May 2005 Archives
- May 30, 2005: Toronto Photos Part Three || No. of Comments: 2
I promise these are the last photos I’ll post from Toronto. Can you tell that our days consisted mainly of wandering the city and taking photos? It was perfect. After a quick flight (but a long delay), a back massage, a long walk and a nice drive, I’m feeling much better. I don’t know what these ladies were talking about, but I loved their animation. The old guy gave me the evil eye, but he must have decided I meant no harm because he didn’t beat me with his cane. Many of the city’s most interesting buildings were open to…
- May 30, 2005: Anguish || No. of Comments: 4
Outside the airport terminal. Here we embrace and say goodbye under dark Canadian clouds that look just like dark Minneapolis clouds, and here they come, the tears that have been pushing and shoving against my eyes since we descended into the subway and zipped north and then west and then ascended again and boarded a bus that brought us here, to this place of eternal transition – hellos and goodbyes and handshakes and hugs. Hot streams run down my cheeks and I don’t care. Things are not the way I want them to be, not the way they should be,…
- May 29, 2005: Toronto, Penultimate || No. of Comments: 5
If only I didn’t look so uncomfortable in this last photo, it would have been a good one. Maybe I was thinking that tomorrow it’s back to reality. Already….
- May 28, 2005: Toronto || No. of Comments: 4
- May 26, 2005: Hugest Rainbow Ever || No. of Comments: 2
- May 26, 2005: To the Land of Socialism and Maple Leaves || No. of Comments: 2
Tomorrow afternoon I’m leaving the country. Sure, I’m planning to return on Monday, but you never know. I might decide Toronto would make a good home and pull a fast one on my life here. A nice, safe, pleasant socialist country that doesn’t think it needs to rule the world and everyone in it? It might be too difficult to leave. My camera will be in tow, so expect photos of Jose, me and Toronto, even if it is supposed to rain all weekend….
- May 25, 2005: Drawing Lines || No. of Comments: 1
One of the biggest things I’m grateful for is that whenever I’m feeling like the world is against me (which isn’t THAT often), someone tells me to pull my head out and stop being so self-centered. But in a nice way. This time it was Jose (and I hope he doesn’t mind me sharing). Maybe this will do you some good, too: Whenever I feel down or defeated for whatever reason, I try to understand the insignificance of my existence and my so called problems. In reality, they are all transient no matter how terrible they seem. Life cannot be…
- May 25, 2005: Freeze || No. of Comments: 4
I had to untuck my shirt this past weekend because my mom and sister were watching….
- May 25, 2005: Shelter || No. of Comments: 5
This morning things hit rock bottom when I committed the ultimate embarrassment: I cried on the bus. As I sat by the window surrounded by quiet people lost in their own thoughts, hundreds of others driving alone in their cars and gray skies drizzling a light rain, the melancholy beauty of Ray LaMontagne’s voice amplified the melancholy-yet-hopeful lyrics of “Shelter,” untied the knot of my stomach and unburied tears: “Everything I have to give I’ll give to you… All of this around us’ll fall over I tell you what we’re gonna do You will shelter me, my love, And I…
- May 18, 2005: 24 || No. of Comments: 16
Twenty-four years ago I decided that either I couldn’t wait to see what was out there or that I was tired of sharing a cramped space. So I pushed my sister ahead of me, and at 1:50 a.m. in Alma, Michigan, she arrived into the world, followed by me five minutes later. We were six weeks early and I weighed 4.5 lbs, which I think is almost less than the burrito I ate for lunch yesterday. We landed into the arms of Doctor Sonnad, who handed us to our scared-as-all-hell parents. The birth certificate I’m looking at now says that,…
- May 18, 2005: Swing || No. of Comments: 4
I think this photo brings new meaning to “chicken legs.” Every week when I get up to bat, the umpire says, “I’m glad to see you’re wearing those pants again this week, Aaron.” Any time, Kenny. Any time. Photo courtesy of Greg….
- May 16, 2005: Skinny Dipping || No. of Comments: 3
Saturday evening my friend Adam and I tiptoed out the door of the house I was staying at and onto the cold wood of the porch. Under the cover of darkness we slipped off the cover of the hot tub, turned on the jets, tossed aside our clothes and slid quickly into the 102-degree bubbles. After a solid week of rain, the air was cool and moist. While our bodies warmed up, steam from the water misted our faces. Low clouds moved quickly across the sky from right to left. The half moon illuminated the yard, where the white dog…
- May 16, 2005: Dog Days || No. of Comments: 3
This past weekend I dog sat for some friends, which really just means that I squatted in their beautiful home for a couple of days and occasionally opened the door to let the animals out to relieve themselves in the bushes. One of the dogs — don’t ask me what kind she was but she was larger than a poodle and smaller than retriever and had long bangs — had terrible gas all weekend long. I felt like she should be ashamed of herself. It wasn’t just the smell, either, but the noise. The other dog (again, I don’t know…
- May 10, 2005: All Grief is Gone || No. of Comments: 3
Somehow when I push the gas pedal and the turbocharger kicks into action, I forget all about losing my Corsica. I feel that this proves something deep and meaningful, but I don’t know what….
- May 5, 2005: Wash My Mouth Out with Soap and Kerosene || No. of Comments: 8
I was dismayed to hear myself say it today when talking on the phone: “Yeah, I know.” But it wasn’t like that. It was more like: “Yah, I knoh.” Immediately I stopped talking and said to the person on the other line: “I’m so sorry. I just spoke with a Minnesota accent.” But it wasn’t like that. It was more like: “I’m soh sohrry. I just spohke with a Minnesohta ahccent.” The joke is on me. The skinny boy who makes fun of fatties is gaining weight himself. And quickly. Soon I will be sporting a coonskin cap and flannel….
- May 5, 2005: Reason No. 52 Why I Like My New Job || No. of Comments: 2
Yesterday one of my co-workers brought the Cutest Dog Ever into the office for the day. All day long he laid in front of the receptionist’s desk with a bone under his mouth, greeting visitors and co-workers passing through. Occasionally he would explore the office and say hello until his owner gave a little whistle and he would go trotting back to the front. For potty breaks he went out the window and onto the roof where piddled two stories up from 5th Street….
- May 2, 2005: The Miles We’ve Travelled || No. of Comments: 12
Goodbye to my old Corsica.
- May 1, 2005: Practically a New Life || No. of Comments: 8
I’m sitting on my bed surrounded by bare cream-colored walls, boxes of stuff and piles of clothes. As I lean my back against the wall, my bed keeps sliding on the hardwood floors until my pillows fall on the floor. I don’t handle changes in my routines well. Especially big changes that affect my sense of home. My shoulders and neck are tense and I haven’t been able to sleep lately. Besides moving yesterday, I also added to the stress by buying my first car. (More on that in a separate entry.) Looking at it objectively, though, there have been…
