Sunday Sunday, Little Bastards' Fun Day

An open house has me back out on the streets. It's time to do a bit of coding.

Some Kind of Wonderful

"I think we'll get along much better if we don't spend so much time together anymore. Because. I'm driving you crazy, and you're driving me crazy, and I'd rather have you think good things about me and not see me than see me and hate me. I can't afford to have you hate me, Keith. The only things I care about in this life are me, my drums and you."

Yesterday

Yesterday was spent mostly sleeping, or in bed, with a visit to see the Zelienople boys practice for their upcoming show at the empty bottle. Michelle said that I looked all Minnesota now, while Matt said I look exactly the same as I did when I left. My brother's in New York this weekend. He's worried that my plans this time are the same as last time - sell my place, head off to some strange city without a plan, sleep on someone's couch, and start totally from scratch again. The thought had crossed my mind but I'm fairly certain that's not the road I'm heading down this time. I'll figure things out I'm sure, once I've cleared out some space to think. Everything is being rethought, and I am back.

Sleeping Dogs

A bit more sleep helped me recover from the hot dogs. Time to pack up and head home. Supposedly one of my songs will be on WXRT's Local Anesthetic this Sunday at 7:30 pm, but I'm a wait and see type of guy. I'm not sure if it'll help turnout Tuesday or not, or whether I want more people seeing me play songs I don't even have memorized yet. But if you're interested, Tuesday evening I'll be playing a set of Johnny Cash songs at Uncommon Ground.

Me and Matt'll be eating some grub from Alberto's on Saturday. I'll be reading, drinking tea, and basically regaining my strength otherwise, visiting old friends, visiting my bookie and getting accounts settled there.

That Old Saw

What's that old saw about stupid? "Doing the same thing and expecting a different result"? I woke up in intense intestinal pain, most probably from the rather questionable looking hot dogs eaten last night. Sirens! Calling me to my doom against the spongy hot dog rocks.

Hopefully I'll have regained my constitution by mid-afternoon and will be on the road. On the road! Three more beautiful words do not exist.

The Knife That Cut Me Free

I have once again imperiled my good health by grabbing questionable snacks at SuperAmerica. I was going for the nachos - a bit of cheese, some jalapenos to kill the bacteria, when a couple of ladies advised me to go for the hot dogs. Easily persuaded I went to the roller rack and selected the two least dangerous looking hot dogs, which were still wildly different in color, one being a sort of orange pink and the other being a turd brown. Did the taco roll teach me nothing? Or is this some kind of death wish?

SuperAmerica. Back in Chicago they're called Speedways (when you're on the go when you're on your way). I'll be back in Chicago soon, licking my wounds, healing up. I am right now way past the red line in terms of stamina. Mentally and physically I'm beaten and bruised. My speech processing center is shot - I can hear words but I can't decipher them without difficulty. It's what my step-sister called the kaleidoscope - words come in and go through a kaleidoscope and I hear what I don't want to hear.

And so, Ham and I are parting ways. I don't think either of us could survive any other way, or more importantly grow. I'll have more time for, well, sleep, but also experiments and research, and being a more well rounded person. That old quality of life thing. Hopefully I can find a way to temper my ambition with rest.

Wire to Weird

It certainly has been an interesting experience up here so far. I've spent the past few days fighting sleep - sleep has been winning. I kind of wish I were back in Chicago, even if just for the weekend. One of the Upsons was having trouble with photoshop and I'm sure it would've been easy to have helped had I been in the same room. Christy said that Gigi is saying "mama" and "dada" now, and "why did uncle donn move away?" I'll be on the road soon enough. How soon? In a weekend or two for sure, with presents for the tykes and stories.

I have heard tell that there are all kinds of places out there in the world that I haven't been to. My intention when things are settled here is to go out and see a bit of it. I basically know Indiana, Chicago, and Minneapolis. The rest is hotels and tourist traps so far. Until next time!

Morning Recordings

Not the Pramod version - just me waking up on a Saturday and forcing myself to sit down in front of the ol' digital 8-track. Stream of consciousnessed a song and then tightened up the words. After this I think I'll be doodling songs not related to me. I've met a lot of people up here up north, gathered a lot of stories. Now it's just about finding time and getting depressed enough to write. Ha ha. And now back to work (an obvious effort to get myself more depressed).

Bah! Hulk Smash Minnersoter

That is all. Good night all.

Bah!

Well, the Minneapolis Cartoonist Conspiracy is a fun time, but not the WILD FANTASTIC ORGASMIC fun I had convinced myself it would be while chained to my desk in Chicago. I need to find a way to keep more in practice in cartooning - not just doodling, but composing frames and fitting words balloons in and such. But then, free time has been at a premium.

It ends up that Kevin, Zander and I all got the same S.A.T. scores. Weird! They're cartoonist/writers and I'm... well... I don't know what I am. I felt an absurd happiness today as I left work. I didn't stop smiling for an hour. I headed straight to the Diamond's building to chill out and ready myself for the C.C. meeting.

It was good to be back amongst the PUNY folk for a bit - watching the interplay of insults between Tim and Vickerman, watching new guy acclimate to the wild funny environment. In half a year things will be so much different there. It's like watching leaves fall, a bit melancholy. This whole past five plus years seems like a single year. I lose track of how long ago things were, like all of my days up here during that time were continuous rather than broken apart by weeks or months in Chicago. Experiential time versus calendar time or something. Something like that.