It is a truly depressing, embarrassing, and shameful time to be an American.

Memory lane

Alan first showed me this picture this past summer, but it was taken the summer of 2005 (the first summer that I worked for Aquarius, or the first "Aquarius Summer" for me...) at 242 at the last Drowningman show I ever went to. It's probably the most insane picture ever taken of me, and I can't really explain myself or what I'm trying to do. It was probably during something off of How they Light... judging by how many people are up front. I can't tell if I'm walking to whoever is holding the mic or if I'm all about holding Simon, sharing a tender moment. There are some great faces in this candid. Look at those eyebrows. Check it out, you can sort of make out my sweet wolf t-shirt in that picture. I'm pretty sure that is Alan's leg that you can see on the stage with the sky high cuff in those jeans. I love my ugly mug.

There should be Drowningman Anonymous support group for recovering musicians.

Time for class. I have to finish my couscous.

Listening to: Converge, Drowningman- How They Light Cigarettes in Prison, Busy Signal at the Suicide Hotline

Will Not Stop

Got into Belfast Friday afternoon. Covered a lot of the city before Jen(n) showed up. Checked out Queens College in Belfast. I love that school, and wished that I could go to school in that city. So much more going on and so much to do there. I walked to the Queens Film Theater to check it out and to my surprise and excitment, they were having a late showing that night of one of my favorite movies. I met Jen(n) at the train station, tied up the rest of our arrangements and watched Taxi Driver in a movie theater. It was awesome. I'm a total sap in that what I take from all of this film is that both her and I watched this last October when we started dating. So yeah, I thought that that was pretty neat that this could happen randomly when we both meet up in some city.

Our luck in hostels improved this time around, in that I arranged ahead of time that I didn't want to share a room or dorm with anyone this time. We spent Saturday morning and afternoon in the city. We ate breakfast at St. George's market, bought teas and crafts walked through the Botanic Gardens, around the city and checked out the murals, shopped a bit. Tried to visit the Ulster Museum like we both wanted to, alas it is closed for renovation for the next three years. I'm lucky that I saw it at all the first time I was there.

We came back to Coleraine that night. I made her black bean chili over baked sweet potatoes and she made bread pudding, which I had never had before, but have come to fall in love with. Sunday we woke up early, and headed out to the Giant's Causeway. It was pretty magnificent. Walking along the causeway coast for me truly was like standing on what felt like the edge of the earth. I admire coastlines like this much more than I do sandy beaches. Houses of the Holy...
That night Jen(n) made veggie lasagna which was out of this world. I'm am the proud owner of two or three nights worth of left overs, which is good news since I spent an entire week's worth of grocery money and then some in the course of about two or so days. The rest of the night was spent with music, coffee, conversation, and a deep sleep.

This morning was particularly difficult. At least breakfast went off: crepes and toast. I don't even want to talk about it. Today never really improved for me after eating this morning with you. I'm drinking the tea that you saved from the market Saturday, and all I can really think about now is being anywhere but here, even if I can't be with you. Being idle by no fault of my own is not what I want to take from my time here, and it sure isn't what I need right now. I've been trying to focus on working, reading my books, and going to what classes I actually do have.

I honestly cannot see what the fuck is so great about W.B. Yeats; I can find nothing remotely remarkable about his work. Sorry Ireland. I have more of Dubliners to read, but that's alright. Now Joyce is an Irish writer to revere, and he wrote this shit in France. I went also went out today and bought some new paperbacks that I probably shouldn't have. I have so many books here that I haven't finished or gotten into, but I can't really help it.

I miss a lot of people right now.

Listening to: ISIS, The Cure,