lxforever

“The day after tomorrow could be the best day ever.”

—Pete Wentz

” ’cause I really need somebody / tell me are you that somebody”

—Aaliyah, Are You That Somebody, from…fall ’98? (collecting all FALL songs, pieow)

…you just never know! This year has been full of surprises and RANDOMNESS, and yesterday was no exception. However, the surprises we’ve run into have generally NOT been good, whereas yesterday’s surprise was very good and very random! (NO this is not what you may think it is, it’s just something that happened at work.)

In the spirit of this randomness AND in the spirit of celebrating, we went out to beloved Al Vento after work to indeed CEL E BRATE. This is what was on: Four course $20 meal (= best deal ever, sorry but true). $10 half-carafe of Venice boxed wine. Tomato bread soup (zucchini bruschetta for Jeff) which was incredible, BEET salad (!!) w/ cherry balsamic (!!!) (caprese for Jeff), followed by sea bass ravioli w/ lemon-sage-butter + then gelato for us both (blackberry). Needless to say the food was spectacular.

However, even MORE spectacular was the service. I keep a solid eye out for good service and in fact they were impeccable all evening, from hostess to water-server to actual server to plate-person to CHEF or whatever Ricardo, who came out to bring us the first course (“If you need anything, please just ask for Ricardo.”) – seriously so cool. Good or bad the Recession seems to have sparked an increase in wonderful service, and I can appreciate that immensely.

Also spectacular: delightful company of my charming date.

Happy September!!

“I don’t don’t don’t don’t need to know / but I’d put on my best fresh little black dress / and go get seen tonight / work on that alibi of yours”

—Dessa, Alibi

NOTE I owe an EOTD/EOTW/whatever, esp as I had quite a nice one, incl. fancy drinks + art show + chat w/ Mike, creepy but super movie w/ Jeff, long lake swim, biking to Wirth, and crazy wonderful cooking, but NO TIME! Instead you get this: September, you ARE my friend! And this: 20s/30s degree-wise tomorrow night/Sept 14 WTF??

Also: pretty sure I’m going to get hacked again soon. Just sayin’. So…watch out. (Don’t worry, I am doing my backups! I even modified my robots file so people can stop freakin’ finding my site from journal entries from HIGHSCHOOL where I was dumb enough to use FULL NAMES. Yes. And no, I still refuse to take things down. Narcissism/posterity/etc.)

Partytime!

That is ALL.

“Sorry to be such a hippie but I think we should all just go home and be nice to each other.”

—Chani Marischelli, 9/11/01

Not-So-Random Memory:

Chani Marischelli, instructor extraordinaire, walked into our Speech class, the later Tuesday morning section, right on time, tears streaking her face. Her face and eyes were full of panic; her bright red mouth told us to go home. “Sorry to be such a hippie but I think we should all just go home and be nice to each other.”

There has been enough going on in my little life, dates aside, that I want to remind you all to do the same. Hold on tight.

“You pretend you’re high / you pretend you’re bored / you pretend you’re anything / just to be adored / And what you need / is what you get…”

—Garbage, Stupid Girl…theme of Fall ’99, and now Fall ’11?? LOVE.

“…one for sorrow / two for joy / three for girls and four for boys / five for silver six for gold and / Seven for a secret never to be told / … / you don’t want to waste your life darling oh you don’t want to waste your life baby / change change change!”

—Counting Crows, Murder of One / LXv3.0 + theme of Fall ’03

time 11:41 am feeling Happy happy happy! wearing jean skirt, cool Barcelona shirt music random mix! ready for fall next coffee with Anna P!

FALL! Looks like you get: What I’m Up To Today and Random Memory.

What I’m Up To Today:
Shortly – coffee w/ Anna. Caribouuuuu lovers! Previously – new ID picture and page rearchitecture. Then – map fixing / map creation. After – KCK w/ Mike + his awesome $99 art show. THEN – movie/malt date w/ Jeff. YES this is a wonderful wonderful day! Happy Friday!

Random Memory:
In Fall of 2001, the cafeteria in our dorm (yes I went back to the dorm for a second year, I am THAT COOL) served hot apple cider with dinner most nights. On Thursdays I had a night class over on East Bank with Fiyyaz (well, the class wasn’t w/ Fiyyaz but he also had EB night class then, I mean). Thus we usually ate together with our friends. We got in the habit of grabbing a cup of cider ‘to go’ from the cafeteria just before we left – it was quite comforting to have a hot cup of cider when you’re riding the bus to class in the dark, no?

However, the cups were not ‘to go’, rather they were fine dining hall china. We would bring the cups to class and then dutifully haul them back to St. Paul campus on the bus. However. Instead of returning them to the cafeteria as we should, we got in the habit of coming back that evening to KLA quad on the 3rd floor, opening the windows, and smashing the cups out of the window.

Oops.

Out!

“I don’t want to go to school anymore…the novelty’s worn off.”

—Alyssa, 9/3/02, AKA the second day of school…LOL!

“The day after tomorrow could be the best day ever.”

—Peter Wentz

“You might not have tomorrow, so drink some juice today!”

—Cranberry Juice Guy at the Fair, 9/4/11

“For a moment this good time would never end / you and me you and me”

—Dave Matthews Band

time 5:16 pm feeling HAPPY and hungry wearing khakis…fall!…and cool striped shirt from Stephie music Caspian and American Beauty and POP! ready for partying next dinner!

New fall agenda:
1. Cookingfest Sundays
2. Drawing Club!
3. plotting Halloween costumes?
4. apples + beer (not together…necessarily)
5. clean basement : P
6. picnics and/or bike rides while it lasts
7. LIFE!

—

Today has been stupendous. LET THAT BE NOTED! September, you are my friend!

That all said, this past weekend was rather swell and deserves yet ANOTHER EOTW. Also, last week deserves a little shoutout: HITF HH consisting of beer, lots of laughing and making-fun-of, guessing $8-an-hour, talking wrong kind of toupees, sitting in the dark with Christmas lights at Club Jag until 9pm. THAT kind of HH, yes; also went to the Fair with Current Workplace folk which was quite wonderful. Friends everywhere.

EOTW! Quickly!

Friday quick lift, where I did 17 PRESS HANDSTANDS, 14 of them in a row, and felt stronger and more flexible than EVER, not sure how that happened…superheroinelike!; grocery shop, then lots of wine and delicious peapod meal…always getting better! We were stressy but we were together. That is what matters. you and me you and me

Saturday up earlyish, what did we do? Can’t remember. Work in Yellow Room Motel? I then made us a ‘fancy’ breakfast of pancakes eggs and smoothies. FOOD! Off to workout (Jeff) bike ride (me). Stressy despite beautiful blue sky and beautiful ride around the lakes. Trying to breathe like how I meditate to combat it. LIFE. Home to shower and do some crazy house cleaning (along with goofing off, yep)…I cleaned the kitchen like crazy and Jeff the rest of the house. GORGEOUS! Called Erik and harassed him. Not sure what else I did this day, I barely remember it? Eventually made Best Meal Ever at 9pm which was a fine decision indeed. Bed.

Sunday woke to geese calling as they flew away and a chill-filling room. Fall, thou hast arrived. Brewed HOT COFFEE for the first time since April…awwww. But kind of love. I kind of feel like I might be In Love with this Fall and want to Marry It. Hah.

Sat outside wrapped in a blanket and fleece and ate my toast + yogurt, then moved to the chaise where I drank coffee and finished my book. My Friend Leonard. It made me cry twice. Had to move the chaise-reading party inside when rain came and Jeff made fun of me. Hah. Finished book inside. THEN bike to a quick swim at the U. SUN came out! Love to swim.

Home again and ready for FAIR! It was a glorious day for our 2nd Fair attendance. Very cool and full of people wearing FALL clothes. Fall Fair. Yes indeed. We prowled around for new foods and eventually got tired and needed to rest. That got our energy right back! We laughed at the Cranberry Juice Drink Guy (“You might not have tomorrow, so drink some juice today!” “HIGH FIVE! She’s cool, but she’d be cooler if she had a cup of juice in the other hand!”). Then Skee-Ball! I was OK. Got a gift for Erik. Ha ha ha. We proceeded to do a weird arm-circle dance in front of the arcade to the DDR music. No one batted an eye (that we could see). INTENSE weirdos. MFEO.

It got dark. I got some earrings and we continued to enjoy food….DUH. Then came across International Bazaar again and the band started playing “Crazy In Love” aka our wedding-walking-in song. I grabbed Jeff and we immediately started dancing in the street. This time a toddler girl was watching us and started imitating Jeff’s crazy moves. She was hilariously adorable but scared of my high-five. I don’t blame her. That dance = highlight of my weekend. (Coffee in blanket/reading a close second.)

Home and Kix and bedtime.

Monday we dinked around a lot in the AM. Whoops. Then to the gym, Jeff drove, I biked. Finally home and prepared our PICNIC! Picnicked along the creek which was beautiful and stressy all at once. The creek was gorgeous and we were lovers. Fancy cheese and exploding soda. Reflections. Reflecting. Shadows. Hugs. Jeff accompanies me to get jellybeans and we see Halloween merchandise. He is excited. Home and got super lazy and ordered pizza. I stupidly freaked out about some work thing I had to do but all was OK eventually. Talked to Katy and put away laundry. Jeff plays DS/Zelda. A quiet night at home. Bliss and deserved.

—

One of those wonderful weekends. I foresee many of them in the future. Just being together. Happy Fall!!!!

hot coffee (vs. coldpress, sad day) + waking up to geese calling as they fly away = fall, fall, fall. I love summer, but hey, fall + I are lovers too. I guess I’ll take it.

Fall + 30. Be my friends, please!

Fun weekend with Jeff. Let’s keep it up.

“There is nothing but this thing that you’ll never doubt / This thing you’ll never doubt”

—Garbage, Supervixen

” ‘Is tomorrow just a day like all the rest?’ / How could you know just what you did? / So full of faith yet so full of doubt I ask / Time and time again you said don’t be afraid / ‘If you believe you can do it.’ “

—Jimmy Eat World, Goodbye Sky Harbor / LXv3.0

“For one human being to love another; that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation.”

—Rainer Maria Rilke

time 3:29 pm feeling hopeful wearing jean skirt, red shirt music American Beauty ready for good news! next floods / HITF HH

August…you can suck it! Thankful to have September as a fresh start. That all said, there were still some high points to August, including but not limited to Nationals w/ Diana/our sangria HH at the break that became a Total Confessional Hour, HA HA HA, hanging out with Anna and Mason in Madison again (and my sisters!), attending AEA 2011 which made me re-love the web/my job all over again, NOT hitting the debt ceiling, Ange’s fun wedding, and dancing the night away with Kristin and Brigette. Also last weekend which I will get into.

BUT FIRST: as you may be able to tell from the last two updates, things are Afoot in my world. Not good things, either. Sad to say. But, in the spirit of 2011, I am not going to talk about that and instead shall summarize the positives.

Last weekend = fun in spite of fear so it deserves an EOTWkd. More or less it involved: hanging out with JEFF Friday!; Saturday = roommate coffee(coldpress!) + heart-to-hearts + great support + birthday planning, love Kristin and Alyssa; registering for Sunday’s duathlon and learning about how to oil my bike chain from very very friendly bike folks at both the registration (Freewheel folks) AND then One-on-One down the street (SO nice!), and enjoying prerace atmosphere; beers w/ Daniel at Longfellow with much MN-official-ness + reminiscing amusement; home to a happy Jeff who was mowing the lawn, where I then successfully oiled my own bike chain which made me VERY VERY HAPPY in a weird but true way…I think I feel way too good about myself for that, but, whatever!!; then eggs + asparagus + trip to Kowalski’s for Coke for Jeff, where I somehow got an amazing discount, + hanging OUT!; Sunday = duathlon with Diana!, great weather, beautiful river, so fun and I was way way faster than I thought (“holla 1996 bikes!” as I crowed to some ladies as we raced on our old old bikes)…TEAMMATES FOR LIFE, she is amazing; THEN home for a total crash-nap and THEN to the Fair with Jeff and Erik which was WAY too fun and MADE my weekend in every single way. YAY. Love hanging out with them. Lots of goofy song-making! Lots of silliness as always. Art + eco building + gaining fat, HAH. Managing Erik’s false ADD. Fake fair videos. Fair Bingo / awkward photos. “LIVE from the Minnesota STATE FAIR!” “You heard it here, STRAIGHT from the HORSE’S mouth!” Etc.

So….you can see, even in the negatives, there are positives. And if you need me to oil your chain…I now can.

Also…I love Jeff to pieces! He is…THE BEST.

THE END. (The Beginning.)

“I slept, and dreamed that life was Beauty / I woke, and found that life was Duty”

—Ellen Sturgis Hooper (1816-1841)

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn’t be. And what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?”

—The Mad Hatter

“One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth the doing is what we do for others.”

—Lewis Carroll

Spiegel im Spiegel / “mirror in the mirror”:

“The universe is full of black holes / and anniversary nights”

—Smashing Pumpkins, Rose March

“Born to please / every simple need / I stand alone / in my thoughts indeed / hate you / for ever making me / I’m in you / I’m your anything”

—Smashing Pumpkins, Set The Ray To Jerry

time the morning feeling better, now that I have this latte wearing cool gray shirt music SP! ready for less volatility, but WCYD? next organize

NOTE: Newly edited. SORRY.

Up and down. Up and down. Up and down. The Dow and I agree. This latte is already doing its job, though, so that’s good. Not sure what putting all this here accomplishes but (theme of 2011) It Is What It Is. Go at it, you meta-blog-harvesting-Russians. Make crazy lxforever your own.

I will conclude this update with a chart, Trike-style:

I fully expect this period of volatility to continue for at least a little while (though I’d prefer it not). Just so you know what you’re dealing with if you deal with me In Real Life. Note that the levels achieved in June/July were probably only previously most recently seen in 2007/2008.