Hi! I'm in vermont! I like it here. I like my house! It was pretty messy when I got there so cleaning it has been giving me something to do. My coffee maker is still in storage which is kind of cramping my style but I'll be able to get that stuff this weekend. Dan is really busy, which is nice to see. I love my housemates! I can't wait for Lydia to get here. My room is small but sunny and with a big closet. Our landlady has these two geese which think they own the place and will harrass you if they can. I've named them Donny and Marie because they are brother and sister. Last night I sat by the stream for a bit and the fish were jumping. I felt in touch with nature. Pictures to follow!

Major home stretch time... or, away-from-home stretch I should say... dang this was like the moment I've been looking forward to all summer and now that it's here it's kinda, eh... I'd sort of like to stay at the duplex a bit longer please... but no, I am borne ceaselessly etc etc... DAG.

I took my computer, my lovely wonderful Butch, to the genius bar yesterday where they are going to fix it, maybe. Because of the new hard drive we put in last year they might try to charge me too much to fix it. The "genius" sort of made me feel guilty. I left the store feeling pretty bad because of the mean genius, so I went to nordstrom with the theory that pretty things would make me feel better. And that's when I found $94 LUCKY JEANS MARKED DOWN TO $26.80. In my size. There were only three pairs left and one of them was MY SIZE. I literally did a little dance in the fitting room. The sales girl was not as excited as I was: "Do you want the receipt in the bag or with you?" "In the bag is fine, plus there is no way I am returning these!! This is like the greatest find in the history of shopping!" "A pair of Luckies for thirty bucks... yeah I guess so..." She didn't get it. When I got home I hugged them and wore them all through my exciting night of picking up my car and watching arrested development. I LOVE MY JEANS! I LOVE MY CHEAP LUCKY JEANS! Yeah I'm still worried about my computer but I HAVE $94 DOLLAR JEANS TO WEAR WHILE I WORRY SO THAT'S AWESOME!

I am seeing my boyfriend in less than one week and I think that means that we can breathe a sigh of relief and say "we did it, we survived the summer, awesome." Also in addition to the boyfriend seeing, boyfriend is in possession of season 2 of Lost so less than one week until Lost. Oh yeah and the apartment and senior year. Those things kind of pale in comparison to the former two though.

For what seems to me a reasonable fee (and must be since Mom agreed to it) I'm getting Butch II some medical attention which will hopefully result in 1. his battery charging 2. his touch pad working 3. His surviving the year. Woo woo.

That's it. Less than one week (ok by like a few hours but whatevs).

Oh yeah and my baby brother is leaving for college tomorrow and last night he and I saw snakes on a plane, which was like a perfect last activity for us to do together.

The last few weeks in pictures

We went to Danville and to the Georgetown fair. We saw a tractor (mom was excited). And Jake got a deep-fried Reese's cup!



Then Becky was here!

And we went to the museum, where I indulged in my aesthetic love of Stuff in Glass Cases.





Stuff got a little ARTY.


Also we went to the top of THIS
Where from the ladies room in the cocktail lounge you see THIS!

Damn this city is so hawt!
More city hawt-ness

**RANT**

Something else irritating at work besides childish drama: the hazelnut syrup con artist. Here is how it works to get hazelnut syrup at the buzz: you tell us you want hazelnut in your drink, and then we charge you 50 cents, and then we put one ounce of it into your drink. There is this once customer who comes in EVERY MORNING and orders a latte with hazelnut. Then he comes back and asks for "a little" more syrup, and then comes back and asks for "a little more" syrup until he's basically stolen from us, because he's gotten at least another ounce, sometimes two, that he hasn't paid for. This may sound petty but it gets me incredibly irritated. It's like, look guy, this is a civilized society and certain rules govern it, and one such rule is the PAY FOR YOUR SYRUP rule. What kind of cheapskate do you have to be to pull something like this EVERY DAY. If he wants a sweeter drink, why can't he simply use one of the complimentary sweeteners (there are several: sugar, raw sugar, honey, sweet and low, equal, splenda, and cane syrup)? Not only does he insult my intelligence by doing this same stunt every day, he is refusing to play by the rules that everyone else is fine with. AND when he comes back into the store to ask for more syrup, he inevitably cuts to the front of the line, interrupting my transaction whatever customer I am serving at that moment, thereby being rude not only to me and my cafe but to some innocent bystander who IS PAYING FOR EVERYTHING THEY ARE TAKING. DAMN if you don't want to pay for extra syrup DON'T GET IT. That stuff will kill you anyway.

In less self-involved news, Becky and Rachel and other lovely if little-known people where here this week and it was fabulous. I love having Marlboro-ites in my city, it helps me remember that Marlboro is just as real as Chicago is. That might not make sense but it is an important thing for me to hold on to.

Only 12 days until I leave and only 6 work shifts left. I don't exactly know what's going to happen next but I trust it will be better than this lame ass excuse for a summer.

Well, I never want to go back to the Buzz again. This is good, because if I was going to be satisfied going back there to work next summer I might have ended up working there too long. Now events have transpired and I can just ride out my last week and a half and then never step foot in there, other than for over-priced breakfast, ever again, and therefore have the proper motivation to find a real job next year. Good.

Thanks, mean, two-faced people I work with: you have done me a great favor.

As with most days of late, today was pleasant and not overly dull, but let's face it, compared to LOST my life is as boring as a box of hair.

A picture:

I got a B+ in View Camera!!!!!! Yes! This is the best grade since Art in Rome!

Chicago summer night

Pictures from THE HIDDEN COVE

It's very funky and colorful and open real late.

Fabulous sunday night dinner with the girls, basically curing me of my Buzz-sunday funk. Now my "weekend" of monday and tuesday in which to clean my room and read and soul-search re: do I really want to go to J-school? I kinda think... I don't.

Oh the buzz. So irritating and sweaty, yet glorious. Now, off to dinner.

By the way, I haven't been "out" in like a month-- does that mean I am lame?

An Off Night

Tonight was just lame. I hit some bumps (being stiffed on a tip, unfriendly customers, etc) at work that I just could not recover from-- I find that with my work at the Buzz I have to be in stride, all the pieces being together or I get scattered and don't get stuff done right/on time, and I end up in a bad funk. The funk was not elevated at all by unexpectedly having to walk the two miles home. It wasn't the walk, it's a lovely night out and I had my ipod, it was just... I guess I was feeling a bit "world is against me." The walk is actually nice, I should do it more. Or at least ride my bike. Watching four consecutive episodes of LOST was good escapism but I really think only a new day is going to make me chipper again. Hence, to bed.

Plan! MySpace!

I woke up really early (9:15) for no particular reason this morning, and managed to be productive enough to FINALLY finish typing out my notes for Building the South Side which I started two months ago and which is (ahem) extremely overdue. I'm not even going to pretend to try to finish/type up Urban Disorder and the Shape of Belief so I can return that one, too. Summer = distracting.

Feeling rather triumphant to have finished some solid work for Plan on a pleasant August morning when no one told me to, I decided it might finally be time to join the sheep herd which is myspace. Well, I think God does not want me to have myspace because I tried 5 times and each time there was an undefined "error" and my registration wouldn't go through. So, I take it as a sign and will not be setting up a myspace account any time soon. Sorry to disappoint my public.

Monday and Tuesday has become my Saturday and Sunday. I'm happy to have this excuse to not have a social life, which hides the truth, which is that I just don't have one, period, and work pretty much has nothing to do with it.

The tornado siren test was strangely melodic today. Beautiful, even.