They watch on, evil, incredibly stupid, enjoying my destruction.

Yeah, haven't posted for a while; lots of things going on now that Spring Break is over. I meant to post something over the week, but I just never seemed to find the time. I read a lot, some of it for school, but most of it for myself - which was great. I ran a few miles too, and this time I took my camera along to show a bit of what I see on my usual route. It's just under three miles, and the quiet is surprisingly enjoyable. Usually when I run in the gym, I have my iPod blaring to the point where I hear absolutely nothing else.


Anyway, this first one is of my frequent view of the running team. Actually, they're normally running through the ditches and exploring the fields. I just wanted to take the opportunity to get a shot of them when they were both running together. The second shot is of my view that last morning I decided to hit the road. I was pretty pleased with how the rays of light were caught shining down out of the clouds.


I also had to stop for a while on my way back and take a few shots of the old house near where I grew up. I actually remember this house being, well, habitable at least. Not so much anymore. Just about every other building on the acreage has fallen in on itself. I took quite a few pictures, but these are just a couple that I thought stood out. I might put a few others up later.









I guess it's nice to be back to feeling productive again, but I wasn't prepared for how used to taking it easy I'd become over the break. The transition back hasn't been all that smooth for me either. My immediate family and most of my closest friends have already heard the news, but my Monday morning started off with a bang, or a crash-tinkle, or something like that. In a state midway between sleeping and waking, I could have sworn I'd heard something outside at around 7:30-ish. I decided to get up and stumble down the stairs for that first-thing-in-the-morning pee when my roommate almost ran into me coming up the stairs.

"You need to put on some shoes and a coat," he said. Yeah, shit was going down, I could see it in his face. So, I mumbled something about peeing first, then threw on some pants, shoes, and my hoodie and headed outside to see some dude I've never seen before standing awe-struck in front of his Sonoma, the bumper cracked and dented pretty badly. Then I realized that my car was resting with the passenger side wheels on the grass about twenty five feet away from where I'd parked it the day before. Yup, this guy was driving to work on the morning after a heavy frost and hadn't let his windshield warm up enough before turning onto my street to drive straight into the sun. This is what he did to my car.


Now you might see this and think, geeze, that doesn't look so bad. Well, he hit the back of my car, and the front you see here is what happened after he launched it into the utility pole in front of where I live. Yup, smacked the tire hard enough to dent the hubcap, then slid down the panel and door, shearing off my side mirror. Good times. Here's what the back looks like.






Needless to say, when I called my insurance company to report the claim, I could almost hear the smile in the guy's voice after I told him that the other guy hit my parked car. As the story stands right now, I've been told by both my company and the other guy's that my car will most likely be totaled out, but I have to wait for his company's local agent to come here personally to assess the damage and get the ball rolling on my compensation.

The most ironic thing about this is, like I told my dad when I called him to tell him about it, this has been a dream of mine over the years of shitty cars I've owned, but when I finally have a car that runs great, gets good gas mileage, and doesn't burn or leak any oil, it gets totaled. It's just not fair. Boo hoo. I must've manifested the incident too late because I didn't wish for it hard enough when it really mattered.

Oh well, I guess as long as his insurance company doesn't try to screw me, everything will turn out alright. In fact, I've been halfway considering going Alexander Supertramp-style and just not get another car. I have a mountain bike that I could use to get everywhere I need to go, but those winter months might get a little long without an enclosed vehicle. I'll be sure to post the end results when I get this mess all wrapped up. Until then, back to the homework grind...

King of the Road

Ah, spring break; so far I've drunk superhuman amounts of coffee, drank a few beers with my dad, caught up with a few old friends that I haven't seen in years, ran a few gravel road miles with the dogs, finished one book and read another in two days (for purely recreational enjoyment, finally - I almost forgot what that was like), and I found out that I'm a deranged movie character:

Which Random Cult Movie Character are you?

I am Alex, from "A Clockwork Orange." Real Horrorshow.
Take this quiz!

Whee! A bit of the red, red groovy for me! Oh, the book I just finished was written by one of my current professors, so it feels a bit like brown-nosing. I guess it depends on whether or not I tell him that I bought/read it.

I also bought Into The Wild less than two weeks ago and have seen it no less than four times so far. I think I might be good for a while. And yes, I actually bought it. For those that know me very well, the seemingly simple act of me traveling to a store and purchasing a movie to own holds enormous significance. It doesn't happen often.

Well, the half pot of coffee that I drank this morning is telling me that it's time to hit the bathroom and then go for my run. I was going to skip it today, but tonight I'll be having grilled steaks and other goodies (translated as booze and a few rounds of cards) with Mean Mikey Meatloaf and TR. It snowed yesterday morning and rained last night, but we must invoke Spring by firing up the grill. I take partial blame for Winter hanging on as long as it has, because I have yet to partake of animal flesh that has been prepared over an open flame this year. I know, it's a lot of responsibility to take on, but I feel shame and had to fess up. I'm a stand up kinda guy like that.

Ok, the caffeine appears to be taking over, so I'll wrap this up and go burn off some excess energy before my head asplodes.

My nipples explode with delight!

Busy, busy, busy, but happy, happy, happy. I'm walking, no floating, around in this state of bliss right now. Today marks the first time I've had a piece of fiction workshopped, and let's just say that I'm feeling like I've won English. Of course there were a few negative things (although a couple of them came from an individual that I and most of the rest of my class don't care to take seriously on anything), but for the most part it went spectacularly. I have to admit, my hands were starting to shake a bit while I sat there trying to contain myself. Yeah, it was like that.

Well, I guess that's all I have. Here's a picture of a monkey thinking.

I actually stole that picture from here.

WTF, damn Beatles already?!?

Yeah, so I log in to pop a little update on here and I see one of those friggin' Asian lady beetles resting comfortably on my keyboard. It's below freezing, why aren't they all still dead? They're one of the only things I hate about summer. Other than that, I'm nearly frothing at the mouth to unpack all my shorts, get my Birks out, and save socks for the gym. Speaking of Beatles, I just watched Across The Universe a couple weeks ago. Awesome, pure awesome. I'm not someone who's particularly into musicals, but I check one out from time to time. This was a good one, especially if you like the Beatles.

So, getting into the mood I'd originally intended when I started (damn beetle), I'm starting to get into that insanely busy mode that most people associate with grad school. I'm getting by, although it's been a while since I've worked myself into being this tired. I suppose it's not too bad though, considering I've still been having a pretty good time of it. I've also had some things going on behind the scenes that have put me in one of those good moods when you just feel like walking down the street and saying, "Well, hello there, how are you?" to everyone you meet, kinda like one of those cheesy 50s movies when guys tip their hats to strangers and smile a little too big. That sounds excessively sentimental, but I speak the truth.

I also found out that I had a piece sell at the River City Artists' Winter Art Sale. That was cool, and I was flattered to even be asked to contribute in the first place. By the way, Jeffrey, the manager and close friend of mine who organized the event, finally a has page up, and it's about time; I've been waiting to see him do this for a while. Check him out.

I suppose I should wrap this up and start thinking about heading to see another old friend of mine who'll be playing a set at Cup of Joe downtown tonight. Her name is Joan Nixt, and she's got a voice and a half. Check out her myspace page and listen for yourself. Last time I went to watch her, I got drunk; this time I'm going to get obnoxiously over-caffeinated. I think she's a bad influence on me...

Ok, that's that for this one, kids. Squash an Asian lady beetle for me, but don't do it bare-handed, they stink.