bolt bussing it.

February 26th, 2013 @ 8:27am

Currently on the Bolt Bus on my way to Seattle, which had seemed so far away when I booked the tickets like, three weeks ago, but now is fast upon me. The Bolt Bus today has been replaced by a Greyhound because the original bus is in the shop. Which means no wi-fi. Which means I am just typing this onto a Notepad for the time being, and then I am going to pass out deliciously…

Things have been good, really good. I’ve set about again with giving myself schedules and checklists to work with, and have decided to devote certain days to certain things — allowing for overflow, of course — to keep myself sane. There has been a lot of work, a lot of opportunity, and even a lot of potential freelance work that is all coming in at once. And with a lot of people who are completely disorganized and allow me a lot of leeway in-between projects, which is good. I just bought a $1,300 Panasonic GH3 — to start to get serious with video stuff — and that is certainly going to be a financial burden. Troy just bought a $1,800 guitar amp which he feels a special affinity to — is the first thing he’s bought in a while that he feels super invested in… and I feel the same about this camera… and we’re just chasing dreams like idiots. Really happy idiots, at least for now. Honeymoon period, which is nice, since there’s no real rhyme or reason for that right now, or is there? I don’t know. Things just feel extremely balanced, which is nice.
(Gross, it just started smelling like cleaner product, blarghhhh, my least favorite things ever…)

Anyway. Dammit, just lost the little marshmallow cushion thing on one of my headphones — this always happens. And starting to feel like I don’t really want to be looking at a computer screen anymore, but before I do that… last night we did the third thing in our tarot reading workbook which was nice. There was this weird visual about entering into a card — and we chose Universe (him) and Judgement (me), which were pretty epic cards with fairly interesting results. I’ll go through the book and type some of this stuff out sometime — but we also worked out numerogically our “soul” numbers and “personal” numbers. Mine is ______ (crap, I forget the name, but it’s #8 and is about balance) and his personal number is The Fool and the soul number is The Emperor, but both of them actually trade places because The Fool is the exception. Anyway, it really makes sense, considering him — I feel like his being is old, perhaps, but rather new as a human, and most DEFINITELY an Emperor — which fits his Aries star sign, as well — and extremely strong-willed. So it is that these things are quite interesting and line up, though I am always more skeptical about numerology than about tarot. I keep drawing daily tarot cards expecting one to not make sense, but every time they make sense, and I’m not just talking in an “oh, that could apply to anyone” kind of way. They generally couldn’t apply to just anyone, and generally can’t even apply to me on any given day. And the suits — the suits are important. I rarely get discs (work and material goods-related) and almost never get swords (I hardly even know what they relate to, other than the fact that they are generally bad). I almost always get wands (spirituality-related) and cups (emotion-related). It’s extremely, extremely, extremely, extremely interested. The wands thing is even more interesting than anything, for I feel like they actually do follow the numbered path of things as opposed to just showing up randomly… and man, it is all really weird.

Now continued in the car, after plenty of rumpus time! Oh much improved, I feel like a reinvented human being after being able to sleep properly and be able to discuss the issues that have presently been eating up my psyche. Currently on the way from Las Vegas to Reno; it is an eight hour drive, which at this point feels like next to nothing, considering our 24-hour session yesterday, towards the end of which I began to go absolutely insane…! I swear, had the drive been an hour more, I may have started getting stabby (as I jokingly conveyed to the others).

Anyway. Back to Tara’s reading. Where to begin. I’ve been thinking about it quite a bit in the moments between wake and sleep on this drive. It felt a bit rushed really because she was needing to go back to her house, but she took fifteen minutes or so to give me a reading. This morning, she texted Troy to have him tell me, “Viva La Revolucion,” adding that I would know what it meant. Do I know what it means? Only kind of, maybe. It is interesting, though, that she told me towards the end of my reading basically that I would be involved in some kind of demonstration of some sort, involving a beautiful painting or street art and acting or something, and that it would look like a temple, with me in it at the center. From afar, I would look painted like the temple, like part of the temple; from the side, those approaching closer would realize I was a regular person. I don’t know what kind of demonstration that would be for, but it’s interesting considering what Ashlyn had said about me joining some group – the more “scientific” group – in activism-type activities. I can’t think of anyone, really, including the G&V person I was originally thinking about, who would be particularly activist-oriented, but I suppose that all depends on what the future holds, as we are all constantly evolving…

While she was talking about that painting and visual art aspect, she was like, “You’ll be a great painter or artist… but also a rockstar! Let’s not forget rockstar!” and it was definitely funny, for obvious reasons. She soon continued, saying, “Wait, what do you do in the band?” and I said, “I don’t play in any bands.” And she was like, “Whew, I was only saying that because I didn’t want you to feel like what you were doing musically was a failure; actually, I didn’t see anything related to music at all!” HRMMMM!

Themes reoccurring in this reading that aligned with those of the past reading included the idea that I was really old, and really deep… she kept saying that I was really deep, like a well, and older or with more dignity than anyone my age was that she had seen. She also said that I had a duality to me – a part of me that was deep and really extremely wise, and another part of me that was a modern lady. At that point she asked if I was some sign that had the doubles – I think she meant Pisces – and I said that I was not, and that I was Sagittarius, which she was too. From that regard, I think maybe it is more the Sagittarius-Cancer dynamic that brings out dualities in me… though I didn’t say that…

From the beginning, she said that Troy hadn’t actually told her anything related to us, but that she felt like there was a lot of tension, a blockage of some sort that was very temporary, but was straining the relationship. She suggested that the two of us take two weeks to be completely alone – and I said that that would be possible for me but not really possible for him because of his work schedule. She suggested maybe a week, then, or as much time as possible that we could spend together without the presence of others. It makes sense, maybe, if it is with regards to repairing things. I think even last night the opportunity to be alone for an evening was extremely helpful… with regards to our relationship I feel like things have been always very obvious and “duh” – except when it comes to how others relate also to the situation. She also reassured me that the first two years are the hardest, and that it will become way easier as time goes on.

I told Troy last night that if the Burning Man grant the others applied for comes through this year – to build a giant pyramid on the Playa – that I probably wouldn’t do it anywaty. It seems like too much commitment for me, and I feel like I have more important things to do at this point in my life. I also would rather spend that knid of vacation time and energy in other places. In terms of them, I would even hope they would take the time to say fuck it to Burning Man and use that time and energy on their music; I feel like they have so much they could do and that the time Burning Man happens is ever so crucial… but it is not my decision to make, and I guess it all matters what will happen with the grant itself…

Anyway. Back to the reading. When reading my palms, the first things she said was that I would have two kids. This was very obvious. And they would be very close in age. This was also very obvious. This – in terms of number of kids and their ages – also aligns with Ashlyn’s reading. “Don’t worry; it’s not soon,” Tara made sure to say. Moving on, she said that I loved in the same way that Troy loved – that when I love someone, I really LOVE that person, and that in my life, I will only truly love one person. The thing shat she said she has never seen in a palm is that I will find the person that is my perfect love and we will get married and never divorce. We will grow old together. And I will live a long life without too many health problems. She said, “I’m sorry; that must sound really boring, but that’s just the case,” and I was like, “Are you kidding? That’s like the best thing ever.” Haha. And she said, “Well, I guess that just shows what kind of person I am! I am engaged and already looking for a way out!” And I laughed, and she said that it wasn’t really a joke, and that she always had a back door plan just in case because she is just a “free” person. She also said that she had cheated on the guy a couple of times – and that he knew it – but that she hadn’t done it in two years or so, and that she loved him, ultimately. I guess her and her fiancé dealt with cancer at year four though they are now on year eight.

There may be other things. I will fill them in later, or I will not! In any case, just ate a whole fucking box of Reese’s Whoppers earlier. Great combo! But probably should not have been done, in any case.

Added 2:23am, April 10th, 2012…
Something that was pretty interesting that she said was that it was okay for me to be passionate or something (in sex) — and that sometimes women are more passionate than guys. Struck me and stuck with me, for sure.

I am at the home in Las Vegas where Troy lived from the age of 13 to when he moved to Reno in his early 20’s. It’s interesting being here, and it has been a fucking hell of a trip this past two weeks. I’m not sure where I am mentally right now, but… Troy’s step-sister Tara was here earlier. She said she had been thinking about him a few times in the past couple weeks which basically meant that he was perhaps going through some difficulties that would later work themselves out. She pulled him aside to a private room for a second when I first arrived, just to tell him something very quickly. I’m not sure what..

Troy insisted that she give me a reading. What she reads are moods. She told me that she felt that there was something going on between Troy and I that was perhaps due to stress because of someone being tired, but that I was really hard to read and she could not figure out exactly where the stress was coming from or why, but that she felt it would work itself out soon and that all would be fine. Said that she felt that he loved me very much, and that I was very good for him – almost in a nurturing, motherly way – though he may sometimes say and do things that make that seem to be not the case. Continued later.

first chance to write since sxsw and i think only the second for the entire trip. certainly not the only time i have desired to; it just never quite works out correctly. this is the day after my sxsw showcase, when i am waiting in a parking lot of food carts — almost all of which are disgustingly meat-and-bbq-related, and yup, just waiting! it’s cool. last night’s show was a success — a great and extremely positively-vibed experience with not one band i did not desire or respect the work of. it feels good that at each of the events i thorw lately, people say that it is the best event they’ve been to in a long time. shit, it feels good! was also cool to literally only go to one sxsw show, austin psych fest, and see a bunch of people i know — ryat, woodsman, midday veil — just all converging in a small space! nice! tried to meet up with chris a whole bunch but it never worked out… hopefully will start to throw some shows with emily in seattle in the near future. lots of plans. also stoked the swahili dudes got to buddy up with young magic; they seem extremely awesome and nice. lumerians also killed it so hard and had a projector they projected on the side of the house. wherever, really. and it looked doooooope.

thickness of skin with relation to relationship stuf and dealing with my emotions with relation to having to see all of that, harboring secret contempt, not being bitter about perspective, but at the same time, knowing that some things are not just perspective but truth. it’s hard. that sentence made no sense, but whatever. had a dream the other night that i told troy, “fuck you,” and it was really intense, and i knew that there was contempt and the issue needed to be addressed…

my default mode is so ridiculous.

when i got my spirit guide reading recently, i was told that i need to meditate more so as to regain my strength because i get easily discouraged when i don’t. it’s true. the discouragement comes from when there is a disconnect between what society says i should be doing versus what i do do, which is what i tend to do, mostly without question. but then there are issues that people bring up that sometimes shake my foundations when in fact, a lot of the time, my foundations are mostly fine enough that they shouldn’t be questioned that much.

take, for example, the issue of troy and van, where every girl ever says, “i don’t understand how you can allow that to happen,” and such and such, sometimes even going as far as saying, “you are a saint.” they simply can’t fathom how my boyfriend can be living in the same house as, playing in the same band as, remaining best friends with, his ex-girlfriend. and to be sure, it is hard, but it’s mostly hard when others plant these doubts into my mind. in actuality, it’s not nearly as hard as people think it is.

so it is right now with my doing stuff to help their band. it’s my fucking default mode! i can’t help it! it’s like a project i’m working on — only it’s not my project. but my mind moves really fucking fast at connecting dots, and it’s just something that happens. i probably think more about what i can do for their band than a lot of them do, just because i have the connections — i know the people i want to show it to who might like it, because in some ways, showing music to people who will like it is my job… so that’s just a thought i drift towards, really, practically without thinking. but when this happens again my mind thinks, “what are you getting in return?” because that is always the crappy programmed response a lot of people have when it comes to this type of shit. or, that’s what society tells you should think. perhaps it’s not unfair for me to want things in return… or perhaps it is. i can’t tell! i really can’t! i don’t know if it’s because other people are more selfish or lazy that they can’t give back similarly, or if their brains simply don’t think of ways to give back in the way that my mind is constantly thinking about that shit. i dunno. it’s a weird scene. regardless, i’m pretty certain i can get their record signed to a pretty alright label — domestically and internationally — so it’s definitely a project. and i guess if i keep doing their video stuff i certainly have carved myself out a niche within their musical sphere. so i guess that’s the benefit i get from it, potentially; but it’s only funny because it’s a benefit that’s… how do we say… kind of like piggy-backing but not really… and kind of it’s a benefit that i’m making for myself, as opposed to a benefit that i’m given. well, i guess in some ways i’m given the trust to do it, so that’s a thing. i’m not sure. it’s unclear. it’s ouroboros, haha. i mean, i guess if i help get them fame and then i get fame through video shit, it works. it’s like paying dues, or something? fuck if i know. argh, society, why you gotta always hold us down! seriously, though, i can see why people just drop out of doing anything they “believe” in. have a weak enough sense of self and shit is just harrrrrrrrrrd. it’s hard to convince yourself to want to do things you believe in all the time. who knows when they’ll pay off. my crap better pay off soon.

this is day three of tour. san francisco at the hemlock was cool. saw ian and feelings — rad as always. swahili made a buncha money. skipped santa rosa show to hang out at home, which was apparently a good deal, because apparently santa rosa sucks and they played with a band named gay henry who apparently also sucks. i’m getting a past life reading today from swahili’s friend ashlyn, and i am also bringing back a shit ton of food that mom made for group lunch picnic in the park or something. weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. it’ll be a good day in oakland. i set them up with a show with clipd beaks this evening. WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. chris gave us a buncha suggestions for santa barbara (tomorrow). i’m stoooooooooooooooooooooked. also hoping he will like the new swahili tracks cause i just sent them to him! my new record label goal for them is seriously this: secretly canadian (or something else just as significant, like 4ad < my original goal).

anyway, i think i wrote this to reassure myself that i should just keep doing the shit i do by default because it is done in good taste, and i feel strongly that i should do it, so therefore, it is right, even if on occasion it makes me hella fucking jaded. so it goes.

great success failure!

Made it all the way to the public lands for the internet, but I’m in no mood for this! No mood at all for sitting in front of technology and machines, much prefer to sit down with a book in the sunshine. I am needing always to leave my house in express search for the internet but always lethargic to leave. I believe that the lethargy lies in my wanting to stay at home, but I realize now that the lethargy lies in my not wanting to use the internet, though I initially am so convinced that I do do desire it. It’s that Protestant work ethic Protestants so love to brag about having that encourages this nebulous desire — only in this case, I guess it is a Sagittarian need to accomplish, a Chinese-American discontent for sitting idly by.

At least this time I didn’t have to pay for the internet via coffee! I’ve stolen the internet by sitting outside! And then I will whisk away before anyone catches on, wa-ha-ha!

In part I do not want to be on the internet because there is so much vagueness, so much uncertainty and waiting for responses from people. At least the initial SXSW show has been booked; this is a great relief. But that is only the beginning, as it is looking more and more that the route I am taking to arrive in Austin seem to be not well-planned. And it will be brutal — with little sleep and without even a seat. I am worried about the border control pit stops that are now so prevalent in southern New Mexico and Arizona. And apparently West Texas? Will these hillbillies be stopping us on our way out? Is there any sense in worrying about those things before they happen? I know only that we — the collective Swahili we — certainly can’t afford to be fined and I can’t afford to be late to my own show, if indeed there is to be any delay because of border control. I’m not sure what to do. But I do know that we have a show on the 13th in San Diego, and that we will need to leave immediately afterwards to head to Austin. It’s a 20-hour drive, and that is barring any stops. We need to be there by 3:00pm on the 15th. Say we leave at 7:00am on the 14th; even if we drove straight through we would arrive at inconvenient times. I worry for the sake of other people’s shows, not for mine, as that day it matters not. BLEGH. I guess we will deal with these hurdles when we get there? Maybe? But already I am completely exhausted by these unresolved issues, which just add more weight to my other unresolved issues. I hate lack of resolution. And it is unfortunate that the videos I slaved over so laboriously will likely be seen by no one; they are a complete waste of time… a waste, a waste… so much time, wasted.

I am surprisingly excited for this month, which will prove both exciting and torturous, to be sure, to be over even though it has just begun.

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It is supposed to be a month of great things for me, though… I suppose I am just nervous. That, along with miscellaneous health ambiguities, are leaving me chomping on my own nerves.

i am on a fence.

i’m listening to… radiohead.

went up to seattle this past weekend and had a really good time. it felt so good to be up there, though i can’t remember the last time i was up there. this entire year has felt like an eternity, and while i think i definitely have been back there sometime within the past six months, it feels like a foreign entity now… and i suppose it rather makes me sad.

when i first went up, i checked my long overdue po box and it was majorly filled. beginning to feel bad about even having one and doing so minimally with it, but whatever…

i’m in a weird mental state today, as it goes. having some relationship weirdness that is partially me, partially him, partially difficult surrounding circumstances. no fun………………..

i rideshared up to seattle on thursday with some random lady offa craigslist. she was really into astrology, which i found surprising because it seemed that she was [possibly] easily weirded out / bummed out on people. she had said that she picked me because i seemed the least creepy and said that some people who wrote back seemed creepy just because they would give one line emails or something. maybe i just have a high creepster tolerance. i dunno. found it was interesting that she worked in non-profit mental health-related stuff and was weirded out, though, cause i seem to feel like that kinda employment is kinda built for a “anything goes” mentality, but perhaps not. oh yeah, she was a sagittarius, too, and was basically using me as relationship counselor… which is totally fine… she is just basically in the midst of a break-up with her boyfriend of eight months or something, and, well, yeahhhhhhh. we kept starting to talk about other subjects and then she would bring it back to relationship stuff, so i just kinda figured that she really -neeeeeeeeeeeeded- to talk about the crap. so it goeth.

met up that night with rachel and ryan for dinner at purple dot, and it’s just funny because they hang out a lot now. went to ryan’s afterwards and did i can’t remember what whatsoever cause it wasn’t particularly interesting… neighbor boys came over to shoot the shit and then eventually the nurses boys showed up after driving two straight days from minnesota or something. was nice to hang, and james, john, and i slept in the living room. sleepovers are the best thing… .. . oh but yeah they got their shit confirmed on some stupid t.v. show and were bummed because aaron’s family had told him that it wasn’t in the show. we watched the show the next day, and it turned out it actually was… it was just during some party scene and so quiet that it was barely even audible, and we knew what the song sounded like, too! ridiculous. and they made tonsa money offa it. ridiculous how much budget those people have. and the tv show was super dumb, about vampires and ghosts and dead ghosts kissing girls’ boyfriends. seriously. puuuuuuuke.

went to lunch with lenny in the afternoon and it was pretty great catching up. he has just recently come back from singapore and had $100-a-day budgets to spend on food. so jeally. went to an ethiopian restaurant called zobel and i actually thought i had already used my restaurant.com voucher but evidently not. it’s funny, i had purchased tons of their vouchers previously… one of the participating restaurants that had decided to no longer participate and i got a voucher in exchange. to redeem the voucher you needed to click on some link that said, “redeem voucher,” and i did that, but opened it in a new window. i exchange it without a problem. then i realized i didn’t close the o.g. voucher and clicked on it and opened it in a new window again… and it worked…! i could have done that probably an infinite amount (but i didn’t). funny, though. i still have tons of them. i’ll use them all sometime… maybe… still got like 14 more… went crazy one day…

the nurses show at the sunset was really fucking amazing. second to last show of their tour and they totally killed it so hard. best i’ve ever seen them. and seattlites were dancing and singing like mad!!!!!!! the show was really good. a lot of fun. and these two dudes on either side of me were giving each other really intense stares and i happened to be in the middle and was amused by them, and eventually, late on in the night, when the show was over, they were playing oldies music and the dudes made me do like ballroom dancing crap with them and were spinning me around and stuff and i have no idea how to do any of that stuff, so that was fun/weird… and they were like fighting and trading me off, jokingly, and it was pretty amusing for sure… what a fun time… i was in the most social mood ever that night and freaking was talking to tons of strangers and asking questions in the way i do when i’m feeling social. it’s weird how when i’m extroverted i am SUPER extroverted and don’t give a shit, and when i’m introverted i’m SUPER introverted and can’t talk to anyone (which was how i was last night at matt’s party at the church in portland… so did not want to be there and so did not want to talk to ANYONE… blargh… though there were compounding factors, in this situation…).

oh right, and i talked to the wife of the dude who mixed the nurses record and just randomly decided to ask her is she knew of anyone who did past life regressions (because she had slipped in a small comment about how there were faeries everywhere around us)… and she told me that she didn’t, but that she really wanted to do one, because she has had really vivid memories of past lives ever since she was younger… she said that in one of her lives she remembers it was 1290 or something, and that she was inside a stone house and she could look outside the front and the back, and some guy came and brought her furs in exchange for sex. in another one of her lives, she was like an 18-year-old in world war ii or something, and she said, “i wasn’t a hero or anything” — he had just gone to the front lines and gotten shot immediately and was dying. she said that the last thought in his mind was that he had a betrothed waiting for him at home, and that he felt horrible because she thought he was coming home but he would never be. fascinating.

troy and his band had gotten one a while ago from one of their friends, and i guess what the lady had told them was that the four of his band members had been together through many lives and always traveled together, but that he was not really a human? and that he was an akasic record keeper? but that he decided to be human because he found it more interesting, or something. fascinating. here is a summary of what an akashic record is, from wikipedia…

The akashic records (akasha is a Sanskrit word meaning “sky”, “space” or “aether”) is a term used in theosophy (and Anthroposophy) to describe a compendium of mystical knowledge encoded in a non-physical plane of existence. These records are described as containing all knowledge of human experience and the history of the cosmos. They are metaphorically described as a library; other analogies commonly found in discourse on the subject include a “universal supercomputer” and the “Mind of God”. People who describe the records assert that they are constantly updated automatically and that they can be accessed through astral projection[1] or when someone is placed under deep hypnosis. The concept was popularized in the theosophical movements of the 19th century and is derived from Hindu philosophy of Samkhya. It is promulgated in the Samkhya philosophy that the Akashic records are automatically recorded in the elements of akasha one of the five types of elements visualized as existing in the elemental theory of Ancient India, called Mahabhuta. In Buddhism it is taught one reason that people knew Gautama Buddha had attained enlightenment as a Buddha was because he was able to remember all of the details of all of his past lives by accessing them on the akashic records. The term akashic records is frequently used in New Age discourse.

i suspect that i definitely had some middle eastern associations personally. or egyptian or something. i wonder if/when i finally get one, they will tell me that. i just posted this question on facebook: “‎… suppose you were to hypothetically remember one (or more, if you please) of your past lives. What would you think you were?” — i wonder seriously if anyone will respond, haha.

anyway, after the nurses show… the lead singer of stupid really horrible band they were touring with (d_m_n_nt l___) came over to our place with some groupie and there was some canoodling in the freaking nasty ass bathroom — and ryan seriously has the most nasty bathroom. ughhhhhhh so gross. and it was like 4:30am and they were still there and we were all like wtfffffffff go awayyyyyyyyyy. and that groupie friend had another friend with her who was biting the bullet so her friend could be nasty and was definitely totally bummed, for good reason, of course…

anywayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. had a really long walk and talk with aaron and that was fun. we talked a lot about the subconscious being outside of time… he basically had a dream that turned lucid… and generally, when you’re lucid in dreams, everyone else is still kinda a dream person. in this particular dream, he passed a dream character and started a conversation with that dream character. he asked the dream character if they were bothered by his manipulating the dream environment, and i guess the dream character said something like, “honestly, yeah.” and aaron asked him what he was and how many of him there were and the dude said five billion or something. interesting. aaron’s conclusion is that dream life to him is almost just as important as waking life… cause the amount that you can bring conscious life into dream life (lucid dreaming) and dream life into waking life (just remembering it, in general) is almost about the same, and not one is more real than the other, really… it’s fascinating…………………….

anyway, i don’t know what it all means, but i feel great about my good friends and how everyone i am associating with is rather mystical these days. i don’t know, i don’t know, i don’t know, but i think that it’s a generally good thing.

take this aldous huxley intro quote i just lifted from the perennial philosophy which i just picked up again:

“What we know depends also on what, as moral beings, we choose to make ourselves. ‘Practice,’ in the words of William James, ‘may change our theoretical horizon, and this in a twofold way: it may lead into new worlds and secure new powers. Knowledge we could never attain, remaining what we are, may be attainable in consequences of higher powers and a higher life, which we may morally achieve.’ To put the matter more succinctly, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.’ And the same idea has been expressed by the Sufi poet, Jalal-uddin Rumi, in terms of a scientific metaphor: ‘The astrolabe of the mysteries of God is love.’…

The self-validating certainty of direct awareness cannot in the very nature of things be achieved except by those equipped with the moral ‘astrolabe of God’s mysteries.’ If one is not oneself a sage or saint, the best thing one can do, in the field of metaphysics, is to study the works of those who were, and who, because they had modified their merely human mode of being were capable of a more than merely human kind and amount of knowledge.”

— Aldous Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy

is it strange or egotistical to believe that spirituality only shows itself if one is a “good” person? perhaps… but from the people i know who seem to be privy to that knowledge, it certainly seems to be a true thing…? or maybe it’s just because those are qualities that come with a general openness. unclear. unclear.

oh also, last note. totally had the best fucking cupcake ever at cupcake royale. i always love cupcake royale but this was next level, even for them. a super light angel food cake-type cupcake with a whipped tiramisu cupcake (called the
“stumptown tiramisu cupcake” — this one is soaked in coffee, too…). i mean, seriously, like, the best cupcake i’ve ever had in my life. it’s so ridiculous. i mean, it’s so good i’m going to post pictures of it. i don’t do that shit, man. i don’t do that shit. SO GOOD. I AM GOING TO EAT IT FOREVER (the seasonal pumpkin cardamom one was OKAYYYYYYYYY).

recap central: cross-country kamut road trip, day seven: omaha.

(I am currently writing this from Gaia Italian Cafe in Lower East Side, Manhattan. Just the best fucking place, man, and right downstairs from where Jeanette lives. Wish I had found it earlier. I am soooooo into it…!!)

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ACTUAL DATE OF TRAVEL: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19TH, 2011.
SMALL PICTURES WERE TAKEN BY ROSE ON HER IPHONE; LARGE PICTURES ARE MINE.
—

OMAHA, NEBRASKA

Ohhhh so many days in Omaha. After a night out last night, woke up early to go to church. Wooooo! Not exactly my ideal type of church, but it was quite fun nonetheless. But a Monday mass is pretty much guaranteed to be mass with hardcore people, and as my previous trip to a weird Houston Catholic church also revealed…

This was the first time Rose had ever been to church, and man, I don’t know if Catholics just don’t want people to become Catholic or what, but the barrier to entry is set soooooooooo fucking high. It feels seriously that it is impossible for one to just simply jump into Catholicism. There’s not a goshdarn thing to jump into! They go to infinity from the get-go, rushing through just tons and tons of movements without anyone commanding anything, chanting lines here and there that mean Lord knows what; confusing, confusing, confusing!!! At least I still remember the Lord’s Prayer from my days in Catholic elementary school… woOoooOoooOoOo! :L

We went to St. Cecilia’s Church, which is huge, towering, and definitely not the type of church you see frequently in the United States. So it had that going for it. I would post some pictures that Rose took, but honestly, I’m so churched-out at this point in my life that particular church was not particularly all that interesting (it was alright, dude) that generally I am going to stamp a big fat “PASS!” on doing that shit. Boo-hoo-ring.

Let’s talk instead about the service itself, because that’s way more interesting. There were probably like 20 people at mass, with a priest dude who honestly seemed like he was totally a newb and didn’t entirely know WTF he was doing. Pretty sure he stumbled over his words a few times. Also, do they fucking take Communion at every mass? Cause if so, I didn’t know that, or didn’t remember that, and man dudes, that’s just kinda eating up the Lord Jeebus Christ a little too often, isn’t it? He doesn’t even taste that delicious in wafer form.

I refrained from taking Communion even though I’m baptized because I’m so very not into it and no longer feel the need to pretend. Well, that’s kind of a lie. When I went to Israel recently with my parents and a shit ton of the other parents from their church, I did in fact take Communion, though I only took the wine (or was it grape juice? Whatever…) and not the actual host. But that time it was mostly for the peer pressure reasons that led me to sign up to be baptized and to be remain sexually sacred until marriage back in high school… I was always the last one to do both! So… WHUTEVA! I remember there was one older girl in our church, Tammy, who refrained from doing the True Love Waits bullshit, and for sure, everyone whispered and wondered why she chose to make that decision. Judgmental churchgoers? NEVERRRRRR. I can’t say that I didn’t whisper and wonder because I’m quite sure I did or this wouldn’t even be on my mind or in my memory whatsoever, but… so it goes. It’s a natural repressed curiosity to wonder why someone else wouldn’t make the same ridiculous decision as you!

While we were at church, Rose picked up this book when they were reading a verse from Ezra. She thought it was a Bible but it was not; it was some weird book with hymns but also occasional directives. Not really sure what it was. It certainly did amuse me, though, that the verse from Ezra they chose to display basically just talked about how people should donate money. But… of course…

Afterwards, we went to AVANZAAAAA! I was really excited to go to a Mexican supermarket buuuuuut Avanza (2900 Leavenworth St.) was just alright. Been to better ones, bitchez. But what they DID have was a huge cup of fresh flan, made with milk not cream, and I ate the shit out of that for breakfast. A huge cup of flan for like $2.00, for breakfast? TALK ABOUT HEAVEN! HEAVEN FOR A SUGARY FATASS SUCH AS MYSELF!!!!

Beyond that, we went to explore a few places because we had nothing particularly better to do… Starting with the arboreteum area. We actually found it because we got lost, but whatever. It actually cost money so we didn’t go in and ended up at this mini-park with old Union Pacific trains and such… (Omaha being a middle-of-the-country connection point for original trains; it was just about the only thing near where it was). The trains were KINDA interesting just because I had a recent stint being really interested in trains (they’re such aesthetically-pleasing things)… but that’s about it.

Then I guided us to a random downtown park (where Rose learned that the oldest restaurant in town was a Chinese restaurant, and wanted to go there later on…) but yeah. It was a really nice downtown waterfront park they had, and I did a brief, long-overdue meditation there. It was quite good, quite good.

Alright, I guess I will share a couple of my photos since… they exist… (but that’s the only reason).

Not gonna lie; this dude was pretty cool, and like the praying mantis, this was the closest I’ve ever been to a grasshopper and the first time I’ve ever really had the opportunity to study em! It should also be noted that this motherfucker was fucking huuuuuuuuuuuuge!!

A husk of a man.

Then we headed to that oldest Chinese restaurant Rose had seen. It is called King Fong Café (315 S 16th St) and honestly is apparently quite shitty but the history behind it is KINDA cool… it was one of the first places in the States to import these Chinese lantern things and looks very old-school, even with the restaurant being on the upper floor as opposed to the first floor. I don’t doubt it has history but the food is probably MEHHH, with a and super Americanized menu, but the lady was very nice and let Rose snap a whole buncha photographs even though they were closed for lunch. So that was nice. But the street it was on was this weird ass part of town that reminded me a bit of Seattle’s Pioneer Square, only there was nothing really going on and just a whole bunch of somewhat shady people hiding under somewhat shady trees, waiting for the bus or something. Ohhhh the sketchiness of bus malls.

Instead we went to Panda House (301 S. 16th St), where Rose got crab rangoons, and I can bet this place is way better. They defo had some legit crap on their menu, though none of that was ordered (and we had just missed the lunch specials by 3 minutes or something). Because we dilly-dallied a bit, we got a ticket for an expired parking meter, though. But tickets in Omaha are only $15.00…!!!

Randomly found another park downtown soon thereafter. This shit was really fucking cool. It had the most amazing pioneer bronze sculptures ever, which had apparently just been put in in 2009. The detail on them was INCREDIBLE. Seriously. It seemed like they were real. I wish you could see that the wagons had grains, the tools had bolts, the drapery was amazing… everything was just so godamn rad. Definitely one of the coolest parks I’ve been to ever, and I can totally rant and rave about this place, for suuuure.

So fucking epic.

Afterwards, went back home to meet up with Bill and then headed down south to go to the Mexican neighborhood, which, strangely enough, seemed perhaps one of the hippest parts of Omaha, and it was the place with all the thrift stores and such. It had a SHIT TON of restaurants, some of which are supposedly amazing, but because people wanted cheap margaritas, we ended up at a restaurant that was pretty much not good at all, and of course, I don’t drink margaritas. C’est la vie… (here is a pic of the not-so-amazing food, the boys, and the drinks)

Before we went to the restaurant, though, we did go to this place that sold gardening pots for like, the least amount of money ever… it was seriously kind of incredible how cheap this place was… you could buy huge ass ones – you know, those giant planters – for like $20.00 or something. Surely that place is a front! Apparently there are never workers in there! Anyway, these are total Mario boots!

Our horrible “band” photo…

Gotta buncha snacks from the International Bakery (5106 S 24th St.) afterwards, which is a Mexican bakery. Can’t complain. They had these particular cookies and were really dry, and we all know I love a fucking dry cookie. The drier the better. Which I was joking, but I’m notttttttt at all.

A mural from the Mexican part of Omaha, had you any doubts as to its existence or legitity (not a word, but it should be, maybe…)

That night, we met up with SC dude and went to their venue, The Slowdown (729 North 14th St.) and got a tour of it. I mean, honestly, meeting with dude and going to tour the SC stuff is basically the only reason we stayed in town the extra evening, so it is great that it actually lived up to expectations (not that I had any, really, but Rose did) and it was easily the coolest part of our Omaha experience, just cause Slowdown is such a cool space; they really, really put a lot of thought into it and you can tell that from just looking at their setup, their weekly specials, etc. There is, apparently, like a giant 20-foot television; they have room separators so they can cater to large or small shows; the green room is fucking huge and amazing, and with showers; they have beer specials when they don’t have shows that are like $2.00 for anything – domestic or international – that’s on tap, and they have shit like Newcastle on tap, lucky me; etc. etc. The place is just super solid, and visually looks appealing in that typical black-walled venue kinda way. And it’s all-ages, and I guess most good shows that come through town go through there (as they are one of perhaps two venues).

From here I will show Rose’s pics, as I didn’t take any… also learned some more about Nebraskans and football from Jason, which was no doubt interesting… he was talking about how he was in fact super into football when he was going to school in Lincoln, and that the seats there are teeny tiny and are on benches that are marked with spaces (as opposed to being individual seats), and that, as a result, if you have a fat person on either side of you (which, judging from a lot of what I saw of Nebraska, is wholly possible), there’s a good chance that you’d be standing for an entire game because you literally cannot sit. So that’s funny. Anyway. Pics.

[ABOVE] Inside their offices; [BELOW] Jason has a creepy clown thing on his door… it is pretty downright creepy…

Inside their record store… dude, that chair is seriously the most amazing fucking find. You can’t see all of the details, but it has like, a wooden tree trunk base, and is made of upholstered brown leather with tartan patterning? WHAT THE FUCK; IT’S SO COOL! Evidently Omaha is a bedrock of amazing vintage finds, because no one really gives a shit and there is so much of it. I promised I wouldn’t let out the secret. I think I just did…

But yeah, it was pretty cool to see their warehouse and attached store. Rose was like, “Why is there no dedication or commemoration to Conor Oberst in Omaha?!!!” and that’s a funny thought, in general. The closest thing was this wall in the SC record store that had a bunch of old tickets and memorabilia tacked up from the early days of Bright Eyes and other SC bands. I dunno. Amusing…

Anyway, that’s it. Beyond that, I went to bed after doing some work; Rose went out and had a night out on the town with a boy. Snore! Snarf!!

(Side note: I am about to order what I think is an eggplant parmigiana sandwich from that place I said is amazing and I am totally stoked. And jealous that owner speaks Italian and Spanish fluently and owns such a cool place. I am also in major recipe-development mode and have been coming up with some ideas for things… and started practicing yesterday… so when I go home I am just going to be an insane baking fool! Imagine Chinese ingredients mixed with Latin American ingredients – that will about sum up what I’m going for…!!!!! STOKED!!!)

recap central: cross-country kamut road trip, day six: lincoln, omaha.

ACTUAL DATE OF TRAVEL: SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18TH, 2011.
SMALL PICTURES WERE TAKEN BY ROSE ON HER IPHONE; LARGE PICTURES ARE MINE.
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LINCOLN, NEBRASKA

Woke up too late for church – which I was bummed about because, well, as I always say, “Sleep when I die, bitches!” – but went with the CS boys to Virginia’s Traveler’s Café (3820 Cornhusker Highway) – a place that apparently the locals like to go to. Make no mistake! The locals are chubbbbbbbskiiiiiinnnnns indeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed. And, as Rose noted, people fucking LOVE to wear SWEATPANTS!!!

Ostensibly, our young and agile and liberal CS hosts did not seem like the others… until… they… started… eating… Philly cheesesteaks and drinking sodas for breakfast… and that was like… whaaaat. Meanwhile, Rose had the sweetest fake strawberry-topped waffle… and I had oatmeal, with raisins, and also mixed in some peanut butter… wOooOOooOo! Different strokes!!!!!!!!! Different folks!!! Fuck American breakfast!!!! But yeah, seriously. Lots of sweatpants.

Jesse and Michael…

Funny post-meal photo of the boys… this is one of Rose’s iPhone pics, but there is a better one that she took with her film camera where they’re looking super Backstreet Boys-like.

Oh yeah, it’s worth noting that when we first got up, Rose was super tired and had no brain, and I was trying to discuss with her changing our upcoming CouchSurfing plans because she really wanted to meet the Saddle Creek people in Omaha and that would’ve only been possible if we stayed another day in Omaha. Well, ultimately, it was kind of shitty to have spent the extra day in Omaha as opposed to the infinitely more awesome Chicago, buttttttttttttt. Whatever. I was cranky about that at first, definitely, but got over it… or whatever… arghhhhh. But uh, yeah. I was being rather short with her because she seriously had NO morning brain! And I guess that’s not her fault but it was just so frustrating, haha.

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OMAHA, NEBRASKA

Anyway, the drive to Omaha is only an hour away, so we didn’t really do anything or stop anywhere. I slept the whole time. Went immediately to a coffee shop in downtown Omaha (which Rose had originally thought was a place that Delphine had suggested – only it turned out that Delphine was from LINCOLN not OMAHA, and had suggested places in Lincoln, only well, we blew it)… and worked for a couple hours. Which felt really good because it was my first time doing any work and it was long, long overdue. I was rather stressed for the majority of this trip because I really had stuff to do for the ladies at UW and no time to do it, or no internet access, and didn’t want to be the person who was constantly caught up with doing work and what not. But shit just fucking needs to be done, and sometimes it’s hard to not be given the opportunity to do the shit that needs to be done. Often I think that just because I make my own schedule or whatever it’s hard for people to understand when I do need to work because they think I’m just being like, a workaholic… but it’s not like that at all! (Though I’m not necessarily NOT a workaholic…)

ANYWAY. The coffee shop we ended up at was pretty neat. It’s called Aromas (1033 Jones St.), but I was most interested in the beans they roasted there. There one that was infused with chili pepper and dark chocolate or something? Or was it more complicated than that? In any case, it sounded good, and the espresso was REALLY fucking good, though the barista was not the most jolly dude ever.

After that, went to our CS host Bill’s house. CUUUUTE little house with lovely painted walls – which had colors he picked out, apparently. His roommates were great, particularly this one gal Alley (didn’t talk to the other dude too much). Alley had wanted to make us dinner and stuff one night but had to work so much and study so much that she didn’t really have a chance to hang out too much, which I was pretty bummed on cause she just seems hella rad.

We were going to eat dinner at this hippie-ish café, but it was closed. So we went to Mother India Tandoori Cuisine (3572 Leavenworth St.) pretty close to his house. It’s a teeny-tiny place run by a couple and really like, ghetto foreign supermarket status inside in terms of décor, though they did really love up on a good plant or two. They had plants everywhere, be it on metal exposed piping or in their crazy ass outside patio that looked pretty unsightly. But the food was amazing, and cheap, and actually came with rice included in the price! Outrageous for Indian food! Oh man, that shit was so good.

After dinner, Bill drove us downtown and we checked out this crazy vintage shop / candy shop called Fairmont. Place also has a freaking movie theatre that plays old movies for free all day which is soooo fucking rad. It has a lot of shit going on. Not really sure how much money it really makes, but I definitely bought some candy (mostly shitty peanut buttery kinds… man, I love a Chic-O-Stick), including some chocolate-covered jelly beans and some caramel apple and chocolate caramel caramel corn. FUCK, I LUBS CARAMEL CORN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My sweet tooth was kiiiiiinda out of control during this trip. Not gonna lie. Anyway, the Fairmont has a pretty interesting history, which you can read about here. (SIDE NOTE: I’m at a 24-hour diner writing this right now, and they’re playing the radio with Deliliah’s show, and that shit fucking rullllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllles. I’m so tired of music lately that this is music that works. Man, it’s sad. I dunno why but this road trip kinda fucked up my mental state a LOT.)

I guess this is a Blues Brother. I’ve never actually seen that movie so I don’t have much to say about it. Bill hated the movie so he refused to take a picture with them, haha.

[ROSE'S TUMBLR CAPTION: "Getting eaten by a hippo"]

[ROSE'S TUMBLR CAPTION: "I need these Omaha salt & pepper shakers" – girl was seriously obsessed with them.]

It should be noted that O! is seriously Omaha’s slogan…!!!!!!!!!!!!

Afterwards, we headed to the Homy Inn (1510 North Saddle Creek Rd.) which is honestly pretty fucking awesome. And a bunch of Bill’s friends came out and they were all really cool, though I must say that being in groups of strangers without a solid backbone friend to rely on – and by that I mean, one who socializes in a way that’s similar to how I socialize – I think I give off just the lamest first impression… because I have no interest in small talk, and would rather not talk, and therefore am quiet a lot in group settings. I also don’t talk about myself all that much, which makes it all the more difficult for starting conversations with people, particularly when the people aren’t the type to ask questions about you. I ask questions, but for the uninterested, my asking of questions can only be stretched so far. I dunno. It’s interesting. But these kinds of situations make me feel totally inferior and a bit suck, which is ultimately kind of lame.

Homy Inn has $1.00 peanuts, which they serve in dog bowls…

And so it ended. I talked to Troy outside on the phone for a long while which felt soooo great considering I was feeling sooooo weird — as well as drooled over how awesome this Saddle Creek Laundromat place looked (was totally bummed I didn’t have my camera). That evening, Rose and I shared this futon thing, even though we later discovered there was a spare bed upstairs, and I was totally bummed cause blankets kept getting stolen and Vivians kept getting pushed off. BUT WHUTEVAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. SUCK IT, ME!!!!!!

recap central: cross-country kamut road trip, day five: lincoln.

ACTUAL DATE OF TRAVEL: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17TH, 2011.
SMALL PICTURES WERE TAKEN BY ROSE ON HER IPHONE; LARGE (AND NOT BLURRY) PICTURES ARE MINE.

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BETWEEN DENVER, COLORADO AND LINCOLN, NEBRASKA

I didn’t really care to take too many photos in Lincoln because the place was pretty much a wash… so these are mostly Rose’s. Say hello to Nebraska! I’ll start off by saying that Rose was HORRIBLY excited for Nebraska, as it is the land of Saddle Creek and Conor Oberst. I could really care less about these things, but for her, it was quite exciting, and she did most of the driving through Nebraska, blasting a shit ton of SC bands – and waayyyyyyyyyyy too much Bright Eyes – along the way… I should also state that Nebraskans are super prideful of being Nebraskan, and Rose made fun of this sign a lot (it is an extremely plain state-welcoming sign compared to some of the other ones) but that making fun of fell among deaf ears, or at least, ears that did not agree… I think the response Michael, our CS host in Lincoln, gave was, “But it is the good life…”

Along the way, there wasn’t much interesting stuff to eat, and I wanted some real food, so rather than getting like, a salad or whatever for the same-ish price, I just went to town on this buffet in this random gas station. I think the restaurant was called Grandma’s or some shit, and definitely the buffet was the best vegetarian option around. Buffets are, for me – master binger – just the monetarily-sound way to go. I can eat a huge buffet meal and pack it away and then I don’t have to eat dinner, and frankly, I feel better that way most of the time…

[ROSE'S TUMBLR CAPTION: "Salad bar featuring pepperonis"]

Rose’s food – less spectacular if I do say so myself…
[ROSE'S TUMBLR CAPTION: "Grandma may not have veggie burgers but she's got smart balance" – apparently (I didn't hear it) lady was not stoked when Rose asked if they had veggie burgers...]

This is fucking grandma, dude, if you ever doubted her existence…

Funny picture for a burger challenge, which reads, “”Think climbing Mount Everest is a challenge Well, try this one on for size. Two pounds of ground beef on a large homemade bun topped with choice toppers. Four pounds total!!! Are you tough enough to try? If you can polish this baby off in less than an hour, we’ll give you a free shirt and hang your picture on the wall. Ya know what Andy Warhol said, “Everyone is famous for 15 minutes.” Well, here’s your chance.” YUMMMMMM! That reminds me of all the cow farms we passed on the way… I must say, though, there is a lot of grass-fed cow meat in Nebraska, or at least there is close to the highway, and it was actually getting slightly terrifying that I would be like, “MMMM! It smells good!” because the smell of grass would come wafting into the car, and then two seconds later we would pass a herd of cows, and I was just like, “Fuck!” It’s a little bit scary when cow shit apparently starts smelling really awesome…

Check out what’s considered “ethnic” food: Spaghetti & Meatballs and Nacho Supreme. Hahahahhahahahahahahah.

You can betchur buns these locals had the buffet! As I was finishing up my pretty healthy meal and getting a shit ton of brownies and ice cream for dessert, the guy behind us was like, “Ah, and here I was thinking she would be eating healthy!” He was a truck driver who was on his way back to Indiana after taking a trip to San Francisco. Guess dude does that every other week or something. He highly recommended the potato chowder, but I didn’t eat it because mmmmmehhhh. It probably had bacon in it. And I just wasn’t feeling it, in general. But nice to talk to you, dude!

Anyway… first round of foods and then the aftermath (see the brownie and ice cream action?!!!)…

Above: Love a good truck stop, dude; below: Rose taking a self-portrait because she was tired of my suck-at-posing-for-pictures ways.

Like I was saying…

I’m sure that is soooo what they want. Really, though, I don’t even think this offer is valid anymore. I think that shit be advertising for false.

Grandma’s parking lot capture which I really enjoy…

Being sad about balloons.

Oh, before we left, though… WE TOTALLY FOUND ANOTHER SINCLAIR DINOSAUR! Rose was hunting around for a person to take a photograph for us, and I wanted her to ask this dude who looked friendly and gave me a friendly smile; instead she found this dude simply because he had a nice car and he was the creepiest mofo. She was assuming her position on the dinosaur’s back, and he seriously said, “Yeah, tart it up, honey, tart it up.” UH-HUH. GOOD JOB.

I was trying to keep that broccoli stalk for a while because I’m gross. That’s about as dried out and interesting as it got. I actually really wanted to turn it into a sculptural work but it flew around the car and I forgot about it until way later on, when it changed shapes and stopped being uhhh something I really wanted to touch so much.

Anyway, there was a sign for this one place from far, far away, and like Little America, we just kept being excited to go to it. Finally, we made it… but it had closed the previous hour. FUCK. And unlike Little America, this place actually looked really fucking awesome… it was a museum of old shit that was “showing man’s progress” through the years. I mean, come on. How sick.

Anyway, along the way, we pulled down this random road to stop by a lake because the sun was coming down and Rose wanted to take some photos of some cows… On the way there, she pulled over and a truck with two dudes was coming from the opposite direction. She put on her hazards. They of course stopped to see if she needed any help. Of course she made it seem even more like we didn’t know what we were doing or where we were going by asking where the lake was though it was clearly the way we were headed. They eventually left after making small talk with her. We went to this lake that was in the middle of tons and tons of corn fields, but I got the grossest vibe from the place. Usually I don’t really get weirded out by being places, but the interaction, the isolation, the fact that we were two “ethnic” girls in the middle of nowhere in Nebraska (not even off a major freeway, but a farm thoroughfare freeway) just made me really paranoid and we only walked a little distance before I mentioned that we should just go. Snapped a couple shots (below) but mostly just ducked out of there. It just reminded me too much of when Lenny and I were in Montana and Native Americans almost ran us over with their truck.

Rose is kinda eternally hungry or at least needs to snack a lot more than I do, and we stopped by this AMAZING Mexican restaurant in po-dunk nowhere (Hastings, Nebraska). The restaurant chain is called El Puerto, and it was fucking delicious, and the service was top-notch… maybe even above-and-beyond x 10,000 with younger, fairly good-looking Mexican waiters… yeeeaaah, it was interesting. Guess they have restaurants in Kansas, too.

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LINCOLN, NEBRASKA

Finally arrived at our host’s house in Lincoln that evening, where they had been drinking ALL DAY. It was three dudes who lived together who had a really hilarious mega-gay dynamic (a big no-no in Lincoln), and they were nice, but I was sure that they were going to drink/party, and I was going to be whatevers about it all. And that turned out to be true, of course. This particular Saturday the Huskers football team had had a game, and especially in Lincoln, everyone is SUPER into football. I asked Michael about the people in town who didn’t like football, and he said that in Lincoln, “Even the people who don’t like football like football.” Which is funny. Apparently the Huskers’ season tickets have a waitlist of FORTY YEARS – longest season ticket sell-out ever — because people don’t give up their tickets if they already have them; you just keep having them through as many seasons as you want them. Fucking bizarre.

But we went to a dubstep show at The Bourbon Theatre, and I was really excited for the prospect, though less than excited that it was $15.00 – but I thought hey, why not? How bad could it really be! Turns out it can be really bad, and I should have known this from past experiences that going to random dubstep shows is not necessarily a good thing. What’s worse… asides from the CS host Michael himself, who very obviously liked dubstep and was into dancing, his girlfriend and his two roommates coughed up the dolla bills but were seriously not into it or dancing at all. So it was just kinda bad music and then all the more weird-vibed. The other two dudes left early and we hung out with gf and Michael for a little bit but eventually left soon thereafter. So… whatever.

Went to a bunch of bars. Had minimal conversation. There was one fun interaction in a pizza place where some guy from Austin saw me standing near the gumball machine, where I had just purchased a gumball, and asked me if I had change for $1.00; I said I did not, and he said I wasn’t allowed to stand by gumball machine if I didn’t have change! I suppose he maybe had a point, but I was just waiting for the bathroom, man!

Also went to this hella dance club crap with a buncha frat kids and got bought two drinks. Got a little drunk. It was whatevers, man. This picture would show an example of what the streets looked like, though. It was an early game so there were a lot of people out, but not nearly as many as there would have been had it been a late game; I guess the Huskers campus is a dry campus so people can’t actually drink on-campus so they hella wile out after the games are over.

Group pic later that evening. Blah, blah, who cares, blah, blah.