Choo Choo

The sun is out but ice still hides in the valleys; we go outside knowing that this is our chance to inhale radiation before another freeze blows through. Tomorrow, I will have a dog for a week. I can run in the trails and follow the path of teenagers blazing it up under the bridge and laugh when they're spooked that I'm pounding through the mud going over their heads. The delivery came in a box the size of an office wastebasket but was marked 47 lbs; it leaked white powder all the way down the hallway and I shook my head awkwardly and smiled and nodded my way past the receptionist who held it for us. Someone in Columbus is severely bad at packaging shipments, and I'm surprised that it made it through to us without getting pulled for inspection. Columbus isn't that far. No one is capable of appearing like a reasonable human in any official identification document photograph, but now I have a spare in case I need to apply for another visa in the next six months. At least my face wasn't swollen from oral surgery this time.

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10 March 2014 19:28

Representation

I have a recent bug up my ass about my inability to draw things, only when I think about it, I realize that this is a recurrent bug that I've felt since I was a small child. In fact, the more I go through the things I have drawn in the past decade of my life, the more I am aware that I have not made any progress, but I just forget what happened the last time this gnawed at me and approach each phase of renewed effort at drawing as if I am doing it for the first time.

The first time I was asked by my parents to contribute to my grandmother's birthday card, I stated intent to draw a horse. After a few months of horseback riding lessons and spending a significant amount of my socialization with the canonical pod of little girls who draw horses, I thought this was a service I could perform. I don't know if it was that the mail system has ever truly been so undependable or if it was an effect of my parents' raging paranoia, but this was a card that we could guarantee delivery because it would be personally handled by a visiting uncle.

I recall an argument that involved my parents trying to convince me not to draw a horse, since at least one of my cousins was known to be a far more accomplished childhood doodler than I, and they worried that my horse would not look as good next to hers. I was beyond the age when ugly scribbles were considered cute, but not yet at an age where I had a firm enough grasp on things like perspective, line weight, and self-respect.

Ultimately, I don't remember if I drew a horse, or if I just filled the blank space allotted to me with flowers and badly-written Chinese. I have not tried to draw horses since that period of my life.

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09 March 2014 17:14

Errandonnee 1-6

I'm participating in Errandonnee 2014, with the additional self-imposed restraint of completing it in 48 hours. Here's the report for yesterday:

1: Health

Went bouldering. As it turns out, bouldering with a sinus headache blows.

2: Bike Shop

Went to get a new chain. The shop is apparently closed for inventory all week.

3: Dinner

Got spontaneously brought home for dinner by a friend. Said friend makes delicious meatballs.

4: Wildcard

Checked my PO box. I have not gotten mail addressed to me since the last time I checked my PO box.

5: Coffee

Grabbed a cappuccino and drew the furniture in the coffee shop. Reconnected with a pen I haven't used for drawing in years.

6: Health

Went to the bar for a pint. Nitro IPAs are delicious.

Total trip mileage: 13.2

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08 March 2014 13:03

A Compilation

"You bikepacking or something?" shouted the runner as we crossed paths.

"No, dude, just running a shit ton of errands." I had climbing shoes sticking out of the side of my pack, and my jacket was rolled up and strapped on top. Maybe he could smell the fruit getting crushed under the books that I hadn't yet gotten around to reading.

"You can do it!" cheered the girl blasting down the hill in the opposite lane. I'd shouted the same thing at cyclists muscling their way uphill, too, and always wondered if it was ever appreciated.

"Yeah, working on it," I returned, and I could hear her shouting encouraging noises even as I crested the top.

It's one beautiful day after another long string of rough late-winter days, and how can anyone turn down friendly hollers across the street? We're all humans together.

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07 March 2014 21:58

Fume

I was greeted by dropcloths lining the hallway of my office and 'Just Painted' signs covering my door, even though the painting hadn't started yet. I knew I wouldn't have much time to get in an out before the paint fumes would eventually chase me out of the building, but after missing a day and a half of work this week, I wasn't willing to miss any more time. Stubbornly, I stayed in my office with the door shut, trying to steamroll my way through the piled up paperwork before my throat finally gave up on me and I beat a hasty retreat into the building next door.

In the eight and a half years I have been on this campus, there are still public spaces I have yet to set foot into, and this slowly starts to feel like a strange issue to be aware of. I have a great desire to view coffee shops as places where people go to be isolated, and the thought of being in the same one enough times to start running into people I recognize makes me want to find a new one.

All coffee shops play music, and I don't understand why. Everyone brings their own headphones, or they are there to chat with someone and thus have to speak in tones that fit between the wavelengths of speaker noise.

Eventually, I'll have to return to my office, and hope that the fumes have dissipated. At my house, the contractor finally came back to finish cleaning up the work site, and stated an intent to just put all the trash in a barrel and burn it in the driveway.

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06 March 2014 16:23