up north

There's something really appealing about going "up north". Where up north? It doesn't matter. So long as it has that "up north" feel to it. It probably takes away from that "feeling" to describe it, but perhaps its useful to write it out anyway (in hopes I can find these stimuli closer to home).


up north =

1. trees. lots of big tress.
2. water that tastes funny. (not bad funny... not sewage funny.... but from a well "funny").
3. friends. i've never been up north alone, and it actually sounds nice to do.... but the times i have gone with friends or family, it has been good.
4. peeing outside.
5. card games.
6. fishing-- and cooking what you catch.
7. boats/water/docks.
8. cabins- the smell of cabins. or tents.
9. beer. and wine.

Hmmm.... this list is not what I was envisioning when I thought about writing this post. It's pretty lame. My head/mind is elsewhere I guess. Maybe still up in the woods. If it comes back to me (in an articulate fashion), maybe i'll post it.

Anyhow, here are a few pictures from this weekend. Thanks to kevin (and cindy) for letting us come up to the cabin. Thanks to Ryan for driving, and hooking me and jen up with new jammies (go twins)! And lastly, thanks to Nancy, for letting us come to your house, trusting us with your ATV and vague directions, and letting us fish tar lake. It was an awesome weekend, one that will likely take a few days to fully recover from.

kevin leading us to "the spot"

ryans first fish of the season

jen and i

jen's fish

my fish

bocce at nancy's house

sceptical of finding the lake on nancy's 140 acres


big bass that jen got on nancy's lake


nancy's out-house. complete with sanitzer, magazines, and flowers!

our matching twins pajammas! (thanks ryan)


This blog makes little sense (see beginning). I should be doing homework.... I do have a few hours till the twins game starts. Go team!

add it to the list...

golfing. another activity getting in my way of school work/ responsibilities.

went to the driving range yesterday, to screw around for a while. i'm not good at golf (although i initially thought i would be, due to years of playing hockey/tennis/softball/etc....).

actually, the first time i went to the driving range, was with oyvin, a beautiful norwegian exchange student who i called "winny". i used his clubs, and my first swing, not only did i miss the ball, but i accidently let go of the club! It was so embarressing, as here I was trying to impress this dude with my athletic abilities... and ended up instead having to tell all the other golfers to stop practicing as i ran out to retrieve the club that had flown out of my hands. needless to say, winny never took me golfing again. :)

anyhow, yesterday was nice. jen was kind enough to take a picture so i could post it on here for all to see. if anyone wants to give me (free) golf lessons, let me know. also, if anyone needs a caddy this summer, let me know.... i'm looking for "part time" work.

minus priorities

It's hot out. Yesterday it was 95 degrees. Today it's about the same. I've slept on my couch the last 2 nights, because it's by the only set of windows that will open in my apartment. I love the breeze, hearing it, feeling it, breathing it.

I've pretty much given a big "fuck you" to my priorities the last few days. Well, actually, it's been about a year.... but the last few days specifically I have done very little in terms of getting things done.

My religion class ended a week or two ago.... I ended up getting an A- which I am stoked about, because I did terrible on my exams, but very well on my essays... enough so that I stayed above 90 something percent. Good. One thing less on the list.

I've got this blasted projects to do for my individualized degree program ("Education for Social Change"), but just can't seem to get myself and my shiz together to complete them. The ironic (?) thing is, that I have already completed most of the work for these projects. All I need to do is type it up in a way that is "presentable to the academy".

Here are some of the things that are making it hard (for me to complete my work).

1. Facebook: I could peruse that shit all day. It's like a drug or a leech sometime.... i find myself on it, doing nothing, and losing so much time.

2. Drugs: Well, not really. But booze. Since it's become nicer out, I've been going out (to the bars) more often. It's fun, almost always, but it's sucking up my money extremely fast. It's also been sucking my motivation.

3. Fishing. I've gone fishing each of the last 3 days (sunday, monday, and tuesday) for about 10+ hours total. I've caught some fish, definately wish I would have caught more.... but either way, I've been spending too much time on the shoreline and not enough time in the books.

mothers day, 2009

may 2009

the other day, (may 2009)

(Note: I did bring some GRE vocabulary flash cards with me to the river and to the bar last night-- they didn't come out of my bag during fishing, and I only looked at a few in between sips of summit at the pub).

4. Baseball. One thing I love about spring is the begining of baseball season. Like many MN teams, the twins usually start out good, suck during the middle/majority of the season, and then finish strong -- but almost always a spot away from playoffs. So, springtime is when I like to be a baseball fan... when the twins are doing well (minus a 4 game ass whooping by the yankees this week/end).

may 4, 2009

5. On nice, sunny days (like today-- although it's mad windy), I like to go outside. Costello's has a great patio, usually with good folks sitting out front (lil jim, scooter jim, kevin foley, kevin blue eyes, etc....) and I love to head over there to stretch out in the sun. But the problem with going to a bar in the afternoon, is that even if i sip diet cokes and do crossword puzzles, i still find myself losing track of time and many days losing track of myself.

tom and jen, enjoying the patio at sweenys (may 09)

Jen's mom dropped off a bag of about 20 morel mushrooms yesterday, as she passed through town. I've never had morel mushrooms, but I've heard a lot of people going ape shit over them. We (jen and I) are planning to dine with our downstairs neighbors (john and julie) tonight-- mushrooms included. I'm looking forward to it.

It's coming up on 2pm, and I haven't done much today, other than write this blog and catch up on some facebook scrabble. I'm tempted to head to the pub and write for a while, as it's cheaper to go there (for a coke) than it is to go to the coffee shop around the corner. Jen's picking me up in an hour or two so we can run some errands. That gives me time to get some work done.... although like I said, all this play (i.e. 3 days fishing) has left me with little desire to do much work.

Oh, while fishing yesterday, I thought of a title for a song... "I love you, despite you". I'm supposed to write a few songs for one of my projects, perhaps that will be one of them. "I love you, despite you. I love you, despite me." That will be part of the hook. Maybe.

so many things.... so little time (at the moment)

A lot has happened since I last wrote. Too much to recap, actually. I thought I'd do this entry almost entirely in pictures, for sake of brevity.

Note: I don't have time to edit these pictures.... when I do, you will hopefully be able to tell the difference, not only because of my watermark, but also by the quality.

Here goes.

1. I got "laid off" from books for the future because they didn't have enough money to pay me (for the couple hours a week I worked). Those of you who know how hard I worked at getting donations might think that this news (of being laid off) saddens me. You are right. However... it goes to show that we are in a clusterfucked economy, and good businesses are losing money, and now more than ever is when we need to be supporting our local businesses and community organization. Please, next time you are book shopping, check out books for the future, and see if they have your book. Also, I will continue to take donations, and put the word out.... so if you hear anything, have anything, etc.... give a shout, I'm still happy to pick them up and bring them in for you.

2. I've been spending lots of time with lil jim at the pub. He's such a sweetheart. No one could ever replace my grampa and the beautiful relationship we had... but i will say that playing cards, talking fishing, and sharing stories of big trouble with jimmy is proving to be nothing but love. And the coolest part about it.... is that he's not a replacement grampa..... he's a friend.

me and jimmy a few days ago, talking fishing.

3. Jen and I got playful and built a fort. If you haven't done it lately, I recommend it.


4. Saw sally's dad's band play at plums. They are great. (more photos coming soon).

sallys dad.

5. Played cribbage with jen, ryan, and brie.

brie.

6. watched the kentucky derby at dixies.


7. Hassan Mead ran a 13:28 5K at stanford!! He broke the school record (and his own) by 15 seconds. Click here to see the video. Congrats Hassan!

old photo of hassan. maybe from 08?

8. celebrated mayday




ryan


the sun at powderhorn

sally trying to holler

mel(issa)

(a couple of clowns)