just now..

three people started conversations with me on our [henry + my] walk around the block. i'm pretty sure one person was drunk. one told me i was beautiful on the inside and one dresses her dog in outfits and holds her up to the mirror.

now more cover letter writing.

bad news for michigan central station [excellent photos here]
i miss the fleetwood diner
southpark calls kanye a "gay fish".. he then promises to try and make people believe hes NOT a huge douche
my big sis is published

last weekend

friday we took our first official long-wandering walk in baltimore. we talked about our dream house and watched henry pee all over town. then we ate fajitas and i had chats with rachie. alice climbed our ladder to nowhere.. i realised out apartment is one big cat-style hamster funhouse. [that fragment of a sentence may only make sense to me]

saturday we did lots of goodwill rummaging. peter made a friend while digging through the record bins.. he would hold up a record and ask "have you heard of this." if peter said no he would sing a song from the artist. he was cool. then we ate cheese steaks.

sunday we took another long walk out to have a giant meaty colombian lunch. on the way we saw lots of blooms and some bro strolling around town with a gigantor snake wrapped around his neck. then we got stuck in a downpour. when we got home i admired my first tan of the season and realised my eyes point in slightly different directions.. and one is shaped like a triangle. i am special.

tomorrow i am going to start painting the bathroom.

here is some news:

+ brits love the wire. brits also love opening airplane doors. 1 and 2
+ thank you NYT for writing an article about detroit in the travel section.
+ MSU will play in the ncaa final four. last time this happened it was 2003 and we watched the game at lou & harry's. then the entire town of east lansing was tear gassed.. then peter tried to beat up a fox news anchor.. then johana and i got maced. and so did our taco bell. college rules.

mom + dad's visit

henry found a new favorite spot. he's been sneakily sleeping on the guest bed's pillows for the last few days.

my parents departed this morning after a long weekend in town. i enjoyed lots of good dad stories and mom gossip. we've eaten tortillarilla sinaloa, pho, attman's sandwiches, homemade nigerian goat stew w. plantains at "uncle" vincent's, nak won korean bbq, chick'n'trout and crab cakes at duda's. we visited the aquarium, cylburn arboretum [it was closed!], lexington market, antiques row, the downtown enoch pratt library and wandered until we wore them out. i don't have any photos of them from the visit.. just my dad's arm, below.

they needed a vacation as there is a lot of stress back home. grandma and grandpa are showing their years. my mom talked about the possibility of packing up and moving out of state if my father looses his job in the forthcoming 15percent job cut in his department GM. he's been working ungodly hours for over a year now and set up an impromptu office in the living where he continued to work each morning. if he survives this round he'll take another 7percent pay cut, on top of the demotion he was forced to take late last year. but, they are being realistic. so are my oldest sister and brother-in-law who are moving to a smaller place after the company he was working for went bust.

sorry to be a downer. i really do hate talking about the economy. i feel like i've had the same conversation repeatedly since last fall when we moved home. people here are more positive about things, but baltimore does not have 22percent unemployment. this article/video about the couple/neighborhood mentioned somewhere is the past couple years on here [i tried buy couldn't find the actual post] is worth reading/watching. hamtramck is also home to many hole in the wall bars and an excellent all-night diner.

peter has been working diligently on a thesis-related paper. why is everyone around me an overachiever?

something to look forward to:

snuggie on the street

watch your back via NYT

+

100 abandoned houses by kevin bauman

+

two stories on toilet tissue: 1, 2

+

unfortunate names

slow sunday

i left oakland county early in the day in an attempt to beat an imaginary snow storm. since my return i have not done anything worth remembering. it has not been an eventful day.

friday was johanas' birthday and saturday was ad's. we went to a detroit derby girls roller derby match at the masonic temple. the detroit pissed-off's won. it was an awkward but fun crowd that included many drunk men and babies. i served as designated driver and thoroughly enjoyed the show. there was a lot of e&j and canadian mist consumed..

on the way back from southfield early sunday morning i got lost in farmington/west bloomfield. not only was it dark, wet and deer country, but i kept seeing stealthy cops.. i was tempted to pull over and ask one of them for directions, but i eventually managed to find long lake road and made it home after a 50 minutes of nonsense lost driving. i cannot wait to be dependent on public transportation.

i have a sick kitty. she peed ON the tv. i wasn't angry, just impressed. she meant business.