Ok, so I know this is a waste of breath, but oh well.

Ok, so back in JANUARY I went to see Brokeback. Parking was a mess. Finally I see a perfect little spot on the street between two other cars. I don't notice any no parking signs. Come out- $35 ticket on my car and every other car on the street for parking on the wrong side/wrong hours. Now everywhere else I've ever lived, you have like a month to pay a ticket. So I was so annoyed by this one I stashed it away for a while. When I finally decided to deal with it, I saw it had been due like a week after it was issued. Whatever, I paid the fine and no more. In MARCH got a notice of a $20 late fee, while I was out of town. Paid it the minute I got back. Saturday I got a notice that my late fee was late, and they want another $20. Knowing it was a losing battle, I decided to call to try to fight it. After navigating like ten steps for "press 1 for this press 3 for that" I made it to "hold for a representative". With DREADFUL hold music (celine dion, barf). After 15 min on hold (with fake-out clicks like someone was picking up, but no), I was about to concede defeat, when some cranky chick picks up. Puts me on hold AGAIN. Finally comes back and says it was due 3/28, they got my payment 4/2. I said 'right, 5 days late, and I was out of town." she said they can't verify that, and my only choice is to come in for a hearing.
Fuck that.
So I have now paid $75 for movie parking. Lovely.
Fuckers.
I hate that I let this shit get me so riled up.

But on a more positive note- as soon as I got off the phone with Cranky Bitch, I called the bike shop (who answered promptly and pleasantly I might add), and my bike will be ready in two hours.
YAY!!!!

later peeps.
-J

damn you tequila!!

that is all.

Back to bed.

I can be infinitely patient when I need to, but when I get it in my head that I want something, I want it NOW.

So the fact that bike shopping is taking a week is killing me. BUT I just went on a few 'test rides' and finally picked out a bike. Unfortunately they have to order my size and put it together blah blah blah, so no rides this weekend. Damn!

I haven't ridden a bike since my old one was stolen in new orleans, 4 years ago. But those little test rides reminded me how fun it is. Something FUN, that I LIKE, that counts as exercise?! Wow!! So I cruised around the neighborhood by the shop... got myself a little lost... (ended up biking on Main, ick) allayed my fears that hitting a crack in the sidewalk/bad pavement on skinny tires will NOT send me over the handlebars. And it was a natural hairdryer, haha. (though I don't dare look in the mirror.) And driving home I was inspired to mix up my route a little bit... went through some GORGEOUS residential neighborhoods. I guess now I know where the money lives... Can't wait to go riding around.

Unfortunately my ass hurts already from that little 30min ride. The guy insists that 'it kills your sit bones for a week or so, but then it's really comfortable!" Hope he's not lying. (but he was kinda cute, and he liked my car, so I'll believe anything he says. ;) )

And one other random bit- while waiting for him to assemble test bike number two, I went to a corner store and bought some "O2GO" water. (it was not very good). But the gimmick is that it is "oxygenated" water. I thought that might mean fizzy... No. It's flat, and kind of gross. But they say it contains "five times more oxygen" than regular water. Now, it's been a while since I took chemistry, but somehow I don't think it's possible to make H2O have more O in it.

Ok, off to pore over the bike accessory catalog like the huge geek that I am. This is when my OCD tendencies come out. ;)

Enjoy the new song... a summer fave. (pharcyde's remix of Sublime's "Doin' Time".)

-J

Well Safari just crashed on me (again), so I lost my post.
But that's ok because I had just realized it was way too boring anyway. Point was, I had a good weekend, yay, and don't want to go back to work. Today I saw (e:joshua) and (e:jason) chillaxin' on the front porch, while I was on my way to "study" (ha) at Spot, then saw a guy from work while talking to them, then ran into a friend at spot, and on the way home saw my ex for the first time since we broke up. He actually yelled to me from across the street, which surprised me. But it was surprisingly nice and not weird. He was fortunately not with a girl (not sure I'm quite ready for that yet), and was normal and funny and gave me a hug and said happy birthday and chatted and that was that.
But all those people in one walk... I'm starting to actually feel like I know some people in this town!

And without further ado, here are a few pictures from friday night-


Timika is a pool shark.


Somehow people started doing Tae Kwon Do stretches...




...which turned into Kung Fu moves.


Then was the beginning of the car party. I believe that is (e:lilho) 's purse around (e:Terry) 's neck, and he was doing an imitation of (I think) some sort of animal- maybe a St. Bernard? but he kept saying (in a crazy voice) "Can I give you some of my renourishing fluid?"


Ahhh, condom balloons.


Freaking adorable-slash-hot. (e:mike) and (e:libertad)


Maybe not QUITE as adorable here. sorry (e:paul) and (e:terry)


(e:terry) and (e:ladycroft)

Ok, time to get my shit together for work tomorrow. boooo!

-J

Ok first-
Thanks for all the birthday wishes peeps. You guys are great.
And thanks to everyone who made it out- nice to meet you (e:libertad) , (e:lilho) and (e:tina) .
My hugest apologies to those who tried to come out but couldn't find us. ((e:metalpeter) I swear we don't keep doing this to you on purpose! I feel so bad! and (e:vincent) I'm sorry too... I kept getting your messages way too late.)
I had a fun bday. A little annoyed at some of my non-(e:peep) friends for standing me up, but whatever. The bottom line is that I had a fun night with friends and that's what matters. No crazy boy stories for you, sorry to disappoint, but that's probably a good thing, right? maybe this will be my new drama-less decade.

oh and one other bday thing- my parents are the CUTEST EVER! They had called to say sorry it was such a lame bday and they didn't have any presents for me etc, and asked what I was doing, and said they'd call around dinner time. I sort of thought "why not just talk now?" but whatever. but so later dad calls, and it's really loud in the background, and he asks what I'm doing, and I said i was going to go to cozumel but it was too crowded so i was going elsewhere, and i hear him say to my mom "uhoh she's not coming here anymore..."---> they had flown into town to surprise me and were waiting at cozumel!!!
And how did they know to go to cozumel? My brother the spy told them about my message on myspace. They're so high-tech. :)

But on to the real reason I'm posting-
TIMIKA WHERE ARE YOU/ARE YOU OK?

We all went out, drank, ate, and came home. I got home at 5 or so, and apparently fell into a deep sleep immediately, because I did not hear my cell phone or my home phone ring. Just now was awakened by the "you've got a message" beep on my phone- to hear that (e:ladycroft) had called me at like 5:30 after a totally scary tire blowout and was alone on the side of the highway in need of help. A literal damsel in distress.
So I obviously did not rush to her side b/c I suck.
But maybe someone else did?
She's not answering any phones right now.
I hope she is safely asleep at a friend's/her parents'/etc right now, and not putting the lotion in the basket.
Crap.

So everyone keep an eye/ear out and hope that everything is fine.

-J

update: ok I guess the men ((e:mike) and (e:libertad) ) came to the rescue and she's ok, so now I can go shower and find my poor parents.

Ok, so dinner ran late and it's 7:30 and I'm just about to get in the shower- cozumel at 7 obviously isn't happening. But don't give up hope, we will be there eventually!!

Or call me 348-6310

update:
apparently cozumel is (big surprise) an absolute zoo. So i'm not sure what the plan is now. Still may swing by to see if there is anyone there. But I imagine will head down Allen somewhere. Just call me and we'll meet up!
Sorry!

Ok, so this whole bday thing hasn't bothered me at all, until a mini-freakout last night when I realized "holy crap my 20's are over in an hour and what do I have to show for it??"

so I went to bed.
And now it looks like a beautiful day. I think maybe I'll go walk through the cemetary- something I've never done but have always wanted to. Now just to figure out how to get in...

But anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the guadalcanal march, b/c I'm changing it up for a bit. Maybe I'll bring it back later. For myself, to allay any 'turning 30' doubts, I'm putting up "I am the greatest" by Cassius Clay. And for all of us too, since we're all the greatest. :)

See you all later. Still trying to figure out when/where.
-J

Oh yeah, and I went on a little late night itunes shopping spree-
Good new (to me) stuff:
Arctic monkeys (ok so I'm late jumping on that bandwagon, but I didn't think I liked them at first.)
Belle and Sebastian
The Hold Steady
Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah
and I'm trying to find Jens Lekman, but itunes doesn't have him

Hello peeps, I'm back. Did you miss me?

New user song is the Guadalcanal March, from Victory at Sea. Inspired by (e:dragonlady7) 's post. Random crazy family stuff, probably not worth going into. But enjoy it and feel patriotic.

Sigh... no offense Buffalo, but I love Chicago. I really miss living there. So much to do, so many young people, such great architecture, the waterfront....

I had a nice trip. Saw 6 of the 9 people I'd hoped to, so that's pretty good. Had a few mini-adventures (e:jenks,123) (e:jenks,124) , I guess.

Got in late Sunday (cancelled flight, grr), Monday wandered around and did a little shopping. Chicago is an awesome shopping city. Too bad I hate shopping. (good thing for my credit card though.) Had tapas and sangria with Vicki. Tues slept late, met my cousin Jenny and her kids and we took them too the beach. Then had dinner with Karl in the "Viagra Triangle", and some drinks, then many more drinks with Sarah and "uber-hot Charles". Spent all of wed hungover, until I went for a massage. Maybe I am just a perv, but the massage was oddly sexual. I don't want to say the guy was inappropriate, but I think maybe he was. Still nice though. ;) Then coffee in the hospital with Munee... Then had New Haven style pizza (screw Chicago pizza) with my married ex and his buddies, which was pleasantly not-weird.
Then this morning had room service (e:jenks,126) , and packed up and scrambled my way to the airport. Stupid airport shuttle never showed, so I was about to suck it up and take a $40 cab ride, when a jolly African doctor (from Canada?) needed to go too, and asked "would you be offended if I pay for us both?" And at least this time the flight went smoothly... Did not get to see Chris or Linda or Ellen. I guess I'll just have to go back...

Now just to figure out what to do tonight... and tomorrow...

Anyway, onto pix:


A cute tshirt at Anthropologie. But sure as hell not $78 cute.


My second cousin? first cousin once removed? I dunno. My cousin's kid Luke who I hadn't seen since he was 4 days old.






There was like a tulip extravaganza going on or something. They were ALL over the city. I like the pointy ones.


In case you're wondering what that ball of black fuzz is, it's a dog.


This little house was across from the hotel. I love it. I think it's abandoned or something.


This is not as cool looking as it was in real life. But what a scary alley- I have never seen so many fire escapes.


How fucking cool is it that this beach is in the middle of downtown?


It just looks infinite...


... yet it's RIGHT next to the city


the Hancock Building and the Drake


This is a super-zoom spy shot, but get a room, will ya?


me and "uber-hot Charles"


PMT, this "mansion" is for sale too... but Paul I think it's a little too far from work.


I've always thought this church was beautiful... Right on Michigan Ave.




This is part of the old pumping station I think. It's like the only building not burned down by Mrs. O'Leary's cow, or something like that.

See you tomorrow everyone!
-J

This is just a mini-interlude post til I get home and have pix and stuff. (besides I'm having trouble posting anyway since Safari is suddenly crashing q5min.)

But I just wanted to say- room service is out of control. I mean we all know it's expensive, but yikes. I decided to treat myself to breakfast on my last morning. Now the hotel restaurant is a pretty fancy place, and the room service is off that menu so I guess it's extra pricey.
But I ended up going with an all-time fave breakfast indulgence- eggs benedict. For $12. I actually didn't think that was THAT bad, considering that's how much the continental breakfast cost.
Oh, but that doesn't include juice. So one glass of "fresh-squeezed" (they'd better not be lying) OJ for $5.
Plus 2.75 delivery fee. Plus tax. Plus 18% "service charge" brings it to $25.
And then the guy that drops it off needs a tip too? What's the "delivery fee"? What's the "service charge"?

craziness.

but delicious craziness. :)

See you all soon.
-J

dammit.... Safari just crashed and made me lose my whole post. And I don't have the energy to re-write it.
Maybe tomorrow.

But thanks for the comments on the last one. You're all right. I had a fun time, and that should be enough. I just always want more...

later peeps.
-j