November 19, 2002
I’ve decided to stay in Iowa City for a while. Now I’m trying to figure out what I should be doing here. I’m thinking of doing something that doesn’t involve working the night shift.
Meantime, I’m digging on the Iowa City hip-hop stylings of The Sucka MCs.
November 17, 2002
This head just scared the Jesus H. God out of me:
I think it’s from roadsideamerica.com, and it was on the Daydreams Comics links page.
I’ve really been thinking about approaching some of these local Iowa City comic/art/tattoo/music shops to do some free web design work for my portfolio. But I haven’t worked up the nerve for it. I wonder if it’s insulting to offer a website redesign. I guess if you’re talking to the person who designed the ugly site (and that person loves it), a redesign offer could be taken the wrong way.
Also, I’m still trying to convince myself to get a cat and also to start looking for “real” employment again. But I must say it’s nice being employed at the grocery store right now. The regular income is keeping my student loans crazy paid and I saved up enough money to get an additional hard drive.
Delicious delicious money.
November 14, 2002
Fly true, loyal shoe.
November 6, 2002
I was able to do a drawing today:
It’s a dude with some hands and also a tie.
November 6, 2002
Today, 3pm:
Telephone: Ring, ring!
Me: Hello?
Recording: Hello, this is President George W. Bush…
Me: *Click*
The last thing I need before going to sleep is that dude’s voice in my ear. I dreamt about dead alligators.
November 1, 2002
Holy fuck it’s getting cold outside. It’s getting difficult to ride my bike to and from work as the gears and brakes freeze and malfunction. I suppose now that it’s almost winter, my bike will be spending more time inside the apartment instead of out in the parking lot. The fiery blaze of my three-wick candle should restore its health and mood. If not, I’ll be back to walking past the 10pm South Johnson Street party scene every goddamn night on my way to work.
And then I would be workin’.
Last night (Halloween) at work, I was ringing up two big cartons of eggs for some punk-style kid. After I checked the first one for broken eggs I realized it didn’t matter. They would all be broken soon enough.
October 29, 2002
Some old friends from high school came for a visit the other day. I haven’t seen them in about 6 years, so it was kind of weird. I don’t think I have too much in common with them anymore, but we were able to have a good time. I have trouble being talkative in social situations, and this was definitely a social situation. They all live in Iowa now, so I’ll be seeing more of them soon.
Wow, I’ve been back in Iowa for almost 5 months now. The New York life is becoming fuzzy in my memory, but I still miss it terribly at times. I’ll always miss the loud-ass Manhattan streets full of taxis/buses/people, the big parks (Central and Prospect), the millions of interesting areas and people, and the pizza. I will not miss the hassle of trying to keep up with rent, commuting, and working in New York. I will not miss the “20 Dollar Out the Door Tax” and the fact I never felt I had time to do anything fun there. Ahh well. To (mis)quote a friend of mine: “Iowa, you are a fine woman.”
Also, I recently saw the movie Slap Shot for the first time. I tell you it was humorous.
October 20, 2002
Since I recently made this blog public, I think I will begin writing as if one hundred people are reading. That should improve things around here.
Today I went for a good October walk through the Sunday streets of Iowa City. It was quite nice and Octobery. Or autumnal, if you will.
I went for the walk to warm up in the sun after freezing my hands and feet off in my apartment. I won’t turn the heat on yet. I’ve been trying to use a big three-wick pillar candle for heat/light in order to cut down electricity bills, and it’s been working alright. Like a bonfire. But I had to go outside to warm up.
As I walked around, many sparrows were flying in front of me and toward my face and eyeballs. This reminded me of an interesting sparrow experience I once had in Brooklyn:
October 16, 2002
So I haven’t been looking for work much lately. I think I’m getting scarily comfortable with my current night stock job at the Hy-Vee. As I stay on longer, they give me more new things to do.
Yesterday I was actually bossing a coworker around, which is hard for me in the first place, and this guy is in his forties, much older than I. Then he asked me if it was okay to do something. I was like sure, dude—shit!
How is some 40 year old guy getting permission from me? This was happening at my webmaster position last year, also. I was supposed to tell these web developers with 7 years experience how and when to code. When I had 1 year experience and did not know what the hell I was talking about.
Yesterday I went to the Iowa City Public Library, which is a damn good library. I think it’s even better than the Brooklyn Library I was going to a few months ago. I picked up the following “def” cds:
Some good classics which I haven’t heard enough of lately. I’ve been called gay for liking that Cranberries album, but what can I do? Souls of Mischief, Digable Planets, and A Tribe Called Quest are some of the jazz oriented rap groups I’ve been getting into to counteract all that crazy Brooklyn shoot your ass off rap. DJs can create some LARGE beats from some jazz loops, and I would be listening to those beats going, “Ummmgph.”
October 13, 2002
I just played some Simpsons Monopoly with my sisters. That game can get a little depressing while you struggle with debt and rent. It hits a little close to home sometimes, or I just take it too seriously. At least I have time to play board games on my days off, instead of working two or three jobs.
I wonder what expenses people have that require them to work so many hours a week? I’m not getting anywhere with 40 hours/week, but it’s keeping me afloat. Maybe because I’ve only got student loans, rent/utilities, and food to pay for. No car or house or family or serious debt. I think I may have answered my own question.