Rain on mine -- it'll make it interesting

Parade, that is. Tis the season for town parades, obviously.

Bunch of photos here, so be wary of viewer fatigue. Make sure to rest often, stretch when necessary, and take a buddy.

Catholics confuse me.
There are no book depositories or true grassy knolls in Homewood -- had there been, I would not have wanted to be this guy.

Then, of course, there are night parades.

Fun fun.

This part sort of sucks

Yeah, so the internship is going well -- I'm learning (or at least, I hope I am) and I'm enjoying the experience so far. But I'm still friendless. I like the people I work with, but that's not the same as having someone I can call and say, "hey, I'm not doing anything tonight, so you wanna hang out?" This hanging out with the friend-of-an-uncle thing is looking a little bleaker each time it comes up. The last time, there was mention of things becoming "mayhem" if I joined her and her crew and her boyfriend showed up. ... I mean, what the hell? Sounds like a great way to meet ... hi, I'm Jake, and that guy wielding the barstool must be your boyfriend ...

It's weird -- I go out and meet a dozen people in a day, talk to them, get their names, their numbers, and find out what they do, or why they are who they are, or what makes them special, and then I shake their hand and they go their way and I go mine. I go back to the office and eventually "home" though I don't really feel that my little apartment is a home just yet, and I'm alone.

I've gone down two lonely roads in the past couple months. The first was the move from Athens to Calhoun, from a half dozen roommates and friends to two friends from high school who had obviously decided I wasn't worth their time. But I had my family there, at least for the latter half of my time there. I had my dogs. And Chana was only an hour or so away. Now I've gone from Calhoun to Birmingham, and from having my family and dogs to having nothing waiting for me at home.

I called Chana tonight to talk because I hadn't talked to her since earlier this week. She was hanging out with her friends. I felt a little strained talking to her because I miss her and I'm feel quite alone out here, but neither she nor anybody else can do anything about it. And it honestly makes me angry and frustrated, with being sad coming as an aftertaste. I can meet people like nothing when it comes to my job, but I have no idea (or, as yet, time) how to do it otherwise.

Yeah, this is just part of moving somewhere new.

Yeah, it'll pass.

But it's a bitch all the same.

From the weekend til now

So the weekend was nice. Saw "The Incredible Hulk" with my parents on Friday night in Cartersville, got an AJC (we're suffering from our lack of newsprint since our subscription ran out), and got dinner at the new Fuddruckers in town, which happened to have an extremely cute girl behind the counter. Who was more than a little annoyed by the family of three who appeared and delayed their leaving the store by ten minutes.

Saturday started out slow -- puttered around the house and yard, yadayada, then drove to Chattanooga to check out a used bookstore, then drove to Trenton, Ga./Rising Fawn, Al., to join Aunt Bob and Unka Jerry to go to a big hippie gathering/art council/pot luck dinner/drum circle/general debauch on top of the mountains about twenty minutes away. Mostly folks from my parents' generation, and the two girls who were about my age didn't seem too inviting and I wasn't really looking to be especially cordial with anyone, despite the encouragement from various members of the party to take the initiative. I think they're just worried about their Artsy Sapien species dying off and are encouraging breeding. Besides, I find myself attracted to very go-getter-girls, not the come-get-me-girls. It's no fun if I'm the only one in the chase. It's also ... eh, never mind. If you want to know my thoughts on dating and relationships and what not, figure it out. Or ask me.

Got good and sauced for a while, enjoyed the fire, drummed a good bit, talked alternative energies with a guy named Bill who reminded me of some good family members, listened to Mary talk about New York, and to Bob about Istanbul (not Constantinople, which is nobody's business but the Turks, apparently), and to some random guy about West Virginia jokes.

"So we ended up outside and I pulled my razor and I would have cut him good if I'd'a been able to find some place to plug it in."

The next morning, Bob was quite hungover and Jerry and I were just tired out from the night. I hadn't drank that much or stayed up that late in a very long time -- outta practice, which makes me a sad excuse for a college student. Late, late breakfast, then some Bill Hicks with Jerry, and then digging with Bob in the dirt to retrieve some nice looking potatoes. Never dug for potatoes before -- both a learning experience and a good deal of fun.

Oh, shit -- I'm leaving for Birmingham on Saturday. It's just sort of sneaking up on me.
No more dogs ...
No more "real" bed ...
No more frie- ... actually, scratch that, the friends I had around here don't seem too interesting in hanging out ...
No more parents being supportive and loving ... well, not readily available, at least ...
No more knowing exactly where I'm going by feel ...
No more running at Ooky in the evenings ...
No more seeing people I knew in high school but never really liked ... well, maybe, we'll see ...
No more not worrying about bills ...
No more relaxed job at the paper where everything's basically optional ...
No more small town ...
No more yardwork ...
No more ... well, Calhoun ...
...sigh... No more Chana, I guess, at least, not just an hour away ...

Well.

I'm a sucker

I am a sucker for dogs. I grew up as part of a pack, a strange mixture of an Alpha (merit of being bipedal) and just a pup. My dogs are my family. When I was born, there were six -- that's the fewest my family has ever had. We peaked at thirteen or fourteen (it's hard to keep track) a few years ago, and now we're back down to nine as the older ones die off -- Maxi, Teddy Bear, Patch, Roady, and Bert.

Dan Pelle of spokesmanreview.com did this piece.

Excuse me, there's something in my eye.

~J

Holiday

So I'm finally back and settled in from my long winter's break, communicational awareness washing back over me with a rush of tingly static and sensory wonder. I had pretty much no connection back at my parents' place, aside from the occasional trip to Krystal's, the only joint around with free wireless. So here's a summary of the majesty -- in nine photos (I would have made it ten, but couldn't find an appropriate 10th) -- that was my boring break.

Alek's graduation.

Hanging out with Drew and Liz.

Being mauled by ugly beasts at my parents' place.

Making a trip into the "big city" of Rome, Ga., to go to the bookstore; my family in the background.

Walking some of our dogs in the logging area next to the house.

A critical failure of a trip to downtown Calhoun, which is not as much of a "main street city" as it claims. Obviously.

Familial trip to the Pigeon Mountain WMA (aka, the Pocket).

Charleston for New Years (at the Battery).

Some of my old friends from S.C. on the beach in Charleston.

Now that I'm back, expect more posts, more frequently. Ciao for now -- class soon.

~J