Pride and discrimination

This past weekend was gay pride weekend and since I live in the center of Boystown my neighborhood was crazy, especially for the Gay Pride Parade. I missed the parade because I had class but walked through the aftermath when I got home.



A mess of trash lines the sidewalks after the parade. Come on boys and girls, let's be gay for cleanliness too.



Something bad happened to this tree. It looks like it's trying to discard a comically oversized prophylactic.



I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the gay anarchists as they marched down the street.



Of course, the weekend wouldn't be complete without some religious nut proselytizing to "save" homosexuals. I wonder if they teach timing and good taste in Sunday school.

Slinking back into the whole from which it came

Tonight is the last night of the Our Fallen Spacemen show at the Second City Skybox theater. The house waits in quiet expectation.

After the show there will be a big fun party at Matt's apartment. I'm almost looking forward to the party more than the show. Not saying anything bad about the show. It's a good show, and I had a lot of fun with it last week. I just think being together for a celebration will be a good release for all of us. Putting this show together really seemed to stress us out. Hopefully everyone from the group will show up, because I want to drink with them and look at their pretty faces.

Books

I just finished reading Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie and now I need to find a new book to read. I hate doing this because it's such a long commitment for me (it usually takes me a month to read a book because I only read on my train rides) and I don't want to choose a shitty book (I also never stop reading a book even if I don't like it because I want to know how things turn out).

So tonight while I was trying to think of what to read next I realized that I made some really poor reading choices to go with my state of being when I first arrived. From September to November, my infant months in Chicago, I felt very awkward and depressed a lot. Correspondingly, I read Lolita and Americana, both very well written novels but not what I'd call uplifting hey there keep yer spirits up let's make it through this media (I also spent some time reading The Artist's Way, a book that is supposed to inspire you creatively). From December to February, I started to gain more confidence, meet more people, and feel like I was fitting in more. Books during that time: Breakfast of Champions, Unbearable Lightness of Being, and Choke. Again, not pure uplifters, but not dark either. March-present, I've been super busy, very happy with the work I'm doing, and have made a lot of very good friends. Reading: Love in the Time of Cholera and Midnight's Children. They speak for themselves.

I also bought an almanac that I take with me to the john to learn facts.

Grass?

Someone put "Caution Wet Paint" around a section of grass on my block today. I'm not really sure how this works. Maybe they had laid down new grass, but why this wet paint shit? Why not just rope off the grass? Everyone knows you didn't paint the grass, so a warning about wet paint isn't going to deter me from walking on it. Now maybe if the tape said "Caution Earth Goblins Living Under Grass Will Kill" I'd pay attention. Just tell it like it is.

Family appropriate fun

Saturday

My parents and sister came to the Our Fallen Spacemen show. It went over really well. Lots of good energy. Right after the show my family and I raced over to Navy Pier to see the fireworks. I would have to say that was the highligh of my weekend. It brought me back to my childhood and taking vacations with my family to visit my grandparents in California for the 4th of July. It was a great night.


Sunday

I went to the Field Museum with the family today. We rocked it hard and fast.

The Farmily

My family is in town for the weekend to see the Our Fallen Spacemen show. We hung out in the hotel for a bit and then went to a really good Italian restaurant for dinner. I love my famiy. We have a very weird dynamic where we are always poking fun at each other. Sometimes we go too far, but for the most part it's kosher.

Until the knives come out. . .

This is how we drink wine in OUR apartment!

Suck it.

Sloday

The title explains it all. Now that summer is here, things are pretty slow at Optimus. However we now have 8 interns working per day, so there are a shitload of people and a miniscule amount of work. With so many people I now have time to do cooler stuff than washing the dishes or running tapes around the city. For instance, today I sat down with an assistant editor and learned the basics of an Avid (an editing system that most professional editors use to cut). Yea, suck that Marriott. I'd never learn that from you. Bitches.

Sad, lonely machines

While I was making some copies at work yesterday I noticed a giant machine with this sign on it. I really pity this sucker. Maybe he's really just a caring machine who's been forced into this role of cold non-emotion and all he wants to do is love. You, sign placers, you don't know if he can't comfort. Maybe you're just projecting your own emotional state by placing this sign on him. All he wants to do is love. And you took that away from him. You bastards. You bastards. . .

LSAT

Today Kat took the LSAT, so last night Jill and I made some signs of encouragement to inspire her before the test. I tried to inspire her with her power over religious icons. The way I see it Jill and I did everything in our power to help her. If she fails the test, the blame rests solely on her shoulders.

Other than stickin' it to God's coiffure things are much better since my last post. Sleep has increased ten-fold, I have a few promising job opportunities, and I have a lot more free time to work on my own projects. And I got an AC window unit for the summer. Shit yea.