Now Playing: Blondie--"Hanging On The Telephone"
It seems like it's hot and humid everywhere; correspondents in London and Edinburgh complain of the incessant sultritude (it should be a word--it looks great), and the USA Today weather map shows a huge splotch of red lying all over the Great Plains and Midwest (inducing curious geographical phenomena--it seemed hotter in Winnipeg than in New Orleans at one point). Normally this kind of weather would betoken apathy and prevent change, but it seems like the opposite keeps happening.
I'm feeling very creative right now, which is strange, because by rights I should be lolling about, moaning "it's so hot." Saying I feel very creative sounds way too much like saying "I'm so horny right now," something I'm absolutely certain I've never said out loud.* I never said "I'm not so horny right now," of course, probably because people rightly wouldn't give a shit. Whatever happens, I'll probably be doing a lot of writing this weekend. It all comes in the midst of minor changes that add up to a lot (among them the last-minute surprise of one of my two best friends from high school contacting me Thursday after I haven't heard from him in ten years! More on that later).
1. I have a new housemate. Her name's Gloria and she's a Spanish Ph.D. student in biochemistry .I'm still getting used to the new arrangements (I don't exactly crave solitude, but it seems thirstier for company in Ann Arbor than in other places I've lived, and I've found ways over the years to explore the positive aspects of being alone), and so haven't really talked very much with her. She seems very nice, though. My landlord has made life here both harder and easier by turning on the air-conditioning. I was fine without it last year--simply headed downstairs where it's cooler (and you can't even tell in the basement). It doesn't help that my only social interactions downstairs were with my buffoons of former housemates. We'll see how this all pans out.
2. The Casionauts are no more. The East Lansing pop-punk-prog-metal band (okay, you try defining them) played their last show at Mac's in their hometown Saturday night, a show I was sadly unable to attend. I'm guessing it was fabulous, as each show of theirs I saw in Ann Arbor (three in total) was better than just about anything else available here. Incorporating the keyboard into a thrashing yet melodic musical experience, Ryan Balderas, Jon Cendrowski and company turned the energy up to unimaginable degrees, infusing each of their sets with a Gotterdammerung finesse (they were the last act on at all three shows I saw). "Inject It Or Eat It, RNA Will Make You Smarter" ended every set--frenetic musical butt-kicking as ritual. I danced my ass off for every one, and the Michigan music scene (hell, music scene period) is poorer for their absence. Brandon has their shows archived for the curious. Thanks, guys.
3. My friend Meredith, former community relations honcho for Planned Parenthood Mid-Michigan Alliance, is leaving for law school at American University in D.C. I only hung out with Meredith thgouth Planned Parenthood and WRAP (she introduced me to Dan, my first volunteer "boss" there), but she was always a good friend for chats and the odd event, like staffing the wretched PPMMA booth at Art Fair (in "Death Alley," the non-profit section), or helping to sell off local gay activist Jim Toy's crap at the WRAP "garage sale" (Jim's battered old "Hang in there, baby!" cardboard poster still stares at me from behind my computer monitor, although the raccoon dangling over water, one set of limbs on a boat and one on a wharf post, forever faces the other way). We had a sendoff at Leopold Brothers' Tuesday night, and, as I always do at Leopolds', I drank more than I should have (of course, I always end up having more fun at Leopolds' than at most places--with the glaring exception of Election Night 2004, and I suspect the people who thought they were having fun then increasingly realize that they were also fooling themselves). It was all good fun, though, and I got to wish her the best. Good luck, Meredith. "It really was better when it was just us."
There may be even more changes in the offing, but these are enough for now. Until then, I'll just have to beat the heat, as will you all.
*"Me so horny?" Perhaps.