Well, folks, Jason Gohlke is getting married today. That’s right—you heard it here first. Tying the knot. Gettin’ hitched. Ye olde ball and chain.
Before you get upset, let me clarify:
Category: Life Page 10 of 13
What would happen if I did all the dishes?
Instead of bringing you up to date on what’s been going on in my life, or finishing cleaning my apartment (my mom is visiting for 11 days and is arriving late Friday night—yay!), I’m going to tell you one of my favorite true stories. The below is taken almost verbatim from my written account at the end of March 27, 1998 (though I’m editing for clarity).
Pete, especially, is going to love this.
Wow, it’s already July 3rd. I spent much of June preparing to move, which ended successfully. I now have a one-bedroom apartment in downtown Oakland, just 7/10 of a mile from work, more convenient to public transportation (about the same distance from the TransBay bus, and much closer to BART), and no longer on a hill. No roommates, also, for the first time ever. Freedom! (Well, of course, I have to make sure not to annoy my neighbors in this 30-something-unit building.) I need to get a few things to make it a truly functional place, such as, among many other things, lighting for the living room, but eventually it will be pretty much ideal. I plan on staying for a while.
It occurred to me, after the recall election, that very few people have probably experienced the Buffoon Governor Trifecta(TM) that I have. 1986-1999: Tommy Thompson, Wisconsin. 1999-2002: Jesse Ventura, Minnesota. 2003-?: Arnold Schwarzenegger, California. The mind reels.
How awful. One of my absolute favorite musicians, Elliott Smith, died yesterday. He was only 34. Rest in peace, Elliott. Thanks for the amazing music. I’m sad that I missed several opportunities to see him perform, and now I never will.
everybody knows
everybody knows
everybody knows
you only live a day
but it’s brilliant anyway—”Independence Day,” Elliott Smith
Opus returns. Excellent.
Also, did you know that Spelling Mistakes Cost Lives? Weird shit.
Do you ever export Word files into HTML? Tired of all the proprietary Microsoft crap that junks up your code? Use the Textism Word HTML Cleaner. It seems to work quite nicely. (Kudos to Dean of Textism.)
Finally: Jason’s first earthquake. I was at work when it happened—I definitely felt it and was pretty disoriented for a few seconds. Afterwards, the adrenaline kicked in. Pretty exciting stuff, I guess. No need to worry, people back home. Tornadoes and winter are at least as hazardous to one’s health as earthquakes.
In honor of Nick, here are today’s Things that Suck.
- Crying cats outside the bedroom window
- A cat clawing the screen door and shaking it, loudly, repeatedly
- Ants
- Basements that smell like cat shit that require you to re-do your laundry
- Windows NT used as a web hosting platform
- Scabs (in any sense)
I’m doing well, thanks.
I’m getting over a cold, actually, but after the slight downturn in April I’m feeling well otherwise.
In fact, right now my life is abundant with opportunities to have fun—more so than on average throughout my life so far. I have very little to complain about. Recently I have played baseball, and gone to a baseball game, and played some fantasy baseball (okay, perhaps I’m a bit baseball obsessed right now); I have also done my fair share of consuming food and libations while socializing, which is definitely enjoyable. Time management is something I may start focusing on fairly soon, with more demands on my time certain to arise. It’s been easier to establish a social life here than it ever was in Minneapolis; I have some theories as to why, but I’m not entirely sure.
Let me just interrupt this monologue to say that these crudely produced Peanuts parodies are quite exquisite.
I’m getting more and more work at CLCV. This development is good. This means more pay, which means a more sustainable lifestyle. I am seriously, seriously considering selling my car (I know, I haven’t followed through on this threat yet, despite it being a constant refrain for the last 2 years or so), which would stretch out my ability to live without a permanent full-time job quite considerably. If (or when?) necessity becomes a factor, that car is as good as gone. Even now, the expense of insurance is almost entirely unnecessary, being that I use my car about once a week (if that).
It is ridiculously easy to get along without a car in the Bay Area, since the weather is amazing and public transportation is practically omnipresent. Not to mention that my roommate Nick owns two cars and likes to drive them.
I have basically stopped applying for outside jobs at this point, what with the supply of workers with my qualifications in my field far outpacing demand. It seems pointless to expend a lot of time sending out resumes that result in emails saying, “Thanks for being one of 400 highly qualified applicants for this position two months ago; it has been filled.”
What a wretched weekend it was. I’m just now getting over a week-old cold, one that took me out of commission Thursday when I attempted to call Californians about the environment. (I found it surprisingly difficult to work on the phone without my main tool of persuasion—my voice.)
Much worse, of course, was waking up to Friday’s news that Senator Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash in northern Minnesota. I can’t begin to describe the sadness and shock I felt when I found out one of my real heroes had died. Steve Clift of Minnesota E-Democracy has created a moving Wellstone Tribute site.
That night, I was too sick and worn-out to go to a Halloween party I’d been invited to by one of Dave’s friends (who also goes to trivia night every week). And Saturday morning I woke up too tired to go to the big peace rally in SF. Crap. I’m starting to feel better, though.
Impulsively, I decided last week to devote many hours of my time in November to participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo, for short). I have a fortune cookie fortune stuck to my computer monitor that reads, “You will become an accomplished writer.” Having glanced at that tiny piece of paper every day for the last year or so, my subconscious apparently decided this is the way I can begin to fulfill that crispy prophecy.
Do you have the time to write an average of 1667 words a day next month? Why not sign up along with me? You know it’ll be fun. Winners receive, uh, nothing. Well, their names will be posted on the web site and they’ll have the satisfaction of being able to say, “Yes, I’ve written a novel.”
Watch here for more updates.