Good things come in fives.

Top 5 reasons this was an interesting weekend:

1) I brought my car to the backyard of a long-haired man named Johnny, who, in one day, turned it from a stubborn 185,000 mile grandma to a meek, purring kitten.

2) I was taught that the way one can distinguish a veggie bratwurst from a real one is by the curve of the sausage.

3) Not being a beer drinker, I spent three hours volunteering to pour local microbrews, and found I was pretty darn good at it (all for a good cause).

4) I got to experience Asheville (pop. 80,000) with no cars, loud music, and 350,000 freely drinking, roaming in the streets.

5) I started sorting clothes to give away and am putting things in boxes, readying for my next move.

Lost and Found.

Talk of a party a couple of weeks ago prompted me to visit one of my favorite places in Hendersonville--the Hospice thrift store on Main Street. They have been good to me before: in the winter I found a long fake fur collared wool coat, which makes me look something of a 50s queen, for 8 dollars. The idea of this party was to be a bad coed dance, the term "prom" was bantered about, and I wanted to be prepared with the most beautiful awful looking dress (cause, you know, whenever girls dress up to look badly they secretly want to look great). In addition, I had signed myself up to DJ this event, so I needed something light so I could move around and dance. Unfortunately, due to laziness or perhaps some other factor, the dance idea was shot down and instead replaced by a pot luck (say what?), but mark my words, this dress will see the light of day.

long-sleeved but light, boxy shape, if not for the matching belt.

detail of the shimmery snake-like print

collar detail, slight slit at the neck (this picture is more accurate of the color than the first)

oh, and bonus! I found a nightgown in the exact same fabric as the one i bought in San Diego in '99. nice and light, with some interesting glass buttons.

A little amusement

For anyone who has worked in a job where they have dealt with abusive, demanding, or just plain stupid customers: http://notalwaysright.com/

Feel free to post your own stories in the comments section.

i have the biggest crush on jason segel.

i met lisa the redhead a few days into college. she had lived in minnesota too, probably at the same time i was there, and now we were in new york together. she was shoulder height on me, but her personality was enormous, as was her hair. a good irish girl, complete with crazy artist older sister who was in her fifth of four years studying as a mad genius across the street at columbia. we kept on finding things in common, like the fact that we were both vegetarian, and both spent nights in music chatrooms (the way to relate in 1997). she lived diagonally across the hall from me, as we were all packed like sardines as freshman, one per square foot. many nights were spent laying across the hallway floor or in the corner lounge making popcorn and watching tv. we spent a lot of time in each other's rooms as well, decorating and going through one another's stuff. sometimes even the studying was easier to do with a silent partner. somehow, i also remember that she had a vinyl copy of the soundtrack to the labyrinth, which she was obsessed with. this was replaced a few years later with her complete and total passion for freaks and geeks, which i only had caught a few episodes of, not having a tv and all. through a series of circumstances she was no longer in school at this point, but i was, so she either slept on the floor of my 6x10 room, or i took the rusty bus up to hartford on the weekends to stay with her parents. i introduced her to the punk dives i liked to frequent, and within no time, this ballsy little chick was borrowing my dog collars and pushing us to the front of the crowd (she had a good excuse, me, being 5'10," did not and therefore ended up usually sitting in a fetal position next to the monitors on stage). i dropped out of the punk scene not too long afterwards, but she stayed on and got in with the old rock elite.

pictures of joey ramone at 2am.

conversations with myself, 1:46 am.

think. think of anything. anything else.

the mantra of late. late nights when it hits hard and the day's distractions are no longer there to cover up and blur the dischord building inside. the music in the car turned up to the point where it hurts your ears, like pressing on an open wound, hurting it to make it stop hurting. eyes out of focus holding on for dear life.

I can't solve the problems of this world, It's breaking my brain in two...

Lately I can see you're scared Cause we're growing up

Maybe if you changed your hair

You'd be good enough

Kids I used to know that died Now they're not around

I wonder what they think of life

When they're looking down

Holy crap.

Apologies to Mike Skinner--you may have been just kicked off the top of the list.

Of Flat Eric and other wild things...

Dear Derek,

You are the most awesomest version of awesome. Imagine my surprise, returning from lunch back to work yesterday, when the office was quiet as death (trying to get everything done before the long weekend) and finding a sweet little box addressed to me. This box, no less, was full of CDS! Not just one as I would first think, but many many more! Yipee!
As Alfred and I sit here eating graham crackers, I want to thank you a million for the prezzies. I'm going to rip them all onto my computer and then promptly distribute them to the various stereos in the house as well as work and the car. This is fantastic. The Kwanamas CD cover is really nice, I like the typed touches and the cereal box cover. It makes me wish I was in Minneapolis to start an artists collective with you. (By the way, Maija has moved to NE, so go by the store and give her a hi, she should be there next week).
This is going to be a pretty quiet weekend for Alfred and I, since we are home alone, so we'll definitely get to go through all of your goodies. Because I have windows and cannot Mojo you, I'll give you the following suggestions to run, not walk, and listen to.
1) You have no idea how much I needed it when you gave me the links to the Current and other places to download last summer. I continue to download almost every day now and a new one I've come upon that I think you would highly enjoy (if you do not already) is Rcrdlbl. They have an awesome variety and update many many new posts a day (oh, and for you ipod people, a podcast every week).
2) I've been really into a hip hop mode lately, which has surprised the bejeesus out of Maija. Two of my new faves are Kid Cudi and the Cool Kids. If you go before they post on Monday, Cool Kids' "88" should still be on the Current page. My fave Kid Cudi is "new new" and "Day N' Night (Crookers Remix)", which you can probably find on rcrdlbl.
3) New Futureheads is f-ing out of this world. I never saw why people didn't like Pinkerton and also didn't see the supposed "2nd album curse" with the Futureheads. Nevertheless, they've come out with their new album and it has the strength and ferociousness of their debut.
4) I've somewhat surprised myself at coming to like the new French Kicks. I was a fan of their One Time Bells, but didn't particularly like the direction they went in afterwards. Recently, I found myself repeating the songs off of their new album. They did a fairly nice little show for Daytrotter recently.
5) The Virgins remind me of the dark and sexy groove of Jonathan Richman when he was still in the Modern Lovers. Nuf Said.
6) Los Fancy Free is a kick-ass psychedelic-type band from Mexico. Some of the most unique stuff I've heard in a while.

More that would take too long to write about each individually: Spinto Band, Mystery Jets, Phantom Planet, Young Knives, The Wedding Present, Magic Bullets, France Has The Bomb, Teenagers, Dr. Dog, and Robbers on High Street.

Hope some of this stuff are things you haven't heard yet, cause I know that you are all over everything all of the time.
Thanks again for being so awesome. I'm going to publicly proclaim your awesomeness by posting this letter on my blog. Just cause.

Sincerely,
*mara*

and a few more.

summer is for...

-going to Sliding Rock to--you guessed it--slide down a wet rock

-having an excuse to make vecmamma's potato salad (with 5 lbs of potatoes)

-taking advantage of the Montford Players outdoor Shakespeare productions

-making sure to hit all of the best restaurants in town when chef uncle is visiting

-making at least 50% of the Minimalist's "101 Dishes for Inspired Picnics"

-getting the darkest tan I've had since I was 10 and worked the farm for the entire summer

-wearing red, orange, and green in short sleeves, straps, and skirts