June 28, 2004
Look, I have a job!
I am now a productive member of society.
Well, not just this second, I’m not; right now I’m posting to my blog.
Soon to come (when I get internet access at home, probably Thursday) is the completion of catching up on stuff that happened to me from the road trip on and pictures of my new office.
Oh, yeah. That’s right. I have my own office.
With a window.
June 19, 2004
Greetings From Santa Barbara
It seems like Kevin is always one step ahead of me when posting things about his apartment.
Still, in this case, it’s making things way easier, because I don’t actually have to write this post. Some might see it as plagiarism; I see it as efficiency.
I am now living by myself in my new apartment. So far it’s just been incredibly hectic. I’ve spent the past few hours dancing. It’s been pretty much a nonstop settling in process. But, I should be ready to hit LA and enjoy the beach once I’m done. 🙂 Anyways, I could write pages about all the crap I’ve been doing, but I’d rather just post pictures.
Here’s my bedroom. Now complete with a sleeping bag, bedside coil of wire, and stuffed animal. The bed was a bitch to assemble and I’ve received about a dozen rug burns since I moved in, but at least I now have a place to sleep…a poorly constructed, flat, hard place to sleep.
Here’s my living room. Notice the home office and computer entertainment center in the corner. Believe it or not, all of these masterfully crafted items were placed in their current position by yours truly. I know, I know. My talent knows no bounds. Computer scientist, interior decorator, renaissance man. You also can’t prove that there isn’t a microwave and a George Forman grill in the kitchen which I failed to get in the picture.
Lastly, my first homecooked dinner in my new apartment. Mmm!
June 15, 2004
Road Trip: Philip and the Mystery of the Carnie Jazz iPod Brewery Smoke Floats
Phil and Didi and I ventured downtown on the MAX, which stands for something, I think, to go see the waterfront, which had a sort of carnival thing going on, with musical acts. I had seen in the paper a listing for a “Japanese Jazz Dance Team,” and wanted to go check that out.
But it was not yet time for that, so we walked down the concourse, gazing at the carnies and pointing at the prizes and snickering at the suckers. Someday I’d like to make one of those basketball shot games with a hoop that’s so eccentric that the ball won’t even fit through it and then just rake in the money. You could offer ridiculous prizes, too, like Jet-Skis and vacations to Switzerland. If anyone ever seriously challenged me, I could argue that a skilled team, working with the guys who have those red star BB-gun targets, could still get it through. Or divine intervention. So that’s two ways to win, right there!
Then we went to the kids Discovery Area, which I think is exactly the same discovery area that goes to the county fair here, because I distinctly remember seeing the very same marble contraption before. There was a set of boxes with rubber over the tops, into which it was suggested that you reach, to experience different tactile sensations. Well, as I was reaching into the first box with great trepidation (and this…. is what a mousetrap feels like!), a woman came up behind me and grabbed me quickly on the sides, a gotcha. I jumped, and we both laughed. And then I felt down with greater confidence, eventually finding an anticlimactic bicycle seat. Over a little further, there was a beach ball floating in the eddies of jet of air blown straight up, to demonstrate the Bernoulli principle. We quickly discovered that by carefully controlling the flow of air using our hands as a baffle, we could gain some real scientific insight into how to chuck the beach ball at each other without ever touching it! Mother Goose then came by to invite us to her storytelling hour, which reminded us that the Japanese Jazz Dance team was about to begin. So we missed the story hour, but I think she was an imposter anyway. Since my return, I have studied my old books carefully, and in not one of my distinguished references does Mother Goose wear a headset microphone.
Didi then had to run off and meet someone, so Phil and I were on our own.
The Jazz dance team was pretty spiffy. It was all women, and they danced about five numbers, most of which were a cross between what looked like very traditional Japanese fan dance type stuff and a much more modern hip-hoppy style. Their costumes were also sometimes very traditional and sometimes not. I liked it.
After we left the carnival, we wandered downtown a bit for a place to eat, and settled on a little microbrew that made a damn fine Reuben, and had a beer sampler with 10 beers! It was awesome.
Also occurring that day was a trip to the mall (well, two malls, actually, because the first one didn’t have an Apple store) to get myself a nice, 15GB, Tax-free iPod. And a little radio transmitter so that I could play it on my car stereo. We went out into the countryside and took turns driving my car on really fun windy roads, and then also enjoyed a nice relaxing stop off the side of the road until the brakes stopped smoking so much. And then we went to A&W for Root Beer floats. I have to admit that Root Beer on tap is pretty damn awesome. And then we went to Didi’s and watched a movie, and wrapped it all up with some Magicking back at Phil’s, until I finally crashed at around three am.
What a day!
June 12, 2004
Baby, You Can Drive My Car
It turns out that it would be convenient for me to have a car that seats 4 during the week of the 17thish through the 26thish. Anyone in the Santa Barbara to LA area want to trade?
Your car will be sitting in a garage most of that time, I just need to haul around more people to and from the cruise I’ll be on.
Oh. And in case you’d forgotten:
June 11, 2004
Road Trip: The Shrieking of the Eels
I should tell you right now that I didn’t get to go to the Eelfest. It’s just… it’s been built up in your minds so, and I can’t lead you on any longer. That would be cruel.
We read about it in the paper that morning, amongst the listings of various rose-related festivities that would be going on in the coming weeks (it goes without saying that I, blissfully ignorant of the Rose Festival, completely misplanned the dates for my Portland trip, arriving the week before everything really got going. Arguably, this was merely a continuation of the ill-timed trip to Santa Barbara on Memorial Day weekend to go apartment hunting, resulting in my leaving numerous messages for rental estate agents who were, I’m sure, at the beach, so perhaps I should consider glancing at a calendar the next time I go somewhere, lest I find that I’m vacationing near Mecca three days before the hajj) Anyway: eels. We had become quite excited about this, and jumped into the cars, completely forgetting to shave (not that I can speak for Didi, but she moved with such gusto that, had she still needed to shave, she wouldn’t have done so), and zoomed away to Phil’s Unfortunately, the Eelfest was on Saturday, not Friday, as we originally thought, and on Saturday we were busy not going sailing. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
But here’s what we missed!
- Eel Balloon animals (hyuk, hyuk)
- Eel culinary treats (and, possibly, terrors)
- Traditional eel songs (???)
- Swimming with the eels for kids (The author of the newspaper article was unclear on whether this meant swimming in water with actual eels, in which case he advised parents not to let their children in the water, or whether it was instead simulated, perhaps with people dressed as eels in the water, in which case he advised parents not to let their children in the water)
Tune in next time to hear what we actually did that afternoon, which will be posted just the second that I remember what it was, precisely. That day and the other in Portland tend to blend together. I think beer was involved.
Also, I feel honor-bound to note that my blog is the second site listed when Googling Portland Eelfest. Next: the World.
June 9, 2004
Road Trip: Didi and the Movies
I spent the first night at Didi’s (the first of what would become my Portland trifecta, three nights at three different friends’ houses)
After getting there at around nine, after many hours of driving, I was in the mood for little more than vegetation, so we got chinese takeout and sat down to watch two excellent but somewhat unsettling movies.
The first was Thirteen, the tragic story of what goes wrong when a young girl makes new friends and gets a piercing. Or perhaps I misunderstood. I had wanted to see it for a long time, and I was not disappointed. Didi said that it was especially poignant for her, having been a thirteen-year-old girl, and experiencing many of those things. At this point, I became very interested, but then she clarified that she meant the feelings, not the actual deeds. But, anyway, it was a very good film.
The second was The Shape of Things, a movie about which I had heard nothing, but which I still wanted to see on the principle that Rachel Weisz is hot. It really made me think. And, although it ended strangely, I loved the beginning of the movie. The dialog is so real and the awkward moments so awkward that it just makes you laugh.
Move Over Internet Cafe
Internet Pub has you beat hands down.
From Ashland, Black and Tan in hand, I salute you.
June 5, 2004
Road Trip: Portland
A bit of an update on my progress:
I got in on Thursday at around nine o’clock, after an epic eleven and a half hours on the road. It would have been a bit faster, had I been properly prepared. For those of you who plan to make a similar trip, I should warn you.
- There are no gas stations north of Redding for about forty miles. And when there finally is one, it’s really expensive. This means, kids, that when you’re passing Redding, and only have an eighth of a tank left, it’s time to pull over for gas. I didn’t run out, but I did drive at about 50 mph those last 20 miles or so, stretching my fuel efficiency to the limits.
- Foolish Oregonians. Driving the speed limit.
- Allow for the unfortunate crack habits of city planners ( ::cough:: Salem ::cough:: ) to slow you down. Like, it’s just possible that certain ill-designed streets could put you back on the freeway going the wrong way with neither warning nor an ability to turn around for five miles. Doubly bad if you happen to be in said city near rush hour.
And I was going to write so much more, but I’m tired, now, so you’ll have to wait.
Next time on evilblog: A Japanese Jazz Dance Team on the Waterfront. The mystery of the Eelfest. And how many beers it takes to make Starsky and Hutch an entertaining movie (three). Same Evil time. Same Evil station.
June 2, 2004
Road Trippin’
Just a quick note to let you know that I’ll be gone for the next week and a half, up to Oregon and Washington. Anyone in the Ashland, Portland, or Seattle areas that I’m not already visiting (Adam, Didi, Phil, Katie, Matt, Grandma), drop me a line, and we’ll see what we can do.
Also, let’s see if I can break my 1,028 miles in a week record on my car!
Ian Ferrel 