i finished ‘snow crash’ and it was, as expected, amazingly awesome. HOWEVER. the ending, in true neal stephenson fashion, totally sucked. completely unsatisfying. felt like the printers forgot to add in the last 3 chapters of the book. why neal?!? WHYYYYYYYYYY???
anyway, i have moved on to ‘the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy’ which you may or may not be shocked to find out i haven’t read before. so far i’m disappointed to find out that the earth has been needlessly destroyed. way to go vogons.
saturday night i am having a birthday party and housewarming. everybody is encouraged to make some sort of arty wall-hanging for my place, to be delivered any time in the near or distant future. we’ll see what people come up with!
kate: how’s the online zine site coming
kara: pretty slowly since…surprise! no content
kate: time to get down with some lorem ipsum?
kate: <----loser who can't believe she just said that
pertinent link: momus uses lorem ipsum text in a song!
conrad: it is cool that there is no content yet. do not feel bad. 🙂
photos available!!! Relay for Life, Stefapalooza!
thursday night i caught the train home. mom made one of my favorite dinners (maple sausages with fried potatoes and peppers). friday i had lunch with g&g, met with an investment planner and sat outside and read all afternoon. that night mom and i went to the augustana track to walk in the relay for life with my g&g. my grandpa had cancer just before i came along. it was a cool experience – there were luminaries for each survivor and for others as remembrances.
afterwards, mom and dad and i watched the olympic opening cermonies. i almost had to hit mute once my (least) favorite singer started up, but i liked the big map of the world thing. i have to take issue though with the design of the olympic cauldron, which looks like it should’ve been designed for the amsterdam games. it looks like a 100 foot tall joint, i kid you not.
saturday mom and i ran some errands then she and dad drove me to stefapalooza in morris. stef’s birthday party was…awesome.
her parents have a big swath of land, all meticulously mown. there a nice area where the tent city sprung up, a swingset and, since no country home would be complete without it, a big gas tank. jon had never seen a gas tank in someone’s yard. i guess this is normal to me?
watching the glitter lamp in the dark:
eric: uh, there’s something i’m thinking that i want to tell you, but…well, i’m trying to think how to say it without it sounding like an insult.
kara: um, well maybe you shouldn’t tell me…?
eric: well what i was going to say was ‘you look really pretty in the dark’ but i guess that’s sort of…
kara: …….?!
eric: i mean, you look really pretty at other times too, not just uh…when it’s, you know…dark… i guess that’s sort of, i mean i didn’t mean for it to be so…such a…
kara: backhanded compliment?
eric: yeah.
[pause]
eric: here, let’s just put a bag over your head
courtesy of ‘amish in the city’ (probably not exact):
amish guy: abraham lincoln ate fatback for breakfast every day of his life.
not-amish girl: yeah, well i bet he died at, like, 30.
amish guy: i don’t think that’s why he died.
corollary:
from ‘Abraham Lincoln’ by Eric, Grade 1:
Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin. I was not there.
pertinent link: amish heat
i have reposted ‘the men and women of collegiate film’ for all to see. oogle your favorite film student and be sure to tip your waitress on the way out.
also please note that the mwcf site is licensed, so please don’t go passing the photos around separated from the site or making your own mwcf site or using them for your own devious plans without asking my permission first. linking is, of course, welcome and encouraged.
japan pics are up, better captions (in lieu of a big vacation retrospective post…let’s face it, it’s not going to happen. sorry.) and extra pics from kyle to come soon have been posted. enjoy this spurt of motivation while it lasts!
update: other pics also added – New Mexico, scott’s going away party, ben’s birthday, the last bbq at jon & mike’s old place. click the ‘photographs’ link above! i am warning you, i can’t decide what New mexico sunset pics to keep and which to get rid of so right now there are like 20 photos of the most gorgeous sunset ever.