The wearability of these shoes is approaching zero

I'm starting this post with my laptop perched on top of the record library stair-ladder in the library, waiting for Mobay to finish his reggae show. I'm sure by the time I finish I'll be halfway done with Fast N Loud. I just realized that I left my battery charger at home, so this may be cut short.

My last two days have been killer busy, and I think tomorrow will be too. Mostly busy with fun stuff, thankfully. But yeah, busy.

And this Animal Collective CD I'm listening to has a lot of potential to be cool, but is almost annoying in its failure to do so.

Critical Mass last night was a blast. Rob came out again, which was cool. Shana went shopping. At one point the Mass went right by Kristine Larsen's house. I assume her parents still live there, but I haven't heard from her for a few years. Last time I did, she was in Minnesota working at the Capitol. But I remember her house and yard were both pretty cool places to hang out in, and it reminded me that not all urban life is (or has to be) apartment-based. Which bodes well for my desire to live in the city; cool houses are to be found here. Anyway, during the mass I got tons of high fives from oncoming traffic, and a few "Fuck you!"s as well. The high fives were a blast. Fuck, the whole Mass was a blast this month. Better than last time, although that was good too. Last month had some great moments, but this month was better by far. This could be because I was near the front rather than the middle or end from corking like last month. Rob ducked into a liquor store at one point and nabbed a 12-pack. Yeah, it was Bud Light, but I was sweaty so the water tasted good, and it was free.

The Deal's Gone Bad show at the Note was great as well. Really, they've topped from where they were a few years ago. The new album really is long-awaited...

Combined with the Mass, the nine-mile ride back from 5600 North, and the non-stop dancing that is a good ska show, I was soaked with sweat, dehydrated, and exhausted by the end of the night, but damn it was fun!

Laura got into town yesterday, and apparently spent the afternoon getting drunk and sobering up at Delilah's before coming to The Note.

I hung out with Laura some today, then a nap and some reading. Dinner at Uncommon Ground with Laura and her brother, and he made the joke that "All country is good country." I replied that the only genre that could really apply to is punk, since crappy punk is so amateurish that it's even more punk. Place your favorite smiley-face emoticon here.

I picked up a copy of Hey Nostradamus! for five bucks on clearance at B&N. I really liked Coupland's Microserfs, and from the few pages of this that I read, I think this one will be another great. I also got my mom a book for her birthday about how foreign textbooks relate aspects of American History. I read the bit about Viking explorers and Columbus and it seems like a good read.

My parents will be back in Chicago in another week ago. They've left Cali for their road trip already. So we'll see how often my mom calls from the road when she's bored.

Looking forward Silberstein's barbeque tomorrow, and the Lawrence Arms show still has me super-pumped and jumping around yelling and singing to their songs. Even in the car.

The Planet Smashers are one of the few ska bands who can write melancholy ska melodies. That is quite an accomplishment.

And today will be the last day in this pair of shoes. The sole has finally split up the side and detached from the upper to the ball of my foot. The wearability of these shoes is approaching zero, but I did get another year out of them from the first realization that there was a big hole in the bottom. (Yes, that realization did come in the form of my foot getting completely soaked.) Let's hear it for reducing my waste stream!

I was thinking earlier about relationships, and how inanimate objects acquire an association with a certain person, sometimes in a very roundabout way. And when that person isn't around any more, the objects still serve as reminders. This is true particularly with things of mine that have some resonance of my time with Marta. I'm sure that it will fade as other people become important to me, especially if I date someone else. Parvin said to me there doesn't need to be any emotional attachment, just have fun. This is an incredibly ridiculous thing to hear coming from my aunt, who is a decade older than my father. Not for me, but at least I know I'd have her support. Anyway, the associations I had with other ex-girlfriends have all dissipated, and they've been long gone for a while, so I'm sure the unpleasant ones I retain will follow suit.