Life at an Intersection

Chicago Phoenix, indemnity bonds, journaling, really really really want a zigazig ah, travel, books, travel books, relationships, values. It is hard to pinpoint precisely, but I'd say about 82% of what you read here is true. The rest is fictional nonfiction.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Lame Times Three

This is a perfectly lovely little video. If you have six minutes - I know, an eternity in internet video time! - give it a whirl.

Fifty People, One Question: Brooklyn from Fifty People, One Question on Vimeo.




Where would you wish to wake up tomorrow? That question really suceeded in capturing my imagination the other day. I guess it says a bit about my personality and state of mind that I searched my memory for the most wonderful place that I could remember waking up over the last few years. I rewound to beds and hostels and apartments and morning views from windows in several Central American, Asian, and North American cities. I considered emotions more than company, simple location more than emotion, the past much more than future possibility. But I thought about all of these things. I haven't yet come up with a definitive answer, though I have conjured some great contenders. What a fun thought exercise.

There is a boy that I like. The circumstances of our meeting could not have been more perfectly off-the-wall, more expectedly unexpected. Imagine someone slipping on a banana peel or standing in front of a huge audience with his zipper down and you aren't far off.

Of course, there are a million miles between "There is a boy that I like" and "There is a boy, and he and I are in like with each other." I tend to view this as a similar situation to a job search, though. (That sounds rather dispassionate, doesn't it? My, what a romantic I've unbecome.) The biggest hurdle to getting oneself a new job is scoring an interview; getting past that resume stage, having the opportunity for the sit-down, face-to-face. After that, it is cake and "Where's my cubicle, who signs the overtime slips, please?" (I say this not because it is true for me, but because it is true for every person that reads my blog. Give us a chance, and we succeed.)

So it is pretty much the same thing with friendships and relationships. It is difficult to charm some handsome boy with a Facebook message or make a new friend just by sharing your table with them at the coffee shop. You need a chance to talk, to ask, to wear a new shirt that you love, to show them your favorite restaurant and pay the bill and put your best face forward. So I guess that I'm hoping for that chance.

My coworker is pregnant. Her pregnancy is making me hungry. She just found out that she is expecting on Friday, and she's already eating for two, bringing these elaborate, delicious-smelling meals to work or ordering the most fantastic greasy takeout in a forty block radius. I just realized that the second sentence of this paragraph might make it sound like I want to eat her or her baby. That's funny. I don't.

Currently Listening to:
Sun Kil Moon Ghosts of the Great Highway and
Ryan Adams and the Cardinals Cardinology

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Ari and Happy

So I'm walking north on Clark Street this evening, headed out to the coffee palace to drink something wonderful and fall-like and enjoy my book, when this middle-aged gentleman stops me and struggles to get his question out.

"Excuse me...um...do you know if...are there any...how do you call them...um...I'm looking for a bar. Do you know if there are...um...any bars around here?"

He has a Caribbean accent, if that helps. Go back and read that scintillating dialogue with a Caribbean accent, if you please.

"Well, of course," I reply, in what I hope was a kind tone with a slightly condescending, yer-an-idiot, Midwestern sort-of edge. It is a fine art, this Chicago tone. I'm working on it. "There's bars all over here. What are you looking for?"

"I want a...strip bar. Yes, a strip bar."

"Guys or girls?" was my next query.

"Girls, girls," was his rapid reply.

"Wrong neighborhood, pal."

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I'm going to Portland the first week in November to see my old gal pal Liza. I'm so excited about this. Hopefully I'll get to see the Cam'rons for a spell as well. The Pacific Northwest holds so many wonderful people that I love!

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This is an exciting concert week for me. Sunday night Sofia and I are going to support one of our favorite bank customers at his movie premiere/band show. We actually have really good luck with these things; when our customers invite us to their concerts and restaurants and theatre productions, we generally have a really good time and get to appreciate people that we only associate with balances and casual conversation in a cool new way.

Even more exciting, though, is the three night Lucinda Williams concert extravaganza that I'm going to be partaking in on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. This is her 30th anniversary tour, and she's highlighting music from three different albums on each of the three nights. I'm excited to hear some older and lesser-known, but personal favorite selections.

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I got to go to the opening night of the Chicago International Film Festival this past Thursday night. (Side note: this is because the secret of life - sorry, James Taylor and Oprah - is knowing some well-connected Jews.) It was a fun night, with several celebrities, both actual and local, in attendance. Uma Thurman was there, as was Jacqueline Bisset, Roger Ebert, and Mayor Daley. Uma's new movie Motherhood was the opening film of the festival, and yeah, it was not great. But it doesn't matter that much because I could look at her all day. And since she was there and all, they gave her a Career Achievement award in what had to have been one of the most awesomely awkward ceremonies ever. Seriously, it might have been David Brent giving the award, it was that bad. Michael Kutza, the director or creator or whatever of the festival, needs to be put out to pasture, like, stat. He kept correcting people that he was standing beside at the podium, even Uma! And when he went to give her the award, he couldn't find it, even though it was in the podium. Anyway, the whole thing made Chicago's film community look really third-rate, which it probably is, so no big deal.

Currently Listening to:
Ryan Adams and the Cardinals Follow the Lights and
The Format Interventions and Lullabies and
Lucinda Williams World Without Tears

Twitter / Davie_St

Words That I'm Living By - 5/2/2010

Time, as I've known it
Doesn't take much time to pass by me
Minutes into days, turn into months
Turn into years, they hurry by me
But still I love to see the sun go down
And the world go around

Dreams full of promises
Hopes for the future, I've had many
Dreams I can't remember now
Hopes that I've forgotten,
faded memories
But still I love to see the sun go down
And the world go around

And I love to see the morning
as it steals across the sky
I love to remember and
I love to wonder why
And I hope that I'm around
so I can be there when I die
When I'm gone

I hope that you will think of me
In moments when you're happy and you're smiling
That the thought will comfort you
On cold and cloudy days
if you are crying
And that you'll love to see
the sun go down
And the world go around
And around and around

"Around and Around" by Mark Kozelek

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