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Saturday, June 30

2:39 PM
So Iowa was great. It took about eleven hours and 630 miles to get there, but I managed okay, and got to listen to a bunch of albums I've gotten recently that I hadn't had much time to listen to before. I got to Shannon's place at about seven local time, surprising her because she wasn't expecting me for another four hours or so. And then I found twenty bucks.

That was Tuesday night. A bunch of her friends were over and I met them, although I was feeling rather shy. They were very nice people, all of them. We played sardines around their farm until half past midnight. Eventually everyone went home and Shannon and I slept at her uncle Lee's house, where she lives for the summer.

Shannon showed me Arlington and Strawberry Point, the towns she lives between (I guess technically she lives in Arlington), and a great state park, Backbone. We swam in their pool, we watched A Bug's Life which I hadn't seen before... Hmm, I realize this isn't as interesting as I thought it would be. It belies what a good time I had. Anyway, I'll just say that her family and friends are great people. And I wish I could've stayed longer. Hopefully she'll come here someday.

2:45 AM
Just got back from Iowa about an hour ago. It was a wonderful time, and it was such a relief to see Shannon after about two months. This was the first time we'd met in America, which is strange to think about. I'm rather tired so I'll write about it tomorrow.

On the way home, I saw fields full of fireflies and a giant bright-green shooting star.

Monday, June 25

2:31 PM
I'm leaving tomorrow for Strawberry Point, Iowa, to see Shannon. I'll be there for a couple days and then I'm coming back on Friday. It's going to take about 12 hours to drive there, and I'm driving by myself, so I'm just bringing a lot of music to listen to.

Saturday, June 23

1:27 AM
Have been listening to some great music lately: Twilight Singers, Golden Smog, Ron Sexsmith, Belly.

Tonight I went to ComFest at Glendale Park, which is a big music and arts festival with a sorta hippie feel. They have it every year, but this was the first time I'd gone, and I wasn't really impressed. Howlin' Maggie, the Columbus band that almost made it big, played. The singer from that band is in the aforementioned Twilight Singers with Greg Dulli from the Afghan Whigs.

I went to ComFest to meet my friend from high school Beth. I got there late but eventually found her and her friend from college. We never have much to talk about, it seems. At least, I feel a little uncomfortable around her for some reason. Before I found her I ran into some other kids from her grade (they were all a year behind me), who were really excited to see me, but I never knew them very well. We used to do poetry readings together, calling them "slams" even though they weren't. It was a pretty good time.

Thursday, June 21

2:43 PM
Yesterday I bought a hardcover copy of Don DeLillo's Underworld for $5. Last year, my Contemporary Art professor had lent it to me but I didn't have time to read it, so I'm glad that I have time now. Plus, I'm more used to his writing style having read White Noise. I also went to the library and got a bunch of stuff, including a best-of Michelle Shocked cd, which is great. It's sort of swing, blues, and rock n roll. I'm really struck by two songs in particular, "Anchorage" and "Come A Long Way."

Tuesday, June 19

2:23 PM
I haven't done anything in the past two weeks. Part of me feels terribly guilty, another part wants to just do nothing at all and waste away. I feel very old and tired for someone my age. I'm worried about going back to school and finding a place to live and getting a job for this summer which I already should have gotten by now and about friendships that I've already lost and not maintaining the ones I have because I'm not a particularly interesting person anymore, and not very much interests me right now.

Things aren't all bad, it's just that I'm stagnating again. I don't know how to get up and do anything other than by leaving the country (which really did me a lot of good, while I was there, anyway). I finished The Martian Chronicles and am going to start Asimov's I, Robot sometime soon. I've watched a bunch of movies lately, including Dancer in the Dark which depressed the hell out of me. I tried watching Annie Hall but the DVD from the library was all screwed up.

I haven't drawn in a while either. I'm going to do something productive, get a job, and then I'll work on the webpage. I'm sort of sorry that people know about this blog now, because it really is not going to be any fun to read anymore. I guess I could make up interesting stories, but that would be pretty lame.

Thursday, June 14

3:02 AM
So yesterday I bought the cds I wanted: REM Reveal, Weezer, Radiohead Amnesiac, and Rufus Wainwright Poses. And they're all excellent.

Tonight I went with Connie to see her friend Gary at his friends' house. We hung out on the porch. His friends Natalie and Lianna are big TMBG fans, I found out, so that was something to talk about. Natalie is such a big fan of Elvis Costello that on one arm, she has a tattoo of his face from the album Get Happy!!; on the other, Elvis signed her arm and she had it made into a tattoo. That's a little too intense for me. I did some subtle "who's a bigger fan of TMBG" play with them, talking about obscure or new songs, but I always feel guilty when I do that. Once I'm out of the conversation, I feel like it's sort of weird to be too into a band. Good thing I haven't met many Frank Black fans. There was this girl in Florence, Kelly, with whom I'd almost always talk about Frank Black, and that gets kind of old. I think I just like enjoying my fandom by myself and try to ignore the fact that there are other listeners out there too.

Sunday, June 10

8:28 PM
Hey, I'm back. I kind of like this blogging thing, although I promise this time it won't be nearly as interesting.

The past week hasn't been particularly exciting, to start with. I've been on the computer, watching The Simpsons, and listening to all the cds I've been missing for five months. There are a lot of new ones I want like Weezer and REM. I taped Weezer Tuesday night on Conan O'Brien and they sounded great.

A couple of days ago I went over to Connie's place. I visited her mom in Paris, who told me that Connie had gotten a mohawk, then shaved her head completely, so I was interested in what she'd look like. But I wasn't really shocked when I saw her, she just looked good with a short fluffy haircut. We just talked a while about stuff, and she lent me a Smiths vinyl record (Hatful of Hollow) that I don't have.

Today I went to the Columbus Arts festival and walked around for just half an hour. The band that was playing in the amphitheater was crappy, and all the artwork seemed just like it is every year, and I didn't see anybody I know. Throat Culture probably had already performed earlier, so I had no reason to linger.

Graduation at my high school was yesterday. Fran graduated, and my sisters tell me I'm invited to her party next weekend. I'm a little worried, because we used to go out and I treated her badly. I've always thought she's an incredible person and I'd like to still be friends with her, but I've never really asked her to forgive me. She might not even care, though.

Shannon and I have been e-mailing a lot, but it's still very frustrating not being able to just have her right next to me.