312 posts tagged “treo”
After an insanely long cold streak here in Chicago, one that saw temperatures in the 30s (5 C) all the way up to the beginning of June, I'm finally out on my bicycle again daily; and that has me trying to get back on the summer schedule I was maintaining last year, i.e. more going out, less pot, more time in the sun and less behind my computer. And among other things, that's meant getting back into the habit of posting blog entries on the go more often, so that I'll have an excuse to get out more, to find crap to write moblog entries about in the first place. But nonetheless, I've been terrible at actually getting more moblog entries done, so I've instituted a new rule in my life, to send at least one new entry a day from my Palm to my VOX account, even if I have nothing in particular to say. Anyway, here's today's, done while sitting on the Irving Park Road bus; and here's hoping that this'll get me back in the habit of posting each day, including times when I have much more intersting stuff to say.
So once again, I find myself on a Friday in a position I'm growing to like more and more this year -- high, on my way to some arts event, walking there and entertaining myself along the way with a mix tape of electronica music downloaded for free earlier that day. I know I've said this before, but a specific part of the enjoyment is the global synchronization of the experience: I love thinking of some DJ in Scotland or wherever, dancing around their apartment in their underwear while putting this mix together; and then of me walking through Lakeview on a Friday evening, listening to it myself; and then of people around the planet over the next 24 hours, listening to the mix on an early Friday evening whenever it happens to be early Friday evening in their part of the world.
It's one of the things in my life that makes me feel very...global these days, like more a citizen of the world than of the US. It's a little goofy, a little silly, I grant you that, but definitely one of those things that makes me feel like we've actually achieved that squeaky-clean science-fiction one-world future they've been promising us for so long. A very solid reminder that I am a citizen of 2008, and that 2008 is a great time indeed to be alive.
I'm out running my last errands of the day, listening to one of my regular guilty pleasures -- the "Drum N Bass Arena" podcast, featuring with each episode another hour of fresh beat-mix work from this darkest, fastest and scariest subgenre of electronic dance music, even produced by a group of UK DJs, thus making it sound more exotic to this American's ears. Ahhh. Anyway, one of the things I love about the podcast is that it's full of traditional radio elements, including this cheesy ten-second intro that ends with some West Indies guy yelling out in a booming voice, "Drum N Bass ARRRREEEENNNNNAAAA!!!!!" It makes me laugh whenever I hear it, and I'm always yelling out the phrase myself at home whenever no one else is around.
Okay, almost my destination -- the Target at California and Addison, to pick up a new two-button scrollwheel mouse, so that I can finally start porting into Second Life regularly again, and finally get my prefabricated housing company open for business. See you later, you filthy prevert. "What? Ya mon! Drum N Bass ARRRREEEENNNNAAAA!!!!"
Yeah, I know, every couple of weeks I throw a new entry up here about how I'm going to start posting regularly soon, just to disappear again for another couple of weeks. What can I say? The weather continues to be terrible here in Chicago, which means I haven't gotten into the habit yet of bicycling and getting out each day, which means I haven't gotten into the habit yet of updating this moblog regularly. In the meanwhile, though, I wanted to mention that my new book of photos is now out, Cellphone Photos 2007; it's a reprinting of my favorite 200 or so Palm Treo photos of 2007, of the 900 or so I featured both here and at my Flickr account last year, laid out in convenient PDF form (both American and European versions) for sending quickly to a laserprinter at work when your no-good boss isn't looking. Anyway, feel free to click over to the book page to download a copy for free if you want. And I promise, regular updates here starting soon! I swear to fuckin' God!!!
Oh yeah, and I've also officially begun having sexual fantasies again about one-night-stands with mysterious hipsters drinking alone on a Monday night. Of -course- I have.
Was in kind of a weird mood tonight, so decided to walk through Lakeview tonight and run an errand at Belmont and Clark, one that could've otherwise waited until the next day. I walked down Sheffield almost the entire way, keeping me not only parallel to a century-old working train track for a mile and back, but also walking next to a century-old ballpark part of the time, a whole series of century-old buildings now being used for a variety of purposes, Irish pubs next to Asian restaurants next to French cafes next to Swedish furniture stores, hipsters and sports freaks and creative-class assholes biking in 40-degree weather, all of it overseen by a series of blinking blue police cameras at every stoplight. And all of this, mind you, while having an iPod strapped to my skull, listening to an hour-long drum-n-bass mix put together by a couple of teens in their dorm room in Manchester, England, and while nice and high on top of everything else.
Once again it occurs to me to say, "If I can walk out my door whenever I'm in a weird mood and be in the middle of all that within five minutes of walking, why the fuck am I constantly whining and complaining about my life? I should treasure the fact that I live in such a place ad have the kind of life that I can do that any evening I'm in a weird mood, given how many people out there desperately wish they could be in that situation. Your life ain't so fuckin' terrible, Jason, when all is said and done, and you should really do more acknowledging of that and less bellyaching."
End of line.
ATTENTION, CHICAGO CITIZENS! Do you have a Mac USB mouse I can borrow for a bit? My mouse at home just fritzed out (I'm posting this from my cellphpne); and since this is a Mac, pretty much my entire computer is out of service until I can get ahold of a working mouse. And like I said, I can't actually afford a mouse right now, so if someone in Chicago has a Mac USB mouse I can borrow, do please drop me a line at [ilikejason at gmail.com] and let me know. I and CCLaP's 12,000 monthly visitors thank you highly!
I haven't spent an evening mingling with a new group in the longest time, so thought I'd get out tonight to the latest get-together by freelance-writer social network MediaBistro, which is being held in the always delightful River North neighborhood, and even features free appetizers. And since I have so few excuses anymore, I thought I'd take the opportunity to actually wear a tie out, although won't admit to anyone who asks that I actually dressed up for the mingler itself, but rather that I have a fundraiser to go to later for a theatre company. A fundraiser for a theatre company is a fake excuse that'll get you out of ANYTHING in Chicago, precisely because people are constantly off to attend yet another real one.
See ya, sucker!
Yeah, I know, I've barely been updating my mobile blog here recently, because the weather's been crappy and I've hardly been going out (thus erasing the "mo" part of this "moblog"). The weather's just about to get better here, though, which means the return of bicycling and me doing a lot more moblogging, so I thought I'd at least start getting myself in the mood by posting some random photos I took earlier today.
Here: Spooky-looking alley at Sheffield near Roscoe, with the red-line train tracks in the background.
