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Below are the 15 most recent journal entries recorded in the "ypsichick" journal:
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01:29 pm
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I have a new blog elsewhere. Please follow this link. (or cut and paste if it doesn't link)
http://therenegadeexperiment.blogspot.com/
I moved...Please visit my new blog. Thank you for coming...
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04:01 pm
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Just doing normal stuff...then stuff turns abnormal
Last weekend, I spent the evening in Dearborn Heights with a good friend of mine from high school. She has two kids now, one on the way and at 17, was expelled from high school when she brought a WWII era handgun to school. This was way before Columbine. After that, I decided to stop at a bar for the proverbial "just one drink" and ended up meeting new and old friends unexpectedly and not going to sleep until 6 am on Saturday. I was pleasantly surprised by some of my unexpected companions at the true hospitality and friendliness they showed me. America...what a town!
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10:29 am
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Saline Community Fair...ROCKS!!!
I entered a few things in the Saline Community Fair this week. I got ribbons on both things! I went last night and watched the Miss Saline pageant, saw a farm animal trick show and looked at all the livestock. What a cool thing. However, I have yet to see a fair as large as the Monroe County Fair or as awe-inspiring as the one I went to a few years ago in rural Maine.
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04:25 pm
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MYSTERY HOLES
According to www.roadsideamerica.com, there are literally DOZENS of so called "Mystery Spots" nationwide. These places are strange, as I have actually been to one in the mountains of West Virginia, myself. They are generally characterized by brightly-painted, gaudy exteriors and usually leave their tantalizing fliers at every small diner in their area of the state. There is one in St. Ignace, MI aptly named the "Mystery Spot". Some are called "vortex" and claim to defy the laws of physics with water flowing uphill, weird gravity tricks, and the like. Definitely worth the $3.00 or so they charge you to get in. These places do not take themselves too seriously (Thank God).
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10:32 am
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Thank God for C-Span!!!!!
Republican National Convention: I am excited to start watching the convention tonight on TV. Politics are much like sports to me, so this upcoming election is definitely like the World Cup or Super Bowl to me. Although I am a Democrat, I believe strongly in being educated about as much as I when it comes to the process.
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04:42 pm
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nothing clever
I have nothing clever to write today. Fifteen minutes until I can go home from the salt mine.
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03:18 pm
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Think about it...Ypsilanti
I had a nice ping pong chat with the owner of h. fahrenheit yesterday. It is sad to hear she's moving on to greener pastures. Translation: She's packing up the store and leaving Ypsi.
The dilapidated streets in this city are becoming so unmanageable that I'm considering driving an Earthmover to work just to get through the treacherous streets. The city's walkable, all right! I'm not sure there will be many options left, BUT to walk if this trend of ripping up streets and abandoning them continues. Now I know how the Normal Park neighborhood felt last summer.
Instead of complaining, however (which, of course I have already done), I would prefer to focus on the positive things I have been involved in in the past 24 hours:
-I finally got somewhere with my statement of purpose for grad school
-I had a great interaction with a co-worker regarding a client I think we will soon be able to really help
-I found out that I've been approved for an IDA account
-The sun is shining
-I work in an air-conditioned building
-I am not hungry
-I think I have a decent excuse to get out of my current relationship
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03:50 pm
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Henna tattoos
This past weekend was the Ypsilanti Heritage Festival. I was there on Saturday morning at 7:50am as a volunteer. Later that day, I went home for a short time, then returned as a citizen and played some Black Jack. Sunday, I attended the Pancake Breakfast, put on by the Ypsilanti Rotarians, played more Black Jack, and saw the hot dog eating contest, where a man named "Coon Dog" ate 14 wieners and buns in the allotted 6 minute time period. Now I know why I belong here in Ypsilanti.
P.S. I also hugged a cow at the petting farm.
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03:25 pm
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When did dorks become cool?
It occurred to me last week that as I go through life, it seems that I hear more and more about the coolness of geeks. Then, I started thinking: What's the difference between a dork, a geek, and a nerd? All three are terms I have recently heard people bragging about. It goes something like this:
"All my GEEK friends have been helping me set up a new computer network."
-or-
"He is such a NERD...but isn't he cute?!"
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"All those DORKS have so much fun...they don't seem to worry about the way they look in public."
All of these statements likely end with an exclamation by the speaker that goes something like this:
"Isn't that COOL?!" -or- "I wish I could get him to like me." -or- "Man, if I could be like that, my life would be so much easier."
I have fallen into this trap a few times myself. It usually happens when I'm daydreaming about some event that would never happen. For instance, I often imagine that suddenly (and much to my surprise and delight)everyone who once presumed I was a dork, nerd, geek, dumbass, you fill in the blank; will suddenly realize that I'm actually cool and want something from me. Say, an autograph, hair sample, DNA splice, what have you...
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12:43 pm
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Although quotes are trite, I will waste some time with this one.
Clarity of mind means clarity of passion, too; this is why a great and clear mind loves ardently and sees distinctly what it loves.
Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662)
*If this quote is true, maybe I'm not as wayward as I have sometimes thought in the past. Beyond the shadow of a doubt, I have passion. For the things I feel commitment to, I have a clear picture in my mind. If there are things I don't care too much for, the picture in my head is more cloudy. But passion goes both ways: love and hate. I've found that the things I feel strongly about are those things I remember clearly and distinctly, like a photograph in my mind. If something pisses me off, I remember. If something makes me laugh, I remember.
When I was in college, one of my professors, Sylvia Von Kluge, told us that memories are best when attached to an emotion.
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03:16 pm
[Link] | Tonight, I will help my friend, Tom hem some curtains for his house. He is offering me pizza as a payment. This day is dragging on like the plague. I am anxious to escape from planet CSTS, better known as Washtenaw County CSTS. It is cold and overcast outside, which makes me feel like it's already fall. My birthday is next Wednesday. I can only hope for a day similar to today that day. I will be 27.
Which leads me to another subject: a long-lost friend from high school. I have not seen this guy in probably at least two or three years. His name is Jim Bednarick. The last time I spoke with him he was attending Ferris State University and working as a photographer. I just can't stop thinking about him and at one point, was even struck with the feeling that he was dead! His birthday is 7/7/77. I always remembered that and since that date this year, I have thought of him every day. Enough about obsessing. Goodbye.
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03:03 pm
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I guess it's not so bad.
Judging from my diatribe, yesterday was not that great! Today is a new day and has not been so crappy. I was able to back out of a few commitments that had put over the edge of human capability. It's a sunny, cool day and I am REALLY looking forward to going to see my parents this weekend. I just need to get away from all of the people and places that I see every damn day.
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04:49 pm
[Link] | Today was not a great day. I just realized this morning that the weekend had not been enough time to recuperate from the events of the past week. I think I am doing a pretty good job of limiting my new activities, but it is a constant struggle to stay away from things I either feel I need to get involved in or things I am told I should do (work, etc.).
It just seems like the weight of the world is on my shoulders right now. For example: Last Friday, as I was driving home from work, I saw a man passed out (I presume drunk, judging from the bottle next to him) in the doorway of a vacant building. This was on a major street, cars passing constantly...and no one stopped! Of course, I did my civic duty and called the cops. Later on in the evening, I stopped by a drugstore to buy ONE item. As I was standing in the aisle, I heard a man speaking loudly to someone on his cell phone. He was swearing...a lot. He went on to say, "I'm pretty sure I killed him, but I cut myself in the process." Sure enough, there stood a man at the pharmacy counter, demanding that the pharmacist help him get something to put over the wound on his right forearm. He was all the while cussing while he spoke. He was just talking in a normal tone, but very other word seemed to be "MOTHERFUCKER". THere was a towel soaked in blood wrapped around his arm. The girl with him just acted like the events were commonplace and occasionally laughed at his antics.
At this point, I was so absolutely dumbfounded and confused, that I simply paid for my stuff and left the store. I just felt like I had witnessed the crime. I was so shook up that I just went home and tried to block the memory. When I told a friend about it the next day he encouraged me to report it to the police, which I did.
The whole business just made me feel like nobody cares. People act like such complete IDIOTS and it just seems like others are too self-involved or jaded (or, in my case a mixture of anger and fear) that they just don't stick their necks out.
God must be showing me all of this pain for a reason. I must be able to handle it, or I hope he would not have given it to me.
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10:30 am
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Happenings, week of 8/1/04
I just found out that I was elected as a Democratic precinct delegate for Ward 3, Precinct 1 in the city of Ypsilanti. I have also resolved to apply to the U of M School of Natural Resources and Environment for my master's degree. I am scared to take the GRE.
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12:16 pm
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what is this?
I am new to this entire process. I have no "friends", whatever that means and I suppose that might make me look like a loser, but I wouldn't know any better, so it shouldn't matter.
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ypsichick's journal