I burninated at Pitchfork on Sunday but it was well worth the redness. I had no idea there was a nice big park next to Cobra Lounge. I feel bad for the neighbors since one of the stages was right against someone’s backyard and I don’t think that neighborhood is too big on the indie rock. I saw Apples in Stereo, Les Savy Fav, Ghostface and Raekwon and a little of M. Ward. The rest of the time was spent wandering flatstock (gig poster sale) or sleeping under a tree. It was like the sun was sucking energy out of me.
Les Savy Fav was by far the most entertaining act. The singer had multiple costumes, threw a wireless web cam into the audience and displayed the bouncy results on the big screen, ran off stage briefly to reappear in a garbage can and told us stories about the Native American burial ground the park was built on. There was also music playing.
Ghostface and Raekwon were great but the crowd was annoying me. As you can guess the crowd was largely white hipsters. So hearing some guy with mismatched socks going “word,yo” in a not so subtle ironic way is annoying after the 10th time. Hearing some kid behind me explain to his friend that “these guys used to be in Wu Tang” just made me feel old. And wtf was with putting them on the small stage? It was packed which just added to my annoyance.

I just noticed the candy I’m eating says it has a bat signal in it and I didn’t see a bat signal. I may have ate the bat signal.

I saw Dark Knight on Monday. Wasn’t there a TV show called Dark Knight? I remember it being Canadian and the main character’s last name was Knight and there were vampires. If it wasn’t so late I would call my parents because I know they watched this damn show and IMDB is telling me its some medieval sci-fi show.

So the movie was awesome. But since everyone’s jerking off over this movie, I have to offer a few criticisms.
The movie was PG-13, why couldn’t Maggie Gyllenhaal’s breasts make an appearance?
Was Aaron Eckhart cast because they couldn’t get Denis Leary? Twinsies!
Where was the big flaming Batman logo?
And that’s all I can say without giving away parts of the movie.

This whole patriotism thing can suck me but I was loving the backyard fireworks this weekend. I stayed out late Thursday and Friday so instead of cursing the 2am fireworks in the alley, I was on my back porch watching them. Due to a technical failure (listening to a boy) I could barely see the city’s fireworks show on the 3rd. North Ave beach may be crowded on the 3rd but there are a bunch of goddamn buildings in the way between you and the fireworks. A ton of other people didn’t seem to know this either so I don’t feel too stupid.

Boxing boot camp is almost finished so I need something new to keep me active. Jabb boxing gym has similar classes that I might go to. I like boxing but I really want to run away and join the circus. OK, it’s not quite that kind of trapeze training but it’s still trapeze! My upper body strength has got slightly less sad since starting boxing but it’s still pretty pathetic. I’m hoping the aerial training class will help me work toward the awesome back I want. (Awesome back=showing off tattoos)

I didn’t do a pictorial like I usually do with new recipes but I made some really good granola just now. I’m taking spoonfuls while waiting for it to cool. I’m concerned how its going to clump when it cools. I used my friend’s family farm honey and expensive Irish oats that come in a tin. I didn’t use the wheat germ suggested in the recipe and my fruit is raisins, dried cranberries and dried cherries.

(Answer to the title is Yes. And there is a 5th,6th and 7th of July, too. Haha! Egocentric Americans!)

I’ve been slacking on meditating and not really feeling like I have a good grasp on this whole Buddha thing so I started an intro to Buddha class. I was meditating at a Zen temple/dojo and I’m taking the class at a Pure Land temple.

I’ve talked a little about the difference between Zen and Pure Land but the best comparison I’ve heard so far is that you can walk or take a boat, you’re still going to get to the same place. (That’s not the direct quote but the idea is there.)

That doesn’t mean I am giving up on meditation. I liked meditation especially at the temple. The little bit of ritual helps me focus.

The first class was about the different sects of Buddhism and where they came from. I started thinking about how long Buddhism has been around when the teacher pointed out that certain terms are Sanskrit. One person in class said his family has been part of the temple all of his life but he has never learned the basics. No Sunday school as a kid for him. Buddhism goes much deeper than reading scripture and sticking a Jesus fish on your car. It’s like gender. Society and family teach you what it means to be a girl but they don’t give you a book or make you take lessons on how to be a girl. Some people see Buddhism as more of a culture or philosophy than a religion. Older members of the temple pride themselves on not having studied Buddhism, they say it’s not necessary when you live it.

I like the teacher for this class. He’s an old white guy, retired teacher, a forgetful professor type. He became interested in Buddhism about 30 years ago but I think he comes from a Jewish family. I googled him and found a site with his poetry. Some of his poems are dirty! I am well aware that seniors like to get it on but it’s always surprising to see evidence of it.

The nice weather has put me into a good mood. Pink jelly shoes also put me in a good mood. I had a hard time finding jelly shoes last year but Target has a bunch this year. They’re not comfy or practical but they scream summer nostalgia.
I walked around a lot yesterday. I stopped at Starfruit along the way. They have Kefir frozen yogurt. It’s a little bitter at first but the more I got into my cup of cherry, the more I liked it. And according their noisy, boingy site, it’s all low fat.

I checked out the drag kings on Friday. I can do what they’re doing. It’s mostly just lip syncing and a little acting to explain what the song means to them. The show was pride month themed so it was heavy on the angst.

I don’t know how well I would fit in the group. Most of the kings look younger than me and have their cute little queer friends cheering them on. And they look very convincing. I’m guessing they look very convincing off stage as well. The MC referred to some of the kings as trans men. And I’m nowhere near trans. I just want to put a little bend in my gender. I know I wil go back and forth and make up a ton of excuses to do it and not do it before the show. Good thing it’s a month away and I have time for all of this.

I saw a friend from high school, too(at a bar, not the show). It’s nice reconnecting with people. I’m always all blah blah stability so maybe having a little of my past around will help and it will remind me that my entire past was not scary. There was a lot of good that unfortunately doesn’t stick like the trauma does.

Saturday I went to a friend’s wedding reception. There were over 500 guests, 3 dress changes, tons of awesome food, singers and MC’s. I didn’t see the bride and groom sit down for more than 5 minutes at a time. But the most impressive thing was the couple. They’ve been together since junior high. Now they’re in grad school, finally getting married. That’s some make you believe in true love stuff right there.

This weekend had a really good summer feel to it. I wrote about Saturday and my mini-reunion. Sunday I went to a big potluck with so much good (and mostly homemade) food. Krispy Kreme bread pudding returned and it was lovingly devoured. I was outside most of the day watching kids play in the dirt and I held a baby for almost 10 minutes before it cried. (new record)

Monday I went to International Mr. Leather convention (nsfw). I am not a Mr so I can’t be a gay leather Mr but I have been going to the vendor mart at IML since I worked at a GLBT health center that has a booth in the mart. I’ve been to Boystown in the summer plenty of times and the Pride parade but IML is way beyond anything I’ve seen on Halsted.
To start, the entire hotel is taken over by IML. Which is good because you can’t walk around in assless chaps in mixed company. There are signs reminding guests to cover their asses when they go outside but inside anything goes. I didn’t see any full frontal but there was plenty of booty. And booty in all sizes! I love that a big hairy gay man can walk around in a thong or jock strap and get his ass slapped as much as a hairless muscle boy. There are preferences of course, but there is a good split between shirtless sweater lovers and babyface pinchers. It’s different than women you see in the fetish scene. The women are mostly skinny and if they aren’t, they are crushed in with a corset. Reason # gabillion it is awesome to be a gay man.

Afterward I went shopping, had a rainbow cone in Millennium Park and then had more ice cream that night. This is my week to get back on track with dieting and exercise. And I signed up for an Intro to Buddhism class that starts next month. Maybe it will give my meditation some meaning beyond sitting and arguing with the noise in my head.

I predict good things for this summer.
Power of positive thinking, ya know?

And it sucks to be you!
Yes, I saw Avenue Q last night. It was pretty damn funny and there was puppet sex. I’m happy my brother went, he got to see what he has to look forward to when he finishes college (not the having sex with puppets part).
My boss asked how I like the show when I got in today. Good thing she didn’t ask what it was about. ‘Oh just being a recent college grad, hating your job, feeling like you have no purpose, being poor…oh you want me to file something for you? And we are not getting paid on time again? I love my job!’

Later my boss asked, possibly begged, me to stay at the agency. I never gave any indication that I was thinking about leaving but people around me have been dropping like flies due to the payroll mess. I think this is the 3rd major delay in payroll since I started and there have been at least a few more minor (under 2 days) delays.
I have the feeling I should get off the sinking ship but I’m always the type to fight/wait things out until the bloody end. My boss talked with me and she really wants me to get back to writing proposals soon. I would hate to leave the job without getting any real research experience. I need something to take away from this job! My clinical skills have gone unused and my research skills haven’t been developed..it’s like I never went to grad school, except for the debt.

Unrelated, I have four wedding coming up in the next few months! I know, it’s wedding season so I shouldn’t be surprised. I am going to be a jealous bitch, watching all my friends getting Cuisinart mixers. Also, bad time to be newly single.

What I did over the weekend:

Played in the City Museum in St. Louis. Chicago needs something like this. It’s a huge indoor/outdoor play/art/museum/aquarium space that kids and adults can enjoy. Ya, most stuff is geared toward kids but they have nights where the museum is just open to adults. They sell beer! They have slides and tunnels leading to mysterious places! They have some rusty bolts!
I liked playing in the caves

and inside of the giant fish

There were lots of slides and tunnels. This slide was awesome because it was really long and all of the bars are handpainted and spin when you run your hands along them. It almost forces you to go down the slide in the hands above your head “whee!” position.

There were lots of random exhibits and I think what I liked best is that there are little or no descriptions on them. Do you really need the history of an object to enjoy it? Is it a little better to make up the explanation yourself?

Inside of a safe door:

After the museum, we went to the Arch.

You can go inside the arch in a frighteningly small tram car. 5 people get squished into one car and in a few minutes are pulled up to the top where there is an observation deck.

I observed East St. Louis and clouds.

It was a good weekend overall. St. Louis is a much better town than I had previously thought. And I finished my tattoo! Yay!

I came back to no boss at work (she is out for the week) which is nice. I came back to a cat pee smelling kitchen which is not nice. Does anyone want a cat? She doesn’t really smell bad/act bad if you do crazy things like clean her litterbox and pay attention to her. She is indoor only and probably would not be good with small kids.

I started watching The Sopranos since I’m the last person in the US that has never seen an episode. I’m really liking it and the random Italian curse words thrown in make me feel like I’m talking to my guido brother. The show may also explain one of my annoyances.

At my last job, I referred people to mental health practitioners- counselors, psychologist, psychiatrists, social workers. Often people would demand a psychiatrist. I would always ask if they were looking for a medication evaluation/monitoring or talk therapy. Most of the time they just wanted therapy but they were stuck on having a MD. I would try to explain that psychiatrists just do quick visits, med monitoring and that’s all. (Most psychiatrist visits we authorized were for 15 minutes). It’s hard unless you are a child or severely mentally ill to find a psychiatrist that will do therapy and meds. (especially with the rates most insurances pay).

So why does everyone think the nice psychiatrist will spend time with them? Because every week for 8 years, Tony Soprano sat down and talked to his psychiatrist. (Well, I’m not sure of this because I’m still on the first season but I know the psychiatrist is in all of the seasons.) She did therapy and med monitoring. And Tony has money so he can afford to have a psychiatrist do both. I’m sure he has excellent benefits through the waste management company.

People are stupid for a lot of reasons, it’s just nice to be able to guess that they were misled by a TV show and not their own damn arrogance about needing a Ph.D. because a masters level counselor just cannot handle their complex problems!

I didn’t just watch TV this week. Otherwise the post title wouldn’t say Mixed media, it would say ‘I wish I had cable’

On Monday I saw Tokyo Police Club at The Metro. The 2nd opening band, Smoosh, was a trio of girls that were too young to even get into the 18+ event. Despite their instruments being comically larger than them, they did well. They are adorable little hipsters in the making!
Tokyo Police Club was damn good. I didn’t recognize a lot of songs and since the band only has 1 full length album and a couple EP’s I’m guessing that means they played a lot of new stuff. The new album was released a few weeks ago but the audience knew a lot of the songs already. I was just happy to hear the line about robots blowing up my heart.

Tonight I saw Local Hat the Beat Kitchen. They are playing shows all week at the Beat Kitchen, 1 album per night, one night dedicated to B sides and rarities,the last night their yet to be released album. This is such an awesome idea. I can tell a lot of people in the audience bought tickets to all of the shows because when the main show ended, no one budged or did any of the ‘will he do an encore?’ wavering. They knew he would come back out and play a ton of encores because that’s what he did the night before.
The audience was mostly guys. I felt very short and wasn’t brave enough to go into the moshing up front. I hovered around the middle and moved around so I could check out the stage between shoulders and flailing bodies. Scott Lucas is still looking pretty good, too. Chicago bands have some cute vocalists. (Chris Connelly and Billy Corgan being the other two examples that come to mind.)

Tomorrow is hustle hustle with M-I-A!

My parade plans were almost thwarted by the time change and a cell phone that was slow to change but I made it out to the South side to celebrate being a dirty Mc.

I went to a party at high school friend’s mom’s house. Nothing makes you feel old like seeing little brothers all growed up. Then I went to my parent’s house where I ruined my diet with corned beef and “just a tiny slice” of cake. No wonder my family has trouble losing weight.

And look at this article. “A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.”

I totally knew about this from a Cafe Science talk. Unfortunately, it looks like I didn’t blog about the talk but the professor said that the estrogen in the water supply from birth control pills will eventually decrease penis size. We must do something about this now!

Much more going on than tube mangling!

The boy and I went to the opera this week. We saw Falstaff for cheap with our student ID’s. I read a synopsis of the opera beforehand like the Lyric’s site tells you to do. It helps to know what is going on so you don’t have to stare at the surtitles the entire time. This was my first opera so I was impressed by everything, the costumes, the set, the cast were all beautiful. The last scene was pretty amazing and I was really surprised when people started bailing early. Some people walked out before the scene finished, some jumped up as soon as the curtain went down. Stay and clap, bitches! You just spent 3 hours at an opera and now it’s so important to jump in your car? You wouldn’t have to wait so long for valet if you just parked a couple blocks away in the garage, lazy.

I just got an email confirming that I am going to start on my big back tattoo when the boy and I go out of town. I’ve been emailing back and forth with the artist and he says the Julia set I picked out is do-able but he is booked up for months. He’s going to be super nice and squeeze me in and do the outline now and then I will return for the fill in. He would like to do it in multiple sessions even if he had time now so it works out nicely. This tattoo is really detailed so its going to be big. I’m nervous about having a big piece but I really like this artist, I think he will do a good job.

And the last thing that’s been going on this week-my brief proposal got rejected :( It’s my first proposal so I guess this is a learning experience or something. I’m still upset because I think that the topic was really good,substance abuse treatment for people with developmental disabilities. My boss still wants the next proposal to be about substance abuse but dual diagnosis MI and substance abuse just isn’t as much fun!