Rhodri prodded me into omegle.com. Interesting concept but I can't say I've managed to have any sort of interesting conversation yet...
Buy some: Fanfarlo
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Rhodri prodded me into omegle.com. Interesting concept but I can't say I've managed to have any sort of interesting conversation yet...
Buy some: Fanfarlo
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In honor of my best friend exercising her right to marry the love of her life today... my favorite love songs:
Buy some: Looper, Mint Royale, The Divine Comedy, Louis Philippe, Jens Lekman
Ps. Thank you Iowa.
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I fear I am this headless goose today.
Buy some: Serge Gainsbourg, Luna
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Dear CTA,
I would like to register a complaint against the driver of the Brown Line train that was inbound toward Belmont at approximately 8:45 this morning. This driver made our train car fear for their lives. As they took the corner southbound towards the Belmont station it was at such a high rate of speed that passengers were thrown from their seats and several people ended up on the floor. The ride from there on out felt like a roller coaster ride. With every corner we hung on for dear life and tried not to feel nauseated.
I appreciate when the el drivers try to get the passengers to their destinations on time but at what point if their speeding and recklessness cause concern. At times during this train ride it felt like the train would derail when we took the corners with such force. The young kid next to me on literally gripped onto the railing beneath the window and muttered "Oh Man. Oh Man" under his breathe all the way between Armitage and Sedgwick.
Still Shaking,
Me
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1 This mp3 is a recording of the train announcement on the Arriva Train line in Wales. Courtesy of Rhodri, this makes me smile in fond remembrance of my last train ride through Wales to Aberystwyth.
Buy some: The Silver Seas
Tomorrow, my cell contract expires. I've been with Verizon for two years now after a bit of a mess with T-Mobile when my Sidekick3 was broken and they refused to fix it. I'm at the point where I need to decide a direction to move forward. I want an iphone. Who doesn't want an iphone? I don't want AT&T. Their network is awful in Chicago and everyone I know has problems with their service during big events (despite being a sponsor at both Lollapalooza last year everyone who was on AT&T experienced serious problems with text delays, no reception, dropped calls, etc.) Also, iPhones are not cheap. There are pro's to the Verizon service I have now. Many of my friends are on the service which means free calls and text... but there are cons (the entire back half of my apartment has no reception and when I contact Verizon about this I am given the runaround).
I'm opening this up to comments should anyone want to give me positive or negatives about their own phone and/or cellular service. I'd like to make a smart, informed decision and I can't stay with the service plan I have for much longer (other than my phone is falling apart, I am paying way too much for a service plan that isn't necessary). There's too many factors at play here and my normal decisive self is feeling pulled in many directions.
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I've come to a fork in the road. Do I go left or right?
Buy some: Saint Etienne
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Someone had scrawled "Bathroom In" on a piece of paper with a Sharpie. Seemed like a safe bet right? As I walked in the door and saw the boxes and general storage room state I realized the sign was a bit off. I turned around to walk out but the door had shut behind me. I stared at the back of a door with no handle. Huh. I walked into the bathroom come storage closet and found another door... locked from the outside.
It's 11 am on a Saturday and I'm locked in a Chicago Public School bathroom somewhere in the vicinity of 71st St & Ashland. Ummm.... this is apparently the karma due to me for getting up early on a Saturday morning to volunteer. As I start to call the friend I came with I am recalling all of the signs on every open wall saying "Volunteers & Girls: No Cell Phones, No Text Messaging. This is for your privacy." Ring. Ring. Ring. No answer. I bang on the door a few times, aware that I'd walked down a pretty empty hall to find this particular storage closet. I am trying very hard not to panic. I send a text message to my friend, "Help. I am trapped in a bathroom." I wait, taking deep breathes and investigating if there's possibly any other route out of my current prison. I begin to fear my friend has left her phone in the car. I know no one else in the building. I send out a twitter, thinking the world might be slightly amused at my current situation. I wait what seems like an hour but is probably only five minutes. It's a huge sigh of relief when my phone finally registers a text from my friend and salvation is on the way...
Buy some: The Vaselines, The Boy Least Likely To, Peter Bjorn and John
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Lately, I've been dreaming about work. I am actually working in my sleep... designing, critiquing, sometimes even handling photoshoots. As forms and follow through have been stalking me into my dream life I've begun to wonder where I went wrong. I used to dream about creativity, now it's all become office politics and work stress.
At some point in the past, oh little bit, my creative work life has melded into a plain old work life. While I still do have the word "Creative" in my title, I don't really feel as if I'm flexing my creative muscles. This is fully reflected by my neglect of this blog and any personal writing. It's not fair to say that I just simply don't have time. While my life is constantly changing, it's not so much that I couldn't make time. Perhaps I've subconsciously chosen a bit of internet seclusion. Or maybe it's chosen me. Either way my lack of creative writing or outside creative pursuits is definitely not suiting me at the moment. I've basically stopped carrying a camera and that used to be such a big part of my continual search for new and interesting.
I want to go back to the world of creative idea generation and feeling somehow, more complete. I think that starts here...
Buy some: /The Rosebuds, Little Joy, The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, Winter Gloves
As I was walking home in the rain last night I momentarily hid out under the canopy of a local merchant that sells Moroccan rugs. I stared through their window at the brightly colored patterns hanging on their walls and draped over blocks to notice their floor, covered in flor. Now I'm all for flor, i have some in my home and back when I lived in Grand Rapids even worked on the occasional project for Interface AR (Flor's not-as-eco-friendly-back-then parent company.) But... isn't it a bit strange that a rug company is covering their own floor with someone else's product?
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It's 70 and sunny in Austin Texas... and my vacation has already started. I need a bit of Vitamin D, old friends and live music. Bring it on SxSW...
Alright fine... I'll let you in on a few of the bands I'm anxious to see this year...
Harlem Shakes, Crocodile, The Week That Was, Miniature Tigers, My Latest Novel, The Soft Pack, My Jerusalem, Power Solo, Bar-Kays, The Crash That Took Me, Bart Davenport, The Crimea...
I am fading... and fading fast. My want of sunlight and time off is turning quickly into a necessity. I gave up my annual February California sunshine and I'm beginning to wonder where my head was at. The dark, the cold, the grey... has it's grasp on me and I can't escape.
Buy some: Greg Laswell, Harlem Shakes, Josh Rouse
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All around me I hear anger. Through the wall into the office space next door... anger and yelling. Across the office... irritation and frustration. Upstairs, downstairs, left, right, the bus, the el... where does it all come from and can it all just please go away?
Buy some: Andrew Bird
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My recycle bin tells the whole story... bottle after bottle of Gatorade, Vitamin Water and cans of chicken noodle soup. I am weak and tired but mostly I am tired of being in one of three places... my bed, the sofa or the club chair in my living room. I am on Day two of triple digit temperatures and completely perplexed. How is it that I can be burning up, yet simultaneously be freezing cold and staring at the goosebumps on my arms? I hate the flu. I'll give what little money I have to anyone who can make it go away. Please.
I try not to expect anything anymore when I go see live music. I am usually bored, usually tired of the same old thing. It's been awhile since a band I'd never heard of offered my ears that little something different to tickle their fancy. It makes me sad because once upon a time I used to enjoy seeing live music. I used to enjoy standing in the back of Schubas or the Empty Bottle and witnessing something with just a little magic.
Last week I stood in the back of another local showcase and finally heard an unknown band with a chance at doing something interesting and different. They've got a chance here to not follow the herd straight into Tuesday night's at Elbo Room in front of their girlfriends and the sound dude...
Buy some: Color Radio
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Winter is going to be a bit different this year. Normally I try to take off for somewhere green and bright during January or February. I'm going to have to maintain my sanity in other ways this year I suppose. My problem is that my camera seeks out color and Chicago never feels particularly inspiring to me from December to March. I think my eyes get dulled to the dullness and I have a much harder time finding inspiration amongst the grey. I'm sure I can manage, but it's going to be a bit harder this year than most.
Buy some: Air France, Girls in Hawaii, Van She