Subtle Coolness

Yesterday was my mother’s birthday. She turned 29 again.

One of my brothers was flying into town last night, so when my parents came down to pick him up, the four of us went to dinner together.

We had a fun time finding the place, because we didn’t decide where we wanted to go until after we left the airport, and I was giving directions. I am the guy who has lived in this town for several years now. I should know my way around.

That would be true if I owned a car.

Luckily, I had been to this restaurant just last week, so I had a good idea of which way to go. We just needed to find a road that crossed the river.

There were plenty of emergency vehicles around, too, and I’m not sure why.

My twin brother and I ordered the same thing, in unison: fish and chips. I hadn’t seen him since last summer. Mom got the sampler. Dad got the salmon. Our waiter guessed it was my mother’s birthday and brought us free dessert.

After dinner we stopped at my apartment, where I gave my mother some flowers, a card, and a finger-painting I did for her. Then my parents and brother left for home, and I stayed up entirely too late playing a video game.

Here’s the transcript of part of an instant messenger conversation I just had:

her (16:04:39): hello william
her (16:04:42): you should come to muse
her (16:04:45): here are the reasons one
her (16:04:48): 1) they rock
her (16:04:51): 2) its cheap
her (16:05:03): 3) everyone else is going and you would find yourself laughing loudly
her (16:05:13): 4) it’ll help you get away from the graduation thing you dont want to go to..
her (16:05:26): 5) i can flirt in a non-threatening friendship kinda way
her (16:05:48): 6) you can expierience the thrill of loud guitars and pretty piano chords and solos and singing
her (16:05:51): i think that’s it
me (16:06:05): Keep taking, this is all going on Subtle Coolness.
her (16:06:10): lol
her (16:06:22): 7) you need to get in touch with you…femanine side
her (16:06:46): 8) standing on your feet for a few hours and sweating will make for a memorable car ride home with your friends

She’s been bugging me about going to this concert for a while now, and I was afraid it was going to conflict with a graduation party I will be attending, but today I found out that it won’t. So I’m going. To both.

Sometimes, peer pressure just works.

My adventure of the day, in pictures:

Note: Too many pictures on the main page!

(more…)

This morning I reminded myself what it feels like to turn off my alarm and get back in bed. Then I reminded myself what it feels like to jolt out of bed two hours later with a sick sensation in my gut. Then I reminded myself what it feels like to call my supervisor to tell her I would be late to work. Then I reminded myself what it feels like to rush to work without taking a shower.

Resplendent; aghast; abashed; icky.

Today I feel icky. I didn’t take a shower, therefore I didn’t wash my hair, and it looks and feels icky. I went to bed without taking off my Livestrong bracelet, and I’m still wearing it. That’s just icky. I wore sandals to save time, and my feet feel icky.

In my dream this morning I kept a crab in my pocket.

I’m icky at work. I’ll probably go to Friday Forum feeling icky, I wanted to get my hair cut after that, but it’s not clean so those plans are out the window.

I hate feeling icky.

I love a twist in my morning routine. After my email reading, showering, dressing, and breakfasting, said twist arrived. Said twist arrived in the form of a siren that came down my street and stopped right outside my window.

Sadly, I didn’t even get to see what was going on. There wasn’t a fire anywhere. I didn’t see any automobile accidents. It was kind of disappointing.

Just listen to me, getting disappointed because there were no disasters outside my home this morning.