Threat Level: Midnight

Apparently I've wandered into Martha territory. That means I need to update my blog more.

I have to be honest. Living with Colin makes it a little easier not to update things. Not much happens, and if something does, he's going to post it and do so more eloquently than I could hope for. Other than school and work, I had kind of a whiskey week, and I've been coming to terms with getting my last semester done. That's actually a good feeling, and something I hadn't really thought much about until now.

Started to explore the neighborhood a little more recently, and it's starting to grow on me. We went to Whirlaway the other day which is this really small bar around the corner from us. It's a tiny place with a couple small tables, a couch, the bar itself, and an out of place pool table. The barmaid is this really nice older lady named Maria.

She asked for my id because she didn't recognize me, and talked to me for a few minutes about being in the neighborhood, having a birthday coming up, and saying that her son was also born in 1980. When I was leaving later, she came by and told me to come in to celebrate with them, reciting my birthday back to me. It was funny.

I also stopped by a mexican bakery near the El that has all sorts of pastries and cookies and breads that I don't really know much about. I bought a few things, and having high hopes, tried them. Mostly, they weren't very good, but I suppose it could be nice if I get a craving.

Ha. I just noticed that this title has nothing to do with the post. I think I was going to write about something else.

old stuff.

I got an email from an old friend today. It was from this kid who lived across the street from me for a long time when I was growing up. He asked how everything was and how my brother, Andy, was doing. He told me how he takes his son around to the places we used to play and how it reminds him of all the stuff we used to do.

For a while I lived in a small green ranch with a couple apple trees in the back, and this weird, short climbing tree in the front yard. It was a nice street from before all the subdivisions started popping up. Our backyard butted up to this small hill, and behind that a huge field that ran behind all our neighbors houses as well. There were some power lines, and beyond that was corn fields with the exception of a small swampy area. Several houses down one way there was a sort of really small, winding creek that went back to that swamp.

It was a really cool place to grow up, and hearing from this guy brought all these childhood memories rushing back. I remember spending entire days back there just running around, and climbing trees. Looking for all sorts of things and sometimes finding arrowheads, or old treasures that had been buried for years. Sometimes we would float things down the stream to see who's "boat" would win.

We played roller hockey in a church parking lot at the end of the street, and some days we would just run around and beat the hell out of each other. This guy Jason, who emailed me, got shot in the ass by my brother with a pellet rifle once. On accident. From two feet away.

I remember staying up late playing video games, and pickup games of baseball, and playing soccer as an awkward, gangly little kid. I had a lot of fun growing up and getting scraped up and muddy. I think I'm going to try to do that a little more often. I've gotten a little stuck in routine lately, but I'm going to try to remedy that.

Snowboarding.

There was a rumor about going snowboarding/skiing over the coming weekend. I don't have a car, but I'm in if anyone wants to drive. Devil's Head and Cascade Mountain are both 2.5-3 hours away, but look like the best options. There's a couple closer ones but they don't have snow. Anyway, it would be fun if anyone wants to go. Let me know!

Keep it together.

I've been sick for a few days now, but I started feeling much better yesterday afternoon. I went out for a walk just to soak up some of the good (weird?) weather we've been having, and pick up a few things. It's nice just wearing a hoody in January. I went out to get something to eat, and stop off at Emilio's grocery to get some cooking stuff. It's funny because on the way over there, I noticed something. In Little Italy you can always hear the birds chirping and singing and all that. Over here I've noticed much more the sound of pigeons. Sometimes they hang out on the various window sills, and they seem to have all kinds of different calls or sounds too. I just thought that was interesting.

So I went to the little pancake place by the el stop, and the lady sits me down, brings me a drink, and gives me a newspaper. For some reason this completely caught me off guard, and I thought it was really cool. I had an omelette with toast and sausage, and read what everyone thinks the Bears need to do in the playoffs. I skipped the hash browns, and when I paid the bill, the lady gave me my card back with one of those Ghirardelli's chocolate squares. She said since I was being good, having no hash browns, I should eat one of these! She's a nice little spanish lady.

Last night I went to the Clipper with Colin, Kevin, Nate and Leslie. Chuck showed up a little later too. It was good to go out, and the crowd was interesting. A rockabilly band was playing, and the people were dressed accordingly. I saw my fair share of pompadores, black pants, and dancing. Me and Leslie were scoping out prospectives for eachother, but the dude to chick ratio was pretty high. We had a few drinks, I bought some tamales from the tamale guy, and me, Colin, Kevin, and Nate left in Kevin's car. We wolfed down the tamales one by one in the car, leaving a corn husk trail behind the car the whole way home.

Afterward, Colin and I had a couple more drinks since it was early, listened to a few records and discussed interior decorating. Yeah, it was awesome.

A hitch was nowhere to be found.

Last night we had people over for a small New Years celebration. It actually turned out better than we thought. These kinds of things are usually so subject to being underwhelming, or a complete letdown. We didn't officially invite anyone in particular and by early last night, we were a little skeptical that anyone was actually going to show up. Probably going to make plans a little more solid in the future. Just a thought.



A toast at midnight, and then more people started showing up shortly after. Cassie and Liz saved the night by providing food that was definitely better than Totino's pizza rolls. This is why men don't plan parties.

All in all, everyone had a pretty good time! Many of our friends came, and those who could not, I think you should know that you were dearly missed. There were several bouts of spontaneous dancing, and the Theory of Kitchen Congregation once again proved to be true. Happy 2007 everyone!