i fulfilled a goal of mine this weekend by going to iowa city...oh, it's true...i FINALLY went to see my partner in crime the megster in her playground...rt & i drove there straight from his bday dinner w/ his family...i had megs to see & he had john to see in iowa city...the drive wasn't bad...3.5 hours or so w/ a little time for getting lost...



sunday morning, we had breakfast at a really great irish pub called mickey's...then we went over to western world!! where they had stuff you wouldn't believe...like them ostrich skin boots...they had elephant skin boots too...and various reptiles...kinda weird...i'm not into that stuff...john & rt tried some on, but uhm, can you seem them price tags? they're kinda pricey...you could get like 10 pairs of boots from payless for the price of one pair of ostrich skin boots...



rt bought a pair of mighty fine looking wranglers, and megs & i were tempted to get some cowgirl shirts, but we resisted the urge...i wanted a cowgirl hat, but the only one they had that i liked came only in kids sizes...it's a red one, like the one the girl doll in toystory 2 wears...oh well...maybe the next time i'm in texas...



it was a really cold day in iowa city, so we pretty much stayed indoors...we went to this coffeeshop that rt had sketched in when ALPP played a show in iowa city years ago...we hung out and talked for most of the afternoon...rt & i wrote a poem on the spot for john, who's a poet & in the writing program @ iowa, which is the best writing program in the country. i can't really remember the poem, but it was called six seconds and was inspired by a bit of conversation in which john told us that folks who go and to missions in outer space come back younger by like six seconds or something when they return to earth...i wrote the basic poem, and then rt inserted words like "red" and "caffeine" and "cocoa" and "crustacean"...it was like tag team magnetic poetry...



that night we went to this bar/restaurant called sanctuary that was really nice and cozy...they had this drink called a tira misu that smelled just like a tira misu and tasted absolutely divine...we also introduced john and his girlfriend bree to the joys of yukon jack...yum...



it was really nice to hang out w/ megan in her neck of the woods, even though she's coming home this week for spring break...and i think rt totally loved seeing john, since he'll be gone when john comes home for break...the drive back was tiring, but i survived...i think i'm gonna have to go to sleep early tonight to catch up on sleep...



i am seriously considering going to florida for the weekend....this cold is KILLING me...

i made a kickass veggie chili last night...yep...sarah's back in the kitchen, y'all! i know some of you are wondering when i was EVER in the kitchen...well, there's a lot you don't know about me...just ask bruce how i can be in the kitchen...there was a time in my life when i cooked authentic indian food from scratch...i didn't even use curry powder...



last night i watched a biography movie on bruce lee which had a bunch of previously missing footage from the game of death, the movie he was working on when he died...i have to say...bruce lee is KICKASS!!! he is so sizzling hot...he was smart too...the next time i go to seattle, i think i'm going to go visit his grave site...i just think it would be interesting...he was SOOOOOOOO intense...i love seeing footage on him...it reminds me of marshall law on tekken...i ALWAYS chose marshall law's character when i played tekken...reminds me of the time bruce & i were @ gameworks out in schaumburg, and bruce was playing tekken and just playing against the machine and doing fine, then this burly cocky korean dude cuts in on the game and kicks his ass and pisses bruce off...so i cut in on the dude and play as marshall law and kick HIS ass, which he did not expect from the little korean girl...he should've looked me in the eye...then he would've seen the fire there...



i'm listening to VoL's audible sigh...i know it's totally off the subject, but this thing is not meant for staying on the subject...i just wanna say how much i love this album...it makes me want to cry...

there is snow galore in the good ol' windy city now...



rt came home after work last night around midnight all excited about giving me my all-wheel drive driving lesson in the snow, so i threw on some clothes and off we went in my little red hottie to the target parking lot on elston & logan which we went round and round in, putting in grooves like we were pressing a vinyl. it was fun, and i learned something new...brake early and accelerate into a turn...yeah...



i didn't have an excuse to stay home from work today...now that i've got a car that can handle the snow...i had no problem getting out of my snowbank of a parking spot this morning...i still don't really quite enjoy driving in weather like this, but i sure do feel safer in the car now than before.

talk about a bad day...



i mean things started good enough...it was sunny, i'd had a lovely weekend w/ my buddy, i was driving to work in my lovely new red hottie...what could possibly go wrong?



well, it started snowing in the afternoon...that's fine...i've got all wheel drive now...i needed to stop by the dealer to take care of some business, so i left the office early, probably a little before 4pm to beat the rush...i got off the edens at dempster going east, and right as i was going up the hump over the edens, it happened...i ran out of gas...i managed to get over the hump and pulled over to the right out the traffic's way...i didn't expect to run out of gas so soon after the light turning on...it's a new car and i just didn't know...



i won't go into all the details, but suffice it to say, that i ran out of gas at 4:20pm...i was extremely flammable by 5:30pm...and i didn't start back on the road until close to 6pm...trust me...it was ALL my own stupid fault that a) i ran out of gas and b) it took so damn long to get some gas in my tank...



i was planning on going to the hot hot heat show @ the fireside, which was an early show w/ doors at 6pm. i also wanted to see the openers lying in states, who are a band that shares the rehearsal space w/ watchers, and michael makeout & his bedfellows (a.k.a. watchers) were playing before hot hot heat. i figured i could at least make it for watchers if i made it to the venue by 7pm...i got home at around 6:45, quickly ate & changed and braved the snow yet again...i got to the fireside, parked far far away, and i make it to the door where the dude proceeds to tell me they're sold out. shit. all that work for nada. i was pissed. i could hear watchers playing in the background, and i stuck around in the entryway for a bit, making calls to pete & amy to tell them the show was sold out...the dude collecting money at the door who was actually NOT collecting money since the only people now being let in were those on the guest list, kept coming in and out as people showed up to tell them it was sold out...i politely suggested to him that maybe he should make a sign and post it on the door instead of coming in and out. then he tells me 'maybe you should just leave' like w/ this really snotty attitude. boy, did that piss me off...there was another guy waiting in the entryway w/ me, and he told the dude off, saying i was just being nice and there was no reason to be rude to me...the dude told us to both vacate the premises. boy, was i shooting off the F+A combo bomb like mad as i exited...the thing that really pisses me off is that there are so many good shows coming to the fireside that i can't even boycott them...one of these days, i'm taking rt w/ me, and i wanna see that dude be rude to me again...



what a nightmare of a day...thank god it's over...

today as rt was driving my new used red 2001 subaru impreza outback wagon to work, we passed by a house w/ a big front porch, and i told him that josh and i are going to have a big rock candy mountain someday, and that it'll be a big old house w/ a wraparound porch that we and our high school friends will retire to, and that we'll sit on that porch all day long in our jet powered rocking chairs. so somebody out there has to invent a jet powered rocking chair or josh & my plan's not gonna work.



yes, it's true...i have bought me a new car (photo coming soon)...i know that some of my friends (a.k.a. erik of serene) were really hoping i'd buy a subaru impreza wrx with the turbo engine, but seriously, folks...what the hell do i need a turbo engine for??? but the dealer had this cute red sweet thang and it had my name written all over it...ok, only on the hood, but the dealer's gonna get that fixed...yeah, someone tagged the hood...but otherwise it's a beautiful car and it runs great and it's got low miles and most importantly of all, it was $5000 less than the wrx...that's a lot of dough dude...rt wasn't too excited at first because of the imperfect hood, but i had to let good financial sense prevail because it was such a good deal, and since the dealer promised to make the hood like new...but as soon as rt saw that thing parked in front of his apartment, all shiny from a fresh carwash, he LOVED it...i knew he would...



friday night i went to this bar on damen called the lead way where derek becker, wildwood's booking agent extraordinaire, hangs out and was playing that night w/ his new band, which still doesn't have a name yet...i actually liked derek's new musical project a lot...he sounds like mike kinsella in american football (not owen--mike sounds different as owen for some reason)...i joked to him after the show and said his voice is so EMO...HA HA HA...he's got the tightest wardrobe i know as well...shit...i COVET his wardrobe big time...i didn't take any photos cuz it was so damn crowded, and i was feeling nauseous from two shots of black haus (damn that stuff is good) and two turksh royals (which i had to confess to having smoked later that night to rt who could tell i smelled kinda funny...but he was nice and nonjudgmental). i did see some old evanston vcf folks like the marions, brad farris, jenny hart and greg henkins...



on thursday night, i went to see zapruder point play @ the beat kitchen. it was great seeing dan, casey & tom playing as a band again. they played a lot of new material, which i was happy about, and i guess they'll be coming out w/ an ep in the spring. hopefully, they'll continue to play out more often. i also ran into my friends jenn & john who are two of the cooooolest people i know. i kinda thought they might be at the show, which was one of the reasons i went even though i was dog tired. that's an added benefit of going to zapruder point shows...jenn & john are bound to be there...they're the ones that took me to the first zp show back in may of last year.



been busy. can you tell? happiness is all the rage, ya know...



recent listens:

13--blur

argument--fugazi

what it be like--ed blackwell project

broken shadows--ornette coleman

s/t single--american football

end seranading--mineral

purple rain--prince & the revolution

entertainment!--gang of four

one beat--sleater-kinney

feminist sweepstakes--le tigre

s/t--le tigre

la mia via violenta--blonde redhead

s/t--blonde redhead

bakesale--sebadoh