almost there

T-minus three days.

The time has relatively flown over the past week. Looking back I am very happy, because even being really busy this week, Thursday is going to take forever to come.

Last Monday I came home from work to find J.P. and Aaron hanging out in Julie and Laura's part of the house. I was glad to have people there, because after they left Sunday night, the house felt very lonely. Thursday at work WOMC radio came by with Tom Horton's coffee and doughnuts, as part of a promotion that one of our accounting ladies had won for us. By coincidence, one of the girls who came from WOMC was a girl I had met last fall at Trader Joe's in Royal Oak named Paula. We both recognized each other, but it took us a few minutes to place where from. After we realized, we exchanged numbers and agreed to hang out. After work Thursday I went to the Russell Industrial Center for the AIGA Design Re:View that featured some projects done by my coworkers. Afterward I went with a handful of friends from work over to the Northern Lights Lounge, but I was feeling very tired and didn't want to drink too much and drive home, so I took off around 11:00. Friday after a terribly slow day at work I drove to East Lansing to visit Ben. J.P. had invited us to go to Crunchy's where Aaron was celebrating his birthday. It was cool to see friends I met through Julie and Laura in a setting outside of our house.

On Saturday I met my parents in Commerce Township to pick up some furniture I found on craigslist. It's an entire furniture set: a couch, loveseat, and ottoman. They are a really grey olive green, and microfiber: absolutely awesome. They are exactly what I wanted for the living room at my house. That night I met up with Paula and her friend and went to Luna in Royal Oak. We had a great night dancing and getting to know each other... turns out we have an incredible amount in common. She was the first person to see my tattoo and recognize the album it's from! Sunday I went for a jog, took some bottles back, and went to Ferndale High School for VegFest. I got to sample a ton of great food, and I saw my friends Gregg and Anglea from Detroit Evolution Laboratory give a raw food demonstration. Afterward I drove out to Paula's house and we hung out for the evening, getting to know each other more. She is a really great girl, and I certainly want to spend more time with her.

Today, I started working on a campaign that James had flown to L.A. to work on for the past couple weeks, and was now being worked on here at RingSide. I have spent the day assisting Noah, an editor who lives and works in L.A. He is a really great guy who basically just brought along his laptop and set it up in an empty edit room. I think this independent, self-sufficient editing style is the kind of position I want to be in myself. We are going to be busy for the rest of the week, and even in to the weekend on this project. I have taken Thursday off to close on the house, and Sunday because of a family get-together. I am hoping, however, that with my parent's help we'll be able paint around my work schedule on Friday and Saturday, and finish up Sunday.

rediscovered motivation

I spent an unfortunately lengthy, and yet widely distributed portion of the past three or four months laboring through Sons and Lovers written by D.H. Lawrence. Similarly to how I am inspired to do so many things (through popular culture reference), I heard D.H. Lawrence's name in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and decided that I'd like to have reading one of his books as an accomplishment under my belt. While browsing the used book store at the end of my block, I noticed the plain-looking hard-covered copy of Sons and Lovers that I would spend the next three or four months carrying. This purchase coincided with a decision of mine to buy a number of books which I have had interest in reading, as well as some which I have read before and wish to claim as part of a presentable collection. I intended Sons and Lovers to be just the first in a line of novels which I would quickly absorb during the cold winter months I would be trapping myself in my apartment. As it turns out, I spent more of that time watching movies and eating popcorn than I seemed to spend with Sons and Lovers. I managed most of my page-turning on weekend mornings when I stayed in bed with a couple cups of coffee and an empty agenda for the day. Even in those idealistic conditions, however, I was only able to manage a half-hour or so of solid reading. I worried that I was losing my ability to enjoy quality time with a good book. I feel, now that I have finished, that it was only the book that was hedging my interest. I have since shifted to Kurt Vonnegut's Bluebeard and in three days have almost 200 pages behind me and a rediscovered motivation to continue reading and consequently do some writing of my own. So, this entry is serving as a sort of exercise of my literary talents. I haven't been opening the notebook I'd started in October as routinely as when I'd started, but in the weeks remaining until I start painting, carpeting, and in other ways decorating my house, I hope to indulge my creative production.

more than a month's maturing

I feel like my understanding of the concept of growing is growing. I have been trying to assimilate myself into this whirlwind of change that's taken over my life. Some things I don't really want to talk about, some things are just exhausting to talk about (namely the house stuff), and some of it I don't even think I should talk about if I wanted to. I have to admit a feeling of isolation hasn't exactly been the dominant theme of my feelings, either, as independent as I've been acting. I feel like events are coming to a head, though. It'll still be another two and a half weeks before I can officially set foot in my house, but by the time that comes I think I'll have a different kind of excitement than is gripping me now.

A sign of culmination came this past weekend when I spent some quality time at Cass Cafe with my friends Dan and Ron. It was a great thing that I was able to think about our time talking together without worrying too much beforehand about what exactly we'd talk about. I've found myself exceptionally worried about the future, which I suppose isn't the worst fear to have. My concern is that it's not allowing me to enjoy the present. So Ron and I bantered about the past and the future, thoughts and feelings, modesty and selfishness, and other enlightening topics. I reflected on the position Ron assumes as a sort of mentor to me and how I often adopt the same role towards my friends. It was that morning at the end of a yoga practice that I cried when Gregg, our teacher, asked us to thank ourselves. I realized the trouble I had been having with self-appreciation.

My first major job working with Chris is winding down. It allowed me a nice, long, relaxing weekend. Friday I met up with some friends from work down in Detroit for the Opening Day festivities. I started at Nemo's with Heather and Scott, and followed them to the Detroit Beer Company where I ran into J.P., Rambo and John (who I met through Laura and Julie), Chad, who was out with a ton of his friends, and James and Rob who came out after I told James where we were. Darren joined us, and him, James and I went to Centaur before meeting back up with Rob and having dinner at Oslo. (EDIT: I ran into Mike, the Creative Director we'd been working with the previous couple weeks at Centaur. I didn't mention him because I was afraid he'd read this and I'd be embarrassed to have mentioned him - turns out he did read this and called me out for not mentioning him!) Afterward we all drove back up to Ferndale and went to the Loving Touch. There we ran into Jason, one of our clients, and his wife (who was really cool!) I made my way home around eleven, after about twelve hours of drinking. The next day I felt terrible (mainly because of all the smoke I had breathed into my body), and reflected on the fact that I had only paid for half of the ten drinks I had. In the afternoon I went to the Mayflower Bookshop in Berkley and found an amazing Buddha statue making the two mudrās I had really wanted to find (the right hand held up to shoulder-height with the palm open forwards: a symbol of protection, and the left hand on the knee with the palm open upwards: a symbol of charity and compassion.) It will have a special place in my house once I have finished decorating.

Sunday I relaxed until Julie and Laura returned from Coldwater, where they had been staying with their family, and we spent some time hanging around outside. I started reading Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut, and am really enjoying it. After a few hours of reading Sunday I am already 1/5 the way though it. I celebrated Easter by watching Dogma Sunday night, and I realized that it is one of my all-time favorite movies, not only from a production standpoint, but also for it's great story and message.

Today one of our major clients had a holiday, so we weren't very busy. Chris went home early, so I'm just watching the Tigers try to rally from four runs down. I got into a fantasy baseball league with some of the guys at work, and I can already tell that it will make this season more interesting.

house inspection

This Sunday I had my house inspected. The guy who did it was really great, and we spent over three hours going over everything. The best part is there are very few things that need fixing. The garage isn't in the best shape, but there is virtually no structural damage to the house. All in all it was a very satisfying inspection. I took along my parent's digital camera, so allow me to take you on the first tour of my house...





inside the front door to the right is the living room/dining room








with hardwood floors underneath!


to the left is the kitchen:






also on the ground floor is a bathroom, two bedrooms, and a sun room:














upstairs is one large room:




and it has a finished basement: