7.29.08

I can't remember the last time something so vague has gotten me so excited.

http://doomtree.net/

I should be better friends with my sister.

Which is not to say that I'm not friends with her. To say that would be unfair, if not outright untrue.

It's not that there's ever been a point where we didn't get along. Far from it, I think. She didn't start to enjoy baseball until after I was done playing and I never really enjoyed gymnastics, but that was more of an issue of us not relating to one another than it was an issue of us not liking one another.

If I'm being honest, it's only fair that we never really talked to one another when we were both living at home. We were too much alike for that. We both had our lives and we were both very much the introverted type, and so we never really worried much about one another. I knew she was happy, and I was doing fine, so I don't think she ever really worried about me.

She was the first person to ever get me a drink. This is what sisters in college are for, I suppose. In retrospect, I appreciate that more than I ever realized.

These days, I probably see her half a dozen times a year or so. I imagine if I move back to Minnesota, that will become more often.

I think we have a lot more in common than we ever realized. I think it's hard to really acknowledge much of anything when you rarely talk. I often wander on to Facebook and see her mentioning things that come as pleasant surprises. I don't know why I tend to be surprised that my sister is awesome. It's probably not fair, but at least it's pleasant.

I look forward to moving back to Minnesota. I don't know if it would change anything between us. But I'd like to imagine it could. She should be the St. Paul to my Minneapolis.

I just wanted to see the sun rise...

Sometimes bad ideas are also good ideas. This is the story of one of those times.

Last night (this morning?) I was up watching a movie. I realized it was going to end at about 4:30 am, and I got to wondering when the sun would be rising. I realized it had been a while since I'd watched a sunrise, and I figured I might like to do so. The internet told me it would happen at 5:26. I figured I could handle that.

The plan was to go out into my backyard and take a gander over the fence, or if that wouldn't work, go down to the corner and observe from there. A little looking around eventually told me that wasn't meant to be.

So, I just kinda started walking. I live fairly close to a lake, so I figured if I just got close enough to the lake, maybe I'd be able to see past the trees and actually see the sun rising. The following map should give you some idea of my proximity to the lake:



The red blob is approximately where I live.

This would've worked out great, except the roads around here are really convoluted and it's almost impossible to ever really know where you're going. Anyway, long story short, I ended up going a lot further east than I had needed to. And after a while, I decided I was so far out there, I might as well just commit to it and go all the way. So I walked out to the end of that point. Yeah, that long, peninsula-y thing that meanders out into the lake.

I missed the sunrise by about half an hour by the time I made it out there. It was about 6 am when I found a nice lakeside rock to sit down on and relax. It was quite the view though:



On the way back, I decided to take the more scenic route. It took a little longer and by the end I was almost completely lost, but it was a fun trip.

In all, it took me about 2 1/2 hours, and I think I walked about 6 miles. I took 50-some pictures along the way, which is something I don't find myself doing very often. I posted them all on Facebook if you're interested in checking them out. They're not exactly high quality (in part because they were taken with my cell phone, and in part because I can't claim to be much of a photographer). It was a totally bizarre and unexpected journey, but I like how it turned out.

Things like this always fascinate me

To somehow suggest that Shakespeare is taking a backseat to 2pac in our public schools is, even for conservative talk radio, laughably ridiculous, unfounded fear-mongering.

And another thing...

If you ever have to drive anywhere, I highly recommend Highway 61 between Winona and Red Wing. Beautiful.

So many things, so many things...

So, I graduated. I think. I have this nagging worry that the required paperwork didn't get sent in or something bizarre like that. Mainly because the conversation about it went something like this (circa February, by email):

Me: Hey, I want to graduate this spring, what do I need to do?

Department secretary: Oh, I'll send up the paperwork for that in April.

Me: Ok, let me know if there's anything else I need to do.

End of conversation.

But I got my grades back. And despite only going to one of my classes a number of times I could count on one and a half hands, I got an AB in that one. I think this was the most I've ever slacked off for a semester in my entire college career, and I got the best grades I've ever gotten as a grad student. Whatever that means. So, I completed all the requirements, possible paperwork snafus not withstanding.

I still don't have a job, and really I'm not looking for something that I'd start before mid-July or August. I basically just need some time to not be doing things for a while.

I'm also not really sure about where I'm living these days. I'm still in Madison for now, and I'm not really sure when I'll be moving back. Our lease runs until August and it's a nice place, so I've considered staying here for at least part of the summer. I'm not planning to find a place in Minneapolis until I'm done paying rent here, but I could always stay with my parents for a couple months. So that whole thing is kinda up in the air and open to whatever's going on in various places.

Aside from those things, I have discovered the greatest thing ever about summer: mowing lawns and listening to This American Life. I tried it on Monday and it was like a perfect combination. I've been meaning to listen to TAL for a while now. I knew it existed for quite some time, but never really got into it. Then I watched the first season of the TV show and I was totally hooked. I've been getting the podcast for a few weeks now, but I never really figured out when would be a good time to listen. I think mowing the lawn is pretty much the ideal time. I don't really even know why, but it just works perfectly. I still need to mow the front yard, so I may try it again today and get caught up a bit more. Now I just need some good lawn mowing beer (Grain Belt, I'm looking at you).

A little note on all of it

-Today was my last class. It's all been really anticlimactic. This does not feel like an ending. I'm not really sure why. I still have a final left next week, but I don't think that's the reason either.

-As of the end of next week, I don't have a job. For some reason, this doesn't worry me. Again, I don't really understand.

-The one thing that has concerned me as of late is the music I'm listening to. This afternoon I noticed I've basically been listening to either kinda folky music (She & Him, Romantica, and today's discovery, Aby Wolf), rap (Mike Mictlan, Muja Messiah, Doomtree, Mel Gibson and the Pants), or people who both rap and make kinda folky music (Kill The Vultures/Roma Di Luna). This strikes me as mildly disconcerting. Again, I have no idea why.

-Josh has been in Toronto all week at a conference, so I've been living alone for a week. This is basically the first time I've ever done so. It's not as odd as I expected. The dishes still don't get done very often, but now I'm less angry about it.

-Mario Kart is awesome. If these friend code things weren't so complicated, I would've worked that whole thing out already. I'll take care of it tonight though. I swear.