f*c@ the strippers we couldahad a shrine

things i am pleased about:

• i have seen my first fireflies of the season and that reminds me of shelley.
• i packed up six bags of clothes and shoes for volunteers of america. VOA promises to be on my street tomorrow. so, out with the old and ill-fitting. i am very proud of myself for this purge.
  
• i went on and began packing. in earnest, i packed one box today and started disassembling things to be jettisoned, recycled or donated.
  
• i am going to either barter or buy a mess of furniture from patrick and tracy's house -- i am mostly buying things of theirs but i am going to barter babysitting for a set of teak chairs and reese's queen sized bed and headboard. i have slept on the bed before and she promised that she hasn't had any bad dreams on it...in fact she flatly denied every dreaming while sleeping on it. it comes close to be as comfortable as my childhood bed, but there's no canopy. come to think of it, a canopy bed might be the way to go with such a large loft -- it may help the sleeping quarter feel more like a chamber?
• my cousin gene promised to come visit me in ohio as soon as i ask him to. and i know that he will. he is not however interested in paintballing at the local state park. (he is back from europe where he loved each city and especially enjoyed brugge and prague). he and i have tentatively planned to go canoing on the huron river later this summer before i leave.
  
• i went for a long, fast-paced walk with despina tonight during which time we pledged to each other that we would not speak at faculty meetings for the first three months. and we debated various "rules" and "policies" that we want to implement for our professional sanity
• i am aiming to say no more.
• i am aiming to be very selective about independent studies.
• i am aiming to be unavailable via email every single day.

i appreciated the finale of the sopranos. i thought that onion rings and jukebox journey and a cut to black was very very good. i liked it. i will not cancel hbo. although i may not even have a tv when i move to ohio. i am debating that.

things that i am twisted about:

• mosquitoes
• cocaine as a recreational drug. on saturday night, i went with some pals to hear live music in ypsi. when edward went to the toilet room and returned directly, we wondered what was up. he explained that some dude was doing lines in the bathroom. in a total dive in ypsi. then, i read the nytimes piece that clarified it all for me. it's not just young hollywood or nyc. it's middle america too. i mean on main street in ypsilanti for the love of the lord. i mean Lord, not (drug)lord. on a related note, i have been giving a lot of thought to the local food movement, the 100 mile diet and slow foods. do you think that people who do drugs worry about their carbon footprint and the miles that the goods traveled to make it to their rolling paper, pipe or mirror?
  
• barbara walters' cloying attempts to get post-carceral interview with paris and kathy hilton.
  
• and lastly and chiefly: vanity fair's 20 covers of africa.
• bono missed a great opportunity to introduce some of the continent's talent -- not just photogenic celebrities who have adopted dark skinned children (brad pitt and madonna), philanthropists (warren buffet, gateses and oprah) and one-note wonders (maya angelou. i mean having a hallmark greeting card line should DQ you from vanity fair covers.) jay-z! chris rock! george clooney! alicia keys! i mean for god sake's muhammed ali -- he rumbled in an africa jungle >30 years ago, but come on. in sum, bono blows.
• there must be other things too but that's it because my skin so soft may have just worn off.
  

on saturday, i went to detroit for festival of the arts. it was awesome. i had such a good time. except that just like at disneyworld, there were entirely too many children. this presents a real problem for me because i am drawn to the activities for children (like the marionette show and box city) but i don't like to be near other people's spoiled children. i snapped a lot of pictures and you too can view them by clicking here. i enjoyed the puppets, the planning exercises, and osadia, who remade participants' hair into these exquisite fantasy landscapes.

miss bird comes this weekend and i am excited to see her and to take off to traverse city.