I'm 50 Feet Away From Them

About 10 days ago I drove to Minneapolis. One of the first things I did was see the comedian Jim Gaffigan perform at the State Theater. He was amazing, as always. Watching him, I got that familiar feeling I get when I see a comedian or band that I really admire: that feeling of, they're in the same room as me. I get kind of blown away at the idea that entertainers travel around and I get to be 50 feet from them or 10 feet or in the case of Jim Gaffigan, probably over 100 feet, and I get to watch in-person what they do that I admire. That's pretty cool, and it seems good to still get that childlike awe at it happening.

Cool things from the last couple weeks:
*Found a Wayne's World book at the library book sale, and it was free.
*Made my solo karaoke debut with an off-key performance of "Amish Paradise" by Weird Al Yankovic.

Some pictures:

Who Owned This Before?

I'm re-reading one of my favorite books, a used copy I bought a few years ago. The first time I read it, I got it from the KU library. It seemed like almost every page had stains on it, as if some person who read it had been eating pizza the entire time. Sometimes I wonder, when I'm zoning out while reading, who previously owned the book I'm reading (if it's a used copy) or who has also read this particular library copy. Who are these people? What are they doing now? What did this book mean to them, if anything? The same goes with clothes I buy from thrift stores. What places have these clothes seen? Did the person get compliments when they wore these? Where are these people now? I think that's why I like buying things that were previously owned by someone else. It's like a life cycle. And when I'm done, I can pass it off to someone else. We'll never meet, but it's neat to think objects can live on.

Watching/Listening Lately:
*Mitch Hedberg
*It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
*The Beach Boys
*A Place In The Sun

Some photos:

Dorms

I haven't written in this in a year and a half. Lately I've been wanting to again, but haven't been sure what to write. Well here goes:

I'm in the middle of reading Jonathan Franzen's The Discomfort Zone, a collection of essays about his life. In one he said his brother went to the University of Kansas and lived in Ellsworth Hall, which is exactly where I lived. I remember the single greatest thing about our room that impressed the very few visitors we had was our bathroom. Other rooms had bathrooms too, but for some reason my roommate Vince and I got a room with a handicapped-accessible bathroom, despite neither of us being handicapped in anyway. So, our bathroom was huge. I sometimes studied in there, using the sink as a desk, and also wrote songs in there, strumming an acoustic guitar and writing down chord progressions.

Lately I've written a few articles about dorms for a website I write stuff for. When I lived in the dorms, I hated it. Outside of my roommate, I just didn't really fit in with the other people there, the people who would run up and down the halls at 4:00 a.m., yelling and slamming into doors. But now, as I look back on that year living in Ellsworth, I do look back with some fondness almost, or at least I'm able to enjoy the fun things from that time. I also wish I would've done it better, that I had left our room more and made friends with the other people on the floor, instead of just staying in our room so much of the time.

But maybe that all shows how I've changed since then, how I used to be a guy sometimes hiding behind doors, and now I want to be outside, be in "it" and be a part of what's going on.


What I've Been Listening To Lately:
*Au Revoir Simone
*Fourth of July
*The National
*Lana Del Ray
*Twin Sister
*WTF w/ Marc Maron Podcast

Watching Lately:
*Childrens' Hospital
*I Confess
*Beginners
*The Future

Reading Lately:
*A Visit From The Goon Squad
*Breakfast At Tiffany's
*The Motel Life
*Juno: The Shooting Script

Some Pictures:

Things have been going fairly well recently. I just finished re-reading one of my favorite books, The Easter Parade by Richard Yates and have seen some awesome friends lately. Some other stuff:

*Visited Lincoln, Nebraska, which is a fun town.
*Reading the latest issue of Zoetrope: All-Story, which was designed by Jason Schwartzman.
*Seeing Camera Obscura in a couple weeks.
*Saw two sneak previews for free: She's Out of My League and Hot Tub Time Machine. Neither were all that good, but whatever, it was free!
*Met St. Vincent a month ago. She was really nice. I don't make as much of an effort to meet bands as I used to, due to them often being kind of unfriendly, but she was really nice. That's awesome.


Some pictures:

Mid 20s

It seems like most people I know are now are getting into their mid 20s, or maybe even older. That's just weird to think about. My sister turns 29 in a few days. A friend of mine turned 25 last week. Another turned 24 a couple days ago. We're gettin' old.

Some cool things in the last couple weeks:
*Ordered salmon for the first time at a restaurant (not the first time I've had it, but I've never voluntarily asked for it at a restaurant before)
*Shout Out Louds have a new CD coming out in a month. The new songs I've heard sound good.
*Camera Obscura is coming to Lawrence.
*Went to Manhattan (Kansas, not New York).
*Went to Columbia (Missouri).
*Am reading some good books.

Some pictures:

Since June...

Here's what I've been up to since I last updated in June:

*Took a road trip to California and back, making stops in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Denver, and more. 4400 miles. Plus I met Zach Galifianakis! I manage to squeeze that into every conversation. You can read about the trip here: http://vinceandchris.blogspot.com/
*Told everyone I was moving to Chicago and then changed my mind and moved back to Lawrence.
*Still visited Chicago and had a swell time with Brian
*Played lots of shows with a couple bands
*Working on a novel. It's getting there slowly. Up to page 76 or so.

New Year's Eve was pretty great. I am reminded everyday that I know some really great people, and I continue to meet more. I did last night in fact. It's such a lucky thing.

Here are some of these people:

Traveling?

Traveling is something, like a lot of people, that I want to do more of. Vince and I have been making some vague plans to take a road trip to California in August. I think there's actually a good chance it'll happen. That'd be awesome. I guess part of me wants to have that Jack Kerouac lifestyle of traveling, very little responsibility, and being my own boss. That sounds pretty good.

Oh and I get to see two of my friends get married this week! I think it'll be a good time. I can't wait.