Stuff to blog about

I've looked all over the internet, and it seems like nobody else has noticed that Wolcott by Vampire Weekend is the same song as August by Rilo Kiley, mixed with the chorus of Spectacular Views. Finding these things is my secret talent. Seriously, Rilo Kiley could sue. Except I kind of hope they don't because I'm digging Vampire Weekend lately.

Graduation Tuesday night was keggeriffic once again. Everyone drank and played and sang and danced and had awesome fun.

Julie B had a birthday get together at Black Rock, which is a pretty good bar that had Summit Oatmeal Stout on special. Yay Julie B! Yay new bars!

Ben's quote of the week: "How hard is it to put on your turn signal?? Answer: Not hard at all." Chicago: please take note. Especially cops. Just use your goddamn turn signals. The number one reason I distrust police officers in Chicago is their selfish, shitty, blatantly law-ignoring driving. I almost got hit this week by a cop car rolling through a stop sign at Greenview and Blackhawk. It was the same car that had cut me off moments earlier at Ashland and North.

Finn's quote of the week, when I asked what his dad's new girlfriend was like: "Her voice...... always sounds like she's kind of confuuuuuuuuused." Finn has been pretty hilarious lately. Apart from a major slipup in school (punched a kid on Valentine's Day) his day-to-day behavior has been much better, and we've been getting along swimmingly, finding lots of new TMBG songs for him to enjoy. Finn also said the new GF was "really nice," that her hair was "a little bit darker than yours, but her face isn't as round," and that it "kind of wiggle-waggles to one side, like it looks like she has more hair on one side of her head than the other."

Adeline cute report: Ben stayed home sick on Tuesday, and Adeline literally did not leave his side. After breakfast she went back upstairs to hang out in bed with him, coming downstairs only with him for bathroom and tea breaks, joining him on the couch, following him back up when he went back to bad. Ben went back to work the next day. He had a caring nurse.

OhMyGodAdelineIsSoCuteAndGreat.

Plantars warts are no match for apple cider vinegar.

Neal had a birthday party last weekend which was a good time, after a long day of birthday parties and cardio jazzing.

Feed brunch is definitely one of the best in town.

Saw Contraption at the Neo-Futurists last night. Neo-Futurists + Taste of Lebanon
= yes yes yes.

One day I will read and own every issue of McSweeneys. (See previous post) I currently own: none.

Tonight I'm going to see a band I might collaborate with at the Hideout. And then Sunday is Ben's birthday. Lookin forward to it.

Something else I like:

Clever people who poke fun with precision.

I can't believe I found this site after writing that post.

dork

Lately I have been getting back into one of my old favorite pastimes. It is really, really dorky.

I've been making a lot of origami.

I told you it was really dorky. I was way into origami when I was in grade school, thanks in part to a Japanese woman at our church. Anyway, it turns out that I still dig it.

It's no surprise, really. I am a big fan of all kinds of things where you follow the directions and see what you come up with in the end. Baking, assembling toys, using technology, riding bike paths, even solving crossword puzzles all follow this philosophy.

This reminds me of another one of my favorite things: a collection of someone's recommended items. I love to enjoy the product of other people's tastes. Mix CDs. Best-of collections. Literary magazines. TMLMTBGB. The 5 Oscar-nominated short films we saw last weekend. I am more likely to go for it when there's a set of things, rather than just one thing that one person recommends. Because I might not share tastes with that person. But if it's a compilation of different things that all have excellent qualities according to one person or many people, it is likely that I will either enjoy a majority, or find them thought-provoking. I love variety shows.

I guess I gain enjoyment from being patient and trusting that it's gonna be good when I get to the end. Especially from trust-worthy sources.

Hey! You are a trustworthy source! Got any recommendations of stuff you love??

sippin on gin and milk

Try it; you'll like it.

Jesse visited this weekend, with his new girlfriend Kirsten who he knows from Green Lake. She was sick and needed to take it easy but we had a nice weekend. Things have been pretty great since Valentine's, which Ben and I spent eating and watching Sesame Street videos on YouTube. It was a happy time. Then Friday night I played a show at the Heartland Cafe with the band that I had been kind of dreading but which turned out to be a lot of fun. It was a benefit show for this organization, and we had a nice group of people playing and a good crowd. I've been feeling pretty anti-baba lately, and was considering quitting the band, but after this gig I remembered that under the right circumstances I really enjoy it. So I think I just need to be more deliberate about my yesses and nos.

Saturday I had a great Cardio Jazz class, and then Jesse and Kirsten showed up. We lunched at Taco Veloz, dinnered at Santullos, then went our seperate ways as they headed to the Super Furry Animals concert at the Metro and we headed off to Ben's college friend Pete's party. After mistaking a party guest's screwdriver ingredients for gin and milk, we decided to try the drink that didn't actually sound too bad. It wasn't bad at all. It's delicious. Refreshing. I'll have to try it warm some time. Turns out we didn't make it up. Ben and I capped off the night with a little dancing at the Handlebar's fifth birthday party. A fraction of Mucca Pazza was there, and when they were done playing the DJ busted out all kinds of stuff, including Ease on Down the Road from The Wiz. Dancing with Ben at the Handlebar with lots of dorky hipsters was so joyful.

Sunday the four of us tried to go to M. Henry for brunch but there was an hour wait, even though it was already 1:30 by the time we made it there. We ate instead at Pannekoeken, the new Dutch pancake place in Lincoln Square. Then we toured the OTS a little bit before dropping Jesse and still-sick Kirsten off to take it easy at home. Ben and I saw the Oscar Shorts and then picked up Soupbox dinner and a movie to watch back at the coach house with J&K. It was a nice cozy night for a disgusting soggy Chicago winter day.

This morning J&K came to see my worms. It was a fun day, especially thanks to the awesome two year old who didn't want to stop running around singing, "Call me!! Call me, anytime... Call me!!" I gotta learn some Blondie for next week's class. Bagel sandwiches at CBA before Kirsten drove outta town, and the Jesse and I did a little shopping and tea before I took him to the bus station. Piano classes, pretty good, but after a fun and tiring weekend I was really happy to come home to have a nice night with my cozy man and cat.

We just watched a trailer online for John Lennon vs. the United States, which is sitting on top of the stereo in Ben's Netflix envelope. At the end of the trailer I had tears in my eyes. He was such a vehicle for hope, and it reminded me of how hopeless I feel about the country I live in. While life has been fun and pretty happy lately, I was suddenly reminded that I spend most of my energy on pleasure and very little of my time and resources on working to make things better in this fucked up world. I haven't been able to really get my optimism back after watching Sicko, which made me feel like I must move to a different country, or perhaps galaxy, if I ever want to bring kids into the world. I am having a hard time envisioning any real change, and when I start to think about wars and food and the environment and education and prejudice and social classes and the media and the corporations, etc etc etc, I am overwhelmed and terrified. I think Barack Obama is incredible and I hope I hope I hope he wins but I'm really nervous that he's not going to.

I didn't know what to do about all this, so I wrote this blog. I also watched Nora the cat play piano, and a little bit of No Reservations and Good Eats with Ben, and then Adeline came to sit with us and decided to make her spot on the blanket over our legs. Between our legs actually, and also between the coffee table and the couch. She was in a little hammock of blanket, staring up at us. All this stuff has made me feel much better, for now at least. I realize it's not at all helpful or productive or good for the world. Maybe tomorrow I'll find something more revolutionary to do. Teaching music to kids is pretty good.

Or maybe I'll hide away with a gallon of 2 percent and some Tanqueray.

There's nothing you can do that can't be done

Ah, Valentine's Day. Ben and I woke up early and went here for coffee and pastries, and after work we're going here for fatty reubens and malts. Nothing's more romantic than a pile of meat!

I listened to Help! on the way to work, and I am in a great mood. Sometimes I forget that I really, really, really love the Beatles. It's fun to listen to them from more of a songwriting perspective now. I think that if somehow there was Beatles music playing when I got home and the door to my house was frozen completely shut, again, I might be less grumpy as I hack away at it with a paint scraper.

Are you sick? Everyone is sick. We're sick-- of calling groups of students to tell them that their classes are canceled because their teacher is sick.

I just learned from spellcheck on Blogger that cancelled is actually spelled canceled. Uh, I mean, is actualy speled canceled. Spelcheck told me. Tod me.

Three cheers for good moods!

unable to blog

Sorry folks. I have been unable to blog, despite lots of interesting things going on. Like a fun Hootenanny, and football with Aerin and Jenna, and drinking after work in the concert hall with Andrea, and Cozy Corner and Swim Cafe and yoga and Orange Mighty Trio with Meara, and the Daily with Mike and Bill and Karen, and lots of snow and freezing temperatures and shoveling, and taking Meredith to the emergency room until 4:30am after she fainted and hit her head during her play (she is fine), and Julia visiting and going to TMLMTBGB and Meli and Atonement and Navy Pier and Soup Box, and writing songs, and worms and piano, and Adeline being the bestest funnest snuggliest lovingest of all, and Cullens with Julie F, and Harold & Maude and tots and cake and Juno with Emily, and Earwax and shopping with Meara and cardio jazz and Milk & Honey with Meredith and Ben coming home and my new favorite place Lovely and the Superbowl party at Jeremy and Jenna's.

Theoretically I should be able to write about all that stuff. But I think that little list is all you're gettin'. I'm feeling a little under the weather and I think that's all I can muster. Basically, I'm pretty good, and stayed busy while Ben was gone, and wish I could sleep all afternoon instead of getting observed by my boss while teaching my piano classes. Wish me luck!