Category Archives: Social

Big Barn Party in Batavia

May 18, 2007SocialMush

In which these are the details, as they’re currently known, of the upcoming barn party & jam.

Who: The Ex
He’s throwing a big barn party out at the farm – with food and beer and music and a gigantic bonfire – before the weather gets too hot and buggy.

What: Huge barn party… with live music! And kegs! And maybe BBQ, I don’t know for sure.
You may bring your lovers and your dogs and your children, your lawn furniture, swim suits and floaties (there’s a pond), tents (if you want to camp over night), fishing gear (there’s another pond for fishin’), food to grill, etc.
All musicians are invited to bring their instruments; it’ll be an all day/all night jam (if it’s anything like it was last time). Let me know if you can help with PA equipment because everybody I’ve asked so far no longer has a PA. If your whole band comes, you’re welcome to play a whole set together but for the most part it’ll be relaxed, informal jam space. The jam will be in the barn, so your gear will be under cover in case of weather.

Where: 1130 230th, Batavia IA [map]
Directions: From Fairfield, take 34 west for 11 miles. Turn left on the gravel road called Cedar (there’s a brick outhouse on the SW corner). Travel Cedar 1.5 miles to 230th, turn right. Travel 0.5 miles to the black mailbox. Turn left into the driveway for 1130. Drive up the driveway until you see the barn; park at will.

When: Saturday, May 26 2007 – All day, all night
Show up when you feel like it, leave when you want to. Feel free to pitch a tent – there are 27 acres to choose from.

Why: Why not!
Mostly for the hell of it, I guess. The Ex just showed up one day and said he wanted to throw a party. But if you need a reason… call it our Divorce Party!

THIS DOCUMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.

UPDATE 21 May: The Ex is buying FODA and The Big Guy will be cooking. You’re encouraged to bring side dishes. And BYOB, as there will be no kegs because now you have to register to get one and The Ex refuses to do that. (Did I ever tell you about the time he needed to buy a single can of ether to start some piece of equipment or another and made me register for it? That’s how paranoid he is.)

Mississippi River Boat Queen

May 14, 2007Social, TravelMush

In which it was the best time I’ve ever had outdoors in the Midwest!

Yesterday I traveled the Mississippi on a pontoon boat with some friends. I got a sunburn. I’d been wearing sunglasses all day, so today I look like a raccoon. The skin on my cheeks, forehead, and nose is bright red and hurts a little.

I also have windburn, so my lips are chapped. It was windy yesterday, and we spent a lot of time moving up and down the river at about 35mph getting quite windblown.

I took a bunch of cell phone pics of the day; they’ll be here as soon as they all finish uploading. Gorgeous day, huh?

I had so much fun! The weather could not have been more perfect. It was warm and not yet muggy or bug-ridden. The river’s wide enough that the shores look to be heavily forested from the river, and between the clear sky and bright sunshine the surface looked choppy and sparkling — like water you’d encounter in the Northwest, rather than the muddy Mississippi river water it really is upon closer inspection.

A spider that had moved into the boat while it sat in its slip bit my right knee four times. I’m always getting spider bites on my knees for some reason. Last year a spider bit the back of my left knee, and it took months for the poison to work itself entirely out of my skin. Every few weeks it would flare up again and itch for three days, and I’d irritate it by scratching it in my sleep.

Core’s mom fed us all egg salad sandwiches. She puts a bit of the juice from a jar of jalapenos into her egg salad and it’s really, really good that way, with a nice mild kick. There was also beer and cocktails, chips, and pound cake.

The host had just purchased the boat so it was brand-spanking new and clean and comfortable, with a little pop-up private area for changing or a Port-a-potty, a table big enough to play cards upon, a comfy captain’s chair and cockpit, and tons of bench seating. The boat could probably accommodate eight people without overcrowding. In the areas we passed (between Burlington and Keokuk), there were lots of sandy beaches and islands to visit, and people appear to have no qualms about swimming in the water. JW says he’d be happy to invite us again as the summer progresses, so I may try swimming in the Mississippi myself, although I’d always half thought it was too toxic for swimmers.

I’d felt utterly apathetic about going, but I’m really glad I did. It was the most fun I’ve had on an outdoor outing in a long time!

Now please excuse me while I go home and treat my bites and burns.

Craptastic.

March 6, 2007Social, TravelMush

In which I make the best of it.

I stopped for gas on the way out of town, and in spite of my nice interview clothes I took a look underneath the jeep. The exhaust has rusted out. Parts of it are hanging down all over the place, and so I called and canceled my appointment because if I’d driven to Iowa City like that, sections of exhaust would have ended up all over.

I’ve been told I need to take it to a shop. I can’t afford that so I’m quasi-carless. I’ll probably drive it around in town anyway.

In lieu of going to Iowa City, AmmZon took me to lunch at India Cafe. Here is my lunch:

Hah! That’s not really my lunch. Just an image of it.

Then I accompanied Her Tallness to the yarn store so she could buy yarn and needles for this project. Here is an image of some yarn:

Now she’s at work rubbing people for money, and I am home.

I need find some mechanical person to ask if I can just rip out the fucking exhaust and drive around without fuming myself to death or not. If I can just remove the dangling parts, that will do until I can afford to fix it.

In other news, here’s some MP3 love for y’all. Hey Vuboq! Here’s Dick and Jane. Hey Scott! Here’s Pretty. Hey everyone else! If you haven’t listened to my new bisexual hooker junkie Jew rapper celebrity crush yet, you should click too, ’cause it’s Mickey Avalon (“call me Mr Riiiiight”) and we are so slummin’ now, bitches. Check this lyric:

Baby was Jen’s best friend
and maybe if you were lucky
licky licky sucky sucky
Mickey Mickey, fuck me fuck me
more junk in her trunk than a Honda
I know you wanna do the Jane Fonda

One, two, three, four
get your booty on the dance floor
work it out, shake it little momma
lemme see you do the Jane Fonda

You just can’t write a rap lyric like that! AND I DEFY YOU TO TRY! *collapses into giggles* No, seriously though. It’s strangely charming. He’s really quite smart; his lyrics are clever in their way. I lurve him.

Now I’m going to do AmmZon’s taxes. I’m supposed to be fixing this form, but the server’s installation of Perl is all fucked up and it won’t run cgi scripts for me. Talk about a cute error: “Perhaps the capitalisation of ‘mysql’ isn’t right”?!? WTF, box. I don’t have root on it, it’s a hosting service, so there’s a ticket open.

Grease, Yum

March 4, 2007SocialMush

In which there’s food and drink.

My girl Raybo texted me last night and asked me what I was doing. I texted back that I was doing nothing. (Which wasn’t exactly true. I was sitting on my bedroom floor in my pajamas, winding a ball of sock yarn.) She replied that she’d like to take me out for a drink. I replied that she should come pick my ass up and got dressed.

We went to the Dead Cock and did shots with the bartender and complained that there was no eye candy and talked about sex in great detail. (In our defense, it was the wrestling on TV that started the whole sex conversation. I mean, just tell me that watching two smooth, buff men spending minute-long intervals in the Missionary position puts only me in mind of, I don’t know, sex maybe? Pshaw! It’s the gayest shit ever! Well, except for the part where they’re punching each other in the fucking head. The guy on the bottom even hooks his ankles together around the waist of the guy who is, well, topping him. Anyway. So I pointed the TV out to Ray and said, “Look, it’s hot boy sex,” and she immediately started doing MST3k voiceovers. It was hysterical: “Oh come on baby, you know you want it. Relax and stop punching daddy in the head. Cause if you don’t it’s just gonna make him KNOCK. YOU. OUT.”)

At one thirty in the morning, we went next door to the pizza joint, and we two inhaled an entire medium cheese pizza in about ninety-eight seconds. It was so delicious I count it among my most profound spiritual experiences ever. OMFG.

Then I came home and AmmZon’s dad was bleeding all over the kitchen because he’d fallen on the ice and cracked his head open. He refused stitches. When the bleeding was staunched, I ordered him to lie down on the couch and sleep, because otherwise he was just going to keep walking around talking about how falling made him feel like an idiot. Truck bandaged his head up. Then everyone else went to sleep, and I answered email until 3 in the morning.

Why I Love The Internet

February 27, 2007Social, Travel, WorkMush

In which it turns out that complaining does do you some good.

Yesterday I felt all shitty and marginal and rejected and sorry for myself, so I wrote a big old whiny post about it. Within an hour of posting I’d had two heartfelt private emails and a long IM conversation aimed at helping me work it all out. That’s why I love the Internet.

No good news today on the job front. That last place isn’t going to hire me, I can feel it, so I’ve applied for a few jobs in Iowa City: one position at the University, a couple of cool jobs off of craigslist, an office job through Kelly Services.

The problem, I think, is that I have to rein it in during interviews. No one wants to know how smart I am. No one wants me to ask them why they chose the questions they use, nor do they even want me to answer their clever interview questions honestly. (When they ask me for my five-year plan, I will say I want to still be working for their organization). No one wants to hear about my work philosophy or that I’ve engineered myself out of jobs in the past. No one wants to hear personal anecdotes that take more than 15 seconds to tell, and no one gives a shit about what I’d like in a job.

Iowa City’s only an hour away, so I can easily drive up there for interviews. I might go up there this week and register at Kelly Services in person, maybe take their skills tests; maybe they can get me some temp work immediately. (There aren’t any temp agencies with actual work in Fairfield or Ottumwa; I’ve already tried that angle.)

I can’t move very far away because I haven’t got enough money to achieve escape velocity, but I could get to Iowa City. I like it up there, it’s a college town, there’s coffee and books and jazz, and there’s work. It has it’s own craigslist (where I saw three dog-friendly housing situations!!!). I even know a few people up there, one of whom told me to apply at the University — for the second time — in yesterday’s comments. After a stint there, I could escape Iowa altogether, if that ever seemed necessary.

In other news, my dog has a big old lump on her side. It’s driving me nuts. It came up rapidly, isn’t affecting her appetite or digestion or behavior, and doesn’t hurt her, but I hate it anyway.