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This morning, as I was walking down the street, a small boy walked out his front door and stood in the middle of the sidewalk,
looking up at the sky. There was a fairly thick snow falling down (although none of it seemed to be really sticking), thick flakes
falling straight down to the ground. This kid had on a brown, wool hat and was obviously on his way to school. It looked like
he had on mittens (the kind that attach to your coat), but I could be wrong on this.
He seemed to be waiting for a parent or another sibling, before he started his walk to school. As he was waiting, his head was tilted
almost all the way back, his mouth slightly open. This kid was staring up at the sky as though, if he looked hard enough, he'd be able to
see where all the snow was coming from.
Watching him, this wave of nostalgia hit me. I wanted to be young again, a kid again. Looking at the boy, he seemed full of wonder and awe.
The way he stared at the snow, it seemed like he was encountering some kind of mystery for the first time. He made me think of childhood,
and newness, of the innocence of kids.
As I walked by, the stench was overpowering. This kid reeked, REEKED of cologne. He looked like a fifth grader.
I continued walking, a little colder and a little depressed.
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This morning, I set out to the grocery to pick up some supplies (note: this pic was taken later in the day, when I was at Justin's apartment).
A little backstory: some months back, a new restaurant opened up inside our building. On their menu, one of the sandwiches they offered was Peanut Butter
and Jelly. When my coworkers and I saw this, we were all a bit surprised; after some lively debate, one thing lead to another, and everyone
decided it would be fun for us to have a PB&J lunch sometime. The idea (a great one) got dropped, and we never followed through.
While at Justin's house a few days ago, we kicked the PB&J idea around, and decided that today would be the day. Email announcements were sent out,
and everyone was to bring their own "extra" ingredients. The bare bones ingredients would be supplied (Peanut Butter, bread, milk), but we hoped
everyone would have something to add to the mix.
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Peanut butter jelly! Peanut butter jelly! Peanut butter jelly with a baseball bat!
A quick shot of all that was brought in.
Ben got this from Daniel, down at the Artisan Cellar (ah damn, no web page for them. One of these days, I need to go in there and take a bunch
of pictures, so you all know what I'm talking about here). When Ben mentioned what our lunch plans were, Daniel found this jar somewhere in the
back of the store - a leftover sample or something.
Needless to say, I skipped this one.
I decided to go for the breakfast sandwich route. I'm using Eggo waffles instead of bread, I've got some Boca sausage links cut in half, and
bannanas.
Anthony's sandwich, heavy on the chocolate.
Jill's sandwich. She brought her own peanut butter (Skippy), and went for the squeeze bottle.
Ben, stirring up the Onion Parsley Peanut Butter.
*shudder*
Justin brought in a whole stack of pancakes he had made at home, especially for this occasion.
Phil, toasting his bread and going for the traditional PB + J + bannana sandwich.
Here's mine, all piled up and ready to go. Mmmmm... Eggoriffic.
Ben braved the Onion Parlsey, and mixed things up a bit. He used some of Anthony's chocolate, my Boca sausages, and added Dill Pickle potato chips.
Justin's... creation.
Justin and Jill, relaxing after round one.
Phil and Ben, working on round two.
Overall, I only had two sandwiches (my second was a traditional one, but with a layer of potato chips). Jill had the foresight
to bring in some chocolate syrup so that people could make chocolate milk. There were some interesting talks after everyone was
done eating, and I got into this intriguing conversation with Rey about social Darwinism.
Ahh, fun fun lunch. Let's just skip over the later part of the afternoon, where everyone was feeling the effects of all that sugar,
all at once. 
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Shortly after lunch, I grabbed one of Justin's leftover pancakes, and threw it to him like a frisbee. At the end of the day, as Ben was leaving,
he picked up some pancakes and started to chuck them at Justin who, in turn, was trying to catch them in his mouth.
The second to last pancake smacked Justin on the face so hard, it made this really loud popping sound. It was so loud, I started laughing really hard... until I choked on, and then swallowed, my gum.
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I need to redo all the Flash video stuff on here. At some point. |
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After work, Justin and I stopped in at the Rainbo for a few drinks. The interior of this place has changed (at least, the interior perimeter).
Both of us were really taken with the decorations/displays.
All along the room, there are these wire men. They're obviously hand-made, and the amount of compulsion/time they suggest is staggering. On top
of that, it looks great.
Against the wall (and stretching to the other side of the room), this display has a dollhouse-like setup. The entire display was one enormous
house, cut so that each room was visible. Tons of crazy, obscure (Japanese?) action figures scattered about. Justin insisted that I take a picture
of the Godzilla wedding.
All in all, we were at Rainbo for a good hour plus. We talked shop for a while (as we are want to do), and got into some conversations about
our own, personal goals: short term, medium term, long term. The more I thought about it, the less I really have as far as long-term goals.
Getting a book of poetry published: that's one big goal. But I'm not sure if that's long term or not.
Falling in love is on the list. But that seems like a given.
The more I think about it, the more I seem to be focused on the present, on what's in front of me. Hmmm. Gonna need to hash this one out
some more, I think.
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On the way to Justin's.
At the bar, one of Justin's favorite songs Yo La Tengo came on (I forget the actual title).
When I mentioned that I didn't really know their music, his jaw dropped and he looked at me like I had just taken a big crap on the table. When we arrived
back at his place, he gave me two of their CD's and promised me more (as soon as he got his favorite ones back that he loaned).
We were talking notebooks, and I was going on about my moleskine. He brought out his
collection of old notebooks and I oohed and aahed over them a bit.
We made our way over to Stu's, where a crapload of sushi was waiting for us.
After we left the bar, Justin got a hold of Stu (who's leaving for three weeks, on various photoshoots that will take him from Hong Kong to Australia to somewhere
else equally amazing). Stu ordered for us, and sweet, blessed food was there when we showed up. Awesome.
Here's what things looked like, where I was sitting. After traipsing around outside in the snow, a bowl of Miso soup was just the thing.
Afterwards, Justin and Stu relaxing. |
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