stoicsdoitquiet

ummm...I totally forgot about livejournal until Joy sent me a link to something just now. I briefly skimmed Erin and Leigh Ann's LJ entries (joy I was already caught up with yours). Feels like I just woke up from a loooooooooong nap. Could I get like a quick recap of what everyone's up to these days? I'll start!

Still working at AIA Seattle (american institute of architects) doing green building/sustainable development stuff and managing a gallery here. Sarah and I moved to a new house a month or two ago. I'm applying to grad school for Fall 09. Applying to: Uni. Washington, Portland State, UC-Berkeley, Uni British Columbia, UT-Austin, Rutgers, MIT. Maaaaybe Columbia.

The weather here just turned to autumn (which is the same as winter and spring here). Salmon season is mellowing and the days of long bike rides are coming to a close. I'm up to 3.5 cups of coffee a day which means I'm solidly average here.

Sarah and I are in the process of:
a)making beer (I'm bringing some back to B'ham over the holidays)
b)acquiring chickens. yes, chickens.

I just booked my tickets to B'ham over the holidays and I hope we all get a chance to hang out at least once while I'm there.

in...I saw the new episode of Curb last night. LD's still got it! I'm not going to try to catalog everything I've been doing. Seattle's wonderful, Sarah's amazing, and I'm buying a boat...and a pipe. for when I'm on my boat.

So just to keep the stats current: Sarah and I are living in a cool old 1907 apartment building walking distance from work and the ocean, I'm working at American Institute of Architects Seattle doing policy work in sustainable development and also curating the storefront gallery we have. I work on the same block as the first starbucks. There are bookstores and coffee places everywhere. I drink like 3.6 times more coffee now. Liquor is extremely cheap. Average weather is sunny/partly cloudy and 72 degrees. There's more local breweries and vineyards than churches. Everyone asks why I don't have an accent. The city will randomly turn into a forest for acres at a time. I don't even know where the nearest walmart is. I wake up next to sarah every morning. In short, I'm really happy here.

I hope everyone reading this in b'ham, austin, boston, mobile, or seattle is doing well. I'll do a little LJ digging, but I'd love a quick catch-up reply.

I got an interview at AIA (American Institute of Architects) in Seattle!!! I already did a phone interview, and they just called back and said they wanted to do an in person interview! Fuckin A!!!

This is seriously a dream job for me. I'd be able to work on promoting sustainability advocacy programs, work in downtown seattle on the waterfront, help redevelop their art gallery, etc! Holy fuck!!

5 days. as previously stated, can't. fucking. wait. I'm incredibly sad and mildly depressed about Charles and Amos leaving. I didn't realize parting company with my two best friends would be this difficult for me. I should've set it up to leave last week as well.

Far as I'm concerned, this week is about last meals at favorite restaurants, earning one last paycheck from work, boxing up the few possessions that will accompany me to Seattle, and saying good-bye to my family.

This past weekend I haven't left my loft except to go to work and run. Evenings I've recorded music, read books, had the odd beer or two and generally enjoyed a big room all to myself.

Stuff to do before leaving:

-do laundry/finish packing
-dry clean suit for interview in seattle
-put finishing touches on a song so I can publish it before leaving town
-visit family one last time
-check sarah's car (levels, radiator, hoses, belts etc)
-cook food for the trip
-take care of utilities stuff
-finish ripping lectures, podcasts, etc to sarah's ipod for the trip

can't.fucking.wait.

I'm redownloading SMILE tonight. I've got Heroes and Villains stuck in my head and it's driving me crazy. heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeroes and viiiiiilains...fuck.

This morning I had breakfast with my dad. He essentially gave me his unblessing of my decision to move. Fantastic.

Of course, it wasn't QUITE that simple, there was alot of back and forth, some of which was really positive. But apparently a non-literal interpretation of the bible means a person lacks any moral authority. That was pretty expected.

The really bizarre part was that somehow I got the impression that seeing the bible as primarily a historical book and/or reading it with an aim towards [higher] criticism reduces the whole thing to fairy tales. Daniel, help a brother out: isn't the uber-historical view of the bible part and parcel (along with the whole grace by faith thing) with evangelical theology? I mean C'MON!

I typed a really long thing about conservatism and morality, but basically it can all be summed up by saying CATO and American Enterprise Institute are...well they're not evil (I hate sensationalizing things), but they're pretty damn fucked up. I hope they all at some point realize just how badly they're ruining things for alot of people.

Avoiding the usual Nation, Economist, Atlantic Monthly fare, here are a few off the beaten path magazines you should be following:

Utne Reader
The Progressive
The Humanist
E: Environmental Magazine
Mental Floss
Mother Jones
Dwell

Now go out and read them. All are carried at the Central Library incidentally. I guess Hoover may have acouple, although off the beaten path and hoover rarely go together. But then you've gotta read Time and Newsweek somewhere (we have those at Central as well).

Oh and one of my friends made a friend in a bathroom at a bar last night and then brought the guy to our table. It was creepy. Soooooo if you're ever in a restroom and a guy starts chatting you up mid-stream, don't bring him over to our table. Just future reference...

I cut off all my hair. Sarah was scared but she likes it. I'm growing a full mustache and getting ready for some super-trooper references. I also decided Birmingham is one big Brownfield. 4th worst pollution in the country for little pieces of stuff in our air and, consequently, our lungs. May be time to start building up that oncology wing of UAB...

Oh, I'm selling my bass amp in anticipation of the upcoming move if anyone's interested/knows anyone that might be interested. Email me for more info. I'll craigslist it next week.

1)living next door to a party is the best thing ever. all the convenience, none of the day after responsibility.
2)I have too many friends that I see too little. Reinforced by the people I saw last night.
3)when you get into bed after midnight, you WILL fall asleep. don't think you'll be the one to beat the system.
4)knock before you enter. no reason. just. knock.
5)I am quickly becoming part of the best saag making duo in the world.

I think I found a new method of burning money and reliving my childhood:

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&from=R10&_trksid=m37&satitle=&sacat=4696%26catref%3DC6&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D2&sadis=200&fpos=95125&sabfmts=1&saobfmts=insif&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=1%26fsoo%3D1&coaction=compare&copagenum=1&coentrypage=search&fgtp=

Might get ugly.

Family dinner one night this week or this weekend? If this one doesn't work out I give up. Everyone's back in town, right?

I think once I quit work I get paid one month's severance pay. That would kick ass.

dinner. this weekend; who's in? Laura, will you be back in town from Austin?

Tonight I'm planning on going out to meet some of sarah's friends. She seems to have impeccable taste in the people with whom she spends her time so it should be fun. Also, I've been on a crusade for spicy black bean burgers since yesterday. Thanks again for inviting us, chris! AHH, here comes my boss, gotta get back to work!

May 11th? Wow, even my internet presence has been in cognito lately. Yes, it's true; I have been out of sight for the last week or two (or three?). I don't really know why. It's not something conscious; I guess it's mostly just what I've been in the mood for lately. In my head, I feel like I've already sortof left B'ham, even though I won't move away until the end of summer. The Birmingham I knew on a fairly stable level for the last two years seems of more historical relevance than anything else. I attribute this to a number of things, the likes of which I'll recount over beers rather than keyboards should the reader wish.

I really enjoy other people's company, but I also never tire of ways to entertain myself. I never get tired of reading or writing or going for walks, cooking, etc. Given the choice between organizing some get-together of people or just entertaining myself, I'll usually just occupy my time on my own. So if anyone wants to hang out, you need to get in touch with me. Just take it as a given that I want to hang out, pending availability.

I'm starting to see my life as a series of less funny CYE episodes. I'm Larry (minus the money), Charles is Jeff (minus the weight) and Sarah is Cheryl (minus the...sunken cheek bones?).

Anyway, I'm moving to Seattle in August/Sept. In case the news wasn't out there already. My entire raison d'etre is based around that move. Probably alittle early to be that way, but so it goes.

ATTENTION FAMILY DINNER-GOERS! Since Sarah is out of town (I'd hoped to get her help making dinner) family dinner would work out better for me next weekend. Thoughts? There's no reason we couldn't have abunch of people over to watch movies/drink wine/eat popcorn or some other combination of libations though. Or we can all go hang out somewhere. Again, thoughts?




This weekend:

Friday Night: hang out with some of the people I've missed hanging out with lately. My phone is at home so I won't receive any calls until after 6:00. But whatever's going on, I'm tentatively in.

Sat.: work 9-6. Hang out time? Maybe stay in and work on music, I don't know.

Sun: I'm in for brunch if anyone else is...Other than that, work 2-6 and then whatever.

So that's it, all the news that's fit to print from my little cube of concrete on 2nd Ave. :)

Yesterday Drew came by and set up the curtain to his room. I plan on doing the same today. Plans for moving in drums, building a table out of a door and buying chairs for said table were also discussed. I'm expecting Laura and Sarah to help bring the family dinner magic to our humble residence soon. Also, who's in for some popcorn/movie night once drew's officially moved in and we've got the projector hooked up?

Last night my request to hang out was fulfilled by one leah strickland and her friend. I rode over to Rojo and talked with some friends until leah showed up. It had been way too long since I was at rojo. I still like that place alot. Anyway, we were hanging out and then daniel called and came over. A deal went down, we drank afew beers and caught up/hung out and then leah and her friend left. Daniel and I continued hanging out and then went back to the loft and watched the first two episodes of Arrested Development Season 3 (yeah that's right Laura! no more of this "live-ins" talk flying over my head!). OK so we actually watched 1 1/2 episodes and then I fell asleep. I'm getting old.

So yeah, last night was alot of fun. Good times all around. No serious talk, save a brief period of discussion about the democratic debates/candidates. Mike Gravel is my new hero.

Tonight I'm planning on hanging out with at least Erin and hopefully leigh ann and perhaps drew, daniel, amos, etc etc. Anyone who's interested in doing something (especially if you've got ideas), give me a call. I get off work at 6:00.

driving me insane. I just want to pick two more schools at random and have my list and be done with it. goddamnit.

I think I want to go out for dinner somewhere and grab drink(s) afterward and not talk about anything serious. Is anyone interested?

resilient. I've used the same lime in like 3 glasses of water now and I can still taste it. brilliant. My posting is becoming increasingly infrequent. This is based mostly on how busy I've become outside of the internet-accessible world. With what? Well, how about a girlfriend and writing songs for my new band (a cross of Orange Juice meets The Zombies, or for those less savvy with record clerk-esque name-dropping, 80's post-pop meets 60's soul-pop). Still working out the details but it should be alot of fun. I haven't decided on a schedule for shows, recording etc...My guess is that I'll mostly do recording (nothing too serious, just rough sketch work) for most of the summer and worry about starting to do shows later on. I don't really like playing shows much until people have heard recordings, so that's not really my focus right now. I'd rather do shows with more avante-garde music anyway.

Oh and the girlfriend...Sarah's wonderful. And yes, I'm going to use LJ to talk about my g/f! Step off! Seriously though, she makes me really happy and I hope I can enrich her life a modicum of how much she's improved mine. Unfortunately, I think we're past the point in the relationship where people still find girltalk about it interesting...which brings us back to why I'm using LJ for this purpose. :)

I was really sad that I couldn't go to Nashville last weekend. I had to walk for graduation instead. I knew it would take a long time so I thought I'd grab a copy of some book of mine to read. Unfortunately the only paperback I had that would fit inside the commencement was The Communist Manifesto. So as they told us to stand up, I had "WORKERS OF THE WORLD- UNITE!" still lingering on my retinal walls. I found it ironic, considering I was basically taking part in an official welcome to bourgeois society.

I look forward to seeing leigh ann, laura, and erin this summer. Leigh ann has decreed that this will be the best summer ever and I'm depending on you ladies to make that happen. My home can play host as needed (pending drew and charles' approval)! Joy and Cheryl, you guys live in town already-your participation I take as a given!

Around autumn last year I introduced the latest in Brad™ technology: dignified Brad™. Dignified Brad™was intended to be an upgrade in response to many defects in Prodigal Brad™, the Brad of last summer. Dignified Brad™ did a good job and was again replaced earlier this year with Relationship Brad™, the highest and most impressive Brad™ to date. One reason for the introduction of Dignified Brad (I'm gonna stop doing the ™ from hereon out, just take it as a given ok?) was the realization that I didn't had a disproportionate number of guy friends. I didn't have many women that I knew primarily as friends. I wanted to fix this and I feel like I have in alot of ways. I'm really glad to have so many cool people in my life, and especially the girls I know b/c they have such a balancing effect. Anyway, enough hippie talk...

Which would be sexier if you were passing by and saw me on a bike:

-a bell
-a mirror
-a front basket
-goulet

Fox News is hitting new levels of lame every fucking day. Someday maybe I'll be able to interact with people like that in a very zen, transcendent way. But as of now, people like that really make me wish upon them horrible horrible things. On the other hand, it's probably a good sign that people like Vonnegut still throw enough of a wrench in the Murdoch Worldview™ to merit that kind of vitriol. God help us when they™ find a way to absorb and commercialize someone like Kurt.

As for things less ideologically oriented, my eye exam went well. For those just tuning in, for the last couple of weeks whenever I put my contacts in my eyes were getting really red and I couldn't figure out why. I went to the optometrist Erin suggested and he was quite cool indeed. Not that I suspected Erin's discriminating taste in cool people. After all, she and I are friends. Anyway, my eyes are fine. I have some minor blood vessel growth on my corneas, but nothing serious. Here's the twist: the reaction with my contacts was because my contacts are contaminated and thus every time I put in my contacts I was in effect reinfecting myself with viral conjunctivitis (similar to pinkeye). So he said to wait a week, don't wear my contacts and come back and I should be cleared up. I should then be fitted for contacts and be back in glasses-less action.

So what's going on this weekend? I know there's the art show at amos' but what about sat? I couldn't go with Joy to have birthday margaritas last night so I owe her a drink of her choice next time we hang out.

Quick question: what's your preferred option for human teleportation: data transmission, topological shortcut, or some other type?

I myself like topological shortcuts for the philosophical economy it carries with regard to human identity issues.

63% of my conversations went like this:

me: hey man, how ya doing?
them: ________
me: ah, cool cool. I haven't seen you in forever. What have you been up to?
them: aw, nothing much man. workin' and school.
me: yeah?
them: yeah, you?
me: nothing much, I actually moved.
them: then how are we still able to party here?
me:oh adam and daniel are still here, I just moved downtown.
them:where?
me:the phoenix building.
them: a)aw fuck, I've wanted to get a place there for awhile.
b)cool
c)the what?
me: a)yeah you should come by sometime (I actually meant it)
b)yeah, it's cool.

At this point I either found something else to do or asked about something I know they're into, know about, are working on, etc.

All in all, it was a good time. It was weird leaving at the end of the night for "home". On the drive home I talked to sarah and ran into the Western to buy some soy milk and on a whim bought some goldfish crackers. man I love those things.

I drank too much high life. Did you guys see that thing?! I'm not drinking beer for a month week. Ugh.

I'm ready for Drew and Charles to move in. I feel like this is going to be a really good summer. Tomorrow I have an eye exam and I'm really nervous about it. Cross your fingers that it goes well.

Tonight I want to really soak in the weather. Curl up with a good book, make some soup and sip tea while enjoying a good book (currently I'm reading one by the economist John Kenneth Galbraith). I belong in England or the Pacific Northwest. This weather is the best.

So the library asked me to write an entry in their blog about Kurt Vonnegut and it just got added. You can read it here if you're tired of reading my thoughts in this font. http://bplolinenews.blogspot.com

I just got the news this morning about Mr. Vonnegut. As many of you know, I haven't liked the novel as a literary medium since I was 17. The exception to this distaste for the novel has been Kurt Vonnegut. His writing has meant a great deal to me. I've only very rarely felt truly sad when a famous person died. Kurt Vonnegut is one of those people. Tomorrow morning I'm going to read Breakfast of Champions as a tribute to him.

Since my last post, I've begun adjusting to life in a loft. Here are some random observations and insights I've made since beginning my residency:

1)Reverb is like that grandfather clock that you have to live with for afew days before you stop hearing it. Now I don't even notice the reverb unless something really loud happens. However, everyone who comes over notices it. The Ikea list now has down to buy lots of rugs and curtains. Also, we need stuff for the walls. Suggestions? Also, vocals and instruments sound amazing in there.

2)Living downtown is great monday-friday. There are lots of places to eat, run errands etc etc within walking distance. However, during the day on the weekend the place is a ghosttown it seems.

3)Concrete is cool. Our HVAC bill is going to be ridiculously low. I haven't touched the thermostat since I moved in and the entire time the temp has hovered between 66-68 degrees.

4)Big bedrooms are weird. There's almost no reason to have a bedroom as big as mine is when you have so much space in the rest of the place. Seriously, I could live in just the bedroom and the kitchen and have plenty of space.

This morning I made buckwheat pancakes and used the french press I just bought to make coffee for the second morning. Both were quite good. I watched Snatch. I like that movie alot.

I'm really eager to get wifi in there. Once we do that, I may not ever leave except for work. Why can't we get a fucking grocery store downtown?!

Tonight I'm going to see the Decemberists. I'm only marginally excited about this. In fact, if I hadn't already bought the ticket I'd probably stay home. I may leave early if I get tired and the singer is still going on and on with some morose literary tale after an hour.

Anyone ever had the inner part of your eyelid feel like you strained/pulled a muscle? That's how my eye feels if I blink really hard or put pressure on it. It's weird. It's the same feeling as when you pull a leg muscle or something except at the inner corner of my eyelid. I haven't worn contacts since sunday. I think I'm going to visit an optometrist one day this week or next week. Anyone have any particular place they recommend? I haven't been since I moved to birmingham.

I miss sarah. alot.
I miss sarah. alot.

I'll be officially moved into the loft. Yay! Charles and I will unload some lumber at 6:30 and Joy will show up around 7:00 and we'll load up my stuff and hopefully get it all there in two trips. I think we can; there's not that much stuff. I look forward to getting over to Ikea buy some much needed stuff for the place soon.

I'm going to be hungry and tired afterward. But a good kindof tired. Maybe I'll order Taj or something. Hmmmm..

Last night I watched Contempt. I love that movie. Drew and Leigh Ann showed up. Leigh Ann made fun of me. It had been a while. All is right in the world again.

Laura called me last night. I'm almost sure it was a drunk dial. I'll confirm tonight.

I don't know what I want for dinner. maybe taj?