"YOU FORGOT THE NOSE POKES!"

more from the minds of the childrens....

"What do you think is the most popular car in the world?"
"Are you a Christian?"
"Do you celebrate Halloween?"
"Who was the first person to use money?"
"When I grow up, who will give me my phone number?"

"What does negative mean?"
(insert Jill giving an in-depth subtraction lesson, complete with plastic soccer men)
"So how can a story be negative or positive?"
(hey...little kids DO listen to NPR if it's on in the car. as further evidenced by his insistence that he wants to "Listen to the news!")

and the highlight of the week:

(radio DJ announces that the previously played Taylor Swift song is the biggest deal in the country)
"Um, no. The National Anthem is actually the biggest song in the country." DUH.

p.s. i'm currently missing the verve and the mommyheads.

"Hey, man...don't trivialize my trivialization."

(disclaimer: this is my first attempt to blog with photos. and they aren't very good ones. humor me.)

For me, a good trip to Galesburg has many expectations. It's as if the town is a person, and there are things that I do to reacquaint myself; some from habit, some for nostalgia's sake, and many just because I like to be by myself so much. I usually spend a few hours at Innkeepers reading, writing, and people watching. Ditto Lake Storey (with the bonus of lightening bugs!). I like to drive around, listening to WVKC and the bricks hum beneath the tires of a car. I take a bike ride to Bracken, past Conner's parents' farm.

At any rate, a solid trip starts with 12 hours of this:














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Inevitably ends up stopped at a few of these:













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If I'm lucky, time for a few of these:













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As of late, it's definitely included some of this:














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Always a walk to this place:














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But the majority of my time is spent right here:













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Coming or going, this always stirs some thoughts:













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This trip included the highlight of seeing this little guy (Ian Matthew King):

"Seal the deal! Seal the deal! Punch her! PUNCH HER!"

Kids came to school today, and I'm sure they'll provide for many a future post, but ALL of the quotes I'm about to list are courtesy of the 7 year old I nanny for...he was quite entertaining today. woo doggies.

upon hearing i'll attend a wedding at the Butterfly Pavillion: "You've GOT to be kidding me!"

upon hearing i might read something at said wedding: "Read something? Like a riddle? or a joke? or a poem? ...like blah blah blah the girl kisses the boy...."

"What's wrong with your feet?"

"Cool people kiss a lot. That's how the movie people make it. The cool guy. He kisses girls, he has a motorcycle."

"Why do people say 'ladies first'? Pretty much only ladies say that."

"I just like chasing girls. With balls."

...ah yes, a quote from JD uttered during a recent(ish) kickball game. he decided to run the ball in from right field, as opposed to throwing it to the basemen. good times, indeed. joining a kickball team is one of the items on my "to do" list that i've actually honored. no mind that travels, working, and weddings have kept me from attending many games.

i've got a backlog of things to type, but let's face it: i'm a bad blogger. (alas, school will start in less than 3 weeks. those kids will guarantee at least a clever story per week.) i had intended to write an entertaining bit about my 12-hour stint in the milwaukee airport (complete with field trip to the lake via mass trans), but my allergies kicked it into high gear and now i have an ear infection. i've been down for the count since my return. but i'm starting to feel better and went to the Tattered Cover for some reading tonight. and found that some of my favorite publications really delivered this month. my next entry will be semi-inspired by a Jon Stewart interview from SOJOURNER. tonight, a few tidbits from HARPER'S.

• Estimated percentage of all existing blogs that have not been updated in 4 months: 94
• Percentage of male British IT workers who say they consider their sex partners' needs before their own: 82
• Percent by which moderate internet surfers are more productive in their jobs than non-surfers: 9
• Chances that a Twitter user accesses the service only while at work: 2 in 3

p.s. the cds that i'm missing today are The Boy with the Arab Strap by Belle & Sebastian, the Stones' Some Girls, and Wilco's summerteeth. A trip to Twist & Shout didn't help.

You hugged me at Christmas and you hugged me good.

I've been less than faithful to my summer "to do" list, and this blog is but one sorely suffering aspect. There are about three major entries (errr, ideas) bouncing around my brain. They've all made it onto the pages of my journal, hopefully they'll spill out here soon.

For today, I'm ruminating on some basic questions. Simple, really. At the same time complex. Blame it on 24 hours bathed in one too many episodes of Sex & the City, as well as a few movies posing questions both spiritual and existential (damn you, Wes Anderson!). You may think that spiritual and existential cover the same ground, but I'm going to separate them. And address neither of them too specifically here.

Why is it, in matters of relationships, that we (desperately seeking early 30s types) don't risk more...and more often? I know that the last few years have brought me to a place of understanding myself and my emotions more than I ever thought I would. It can be argued that I know what I want and am unwilling to settle.

"Anything less than extraordinary is a waste of my time."...a quote from a movie I first saw in my early 20s. It has long been a mantra. However, the relationships that I've endured since have shown me that compromise isn't necessarily a weakness.

Random chats with strangers are my specialty. Yet, I've been hesitant to throw caution (or cushions) to the wind in any serious manner. Perhaps I've clung a bit too tightly to my definition of extraordinary. If my experience has shown that I learn more from being in a relationship, and that the hurt of an ending is, indeed, bearable...what am I still afraid of?

Ramble ramble...make a point...I don't think I'm really afraid anymore. Maybe the risks I was unwilling to take in my 20s were due to fear, but the lack of action now can only be chalked up to apathy.

It seems to me that we have more to gain and less to lose than ever before.

(side note: of the 600 cds i no longer have, today i'm missing Frou Frou and Jesus & the Mary Chain)

right where it hurts...

it was the last week of january, 2004, 7:30 in the morning. i got a phone call from my friend jeremy telling me that our friend from chicago, chris, had just been found dead. no details, just dead. at first i was confused, because we had always called him "Carl", but then i connected the dots. it was the 4th friend to die in as many years, all in december or january. i'd done this "grieving" thing before. but never from 900 miles away. never alone.

during that same time i had been listening to Leona Naess' self-titled album. the kind of record where you don't have a favorite track, because you have three. it has just been recently that i can listen to that album and not go back to the place i was in...mentally, emotionally....back in the early part of 2004.

i made a trip to Second Spin a few weeks ago and got Leona's most recent, THIRTEENS. mmm mmm mmm. as i pack to leave in the morning to meet 7 of my high school girlfriends, it's fitting that a song entitled "Not the Same Girl" would resonate.

these are the best days of your life
dinner parties, and friends and noone's wife

climbin' down the apple tree
i can see your strength in me
storms are brewin' and we're headin' for a change
friends will marry and move away
you will look back at it all
memories rage across an empty hallway

you're not the same girl who
writes love songs and means them
you're not the same girl who
has butterflies and believes them

i won't stop needing you
and i won't stop wanting to

i'm not the same girl who writes postcards
for strangers
i'm not the same girl who wears pigtails
says "I love you"

when we knew
when we knew
when we knew it all

we're not the
same girls who
watched movies and believed them

i definitely still wear pigtails. and i'm certainly grateful for friends like jeremy who would call me at an ungodly hour just to make me feel connected....for friends who have seen me through those times like 2004 (and even more recently), when nothing made sense and i wanted to stay there, in confusion and hopelessness, rather than deal with it. i've lately been thinking a lot about how to allow people to love me, to care for me, and i'm struggling to verbalize my appreciation. or to simply recognize that love. so thank you. i'm not the same girl.

Thursday conversation

"Seven take away two."

"Five. I'm five!" exclaims the boy. "Are you five?"

"No, I'm a lot more than five."

"Thirteen. Are you thirteen?"

"I'm twenty-seven more than five."

"Are you almost old? 'Cuz when you're old, God comes and takes you away. Then you know what he looks like."