy, was i shooting off the F+A combo bomb like mad as i exited...the thing that really pisses me off is that there are so many good shows coming to the fireside that i can't even boycott them...one of these days, i'm taking rt w/ me, and i wanna see that dude be rude to me again...

what a nightmare of a day...thank god it's over...

today as rt was driving my new used red 2001 subaru impreza outback wagon to work, we passed by a house w/ a big front porch, and i told him that josh and i are going to have a big rock candy mountain someday, and that it'll be a big old house w/ a wraparound porch that we and our high school friends will retire to, and that we'll sit on that porch all day long in our jet powered rocking chairs. so somebody out there has to invent a jet powered rocking chair or josh & my plan's not gonna work.

yes, it's true...i have bought me a new car (photo coming soon)...i know that some of my friends (a.k.a. erik of serene) were really hoping i'd buy a subaru impreza wrx with the turbo engine, but seriously, folks...what the hell do i need a turbo engine for??? but the dealer had this cute red sweet thang and it had my name written all over it...ok, only on the hood, but the dealer's gonna get that fixed...yeah, someone tagged the hood...but otherwise it's a beautiful car and it runs great and it's got low miles and most importantly of all, it was $5000 less than the wrx...that's a lot of dough dude...rt wasn't too excited at first because of the imperfect hood, but i had to let good financial sense prevail because it was such a good deal, and since the dealer promised to make the hood like new...but as soon as rt saw that thing parked in front of his apartment, all shiny from a fresh carwash, he LOVED it...i knew he would...

friday night i went to this bar on damen called the lead way where derek becker, wildwood's booking agent extraordinaire, hangs out and was playing that night w/ his new band, which still doesn't have a name yet...i actually liked derek's new musical project a lot...he sounds like mike kinsella in american football (not owen--mike sounds different as owen for some reason)...i joked to him after the show and said his voice is so EMO...HA HA HA...he's got the tightest wardrobe i know as well...shit...i COVET his wardrobe big time...i didn't take any photos cuz it was so damn crowded, and i was feeling nauseous from two shots of black haus (damn that stuff is good) and two turksh royals (which i had to confess to having smoked later that night to rt who could tell i smelled kinda funny...but he was nice and nonjudgmental). i did see some old evanston vcf folks like the marions, brad farris, jenny hart and greg henkins...

on thursday night, i went to see zapruder point play @ the beat kitchen. it was great seeing dan, casey & tom playing as a band again. they played a lot of new material, which i was happy about, and i guess they'll be coming out w/ an ep in the spring. hopefully, they'll continue to play out more often. i also ran into my friends jenn & john who are two of the cooooolest people i know. i kinda thought they might be at the show, which was one of the reasons i went even though i was dog tired. that's an added benefit of going to zapruder point shows...jenn & john are bound to be there...they're the ones that took me to the first zp show back in may of last year.

been busy. can you tell? happiness is all the rage, ya know...

recent listens:
13--blur
argument--fugazi
what it be like--ed blackwell project
broken shadows--ornette coleman
s/t single--american football
end seranading--mineral
purple rain--prince & the revolution
entertainment!--gang of four
one beat--sleater-kinney
feminist sweepstakes--le tigre
s/t--le tigre
la mia via violenta--blonde redhead
s/t--blonde redhead
bakesale--sebadoh