Category: Uncategorized

Among other things, today, Chris and I went to a program that is part of the Worldwide Short Film Festival. There were 9 shorts shown. My four favorite were The Levis HVC a commercial-length, comic illustration of why flying cars are a terrible idea, happy for cheryl about a woman kicking ass and taking names (it was pretty funny and quite cute), Interviews with my next girlfriend a humorous piece where we see a lesbian’s potential mates (embodiments of stereotypes) lined up and disected, and my favorite The Salivation Army detailing the growth of a queer punk group/zine/cult, and the ideology behind it. What I liked most about it was the ideology behind it, and I felt a similarity between some of what he said in his piece regarding the deliberate rejection, unwitting adoption, and eventual purging of symbolic definition for the group through intiations and dress codes and my recent post on religion (cafe closing, more later)

Will be brief, in a net cafe that closes in less than 45 minutes, and I’m stuck in qwerty, dammit. More detail later.

Having a good time. Enjoying the company, but want to document a particularly insightful quote from Chris (spupeh, my tour guide ;). After dinner, I had been talking about Seth, and, as I often do, said “I feel so old”. It is a lame, cliched, and not quite-accurate line. Chris offered forth that what I meant might be that it is important to be appropriately contextualized. Truly, he is an artist with words. That is what I felt, out of place, in the wrong context.

Next, my thoughts on the film shorts festival, hope I have time…

Sometime not so very long ago, in a city not so very far away, I was being driven home by a friend. (A friend who reads this livejournal) And he managed to make a comment that surprised and intrigued me, I can’t remember it word for word, but it was something to the effect of “I wouldn’t ever want to be as intelligent as you.” This caught my attention for two reasons, the first being that he thought I was smarter than him (I’d never really thought about it, just assigned him to the intellectual peer category without much examination), and the second being why on Earth anyone wouldn’t want to be smarter than they are.

His reasoning? Boredom.

long ramblings about boredom, what could be more entertaining?

Up at 6ish this morning. And I still can’t believe I got up that early. (look, ma, no alarm clock). I rolled around in bed, conscious, but not liking it for awhile. Reread some Octavia Butler.

Last night, I went out on a gay.com date. I think this is like repeatedly slamming my head into a brick wall. Sooner or later, I will learn it’s just a bad idea. Hopefully sooner. Afterwards, I picked up some nasal spray. This was a very good idea. It took a little while, but it no longer hurts to swallow. Yay =)

Anyway, after I got up, put on my biking clothes, and picked up Greg. We went for a 22+ish mile bikeride that took a little over two hours. From squirrel hill, to oakland, panther hollow trail to eliza furnace trail through downtown to the three rivers heritage trail, from one end to the other, and back the way we came. I experimented with carrying a bag, with a big rubbermaid container of granola, one quart water bottle, change of clothes, a few papers, and a book. It chafed a bit (I was wearing a sleaveless shirt), but not too bad. Still, it would wear thin over the course of two days.

I must get saddlebags (or panniers or whatever they’re called) for my bike. Would make my bike infintely more useful =)

Got in to work to make the joyful discovery that today is bagel day. Yay bagel day. Not quite as ravenous as last time I biked ~20 miles. Will sleep well tonight.

Showered, changed, working. Feeling mellow.

Okay, I’ve made arrangements, going to toronto this weekend. Weird. Off the cuff vacations in far away cities. I’ve never done that… oh who am I kidding 😉

Still, it’s looking like it will be fun. I am dazzled by what little I’ve so far seen of spupeh‘s skill and diligence as a host. I must go and learn from him. And hopefully have fun in the process (as I expect I will =)

Plans for boston are gelling. Soon I will re-attempt to solicit donations.

Falling behind in Spanish. Must drill vocabulary. Everything else is fine, but my vocab needs serious work. I’m also not so swell with irregulars. Maybe this is a bit of the S v N dimension of my myers-briggs pti. <ponder>

Have materials for research paper. Will probably do some reading while in toronto.

The spores seem to have made their debue. I should talk to my landlord about hauling out the AC, and sticking it in my window. Hmmm.

Greg and I ended up not going out on our tentatively planned bike ride today. Instead I meandered over to Gatto to pick up stuff, only they were closed. Bleh. So, instead of biking directly back, I took a circuitous route, along penn, then alongside the rails, then on braddock, then up past ap2a‘s place, thinking about the fact that he didn’t have an lj, and lo and behold, when I got online today, he had just gotten one. Biked past the irish community center, and only stopped once at that freaking annoying hill. Thought about taking the high level bridge over to the water front, but decided to go food shopping for burritos & guacamole with my sister her roomies & Tom tomorrow evening instead. Net, probably 4-5 miles. Slightly less than an hour biking.

Will plan for more biking wed morning.

June 7-9th (0 vacation days taken): Toronto, baby. Hi Chris. How far is the downtown hostel from desireable locations, and how are cabs and/or public transportation to/from that location? Sample their fine veg*n restaurants, enjoy multi-colored money, be as non-obnoxiously American touristy as possible.

June 14-16th: home & rest

June 20-23rd (1 vacation day): Boston & bikeathon (I will endeavor to arrange to see Tim, gothfru & harem, Ernie, shimmerjemmy, meerkat and what not. A large group dinner (pasta?) the night before biking might not be a bad idea)

June 28th-30th (.5 vacation days): Chicago pride. Fuck the parade, I’m just going to the concert and hanging with friends (hi inqueery probably brown elephant diving too. Will avoid spectacles to the extent possible.

July 5-7th: Recovering at home. Probably busy cleaning up.

July 11-17th (4 vacation days): Bay Area. Check out Berkeley’s ITS, hang out with friends, kick it with innsmouth, radi0actv, kidkero (damn, I’m getting tired of typing <lj user=”blah”> so I quit. You get the idea. Also, want to hit herbivore and millennium again. And both Teas.

July 19th-21st : stay home, chill.

July 26-28th (0-.5 vacation days): Minneapolis (very tentative), Visit Seth, if I can pin da bitch down. Maybe sample settsimaksimin‘s swim team. Possibly meet interesting parties in the way up north.

Over Labor Day Weekend (2 vacation days): bike to DC, hang with sister, and other dc residents. Also tentative.

Note that this process would completely bankrupt my vacation days by the beginning of semptember. But, taking long trips in the middle of classes is always a bad idea.