Totally worth driving too far.

I just got back from Washington, D.C. We decided it was worth the 8-hour drive to see The White Stripes, and they did not disappoint.


I didn't actually take this photo. We weren't close to the stage at all, but randomly enough we met a guy on the metro who had a great spot, and was kind enough to send this and a few others to me. Regardless, it was basically the best concert ever.

Now I am going to go think about how great it is to not be in the car.

Believe it or not, I am the kind of person who tries to be nice

Yesterday I accidentally made an enemy at my job. I'm not sure what to make of it, because I've never accidentally made an enemy before. I generally understand why you have made me your enemy, especially since I might have flown off the handle and told you that you're wrong what I think. But someone who just HATES me? At a place where I spend most of my time worrying about whether I've pleased everyone? That just doesn't make any sense to me.

I suppose I should confess the whole story here: I've sensed that this person and I might not get along, because I don't think this person's jokes are funny, and also they are grumpy ALL. THE. TIME. Then yesterday, I did something wrong (I'm sort of new, you know), and this person YELLED at me. In front of everyone. This person is not in charge of me, so I don't understand why it was okay to YELL. In fact there was so much YELLING that when I apologized, this person just rolled their eyes and walked away. In the past, I have deserved such a reaction to an apology, but not this time. This time I was being sincere.

It's a totally weird experience. There are people I intensely dislike whom I used to care deeply for, and there are people who feel the same way about me. And I'll admit there are people who rub me the wrong way right from the get-go, but I would never be outright mean to them like this. I guess I'm just not sure how to feel: Mad? Hurt? Indignant? Entertained? Right now I'm sort of in awe over the whole thing, because it's a bizarre feeling: There is no pressure for me to be nice to you, because YOU ALREADY HATE ME!

Now that I think about it, it's quite liberating.

TV shows you will see if you stop by my family's house even for a moment

• How It's Made
• CSI: Anywhere (usually punctuated with conversations centering around the question, "haven't we seen this one before?"
  
• Myth Busters
• CSI: Anywhere
  
• Drake & Josh
• Weird History Channel Documentary
• CSI: Anywhere (always punctuated with me asking, loudly, if we can change the channel)
  

Strategic vandalism

I was reading something about someone scratching letters off the newspaper boxes in Chicago, and it reminded me of my trip to San Francisco. I went into the restroom at Golden Gate Park, and while I was washing my hands I noticed that someone had scratched the S and y off of the word sturdy in "Sturdy Station" on the--wait for it--diaper-changing thing. Clever, I thought, and the longer I thought about it the more funny it became. I meant to tell Christina, but apparently I don't have the memory to remember something for the thirty seconds it takes to throw away a paper towel and walk outsitde, so I ended up forgetting to mention it until after we were back in Colorado. And I suppose I meant to tell you all a little sooner, too.

Makes this whole endeavor seem sort of pointless

I watched this movie about Iris Murdoch once, and I'd link to a page about her but I'm too lazy. Plus it's late and that's not even the important part anyway.

One of her lines in the movie is something along the lines of, "We lie every time we speak, because there is no way that our thoughts and feelings can fit so neatly into the categories words create--we have so much more going on in our minds than our words can even attempt to convey."

And I know I've butchered it (with words! Get it?) but don't you ever feel like that? Sometimes, that's exactly how I feel.

I know I'm not the only one who feels this way

I just noticed that someone found this website by googling "hatchet by gary paulsen lucky or unlucky." I'm sure they were none too pleased by what they found.

Of course, if they actually were pleased by it, I want to tell them: Send me an email, let's be friends!

Charming

I spend my entire day just itching to sit down and write, about everything from the old man David and I look for every morning on the way to work (he hasn't been sitting on his porch for two weeks, but we did see his wife a few days ago!) to my descent back into the hell of caffeine addiction (working? At 8:30 am? Requires caffeine, end of story). But then I get home, and I'm sort of tired, and I can't quite sort out all the ideas in my head. So I watch dvd's or go swimming and then go to sleep. Days are so short. What am I going to do when it starts to get dark at 5:30 instead of 9:30?

I guess I've been busy doing summertime things, and you can't blame a person for that. For example, I went to my town's little summer-fest downtown last month, and on the way home we stopped at the library. I really love this quilt:


Quilted Loudonville
Originally uploaded by LorenAnn03.

It hangs in the library, and it must have been created at the pinnacle of my childhood, because every store I remember visiting as a five-year-old is on it. I also enjoy that they don't call the bar "BAR" or even its actual name. Instead, it says "Pool Room." How very River City of you, quilt-creator.

Seriously, you're going to want to go visit that photo and get the close-up. It's pretty impressive. Now. Click on it.

I love it when I make my brother laugh

"Didn't you say there was some phrase that really bothered you?"

"Yeah, there are a lot of them. I can't stand it when people say, 'let me be honest with you.' Like, you weren't already? Or you weren't even planning on it?"

"Oh my gosh. If I ever do stand up, I'm totally stealing that from you."