deliberately random thoughts

Tuesday, April 8

posted by yours truly at 11:34 this is going on in our country...

this is going on in their country...

and this is some fiction inspired by what's going on written by a friend from high school...

posted by yours truly at 11:01 oh...i changed my blogger template because that black background w/ bright yellow font was bringing out violent tendencies in me...so i decided to go with a calmer look...sorry if you like the old look better...but there are gonna be changes around here, damn it, and it's starting with this blogger!

posted by yours truly at 07:51 daylight savings time has turned my world upside down...that which made me happy now only annoys me to no end...and when i should still be in bed, here i am at the office after having been on the clock already for 50 minutes and it's not even 8am yet, and technically, according to my body, it's not even 7am, which means that i actually woke up at 4:30am this morning...i am convinced that i am inherently rebellious, and because i know that with the time change, i should want to get up an hour later than normal since that would be what i'm used to, instead, i'm getting up THREE HOURS earlier than normal...all because i'm not supposed to by any logical standard...go figure...

i am still in the pissiest mood i have been in a long LONG LOOOOOOOOOONG time...when this cloud will lift, there's no telling...beware the thundercloud that is SJR...and don't ask...i'm too pissed off to talk about it...

why the hell am i still in chicago? i should be in seattle by now...that was the plan...i am resuming the plan...even if i have to substitute teach and temp or what not...it'll serve me right...

this weather sux...

music: a brief history of the 20th century--gang of four

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Sunday, April 6

posted by yours truly at 23:18 i don't know what's wrong with me...i was fine when i went to sleep last night and then i woke up an emotional train wreck...

i made a promise back in january that i would not let fear hold back my heart...and today i was gripped with fear...doubts...insecurities...

i broke my promise to myself, but i'm getting back on that horse...i will not go easy into the night alone, not this time...

this is a passage from The Prophet by kahlil gibran

"love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
but if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
to melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
to know the pain of too much tenderness.
to be wounded by your own understanding of love;
and to bleed willingly and joyfully.
to wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
to rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstatsy;
to return home at eventide with gratitude;
and then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips."

p.s. saw annie quick & seven head division at the lead way friday night...they RAWKED! VIIHD are so frickin' awesome...they're a great backup band for annie. they're playing again @ gunther murphy's w/ the detholz & other bands on april 24th as a part of the international pop overthrow festival.

p.p.s. went to a poetry for peace thing at the aion teahouse on division & leavitt friday night. it was really cool. there will be another one the 1st saturday of may at the same locale.

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Thursday, April 3

posted by yours truly at 13:37 wow. entire books online. some doozies too...click here for great books online.

posted by yours truly at 11:41 ok. can someone explain to me why some folks equate liberalism with communism? I'M NOT A COMMUNIST!!! but yeah, i would identify myself as a liberal. i was reading this article linked to on the drudge report about a little town in new jersey banning ribbons, and the editor of a jersey newspaper said they received more than 2000 letters regarding the story they ran about the situation, and the typical letter said something like "i see liberalism (a.k.a. Communism) is alive and well there..." like, ok, that a.k.a. communism shit is just not necessary...i mean, i'm not going around calling all conservatives fascists cuz not all of them are.

so tuesday was a beutiful day here in these parts...my friend @ work hares & i went to get some sushi and then went for a walk in that same forest preserve that andrei & allison & i did a photoshoot at last week...i found out that there's a path that goes underneath route 60 (town line road) that leads to a trail in the woods across the street...anyways, it was gorgeous...so yesterday, i made a delivery to barrington hills on my way to work, and it was even warmer...like 80 almost...and i get to work in lake forest, and hares comes by around lunch time and asks if i wanna go for a walk...i'm like yeah, it's really nice out...he asks if it's warm, and i'm like oh yeah, and he's like, really cuz my computer says it's 47 degrees outside, and i'm like 47? maybe 47 celsius...and then we get on weather.com and sure enough lake forest at that time was 45 degrees cold...i couldn't believe it...so i looked up barrington hills, and it was a whoppin 77 degrees out there still!!! like that is so weird....so we didn't go for a walk cuz i wasn't even wearing socks yesterday and i had on my sports sandals.

so rt & i watched this really funny movie...rt's been wanting me to see it for months...it's the bruce lee biography movie that was part of a special chinese connection VHS set...the star of that movie is none other than bruce li. he looks a lot like bruce lee. the acting was soooooooo bad, but the fight scenes were awesome...rt had that entire movie memorized...there were some scenes from both seattle & san francisco in that movie...i never knew that bruce lee graduated from UW in seattle. and the chinese character for bruce lee's family name is the same as for my family name. when i told that to rt, he said not to get any ideas, such as thinking my martial arts is gonna be better cuz i might be related to bruce lee...i think he's just jealous...

tomorrow night there is a poetry slam for peace at the aion tea shop (2135 w. division) 7-9pm. after that, annie quick & others are playing @ the lead way (damen & farragut just north of foster). i think that's a free show. actually, it starts @ 8:30, so i'll be there late. in time for annie though.

recent listenings:
13--blur
fetal position--bill mallonee
ancient melodies of the future--built to spill
your favorite music--clem snide
universal truths and cycles--guided by voices
a.m.--wilco
in between ep--rosie thomas
being there 1&2--wilco
calculated--heavens to betsy

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Tuesday, April 1

posted by yours truly at 11:55 about a week ago, i was doing a photoshoot on the north ave bridge from where i spied a duck couple having dinner in the river below...they were so cute swinging their asses in the air as they bobbed for their dinners...they seemed so content with their simple provisions...i watched them for a long time, getting all nostalgic...

anyways...so it sounds like my friend caleb is doing a house concert for bill mallonee this month...i really wish i could be there...you know, you think you've heard summershine a million times you won't wanna hear it again, until you pop it in the cd player, and there's nothing better for your ride up to work...yeah...i never get sick of bill's music...

i went to visit rt @ his parents' house in the far NW burbs last night...poor thing looked like death warmed over still...being sick sucks...

been listening to:
summershine--vigilantes of love
to the roof of the sky--VoL
murmur--r.e.m.
s/t--le tigre
start here--the gloria record
s/t ep--the gloria record
reading writing and arithmetic--the sundays
loveless--my bloody valentine
substance disc 1--new order
s/t--the pixies
keep it like a secret--built to spill
XO--elliott smith
i break chairs--damien jurado & gathered in song
the photo album--death cab for cutie
murray street--sonic youth

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Sunday, March 30

posted by yours truly at 22:55 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.

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Saturday, March 29

posted by yours truly at 20:47 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...

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Friday, March 28

posted by yours truly at 10:53 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...

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Wednesday, March 26

posted by yours truly at 12:56 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...

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Saturday, March 22

posted by yours truly at 19:21 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...

posted by yours truly at 10:46 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...

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Friday, March 21

posted by yours truly at 07:29 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...

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Thursday, March 20

posted by yours truly at 12:13 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)

posted by yours truly at 03:17 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...

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Wednesday, March 19

posted by yours truly at 23:10 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...

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Tuesday, March 18

posted by yours truly at 06:02 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...

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Monday, March 17

posted by yours truly at 23:22 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.

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Saturday, March 15

posted by yours truly at 20:13 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...

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