I’ve been living in what you could describe as a cold water flat, or a tenement. Its a long narrow place. The mini-bathtub is raised off of the ground 2 ft. so you really gotta step up to get in. Also it’s in its own room, the toilet is in it’s own room and the kitchen sink is also the bathroom sink.

I’ve still been hanging out at the bar Gino works at too much, but less and less over the last few weeks. Which is for the best. There is no good way to leave that place, and I end up staying til close, then we go somewhere else, and sometimes we brownbag a tallboy on the train on the way home. Or we take a cab with some complete strangers to Korea town at 4am and eat spicy piles of something and soup.

I’ve been at my new job since Oct 17. I really like it. I receive health insurance. Everyone is really nice and my only real complaint is a sticky spacebar on my keyboard. We are about to head into “crunch time” for the next 10 days though.

The gang went camping in the appalachian trail. It was real pretty and scenic and all of that. I think I’m going to get into camping next spring. We hiked a lot, carried stuff, pitched tents, looked at fire, listened for bears and smelled bad on the way home.

Jake and Alison came up for a visit. We had a time. Lots of drinking, halloween partying, eating, tourism. The final night we decided we were partied out and went for a glorious dinner at my fav. restaurant and i had rabbit. can you believe it? Rabbit! then we went out for a drink, but ended up getting many many drinks. I really don’t ever remember much after the 1st bar, but I think we went to 3. We brought some guy with us back to brooklyn, and he was in my apartment, and finally we were like, uh we don’t know this dude and it’s 5 am. Jake told him he had to go, but i don’t think he wanted to. Also we drank some black velvets, champagne and guinness. Pretty good. I felt bad for them cause I was knew I was in pain, but they were on a plane in pain. We had a lot of laughs.

For Thanksgiving the gang rented a van and drove up to Providence for a couple of nights. We spent most of turkey day sipping Hennessey and laying down tracks. We got pretty wild by the end and I think we managed to annoy our hosts pretty well. Sam, Dave, and Bop joined us for the remainder of the weekend in NY. As expected we did a lot of joking, watched some videos on the internet, talked about said video too much, watched sports, ate real brooklyn pizza, harlem bbq, and generally brewed down.

This past weekend I went down to Miami for this art festival About 300 galleries and art people from all over go there, the whole place is basically one big sponsored party for the whole weekend. Overall I had a great time, but my priorities were: 1. go to the pool / ocean, 2. eat and drink, 3. go to fun parties, 4. look at art. It was really warm there, and it’s really cold here. I would rather be there I think.

A weird TV show I watched a DVD of: Mary Hartman Mary Hartman, still slowly getting through Deadwood.

Been hanging out with Mike and Gino quite a bit. Gino works at a bar on the weekends, so we are preferred customers. The nights begin i innocently enough…

I was comfortably staying at Aug’s apt and I was kicked out by the landlady. It was kind of comical.

I flew back to Kansas and rode to Council Grove with the Blume family. We scooted over to the rehearsal dinner and got ourselves in line. We had dinner at the Hays House, I ordered chicken, but should have gotten beef like everyone else. Grant suggested we stop at this place called the B.A.R. on the way home. They had beers there, and country and western music, and people that stared at us. Then we went to the other bar in town. It was a honky tonk. We saw a fight and when it was broken up, no one was kicked out. The wedding went off without a hitch. Grant and Casey zipped off to the reception in the Mustang. We drank, we danced, we went to the bars again.

Then I was in Wamego for the next 2 weeks. I had a really nice time. The weather was great and we kept busy. I used Jake and Ted’s wifi and Huxley watched me use it. I went to my mom’s hangouts, the VFW and the honky bar. She wanted her friends to stare at me. Just about every night there was someone cooking food or drinking beers. I liked walking around Wamego at midnight when it was completely dark and everyone was asleep. I probably could have stayed another week.

Darren and Lexi got married in Salina. It was in this former church, so it had the looks of a church wedding with less of the churchy stuff. Nice. There was a cat walking around too. The reception was at the country club. Alison was excited cause she had prom there. We made the most of the dance floor and then the bars of Salina. At some point we put on this insane impromtu stage show. Then to the hotel for brews, then I passed out and allegedly unpassed out. We made our way back to KC and flew back to NY.

The other night Aug sent me a last minute IM invite to a taping of the Colbert show. It was the first day his book came out (which Aug designed), and the audience got a copy. Colbert saw Aug and shook his hand and said “hey, good to see ya” and the rest of the audience thought he was hot shit, which he was. Last night I had some steak with N & M & K.

In Minneapolis

According to my iCal:

Saw PaperRad at MoMA – Jacob should tour as an inspirational speaker with Andrew WK
Had drinks with Porter – Hadn’t seen her since x-mas
Went to a Chicago themed party – sponsored by Nato – was way too crowded and I went over to Vasmay
Saw the Suckers – at Supreme Trading, it was hot as hell, but they put on the best show I’d seen from them. Went to the Abbey with Mike afterwards
Went to a BBQ – at David Micheal’s, went on to Red Hook with Mike, Nick and Liz. Got way too drunk and pissed off some bluegrass band, and embarssed myself
Went to the end of Long Island – with Mike and Gino, we saw skinny dippers, spent about 1 total hour on the beach, drank about 100 beers, bbq’d, determined most beach towns are the same
Saw Andrew WK – with Ingrid, he played piano and his friend played guitar for about 1/2 hour in this tiny theater, maybe 30 people there, mostly confused teens. I enjoyed it. Went to a 7 yr old’s birthday and various bars that night as well.
Went to a fancy BBQ – at Aug’s boss’s house, the 1st of 2
Went to the Daft Punk afterparty – at Studio B. Sweaty
Went to Sandman’s opening – at Eat, then onto N & M’s and watched movies and drank too much wine. Stayed over and went TV shopping the next day
Another fancy BBQ – grilling, drinking and joking. Follow by a long night at bars
Went to Chicago – again. Had a great time, grilled at Sam’s. Biked all over the place. Saw some art, including Phoebe’s solo show. Partied. Ate a lot of Mexican food. Went to turtle races. Went to horse races
Prepared my portfolio – for a job I don’t want
Brooke left – we drank in honor of the occasion. Ended up on our old rooftop and threw about 50 bottles off of it. Felt stupid
Saw Superbad – The best
Had a very extended happy hour – at sweet & viscous with the gang
Went to Minneapolis – for Tom & Steph’s well-designed wedding. Had a blast with all the KU buddies. Went to the Walker finally, sculpture garden was the best
Saw Daniel Johnston – again, nearly as good as last time. Venue was more intimate

Last Friday the gang went out for dinner for Brooke and Kelli’s bday. I went to see Yoni’s show later on. Then met the remaining gang members who were trying to party. We really really tried. Sat night Jess threw a month late French themed bday party. It was an early evening affair and there was a lot of wine, cheese, and the like. I enjoyed my share of wine. Chatted up some people, broke a vase and rode back to Brooklyn. Met up with Nato and Mira and went to this sweaty dance party around the corner, which was also Bastille Day themed. It was a wild night. The next week I worked at the ad agency again, but still managed to squeeze in the usual going out routine. By Friday I was beat and passed out watching tv. Sat I met everyone for breakfast and we spent the day in the park and went to a hip soccer party. Then Gino had a BBQ. Sunday we got up and went up to Dia:Beacon. Then I hung out in the park again.

Most know by now that I now have an ex-girlfriend. That all happened and I took off for a week in Chicago rather than sit around NY obsessing about what I should do. Sam and I had a good old time there. As usual lots of good eats, some ribs and such at Sam’s followed by some beers and such at bars. The weekend we went up to Wisconsin to his friend’s lake house, which was totally fun — swimming, games, bonfire, strange Wisconsin beers… you get the idea. Sunday, Mark, Sam and I went to a rap concert on the south side sponsored by some muslims that were all about peace and good vibes. Lupe Fiasco fell of the stage he was rapping so hard. I hung out with Kate and Phoebe and my old grip buddies and looked at some art and rode a bike all over the place. When I got back to NY it was super hot and I packed all of my shit up and put it into storage. The day after that Sam came here to NY and the whole gang got together for our big bike ride to Montauk. We took the train out of the city a bit and got going on for our 100 mile trip. There were 3 flats in the first 25 miles and it was looking to be a tedious ride, then we kicked it into high gear and pledged to ride the next 25 nonstop. Then we had lunch, rode another 20, took a break, then rode the last 18 to the town. Took a break. Then rode 6 to the end of the island, took pictures and rode back to the motel for an even 100. (Technically more since we rode 5 miles to the train station that morning) In the end I was pretty tired cause I’d gone faster than I should have the whole time, but fuck, once I got to pedaling I would just get going and didn’t want to stop. It was a challenge, but we had a lot of fun. We stayed the night and took the train back to the city on Sunday. Sam and I did some tourism for the next couple of days and then he left.

On the 4th I got onto another train and went upstate to this house my friends had rented for the week. It was really big, had bats flying around in it, and there was a pool. We had a lot of fun swimming, drinking, cooking and all of that. Plus the usual weird shit Nato comes up with (games).

Other than that I’m chilling.

Last Sunday was my birthday. I went to a bar for some other people’s birthdays the night before and I told some people it was my birthday, but that it was a secret. I did some binge drinking. Sunday night Jennie and I ate dinner at Moto after she returned from Californie. I didn’t do anything too exciting last week, I tried to draw a lot. Worked at the ad agency for 3 days. Finished watching all 3 seasons of Battlestar Galactica. It’s an ok show. Good enough to keep watching it. The Wire was definitely better. I’ve started getting the DVDs for Deadwood via netflix. I’m enjoying it so far. Last night I went down to DUMBO for an art opening, there was some good stuff. Then to a friend’s BBQ, talked to a lot of nice strangers and then to a bar where Gino and I played those touch screen games. Today I was bored and Sam IMed me that he’d rode 55 miles yesterday, so I felt guilty and rode up to Harlem on the west side bike path. It was very pleasant. In Harlem I ate a Memphis style pork sandwich with potato salad and carrot & raisin salad and a beer and cobbler for dessert. It was delicious. After that I was riding by this bar and this dude was all “hey what do you think about this car?” Turns out this character, George, is a big fan of the Subaru company. He had 3 of them sitting there. Man did he love Subaru! We talked for about 30 minutes.

Last weekend was memorial day, aka barbegeddon. I went to 5 BBQs in 3 days. I was full of beers and meats. Saturday Aug, Mike and I rode our bikes up to the Whitney. We saw a great Gordon Matta Clark show, and a crowd pleasing Psychedelic Art show.

Friday Jennie took off for Paris. I met Mike and Dan at an art opening, then Mike and I went to dinner at Sweetwater. After that we met Brooke and Gino at East River Bar. After that we walked to Savalas for a beer. Then to Snacky for 2 beers. Then we headed towards my house and went to the Mexican dance club. We mostly watched.

Saturday I went to see Willow’s film. That night I went to Nato & Miranda’s for dinner and crashed at their place. Sunday we got up and went to the anarchist coffee shop, then to a famous real Brooklyn pizza joint. then Coney Island, then back to Williamsburg for some margaritas, then this strange techno party in the park by the water, then to a show in the Lower East Side. We were pretty beat.

Last night I tried to go to a show, but the bands switched times, and I missed the dudes I wanted to see. We had some beers and ate at Kellogg’s late night. Today I went to the orthodontist cause my retainer thing fell out and I wanted the cement ground off of my teeth. I’ve started watching the TV series Battlestar Gallactica.

I saw Daniel Johnston perform on Wednesday night.

My mom came to visit last weekend. She came in on Thursday, we walked around, ate some Tex-Mex. Friday we went to Herald Sq, ate burgers, went shopping, and went on a boat tour around the city. Saturday we went to the park, did more shopping, and that evening we went to the Broadway Musical, Legally Blonde the Musical. Sunday we went to church at the big cathedral and went to see the movie The Ex. She left Monday.

Before that I was working at the ad agency a lot. The weekend before that I drank too much. This week I’ve been farting around, I built a closet for Jennie out of scrap wood. It doesn’t look great, but it does the trick.