the ice storm

i'm over it now, but this evening has been a real bummer. i lost my wallet AGAIN. it's fine, no cash was in there, and almost everything else can be replaced and has been cancelled. almost. i won't whine about the details, but it's a minor misfortune. i never learn. i'm only capable of being a responsible adult for maybe six hours of every day, tops.

and then there is the weather. NOT ZESTY. i love snow. i hate ice storms. the tv is currently advising that there is a "winter storm warning," a "blizzard warning," AND a "flood warning" all happening in the vicinity right now. what the fuck?

and then my itunes had a bit of a meltdown. which should not be important to me, but so totally is.

and then there's this. god help us all. (courtesy of goldenfiddle)

at least jess, my nearest and dearest, is in town. i fear that due to travel delays, my work, her work, and this stupid weather, i won't see her as much as i would like, but we've already gotten some eating and laughing in, and i'm not worried. but i was just so, like, lethargic and cranky for a couple of hours tonight. there's just a lot going on right now and i think the seams are starting to show.

you know what made me feel better? the arcade fire. i don't care if it sounds cheezy. i looked up and i saw them on the tv and i was transfixed. i didn't even feel bad about all the times i've missed seeing them for real. and i don't really have all that much allegiance to their first album, as accomplished and special as it was. but they were just so..passionate. not new-emo dramatics but real fervor. like everything could break down at any second. like neutral milk hotel.

you know what also makes me feel better? thinking about yesterday. i went running and i went further south and east than usual, which caused me to see homes and restaurants and schools that i hadn't before. part of why i went further south and east was to cut across on milwaukee at the end, which is when i came upon 826chi, the chicago outpost of dave eggers' young-person mind-expansion/confidence-building enterprise. right in-between stop smiling HQ and neighborhood housing services, where i worked last fall. i guess it just opened, and i didn't even know it was there. SOOO cute. i have only been to the nyc location, and like that one, 826chi is configured as a "secret agent supply store." (i.e. "the boring store. i.e. "not a secret agent supply store." GAAAH!) maybe it was the endorphins talking, but reading about all of the inventive and inclusive tutorials and presentations and sessions they've got going on, i started crying. i seriously did. it's just such an ambitious, hopeful undertaking. and i'm just another asshole with a law degree. to that point, the only reason why i even went down milwaukee in the first place was to check out the american apparel store, which, for a variety of reasons, is not what i need to be caring about.

anyway, various friends, thanks for your well-wishes over the past couple of days. re: the wallet-losing and also the big, confusing job interview i have next week. YOU ARE THE BEST.

breaking news.

WOW. i was checking voicemail after class and discovered that i had a call from this firm, from somebody who got my resume from this guy. who i've never spoken to in my life. the networking gods must be smiling on me. i'm really, really confused. but if my hunch is correct, i'm naming my first child kevin hull [last name here]. even if it's a girl.

i'm glad that we're friends.

wow, this snow is AMAZING! such big, gentle flakes. yesterday, the wind was harsh, but today, it's magical. i actually get to work out of a real "office" today since i forgot to bring my laptop charger, but i keep finding excuses to go look out the window.

also magical: the carnitas tacos at caminos de michoacan #2 (aka the joint by sheridan el). i hadn't been there since the Infamous July Third Lockout of '04, and i had no idea...i stopped in there on saturday night, to fortify myself for the journey home, and it was easily some of the best mexican food i've ever had. the carnitas were plump and tender, served with onions and lime and some sort of guacamole/salsa verde hybrid. holy mother of god. i wasn't drunk, either, so word is bond. (side note: in my quest to verify the name of the restaurant the next day, i stumbled upon this. WHOA. if it didn't exist, i would've had to invent it.)

that doesn't even scratch the surface of what was a very, very busy couple of weeks, and one in which i had to be "on" a lot of the time...but it's what's most important to me right now. clearly work isn't, so i'd better sign off.

3 thoughts on the cold + 1 quote on the thermals

1. man, there is cold and then there is right now. walking home from white hen, which is pretty much the same thing as walking home from the train, which is to say, not very far, my hands--in their gloves--actually became sort of numb. i mean, i have worse circulation than your nana's nana, but somehow i don't think that was the primary contributing factor today. makes me doubly thankful for my comfortable, centrally-heated apartment, and doubly worried about those without. say some extra prayers for the homeless, if you do that sort of thing. i know i will be.

2. on a less-serious note, i'm pretty sure i engaged in a similar rant about this time last year, or maybe the last couple of years, but seriously: WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH HIPSTER DOUCHEBAGS AND THEIR IRRATIONAL REFUSAL TO WEAR COATS, EVER? i was waiting for the bus this morning with this dude who was wearing this thin narrow jacket and no gloves whatsoever. i watched him fidget with his ipod*, trying to look nonchalant as he clenched in the face of the wind. i wanted to shake him and shout, "hey fucktard! this isn't quadrophenia, it's chicago. and it's three degrees out." meanwhile, i'm toasty in the columbia ski jacket i got at, like, jc penney's five years ago, that i was decidedly not too proud to wear. not that i haven't been known to place fashion ahead of function, even very recently, but today was just beyond the beyond and i can't imagine why anyone would voluntarily choose to wear any fewer than as many layers as they could stand.

3. the other side of the coin, straight-classic chicagoan sang-froid in the face of cold/heart disease/political correctness: the other night when i was running on western, when it was merely eight-ish degrees out, some dude passed me on a bicycle, smoking.

speaking of straight-classic:

Having mastered power trio pop-punk, they speed-read the bible, noting what's fucked and what isn't, why that is and why they give a shit. Spending more time than usual on the words, Hutch Harris abstracts them enough to avoid harangue but not so much that you miss the gist. I'm glad they've chosen thematic ambition over the musical kind, which would have defeated the point of mastering power trio pop-punk in the first place.

finally someone got it right and figured out how to encapsulate the unlikely genius of that great, great record. finally someone did it without stumbling around the "concept album" trope, which is not only inaccurate, but belies how much the album fucking rocks.

god. i feel like every night i have to study corporations is such a waste, because it takes me so damn long, because it's so, so boring. i actually really LIKE payment systems, which objectively sounds worse. (maybe? i guess they both sound pretty bad.) but seriously, i would rather be force-fed glass by paris hilton than read ten pages of this stuff. i will try and make this my last rant about that class, but i'm not promising anything.

* (not mockery, merely illustrative detail. you know i'd have mine, like, surgically implanted if i could.)

breathtaking.

this whole post is interesting, and relevant, if very sprawling, but really the only thing you need to read is the first few paragraphs. strike that, really the only thing you need to read is this:

"Didion frames it all another graph on, perceiving 'not just a vulgarity of diction' but:

When someone speaks...of the 'freedom fighter uniforms' in which the 'communist operatives'... disguise themselves, that person is not arguing a case, but counting instead on the willingness of the listener to enter what Hannah Arendt called, in a discussion of propaganda, 'the gruesome quiet of an entirely imaginary world.'"

remind you of any presidents you know?

this weekend has been fun, equal parts crazy and lazy. i have not managed my time entirely well given how busy the next week or ten days is shaping up to be (I WOKE UP AT 12:30 TODAY), but i think i knew that the leisureliness of this weekend was a foregone conclusion. and when you're being leisurely, you might as well fucking commit to it, or you're only going to be even more stressed out afterwards.

the sweat descends

so last night i went running. at, like, seven o'clock. the sign at the bank at chicago and ashland said 8 degrees, the ukranian credit union -10 C, 11 at roberto clemente high. but you know, it actually felt good. really good. the full moon was amazing and i was dressed appropriately. winter running is all about the 2 Ls: layering and les savy fav. although, objectively, it would have made sense to go on thursday, when it was relatively warm, when i did nothing except work on my pretrial practice assignment. and eat several bowls of cereal. and watch ween videos on youtube, until my six o'clock class. i chalk it up to fluctuating hormones, and the knowledge that i would probably be drunk for the better part of the subsequent 48 hours. a prediction which seems to be bearing itself out. yay for preemptive healthiness, birthdays, and super bowls.