Well, a lot has happened in 2 months. I shaved my head, wore orange pants, became active in noshame, officially quit my job are “the arcade,” said my good-byes, moved away from iowa city and back to rochester, mn. Whilst in mn I visited many old friends, celebrated my birthday, saw a killer experimental music festival (de stijl) in minneapolis and I saw don herzfeld and his animation show. I then began my journey out east.
first night october 10, 2003: 9pm left rochester in one white dodge caravan, property of my parents. arrive in madison, wisconsin, just after midnight. stop at mcdonalds to use restroom. after briefly admiring the custodians above average janitry, I proceed to get lost on the downtown isthmus of madison. find my way. stay at my friend, dave’s house. oh so comfortable air mattress.
october 11, 2003: with the knowledge that my ‘chicago’ friends are in iowacity for a show I am missing I decided to stay one more night in madison and spend some quality time with dave. we had fun. i bought a hat and then we went to a rock show and then a party. I drank too much Chianti form the bottle and I was drunk fast. In my drunken state at this stranger’s house, I found a secret door behind the refrigerator which led to a drum set in a basement of the house. I sat alone for a long time softly rhymasizing with felt mallets. then suddenly everyone form upstairs had appeared around me in the basement. dave and his friend, brian, began to hook up the bass and guitar. I had slipped into a rhythm that made me happy. I did not want to stop. I peered over my shoulder and the owner of the nice trap set looked at me as if to tell me to stop. I began to let up in anticipation and he spoke into my ear, “don’t be shy.” I smiled and continued to play. after a short time everyone left the basement to go get more alcohol. I was drunk, but for the first time I was enjoying it. later dave and brian and I made some beautiful noise and some other guys said we sucked but dave and I did not think so. we went back to dave’s place, fell asleep
october 12, 2003: I woke up at 1pm with a hangover. with a lot of water and a little movement I was able to pack up my stuff and shake the headache. dave and i got some food and then I left.
it took me about 6 hours to get to chicago due to traffic. ick. I arrived, called my good friend brian, and we met up and walked to go meet my other good friend pat at his work. I got a great meal which came with a banana and then slept well at pat’s apartment. pat’s place has low ceilings with lots of ceiling fans even lower. I am tall. I hit my head a few times, but it was worth for the place to stay and the company.
october 13, 2003: the next day I saw kil bill with my old roommate, shoe. it was good to see shoe. we hung out the rest of the day went to a record store and used the bathrooms at a mcdonalds. they wanted us to buy something so i bought a small cone and ate it. I felt like I was licking plastic. I also was periodically on my cell phone alot because my friend, lisa had informed me that i would not be able to stay with her in pittsburgh. i was trying to get in contact with an old friend from high school whom I made my first movies with. his name is dave as well and he is a graduate student in robotics. I was luckily able to contact him and he seemed happy to put me up. that evening after pat got off work, pat and I talked about movie ideas for a long time. i hope pat’s screenplays get made because I sure do want to see them. he is a genius. the guy is my hero.
october 14, 2003: i prepared to leave early in the morning. it was very rainy. pat and i decided to get some breakfast and i got a call from my friend brad. he was driving in from the burbs because he wanted to try to meet up with me before i left. i did not have much time since it was a 10 hour drive to pittsburgh and in rainy whether I was not too excited about that. brad finally caught up with me after pat and I ate and said goodbye. it was good to see brad.
the drive was surpassingly peaceful. I listened to some books on tape and made my way across indiana and ohio, possibly the flattest states in the entire union. at one point in indiana, I looked on the map and noticed that the highway just graced the southern border of michigan. my fathers family is rooted in michigan and I had not been to the state for many years. I was tempted to just pass over and take a slight tour just to make my trip one state more impressive. a state with two peninsulas, i might add.
then came pennsylvania. as i approached pittsburgh, i became more and more aware that the city was nestled the prelude to the Appalachian mountains. i had never been to pittsburgh before and it was quite fascinating. despite my mapquest directions, amidst a brewing thunderstorm, i did get lost for a bit. I became increasingly aware of my false sense of control over the back heavy caravan. three nights prior i had dreamt-or rather nightmared that I was riding a back heavy white bicycle on a high, narrow overpass and lightning struck, i lost my balance and I fell to my death. i swear to you, dear reader, the same exact thing happened on my descent to andy warhol’s home town, except that the bicycle was actually a minivan. I began to climb an overpass when suddenly–CRACK!– a bolt of lightning flashed directly infront of me. For a moment I was blinded and startled. I could not see the road. the rain pounded on the windshield. i began to veer off the road. heard a honk on my far left rear and noticing a house several hundred feet beneath my elevation, I quickly steered back onto the road and slowed form 35 mph to 15. i did not die.
dave was very hospitable. we got a pizza together and i slept on his very comfortable futon. we did not get to hang out too much because he was busy with his robot project. i slept great that night. all was still.
october 15, 2003: I was able to get in touch with my friend lisa and we had lunch before I left. she showed me around the carnegie melon campus a bit and we caught up. i had not seen her in a long time as well. the campus is very pretty and “college-like” in the middle of a declining steel town. it is sort of sad, but I guess rent is cheap.
i left pittsburgh around 1pm and I took a nice slow drive on the pennsylvanian turnpike, through the mountains, through new jersey, through the holland tunnel, across manhattan, and the brooklyn bridge to finally arrive at my new home in brooklyn, ny. it was good to be home. to be stopped to not be traveling any more. i missed the road a bit, but i know i would see it again. i was elated to arrive in this beautiful city. I gave my new roommate graham a big hug and I began to unpack. I slept on the futon and woke up at 5 am ready to get settling in.
that friday, my parents flew in and drove their van back. a week later the building next to us went up in flames. I was scared I would loose my entire movie. i didn’t
since then, nothing too extraordinary has occurred. I have been working hard and making a lot of progress on my movie– just not enough.– because of this– this will be my last blog until i am completed with my film, but for all you readers– i am still alive and kicking.
