Catch-up Day

I very much wanted to drive to East Peoria today to see the parade of lights and photograph the starship Enterprise. One more item on the list of things I'm sacrificing on the altar of education. Instead I'm catching up on life, the universe, and everything. Well, some of the things anyway.

It's hard to stay caught up on things when travelling all the time. As well as staying home to work on GIS work, I just cleaned up my space here and reconciled my bank accounts. I'd been tracking what I call a "virtual" savings account in Quicken by moving money to it from my checking account even though it doesn't actually exist at the bank. It's causing too much of a headache when reconciling, so I just deleted it and am going to track it in one of my financial spreadsheets.

I'm glad I've been setting money aside; it should just about cover all my grad school apps, which are going to total something like $400. Woof!

Groupon has a deal on lunch or dinner at a Chinese buffet in Gurnee that I haven't tried yet. I picked up one of each. Anybody else want to try it out some time? I'm trying to convince my brothers to buy one or two too, so we can take a few trips together.

As I work, I'm listening to a bunch of CDs I've picked up at thrift stores; some I know and some I don't. It was nice listening to the Indigo Girls and Crash Test Dummies again. I'm listening now to Melissa Etheridge's "Brave and Crazy", which I don't know as well. I feel kind of neutral about it. I really like "You Can Sleep While I Drive", but music about travelling, especially with some melancholy or nostalgia to it, is a weak spot for me. I think I'll put in the Cowboy Junkies' "Miles From Home" next.

Detroit Street Photography

On an unrelated note, this is a photograph by an acquaintance of mine in Detroit. I met him by chance while I was photographing in the abandoned Easttown Theatre. We both just happened to be there at the same time! I feel really fortunate to have bumped into him. Not only was he fun to wander around an old movie house with, but his street photography never fails to amaze me.

I've often said that I don't find people very interesting, aesthetically. I suppose that's not entirely true. The people I find interesting are the ones whose very appearance tells a story of a strange and interesting life. Pictures in the style of Diane Arbus. I would have no idea how to approach people on the street to photograph them, but there are some people who seem to do it amazingly well. Robert, or Detroit Liger on Flickr, is one of them.

New Balaclava

One more picture. My Ninja Gaiden cosplay gear arrived yesterday! Ok, actually it's my new balaclava for winter bicycling. It's thinner than the ski mask I've been using, and it covers my nose and mouth. I think it'll be a bit more comfortable for both reasons.

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Wow. If I'm going to be doing much more transcription, I need a pair of comfy headphones that fit entirely around my ears. Like those old studio style ones. I don't need audiophile gear; just something comfortable that I can hear voice with. Any suggestions for somebody with a big head?

I interviewed my mother today about public space for a class paper. I'm not sure why I was intimidated by the process. Probably overthinking, Danae said. I actually really enjoyed it once I started. I've felt a little awkward at the two interviews I've done on the Pike Creek oral history project I'm working on, but I expect it'll feel more natural over time. Unstructured interviewing is a methodology I hope to be using a lot, so it's good to be getting my feet wet.